Celebrating ZANA’s 34th birthday!
Today, we’re honored to celebrate Zana’s 34th birthday! Zana is one of the older chimps in Binah’s group, as well as mother to Latricia.
Zana is a very sweet and patient chimp who has taken on a very motherly role within the group. She often comforts the other females in her group during arguments and allows them to go first to take food. However, that’s not to say that Zana isn’t sassy, too! Zana is fond of spitting at caregivers to tell them that she’s had enough. She’s a hard chimp to win over, but if you’re lucky she might agree to play using a tickle stick.
Care staff like to call Zana a “werewolf” because of her distinct grey “mutton chops.” Although she doesn’t offer more than an arm or hand during positive reinforcement training, she regularly comes up for sessions, especially when peanuts are involved!
Sheena (another older female in Binah’s group) occasionally tries to steal Zana’s produce items — especially sweet potatoes. This behavior is called “pickpocketing” and occurs when a chimp takes the food directly from another chimp’s mouth to eat. Luckily, Zana has gotten much better at holding onto her food over the past year. Sheena attempted to take Zana’s sweet potatoes by crying and asking for them and Betty came to Zana’s defense! This started a small tussle at first, but in the end Betty and Zana sat grooming and hugging each other.
According to one of Zana’s caregivers, “It was nice to see another female back up Zana when she so frequently backs up and comforts them.”
Zana’s favorite item is a bit unusual because it’s not a toy — it’s a paper cup! She gets a peanut butter cup containing her glucosamine supplement twice a day and always chews the paper cup into a tiny ball before spitting it out. She’s also an excellent nest builder and loves building new nests.
Today, we hope you’ll help us celebrate Zana’s 34th birthday! If you’d like to send her a birthday gift, consider a fleece blanket or some peanuts from our Amazon Wishlist! Whether you send a gift or make a donation in Zana’s honor, thank you for helping support the chimps.
Here’s hoping this will be another great year for you, Zana! Happy birthday from all of us at Project Chimps!