“All of my dreams came true. I had been dying to go since Project Chimps opened,” said Julio Ceballos, volunteer mural artist.

“I just wanted to give the chimps something back because they have given so much to humankind,” said Jaye Mullins, volunteer mural artist.

Building a relationship with an animal is an incredibly unique and rewarding experience. But building a relationship with an animal while there is always some layer of physical barrier between you – be it stainless steel mesh or bullet proof glass – is a different game

Tawnya has been with Project Chimps for four years as a Caregiver. In her new role as Chimpanzee Care Supervisor, she will lead a team of Caregivers and Caregiver Aides. Tawnya’s team is responsible for providing food, enrichment, and training for 50 chimps.

This month, Project Chimps launched a new Behavior Program led by Kate, who has been working at Project Chimps for nearly three years as a Caregiver and Chimpanzee Care Supervisor. In her new role, she will implement guidelines to improve chimp behavior and quality of life.

Wow! That was amazing to watch them out in the yard today. This group is such a quiet, calm bunch of apes. No one was quite sure who should be in charge of the patrol this morning so there was a bit of a pile up in the tunnel at first, but then Maverick, Justin and Rocko maneuvered around everyone to take the lead and Roxy, Arielle, Tabby, and Moonie joined them. But Lindsey pushed ahead and was at the helm as this group of eight took a stroll to visit the residents in the DJ&T Villa who were watching with amusement from the safety of their outdoor porch.

The group is ready to go outside for the first time together! I wonder if Rosemary will finally be brave enough to go into the habitat with the support of the boys?

Waking the villa up after their first night fully together is another one of those moments that you aren’t ever quite sure what you are about to walk into. Will they have slept peacefully, or will they have stayed up all night getting to know one another and investigating other’s nesting habits and nighttime behaviors

The day started off with much brainstorming and reflection on how the introductions had gone so far. To recap, we have one group of mixed chimps and two groups of unmixed chimps. We could keep going by adding individuals to the mixed groups, but that could have resulted in anxiety in the separated groups as their numbers dwindled and all the higher-ranking chimps departed. Without the democracy of their leaders, the remaining chimps could have gotten out of hand – like unsupervised teenagers.

Missed the earlier entries? Start here. Eight chimps are happily living in a mixed group now– Lindsey, Roxy, Kyrstin, Tabby, Luke, Kirk, Armond, and Greg! Our next goal was to get Rocko added in. The chimps had other ideas. Rocko was not sure about coming into the mix. All five of the remaining males were…

With our now united group of 6 chimps (Lindsey, Roxy, Kyrstin, Luke, Kirk, and Greg), it was time to bring in the enforcer, Armond. Armond is, well, the bouncer, the tough guy, the one you don’t want to mess with. It was important to get him into the mix and accepted by the small group of females before we add any more.

None of us were expecting it to happen, including Greg! Greg recently turned 40 years old and has never lived with females. What would an older gentleman like him think of the fairer sex when they came together?

Luke hasn’t had enough of the females yet – he wanted a lot more! As the chimps learn what we are up to with the intros, some volunteer to participate and others skedaddle out of the area, content to be last if possible. Luke very firmly insisted that he was going to be at the head of the pack. Our alpha, Captain Kirk, decided to join him.

During howdies, high-ranking female Lindsey wanted to make sure that high-ranking male Luke understood that she was the boss so she tossed some, well, a really nasty handful of debris, at him through the mesh. Luke decided that he couldn’t let that pass but chose a bit of a milder approach and just gave her a good stream of spit.

Cute freckle faced Neal is the youngest chimp in this group of boys – and therefore the most likely to want to play with new friends. As anticipated, he was a bit rowdy when the girls moved into Chimps Ahoy.