Celebrating MUTTIE’s 19th birthday!
Today is yet another special day at Project Chimps, because today we’re celebrating Muttie’s last year as a teenager!
Muttie arrived at Project Chimps in 2022 alongside 9 other female chimps. Today, she lives in Laurie and Carlee McGrath Chateau B with her friends Melanie, Manetta and Nyia. She’s especially close with Melanie and the two can often be seen napping close together.
She’s one of the more dominant females in her group, especially when food is involved! As one of the “larger ladies” at the sanctuary, caregivers work with her to maintain a healthy diet. Muttie is a huge foodie, so she doesn’t always take these efforts in stride. She’s not afraid to trick caregivers into giving her more food or resort to stealing from her friends, mainly Melanie.
As an example of the efforts she’ll make to circumvent her diet, care staff often use a squeeze bottle to station Thomas during meals, which they set on the ground near him. When this happens, Muttie sometimes finds a long toy or stick she uses to try and pull it toward herself! Luckily carestaff know just how far she can reach.
Food isn’t the only thing Muttie steals though! Occasionally, she takes Nyia’s favorite blue blanket to initiate play. During these sessions, caregivers can spy Muttie, Manetta and Nyia zooming through the different rooms! Muttie loves to carry hard toys around with her and sometimes even carries three at once.
Since she arrived at Project Chimps two years ago, caregivers have only seen Muttie venture into South Peachtree habitat once. Since then, she has never gone back outside. However, her caregivers have been working on building her courage using positive reinforcement. With their support, Muttie has made it all the way into the tunnel that connects Chateau to the habitat!
Today, July 6th, we hope you’ll help us celebrate Muttie’s last year as a teenager! If you’d like to send her a gift, please consider some healthy snacks or hard toys from our Amazon Wishlist! Whether you send a gift or make a donation in her honor, thank you for helping support Muttie’s continued care.