On February 22, 2017, a new member joined Chimpanzee enclosure at Tama Zoo. It's Sakura (female, 7 years old), who came from Kochi Prefectural Noichi Zoological Park! Here's an update on her progress from her first day at the park to the present.

Sakura left Kochi the previous evening and arrived at Tama Zoo at 9:00 a.m. on the 22nd (15 hours by land). After being moved from the transport crate to her room, Sakura didn't make any fuss and just watched us quietly from the back of the room. Judging that she was feeling anxious and nervous about being in an unfamiliar place and tired from the long journey, we decided to give her plenty of time to slowly get used to the environment at Tama and her new animal keeper.

For a while, Sakura stayed in an area separate from the resident Chimpanzee for quarantine (health check). For the first few days, she would quickly move to the back of the room whenever animal keeper appeared, shiver, swallow hard, and show signs of tension. However, as time went on, she began to accept food and drink directly from animal keeper, and increasingly approached them on her own, allowing them to touch her. Her food intake gradually stabilized, and she even began to show the ability to play with toys filled with food.

Sakura eating an orange		Cherry blossoms climbing artificial trees in the indoor exhibition hall

Sakura's health check was completed without any problems, and her quarantine was lifted on March 1st. So, we moved Sakura to the indoor exhibit area, which had not been used during the daytime until then. Sakura entered the indoor exhibit area quietly, looking around cautiously, but soon began to make full use of the artificial trees and hammocks, and seemed even happier than when she was in quarantine.

Since the zoo was closed that day, we opened the shutters of the indoor exhibit to let Sakura see what was happening outside. Then, Chimpanzee who were spending time in the outdoor exhibit came to look at Sakura through the glass...


Chimpanzee gather in large numbers to see the cherry blossoms!
The front of the glass is now full of Chimpanzee (LOL). After all, the other Chimpanzee seem to be concerned about the newcomer.

On the evening of March 4, we turned one of the rooms in the bedroom building where the other individuals were staying into Sakura's bedroom. It was the first time for Sakura to meet Tama's Chimpanzee up close, but she showed her inferiority by neatly greeting the several Chimpanzee that approached her through the grating. This kind of reaction is very important as we move forward with our arrangement to live together.

We will continue to carefully match the two animals and move them into a new home, while keeping a close eye on Sakura and the other Chimpanzee animals.

Tama Zoo Mai Nakajima, Breeding and Exhibiting Section, North Park

(March 10, 2017)