Monarto Zoo Senior Primate Keeper Laura Hanley shares how our adorable chimp infant Enzi is growing up before our eyes!
Each day Enzi is getting more mobile and adventurous. At nearly four and a half months old, he’s growing up fast!
Enzi is crawling, standing and growing in confidence every day. Keepers have even caught him casually crawling away from doting mum Zombi to explore, but rest assured Zombi keeps a careful eye on his every move.
Enzi was born on 19 October 2015 and is the second offspring born to chimpanzee Zombi, who is also mother to our three-year-old female chimp Zuri.
There has been some very sweet encounters between little brother Enzi and big sister Zuri who has been seen kissing little Enzi’s hand on a few occasions. As Enzi becomes more interactive, Zuri is spending a lot of time with him and Zombi. Zuri has always been allowed to touch Enzi more so than the other chimpanzees in the troop, this is part of the privilege of being a big sister!
We partly attribute Enzi crawling so young to having an older sibling. Enzi will see Zuri and push off of Zombi’s belly to follow her around. It’s truly beautiful watching them interact together. Zuri is quite gentle with Enzi and has even been spotted trying to pick him up! If she gets a bit over zealous, Zombi is always close by ready to scoop Enzi up.
Even Galatea our other adult female chimp has been allowed a cuddle with Enzi. Much to be said about Mum’s being more relaxed with the second infant! Enzi has taken a liking to Galatea as well – he’ll pull himself up on her to be briefly carried around. Galatea never takes Enzi too far though, often delivering him straight back to mum. These interactions are great for Galatea as it teaches her the skills required to be a chimp mum herself one day!
Although he’s quite adventurous for such a young chimp, Enzi still spends the majority of his day snuggled in to Zombi’s abdomen, climbing up for a feed from mum whenever he’s hungry!
Enzi’s also becoming curious of what his mum is eating and has begun to put food in his mouth and has been seen chewing a few items. He has a good set of teeth already and seems to be teething – biting down onto whatever objects he can find!
He’s also becoming a lot more vocal and can be heard making little excited hoots as well as whimpering when he’s a little unhappy.
Laura Hanley
Senior Keeper Primates, Monarto Zoo
