

Fortunately, since their arrival, they have successfully joined the zoo’s other chimpanzees. Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden has two former pets within its chimpanzee group, Cindy and Kirsty. More information about Chimpanzee SSP can be found at. Education, research, and conservation are also essential goals of Chimpanzee SSP. Chimpanzee SSP advocates the provision of complex social groupings, mother-rearing, and dynamic but safe enclosures for the species. The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden participates with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan (SSP), which serves 34 zoos across the United States to provide guidance on the management of the chimpanzee population. Due to habitat loss, disease, the pet trade, and the bush meat industry, it is estimated that only 175,000 – 300,000 chimpanzees remain in the wild, making them a highly endangered species. She keeps up with Zoe and Ruben when they play, swinging along with them and often clapping her feet.Ĭhimpanzees are distributed over an expansive but fragmented area in equatorial Africa. However, this does not slow Siri, as she is one of the most active members of the group. Zoo visitors often ask about eight-year-old female Siri, who lost part of her arm after sustaining an injury as a baby. Learning much from Mwami, Ruben often mirrors the adult male’s exaggerated display behaviors. He is often seen playing spiritedly with members of his group. Six-year-old Ruben is the youngest member of the group… and by far the most mischievous. She is highly skilled in extracting food items that are placed in her enrichment devices. Ten-year-old Zoe is the intellectual of the group who enjoys figuring out the puzzles she and the other chimpanzees often receive. Providing food items in different and challenging ways to the chimpanzees is known as enrichment. The chimpanzees sometimes receive peanut butter placed in food puzzles which encourage foraging behaviors they would exhibit in the wild, such as termite feeding. She prefers Mwami’s company, and one of her favorite food items is peanut butter. Even though she’s older, social butterfly Cindy is the spunkiest of the group and still has much pep in her step!Įighteen-year-old female Kirsty is the group’s best nest maker, using hay, blankets, and other items to construct these beds in which she rests and sleeps.
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She often interacts with guests at the viewing windows as well. She demonstrates a preference for blankets and playing with the group’s younger members. Kito has served as a fantastic “aunt” to Zoe, Ruben, and Siri, helping all three develop into the important members of the group that they are today.Īt 51, female Cindy is the oldest member of the chimpanzee group.
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This includes how to find food, make a nest, and learn proper social behaviors. Adolescence is a very important time in young chimpanzees’ lives, and they learn much from their mothers during this period. This is especially important to chimpanzees, as they typically spend the first several years of their lives in close contact with their mothers. His hair will also become fluffed to make him appear larger, which is termed piloerection.Īs a surrogate mother, 32-year-old Kito has helped raise three youngsters in the zoo’s chimpanzee group when their own mothers were unable to successfully care for them. As such, Mwami may be seen displaying his dominance throughout the day: swaying back and forth, exaggerating his movements, and hitting objects to make loud sounds. Chimpanzees are very social animals and have a hierarchy, a social order, maintained among them. The dominant male of the group, 30-year-old Mwami is the largest of the seven chimpanzees. each day at the outdoor or indoor Great EscApe chimpanzee habitat. Guests may attend a keeper chat at 1:30 p.m.


Leading up to World Chimp Day on Sunday, July 14, meet the seven chimpanzees that call the OKC Zoo home: Mwami, Kito, Cindy, Kirsty, Zoe, Ruben, and Siri.
