Chimps’ New Playground
By Josie Sepel, Project Chimps Communications Intern
There’s nothing more gratifying than watching former research chimpanzees climb and forage outdoors as they might have in the wild. That’s why Project Chimps is constantly building and expanding the climbing structures in its forested, 6-acre Peachtree Habitat.
For the past several months, Project Chimps’ facilities team, care staff, and dedicated volunteers have been working tirelessly to make the south yard of the outdoor habitat a fun and enriching place for the former research chimpanzees in our care. Their hard work was worth it – the chimps are thriving outdoors. And they’re having a blast!
Towers, swings and slides
The outdoor habitat now has jumbo tires and wooden platforms for the chimps to climb on, puzzle feeders for them to solve, braided firehose hammocks to relax in, and a plastic slide to propel down.
On hot summer days, the chimps can sit on low, wooden bridges and dip their toes into a shallow, man-made stream.
The nine female chimps of Harmony Villa were the first to test out the new equipment and they tried it all! High-ranking LB, Sky and Babs claimed the prime spots at the top of the new platforms. Athletes like Noel and Amy tested out the spinning drums, and the other younger chimps like Almasi, Sarah, Loretta and Harley climbed to new heights and swung from the fire hose ropes.
Climbing to new heights
Since the chimps in our care were born and raised in captivity, few of them climb trees as they would in the wild – but that may be changing. Recently, two of Project Chimps’ summer interns designed a contraption to encourage the chimps’ natural tree-climbing behavior.
The interns drilled holes into a large water jug, smeared the inside of the container with peanut butter (which the chimps love), and, with the help of Chimpanzee Caregiver Adriana – who shimmied up the tree! – they hung the device just out of reach.
Noel was the first to try to climb the tree to reach it. Now it’s just a matter of time before the others catch on!
A termite mound for chimps
Another exciting new structure in the habitat is a mock termite mound built by our staff and volunteers. During her time in Gombe, Dr. Jane Goodall observed chimps poking sticks into termite mounds to access the insects (this discovery led to the realization that chimps make and use tools).
The mock termite mound at Project Chimps encourages this same natural tool-use behavior, but instead of finding termites, chimps use sticks to retrieve tasty snacks such as honey, peanut butter, and oatmeal.
More choices for former research chimps
Project Chimps is grateful to the many supporters who made these new enrichment structures possible. Because of them, the amazing chimps in our care have so many new places to socialize and so many new places to explore. Now it’s their choice where to go, what to do, and whom to climb with – just as it should be. It’s their time to live.
Waiting for their turn
There are still more than 150 chimpanzees in the lab who are waiting to come to sanctuary. Waiting for a chance to explore the outdoors, to forage with friends, to stretch their limbs and climb around. You can help make this possible by making a donation to Project Chimps, sponsoring one of our amazing chimpanzees, or purchasing an item from our Amazon Wish List.
Watch the videos of the chimps playing outdoors and get behind-the-scenes footage of the termite mound being built on Project Chimps’ YouTube Channel.
https://www.youtube.com/projectchimps
Termite mound photo by Crystal Alba.