Emma

Emma is regarded as one of the smartest chimpanzees at the sanctuary, and it isn’t hard to see why! She’s always eager for new challenges and one of the first chimps to figure out a new puzzle. When she’s not solving puzzles, she spends her time walking around with a blanket so she’s ready for a nap at any given moment.  

Emma can be quite sneaky and playful, a combination that keeps her caregivers on their toes. On warm days, if you’re looking for Emma and can’t find her, she’s normally sitting above the human area of the right porch. Her caregivers say this is her spot and that if you call her name enough, she’ll peak down from the ledge and look at you upside-down. She also loves to train and is very skilled at it, becoming very excited any time our behaviorist comes into the building! 

Emma loves oranges and has invented her own way of eating them by biting a small hole in the rind and proceeding to hollow out the entire orange with her finger. When cleaning her group’s living areas afterward, staff sometimes think they’ve found an untouched orange only to discover a husk that has been picked clean. Leave it to a smart chimp like Emma to invent new and fun ways of doing things!