Ode to the Onion – Chimps Love Onions
By Madelyn Kos
Onions are currently the 6th most popular crop in the world, judging by its production. At the sanctuary, it is safe to say the onion is the #1 most popular vegetable, judging from the chimps’ reactions – chimps love onions. When onions are involved, the scene can get pretty crazy (and smelly). Here is our ode to the onion.
Chimps love onions
Every day the chimps are hand served their breakfast and dinner. Lunch, on the other hand, is pretty much a free for all. In order to promote the chimps’ natural foraging abilities, lunch is always scattered inside or on top of their enclosures. Whoever arrives to the food first, gets their pick of the feast. Often, the higher ranked chimps forage their food first.
At the sanctuary, onions are considered a “high value food”. This means that onions are always the first food to be grabbed among the chimps. Depending on chimp ranking, the chimp with a higher ranked social status has a better opportunity at getting their favored onion. Higher ranked chimps eat first, which explains why many of them grab as much as they carry. Fred, a caregiver, mentioned how he often witnesses the chimps grabbing as much onion as they can, sometimes carrying armfuls of onion at a time.
Food grunting
Luckily, many of the lower ranked chimps still get an opportunity for foraging the onion. When the chimps realize it is lunch time, they start food grunting. Food grunting is the chimps’ way of signaling there is food – and yes, it gets loud. Lucky food grunts even while she is eating, signaling to everyone how she is thoroughly enjoying her food. It is pretty hard for a chimp to miss out on lunch time because of the food grunting, but as the saying goes: the early bird gets the worm!
Lettuce, purple cabbage, and onions are the main vegetables provided for lunch. The amount of food varies depending on the villa, but roughly 20 onions are served at each villa. The onions and other veggies are cut up prior to being served. The smell can definitely be overwhelming at times.
A powerful smell
The strong smell of the onion does not go unnoticed among the caregivers. The chimps never mind the smell, though. It is obvious which chimp eats a lot of onions because their breath and bodies usually smell like onions. Loretta, in particular, is known to always smell like onions because she eats many at a time.
Even in the kitchen, the onion smell is powerful. The caregivers always know what time it is when they catch a whiff of onion coming from the kitchen. Sometimes the smell even travels through the air ducts. If you cannot smell the onions, you may know they are around if your eyes start to water. Grab some goggles!
Nevertheless, if you are near the onion cutting zone, you will know based on your sense of smell or your ability to cry. However, watching the chimps enjoying themselves while eating the onion is worth all the eye watering.
Love on the onion
The reason the chimps love onions so much is unknown. We can only assume it is because of the vegetable’s incredible flavor. Onions are a popular food among humans, as they can be served and styled in various meals. The same goes for chimps! It is no surprise onions receive such great feedback from them.
Although onions can cause quite a scene at the sanctuary, it is for all the right reasons.
If you want to help participate in this fun activity, you can help us purchase their produce by donating here! We plan to start harvesting our own produce, including onions in our Project Harvest farmland.
