Harmony
Celebrating KAREEM’s 36th birthday!
As the alpha of Harmony villa, Kareem is well-known both for his size and his gentle personality. He waits patiently for everyone to get their food before taking his own.
Read MoreCelebrating NOEL’s 18th birthday!
Noel loves greeting care staff members who come into the villa, especially when she hasn’t seen them in a while.
Read MoreCelebrating JERMAINE’s 35th birthday!
Out of the thirteen chimps in Harmony, Jermaine is NOT one to appreciate mornings. Most days, care staff can expect to find him rolling right over in one of his favorite napping spots.
Read MoreCelebrating SARAH’s 16th birthday!
Sarah loves most stuffed animals, but her favorites are any primate stuffed animal. She loves to carry these around on her back or hang onto them with her foot.
Read MoreCelebrating AMY’s 16th birthday!
Amy is a very playful and energetic chimp. She’s also known to spit water and try and poke the camera when anyone tries to take her picture!
Read MoreThe Role of “Auntie” in Female Chimps
Chimps have these ambiguous female figures too! Growing up without their mom, our orphaned lab chimps rely even more heavily on the guidance of older influences.
Older female chimps who take young female groupmates under their metaphorical wing, I call “aunties.” But really, they’re just old ladies showing young girls the ropes.
Big Girls, Little Girls, Middle Girls: Female Chimps Learn From Each Other
When chimps come to sanctuary, they may be interacting with other chimps (or chimps of the opposite sex) for the first time. They may fail to understand social norms, and feel awkward, unsure, or anxious around other chimps. These interactions can be tricky because the chimps haven’t learned lessons that mom usually instills during childhood.
Read MorePositive Reinforcement Training – PRT with an EKG
If you know anything about chimps, you know you can’t make a chimp do anything it doesn’t want to do! If you need to, for example, listen to Kareem’s heartbeat with a stethoscope, that is absolutely not happening unless Kareem wants you to. This is where Positive Reinforcement Training, or PRT, comes into play.
Read MoreMoving Day: A New Chateau for Research Chimps
We recently finished the construction of The Chateau and invited the chimps to move in. We all held our breath to see what they would think of their new digs…
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