Celebrate ZACK’s 20th birthday!

After 18 years living in a research lab environment, Zack finally made it to sanctuary here in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the summer of 2022. 

One of the most easily identifiable chimps in residence, Zack is without his left eye, but that certainly hasn’t gotten in the way of him living his best life in sanctuary! He’s a very dominant male and has no problem pushing the other males out of the way for food. He’s rarely seen on the ground, always preferring to be up high whenever possible and he has a very distinct head bobble when walking. 

Zack is a huge personality within Prince’s group. He loves being in the habitat and he typically carries toys or sticks so, when that temptation to display hits him, he’s got props at the ready. His displays consist of mostly fancy footwork but he also enjoys running bipedal past his groupmates holding the aforementioned toys and sticks. 

But that’s not all! Zack is also a huge fan of box day! Anytime our friends over at Mercier Orchards drop off boxes of apples (or we get boxes via other means), Zack is always the first to knock down towers that his caregivers have carefully constructed for the chimp’s enjoyment. 

Please join us in wishing Zack a very happy 20th birthday! If you’d care to send him a birthday present – which will be delivered straight to the sanctuary, by the way – you can check out our Amazon Wish List. Peanut butter is always a favorite of his as he can often be seen savoring every bite.