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The nine chimpanzees I worked with. The circles represent females and the squares males. The lines connect parents with offspring. Yr was the infant of the group.

The group of chimpanzees at Kristiansand Zoo

From June to October 2016, I went to Kristiansand Zoo in Norway to study the group of nine chimpanzees that lived there. The group was composed by four adult females and four adult males, ranging from 13 to 39 years old, and one infant of 5 years. Although the group had had some problems of agression towards the infant in the past, wich caused their separation in two subgroups, now they formed a unique cohesive group. Julius was the alpha male of the group. He is a celebrity in Norway and when he was young he had his own TV show. He was reared by humans and later moved to the zoo when he grew, but he is still really famous and the main attraction of the zoo. People from all ages comes to Kristiansand to visit him and he keeps being under the focus of reporter from the news channels and TV series.

The chimpanzees a Kristiansand Zoo have two enclosures, one outside and one inside. The outdoor enclosure is a forested island with climbing structures and huts. The indoor enclosure is an exhibit with different levels, slides and ropes. This enclosure also has different devices that promote the use of tools by the chimpanzees. For example, they have a hinging trunk full of holes from which they extract honey that the keepers put in the mornings or an artificial termite mount from which they "fish" for honey. Everymorning the chimpanzees are given fresh twigs that they modify to create the tools that they need to solve these different tasks and obtain treats.

 

The outdoor chimpanzee enclosure at Kristiansand Zoo. The yellow square represents my study are and the blue star my observation point.
Jane extracting honey from the hanging tree trunk
Jane extracting honey from the hanging tree trunk
Dixi using a stick to fish honey from the artificial termite mount in the indoor enclosure
Dixi (the oldest female) using a stick to fish honey from the artificial termite mount in the indoor enclosure


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