Living in the sunshine state is paradise but the Florida summers can be challenging with high humidity and temperatures. While the chimpanzees’ natural habitats also have tropical conditions, we do our best to keep our residents comfortable in the summer heat.
Each of our twelve island habitats is attached to its own indoor housing, which has fresh water, benches, climbing structures, hammocks, and fans. These buildings offer a reprieve from the elements, and the chimps have 24-hour access to their indoor and outdoor spaces, giving them the freedom to choose how and where they want to spend their day. The islands, outdoor patios, and buildings have many devices where the chimps can easily get fresh drinking water.
Care staff provide different forms of enrichment throughout the day to not only mentally stimulate the chimps but also to cool them down. These fun activities include sprinklers and misters, tubs filled with sugar-free juice, large flavored ice blocks hidden on their islands, tubs filled with water and nontoxic bubbles to splash in, enrichment items filled with frozen juice, frozen fruits and veggies strewn across their island to encourage natural foraging behaviors. They especially love their sugar-free icees!
If you would like to help keep the chimps cool this summer, please consider:
- Making a one-time or recurring donation below. Donations are able to be put to work for our most essential needs.
- Sponsor refreshing summer food and enrichment items such as enrichment tubs, grapes, watermelon, coconuts, or pineapple directly on our website
On behalf of the more than 220 chimpanzees in our care, thank you for your compassion and generosity.