Faye has just celebrated her 31st birthday on 22nd June. She has lived with us since 25th October 2016. This is when our seven chimps arrived to us from Yerkes National Primate Centre in Georgia, USA.
Faye’s background
A picture of Faye’s first time being let outside in their enclosure. This was also the first time that Faye had been on grass before. As you can see, she is a little on the heavier side here. She weighed 69.5kg when she arrived.
Faye is very sweet chimp who was hand reared by staff at Yerkes. This is why she is very interactive with the keepers and forms bonds with new staff quickly. She likes to come and say hello to staff and is an active participant in training most of the time. She likes to try and groom staff but is more than happy just to greet us as she loves the attention.
Her character
She can be a little bit sensitive sometimes and will start screaming if another chimp takes something she wants or that she has. The main culprit for this now is Elizabeth, our youngest chimp and Tara’s baby. But with Faye being the lowest ranking member of the troop, it can’t be helped sometimes and there’s not a lot she can do it about. Even if we were to try and intervene, this would not help Faye in any way as chimps can remember and seek revenge at a later date. Especially Tara, who is our dominant female.
Faye is, I think, the prettiest chimp we have. she has a large expressive mouth and light brown eyes. She will also smile broadly at keepers with a very relaxed grin showing that she is happy to see us. Sometimes she will also make a greeting sound where she puffs air out of her cheeks excitedly.
Faye does not like human children and isn’t that fond of Elizabeth either. Mainly because Elizabeth gets away with bullying Faye. Elizabeth is treated as a princess and any of the chimps that might tell her off face the wrath of Tara if they do so. As you can imagine, no one wants to go up against one of our more aggressive females when it come to her protecting her daughter, even if the other chimps haven’t actually done anything.
Faye and Lucas
Faye does, however, get lots of attention from Lucas. Plus, she is very good at trying to make friends again when she wants to by grooming the other members of the troop.
Faye and Lucas having a grooming session together. They are definitely BFF’s.
I’m sure you can agree that she is a very beautiful chimp.
