20 Years of Emma’s Antics

In addition to being one of the sanctuary’s longest-running retirees, Emma is also one its most intelligent residents. She challenges her care team on a near-daily basis, always keeping us on our toes, and always knows (and often gets) what she wants. Here are just a few ways Emma has graced us with her unique personality over the past 20 years.  

Emma is always the first in her group to figure out new enrichment devices, and when she’s solved your puzzle, she’ll often signal for you follow her around the yard to show you a piece of food that did not make it into her enclosure that she wants. (She’s also known to point at roses and dandelions that she wants care staff to fetch for her.) 

One of Emma’s favorite things to do is to point at her eyes, nose, teeth, and other body parts in an effort to impress and score an extra snack. How do we know what snack wants? Emma likes to take the books and magazines her group receives as enrichment and use them as her own personal shopping catalog, flipping through the pages for items she desires and pointing them out to staff to “order” them. (Recently, she used a photo to place an order for an ice cream sundae – although we could not give her a real sundae, we did accommodate her with a chimp-friendly one…she has us well trained.) 

Every afternoon, all the chimps at the sanctuary enjoy a carrot as an afternoon snack. Most chimps aren’t very particular about the size or shape, but not just any carrot will do for Emma – she only accepts the biggest and juiciest. If you try to hand her one that does not meet her standards, she will shake her head and point to the biggest in the bucket. (Of course, we give her the one she wants.) 

As a girl who’s known for her smarts, it’s no surprise Emma loves positive reinforcement training. When she sees a trainer walking up with their training equipment from across the play yard, she will immediately dart over to participate in a training session. She knows a variety of behaviors and sometimes she knows what you’re asking for before you have a chance to finish the cue.  

Her stellar training skills can be used for good and for evil… 

A behavior we sometimes teach is called “give,” and it’s used to ask the chimps to give us an item that perhaps should not be in their enclosure. Most chimps use this behavior only when needed, but when it comes to Emma, we must be very careful, because she’s been known to tear wood planks off her structure to “give” us for a tasty treat.  

Additionally, Emma is a very stubborn girl when it comes to shifting. (Shifting is the process where we ask the chimps to go outside together so we can clean their bedrooms.) Since Emma and her group are very smart and sneaky, they have a special shifting plan meant to increase the care team’s odds of getting them all outside. Emma has, of course, figured out this plan and will only shift outside if she is given half of a banana. (We like to think Emma is a meteorologist, because if she thinks rain is coming, she will not shift outside that day.) 

Sometimes though, Emma uses her smarts to throw her care team a bone. Chimps are notorious for breaking things and being destructive, and Emma’s group in particular love to bang their bedroom furniture around in their big displays. Once, Emma’s group managed to break a shelf in their outdoor living area; when the maintenance team came over to investigate, they knew something had been broken but were not sure exactly what. As they looked around in the enclosure for what could be broken, Emma helped out by pointing to the broken shelf immediately. She may be trouble, but she is also a big help too! 

On her sweeter days, Emma knows her care team has a busy workload and sometimes she is more than happy to help. At the end of the day, we remove any old, uneaten food from the chimps’ feeding troughs so they can be clean for the next day. Emma will help by grabbing any trash in her enclosure or old food in her troughs and kindly place it into our buckets.  

And as the seasons change, we always know summer is coming when we see Emma start collecting sticks. Emma’s group of eleven is comprised of highly intelligent chimps like her. When summer arrives, they know we will bring out big fans to place in the hallway areas of their indoor bedrooms to help keep them cool. Emma patiently waits for the fans to come out, ready with her sticks to try to get ahold of fan cords or anything left within reach that she could either use as a tool or a trade. 

IAfter a long day of causing trouble, every girl needs a bestie, and Miff is Emma’s best friend. We often find them sleeping together in a hammock first thing in the morning or grooming each other out on the structure. Miff may not be as smart as Emma, but she knows what is best for her. She will sometimes push Emma outside when she is being a stubborn shifter and pull her away when she is getting too involved in an altercation. Emma is a good friend too, but true to her sweet and sour nature, she will not hesitate to steal her favorite snacks from Miff or her other friends. 

Emma is a staff favorite and is loved by all who know her. Although she outsmarts us most days, we do not mind giving in to her because she is the most deserving of all the snacks! 

Madeline Stooksbury