Suzie

Chimpanzee

HI, MY NAME IS SUZIE

Date of birth: 1973
Place of birth: in the wild
Date of arrival at MONA: September 17, 2021

Subspecies: Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii

She is the oldest of MONA and has already passed the half a century. From a very young age she was owned by a circus family and worked for them in traveling shows, mainly in Belgium.

She also starred in some commercials.

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ABOUT SUZIE

Her past

Already retired, in 1995 her owners moved her to Alicante, along with another chimpanzee, Jimmy. With him she lived in a cage in a house in the province of Alicante, until 2016, when her only companion died.

In 2010 was the first time we heard about her, and it was not until 2021 that finally, among several organizations, we were able to convince her owners that the best place for a chimpanzee is in the company of others like her, at MONA. Thus, her last years of life could be in a facility with grass, vegetation and shrubs… and most importantly, she will never be alone again.

The facility where she lived alone for 5 years

Anesthetized, moments before her transfer to begin a new life

Her present

She has adapted very quickly to the center and her new life. She is an old lady with very clear ideas.

Thanks to the center’s camera system, we can record each of the introduction sessions and monitor progress. In addition, fecal samples are taken during the association process to monitor stress (cortisol) due to the associations, which will be analyzed in a study together with the veterinary faculty of the Universitat Autònoma Barcelona.

Her social life

She loves the company of the other chimpanzees in the group, but always instils respect. At one time she had a special predilection for Africa, which awakened a kind of very strong protective instinct in her and helped her lose her fear of new chimpanzees.

She now shares her life with Caline, Mayumba and Hugo. But they are not the only chimpanzees she knows in MONA, we keep on going with the introductions.

Suzie likes

Grooming

She loves grooming sessions, there's just one serious problem: she never does it, she only asks for it, and this makes their relationships in the group difficult.
Investigate

Despite her age, she remains a very fearless chimpanzee.
The heights

She has a predilection for climbing the highest towers and from there she is attentive to everything happening around her.

**Anecdotes**
When Suzie arrived, the others noticed her immediately and made vocalizations to greet her from their respective rooms.

**Anecdotes**
When Suzie sleeps, she does so in a hammock, covers herself completely with blankets and disappears underneath them.

Suzie's group: New Rescues

One of the oldest chimpanzees in the world, she has already passed the half century.

Caline

In her early years she was exploited to take photos, but then luckily she became part of a small group of chimpanzees that finally arrived together at MONA.