Gracie

If there’s one thing to be said about Gracie, it’s that this girl marches to the beat of her own drum! Gracie is a remarkably independent and clever chimp who loves keeping her caregivers on their toes.

At Project Chimps, everyone runs on “chimp time.” But in this group, people and chimps alike run on “Gracie time!” Recently, Gracie has become quite the influential member of her group. One of the best examples of Gracie’s newfound confidence is how she responded to the Annex habitat constructed in 2024. For a long time, Gracie was an “indoor-only” chimp who consistently chose to stay in the villa while the rest of her group went outside. But during the unveiling as a stream of curious chimps made their way into the new space, so did Gracie! Ever since that day, Gracie’s often the first one out and last to come back for dinner, soaking up the last of the sunshine outside!

After cleaning a room, caregivers will often throw scatter foods like cereal or sunflower seeds for the chimps to pick at over time. Gracie has a special technique: instead of picking the items up one by one with her hands, she uses her mouth like a suction or vacuum and glides across the floor filling her mouth full of goodies! She is also a hammock girl. Often, if you happen to spot a sleeping blob in a hammock, you have a very good chance that it’s actually Gracie cuddled up for a nap.