As you may have read this morning, thanks to the compassion and generosity of our friend and supporter, Monica Best, today is our fifth annual Love a Chimpanzee Day! So of course, a party was in order! The chimpanzees had a lunch forage with pomegranate juice in fancy cups, cantaloupe, corn, sweet potatoes, cherry tomatoes and grapes in gift boxes, and whole heads of lettuce (the hit of the party!).
Annie did quite well for herself:
Missy was a little more elusive and chose to enjoy the celebration from the stairs:
Burrito was the charmer of the party, as usual:
Here is he watching his buddy, Foxie, stroll by:
Foxie continuing her forage:
And finding a mouthful of cantaloupe:
And of course the boss of the party, Jamie, made sure to enjoy herself with an armload of lettuce, food grunting the entire time:
Still food grunting with delight:
Jamie is serious in pretty much all she does. Even when there’s a party going on. Though she may have slipped into what we endearingly refer to as her “party police” role and suggested the paparazzi leave the event, I can assure you she was pretty happy with the Love a Chimpanzee Day happenings!
Negra and Jody both grabbed a couple heads of lettuce and made themselves scarce, preferring to celebrate in solitude. But I think it’s safe to say everyone had a great time. Thank you so much, Monica, for loving the chimpanzees and honoring them with such a special day!
I love that second picture of Burrito — he looks like he’s telling a joke lol.
Why do the chimps love lettuce so much?
Amy, your guess is as good as mine on the lettuce! It’s crisp and crunchy? It’s a little juicy? Maybe they feel they are getting a big piece of something? It’s a great way to offer the chimpanzees a lot of something exciting that’s still healthy for them so that makes us happy too.
I love the idea of an Annual Love A Chimpanzee Day! Monica Best, you are THE best! This party looks like it was so much fun. Who knew a head of lettuce could bring such joy?! Cheers to this special holiday!
Hi,
Are chimps vegetarian or do they eat sometimes meat. I remember a woman in the US got attacked by a chimp a few years ago and was bitten everywhere. Why would a chimp do that? He/she was held as a pet.
Best wishes,
Jane
Hi Jane!
Chimps in the wild are omnivores, but they mostly eat fruit, vegetation, nuts, bark, and other plant materials. They also will eat termites when fruit is more scarce. In some groups they hunt for smaller mammals, but meat consists of about 1-4% of their diet. The chimps at CSNW eat primarily raw fruits and veggies and we don’t serve them meat because they don’t need it. We also supplement with nuts, seeds, protein powder, and primate chow. Chow is a nutritionally complete biscuit, sort of like dog kibble, that they got in the labs. We were planning to wean them off of it but they really like it, so we still serve that to them in addition to their very healthy no-salt, no-sugar diet of raw produce.
About five years ago, Travis the chimpanzee attacked Charla Nash and it was all over the news. It wasn’t surprising for primate experts to hear about the attack, because it is within chimpanzee nature to be aggressive at times. You can read more about that attack in this blog post.
I love them all and would give anything to be able to interact with them! The party looks like it was a big hit! Kudos to all who made it happen!