Chimpanzee
The zoo has 7 Chimps, Thabo and his mate Daisy live together with their 4 children (2 males and 2 females) and an unrelated female called Lilly. Lilly was brought to the Zoo in 1997. Born in 1991, she was rescued from a market in Angola. She is a mate to Daisy and Thabo’s older son called Yoda. Yoda was born in Zoo on the 3rd January 1992. He is now the dominant male of the group.

Thabo the ‘father’ of the group was on the 13 September 1983 at the Johannesburg Zoo. He is now 28 years old and has created a beautiful chimp family with his mate Daisy. Daisy was born in 1983 at the Ravensden Zoo in the UK, she was brought to the Johannesburg Zoo in 1984. She can often be seen keeping an eye out for her youngest son Charles who was born in 2004. Charles is extremely mischievous and is known for his air somersaults. Daisy has two daughters who are Joyce and Zoe. Joyce is a real mummy baby and is always close to Daisy, while Zoe looks very much like her dad, Thabo.

Don’t be surprised if chimps display some very human behavior, it is the closest human living relative to humans and is estimated to share 98% of our genes.

Chimpanzees inhabits a variety of woodlands from humid evergreen forests to deciduous forest and dry savanna woodlands.
They face many threats from habitat loss, mining, deforestation, the demand for bushmeat and hunting. Exposure to human diseases presents a further threat to the chimpanzee. The illegal pet trade is also a major concern, not only is it cruel to keep monkeys as pets it is also very dangerous. As monkeys grow older they are known to attack their owners.

Chimpanzees are protected by law throughout their range although this is often poorly enforced. The precise impact of the bushmeat trade is currently being investigated by the Bushmeat Working Group, part of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) has recently recognised the urgent need to protect our closest relatives and has established a Great Ape Survival Project (GRASP) aimed at identifying the conservation initiatives required to secure the future of the apes and obtaining political support and funding to allow these to be achieved . The Jane Goodall Institute, amongst other organisations, is involving local people in chimp conservation in the form of sanctuaries and education programmes

According to the IUCN red list, Chimpanzees are classified as endangered, this means they face a high risk of becoming extinct in the near future.