New Chimps Settle In: A Caregiver’s Perspective
By Joseph Elliott
Chimpanzee Caregiver
Lab Chimps Settle in to Sanctuary Life
The best part about working with former laboratory chimpanzees is seeing them settle in and begin to enjoy sanctuary life.
Last August, ten female chimps, including Precious and Jamie, arrived in their new home from the New Iberia Research Center in southern Louisiana.
A stressful time for chimps
The transition from lab to retirement can be very stressful for the chimps. Some of them have been transferred to other research facilities multiple times. They have no idea what awaits them at Project Chimps.
A new home presents a new opportunity for chimps to try and jockey for new positions in their social hierarchy. Lower ranking chimps may challenge high-ranking individuals for authority. Others may use the time of stress to forge new social bonds with hugs of reassurance.
Those sweet first impressions
From the caregiver’s perspective, new arrivals seem to be the sweetest chimps you will ever meet. That doesn’t last long. After about a week, their true personalities start to emerge. Chimps whom you thought where sweet and oh so innocent are actually sweet but also very shrewd and conniving. But, of course, we love that too.
Those first moments outdoors
One of our greatest joys is watching them go out into a habitat for the very first time. When given the opportunity to go out into our forested, 6-acre habitat, many of the chimps will timidly venture out. Others run outside like it’s no big deal. The most interesting situation is when you have a chimp who doesn’t want to go out at all. Some chimps have never been exposed to the ground or open sky before, so I don’t really blame them. When you think about it, if you never really experienced the outdoors before, it can be very intimidating.
To watch a chimp inch their way toward the door to the habitat is amazing. You can see the resolve in their eyes. They might latch onto another chimp or hang on to some safety “blanket,” but eventually they take one step after another until they are outside and loving it. I’ve watched chimps stare in wonder into the forest. Then, after a short while, it’s like they’ve been doing this for years. On their next day out, they run right after their group mates into the woods.
New home…new foods
At their new home here at Project Chimps their diet is completely different from where they come from. With all the fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts being offered to them, some of the chimps have been known to become very food aggressive. They get so excited and that excitement then becomes aggressive. Once, all the novelty of the new items wears off you can see the chimps start to slowly mellow out.
For the female chimpanzees now residing in Chimps Ahoy Villa, it took around five months to see the subtle signs of relaxation in some of the more anxious chimps.
The stress of boy meets girl
Male and female introductions are stressful, as well. Precious’ and Jamie’s group of ten females was only recently integrated with a group of six males, including Marlon, after their separation in same-sex groups in the lab.
All of the group did well and are now much more relaxed than they were when they lived apart in unnatural same-sex groups. It was particularly helpful for Jamie, who was a bit of an outsider in her female social group but now receives affection and attention from males like Patrick and Taz.
Jamie is learning to trust her new group mates and her caregivers.
Wild for grape juice
When she first arrived in sanctuary, Jamie would go wild over food and juice. If she saw juice in my hands, she’d immediately start blowing raspberries or grunting to get my attention. Six months later, I started to notice that when we passed out food to her group, Jamie wasn’t as insistent about getting her share, even when it came to juice!
This is a very positive indicator that Jamie is settling in here at Project Chimps. She seems to be comfortable with the routine now and, perhaps, trusts that I will make sure she gets her share of the food and delicious grape juice.
All in a day’s work
As a chimpanzee caregiver, this is very gratifying. It shows that I and my caregiver colleagues are doing our jobs. It shows that the chimps trust us to make sure their needs are met. And in return, we get the satisfaction of watching them relax and thrive in their forever sanctuary home.