Meet Zana: The Sweet and Sassy Chimp

By Emmett Johnson

Meet Zana 

Zana lives in the Laurie & Carlee McGrath Chateau with other chimps, including Hercules, Leo, and Sheena. The caregivers give the chimps nicknames, but Zana does not have many, although sometimes she is called Zane. The caretakers also like to call her a werewolf because she has gray hair along her cheeks. 

Zana is a lovable chimp who is sweet and sassy. She is very sweet and acts motherly to the other chimps but sassy to the caregivers. If a caregiver does not give Zana her food fast enough, she will spit or throw poop at the caregiver. As an opinionated chimp, Zana will always let the caregivers know what she does and does not like. Zana’s best friend is Sheena. They have a strong bond and have spent a lot of time together. Zana loves carrots and food “but not enough to keep it from Sheena. Sheena gets the better of her sometimes but Zana has gotten much better at keeping her food for herself.”

Sari is one of the primary caregivers of Chateau’s chimps; according to them, all caregivers enjoy working with Zana. Still, Zana is not obsessed with humans as she is more chimp focused most of the time. Receiving attention from a chimp is a special moment. When Zana wants to give the caregivers attention, it is treasured, especially from a sweet and sassy chimp.

Zana’s Relationships 

There is little information about Zana’s life before she came to Project Chimps. All the chimps on-site are retired from the New Iberia Research Center, and the lab does not disclose much about their life beforehand. One known thing about Zana’s life is that she is a mother to at least one offspring. 

Zana’s daughter is Latricia, who lives in the Cedar Tree Villa. Latricia is the only known one of Zana’s offspring at Project Chimps. According to Sari, Latricia acts like her mother. They are both mediators for conflict between ranking chimps. 

Her best friend appears to be Sheena, one of the chimps she came to Project Chimps with, and they like to steal food from each other, which is “pickpocketing.” “Pickpocketing” means that the chimp will take the food directly from another chimp’s mouth and eat it. The good bond between Sheena and Zana makes “pickpocketing” nothing to fight over. Sometimes the other chimps will get upset with Sheena for “pickpocketing” food from Zana. Although Zana is the one stolen from, she will mediate the conflict.

While Sheena and Zana are waiting for food, Zana will sit in Sheena’s lap. For Zana to receive the full amount of food, the caregivers must hand Zana her food individually, so Sheena will not steal it.

Sweet & Sassy Stories About Zana 

There was recently a massive storm that came through the area and threatened to cause flooding issues in front of Chateau. A rain-fueled “river” was coming down the habitat, and the caregivers were trying to get the chimps from the outside rooms to the inside. The caregivers offered high-value items such as bananas to entice the chimps to come inside. Zana was already inside and she was jealous that she was not receiving any of the bananas, so she started throwing poop at the caregivers to exhibit her displeasure.

Zana is very opinionated and always lets the caregivers know her opinions. She is not always a fan of things she is not used to, like new enrichments. Sari, brought in an enrichment that is a robot chimp baby. Sari says that few chimps enjoy the robot baby because it looks weird, and Sari says it looks strange to them as a human too. When Zana saw the robot baby, she started throwing poop at it.

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