Two new chimpanzees integrate into Chattanooga Zoo troop

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Two new chimpanzees have successfully integrated into their troop at the Chattanooga Zoo.

A 22-year-old charismatic male, Willie, and his 40-year-old socially-savvy sister, Sally, moved to Chattanooga from the Houston Zoo on June 12th.

They would soon be introduced to the four chimpanzees already residing at Chattanooga Zoo: Scott, Shirley, Brandy and Katrina.

“Willie and Sally were specifically selected to join our troop due primarily to their personalities, behaviors and ages,” said Lacey Hickle, director of animal care and conservation at Chattanooga Zoo. “They’ll also help us maintain a slightly larger troop size, which is beneficial for all the chimps’ social needs, and Willie will help ensure we have a male presence in the troop for years to come, which is important for a patriarchal species like chimpanzees who tend to have a leading alpha male in the group.”

The Chattanooga Zoo says initially, Willie and Sally were housed apart from the other four chimpanzees, and a divider sheet was hung up in their indoor space so the two groups could hear but not see each other. After a week, the divider was removed during supervised visual introductions.

Then, Chattanooga Zoo’s animal care team started face-to-face introductions between the current residents and the newcomers.

“We started physical introductions with Scott (a 39-year-old male) and Brandy (a 41-year-old female) because they remained calm and showed signs of interest during visual intros,” said Towers. “However, Brandy was not a fan of Willie at first. She even tried to chase him around a few times.”

In the following days, all six chimpanzees at Chattanooga Zoo spent time together and began to reform their social structure in a process that Towers described as “surprisingly good.”

For a more robust retelling of chimpanzee intros at the Zoo, visit Chattanooga Zoo’s blog at https://www.chattzoo.org/blog/new-chimps.