Last year (2017), two Chimpanzee arrived at Tama Zoo (news). In a subsequent article, we reported on the arrival of one of them, "Sakura" (female, 8 years old), to the group. This time, we'd like to introduce the other new Chimpanzee, "Kei" (female, 37 years old).

My current favorite, Kei eating cabbage.		Kei (foreground) and Sakura relaxing indoors

Kay came to us from Tobu Zoo on June 6, 2017. As Kay was raised by artificial nurturing, she spent little time with other Chimpanzee and had little opportunity to learn how to interact Chimpanzee with other animals. Chimpanzee Since Kay lives in a herd, she cannot be accepted as a member of the herd unless she understands the rules of the herd.

Chimpanzee The "Kay" shows "greeting" behavior, such as showing their buttocks to their partner, hugging, and kissing. However, when we took Kay to meet the Chimpanzee animals in Tama, she was still unable to perform the greeting behaviors necessary to join the herd. As a result, they became aggressive toward each other, and Kay gradually became afraid of the other Chimpanzee members. If this situation continued, instead of getting along, the gap between them would only deepen.

So, we decided to have Kay live with "Decky" (male, 40 years old) so that she could get used to spending time with other Chimpanzee s. Decky had been living with us for a long time. Decky is an individual who has been friendly to Chimpanzee, a newcomer to Tama, for some time. At first, he seemed intimidated by Decky's large size, but once he realized that Decky was not aggressive, Kay opened up to him, and they even groomed each other.

Once she was able to spend time with Dickie, she next tried living with Sakura. Sakura came to the park in February 2017, about four months before Kay, and at the time was in the midst of various preparations for joining the herd.

When Kay was greeted by Sakura, she accepted her without much trepidation, partly because Sakura was still a child. At first, Kay sat in the corner of the room and did not move, but then she began to walk around the room and lie down.

Compared to when she first arrived at the school, Kei now seems to be more accustomed to the presence of other Chimpanzee. She is now able to stay calm even when other Chimpanzee are making noise on the playground outside. The current environment may be an ordeal for Kay, who has grown older under different circumstances than the other Chimpanzee. We plan to move forward slowly with the matchmaking and cohabitation with Tama's herd mates so as not to burden Kay. It will be a while before she makes her first public appearance, but we hope you will keep a warm eye on her.

Tama Zoo Tomoko Takaoka, Breeding and Exhibiting Section, North Park]

(January 19, 2018)