Keepers at Lion Country Safari kept with the Valentine’s Day spirit Friday, Feb. 12 and Sunday, Feb. 14 in celebrating the birthdays of two well-known animals, chimpanzee Little Mama and Cupid the giraffe.
Keepers Jordan Harris and Becca Hull take care of the three chimp families living at Lion Country Safari. Little Mama, who came to the park when it first opened in 1967, is known as the oldest living chimp in captivity.
“The story that is most likely accepted is that she was in the Russian Ice Capades, and that’s maybe where she got a lot of her human imprinting,” Harris explained. “I feel like she really is more of a human than she is a chimp, sometimes.”
Jane Goodall, the famous British anthropologist and primatologist, still comes to see the chimps, including Little Mama, who she estimates to be approximately 78 years old.
“It’s rather remarkable. Most captive chimpanzees will live to 50, maybe 60 years, and chimpanzees in the wild maybe about 40,” Hull said. “Little Mama is a sweetheart, which is why we celebrate her birthday on Valentine’s Day. She’s like the grandmother of her group. You’ll often see her playing with Olive, our youngest chimp at 10 years old.”
When it is colder out, Hull said, Little Mama, who weighs somewhere between 80 and 90 pounds, will huddle up with a burlap blanket.
For Valentine’s Day, many of the enrichments given to the chimps came from ChimpanZoo, a research, education and enrichment program at the Jane Goodall Institute. They included bread, popcorn, confetti, hay, flour, nuts, and all sorts of treats, clothing and other special items for the chimps.
Meanwhile, Cupid the giraffe celebrated his 11th birthday, which really is on Feb. 14. He is the breeder bull giraffe at Lion Country Safari, but that isn’t why he was given such a romantic name. Multiple heart-shaped spots can be found on his body, most notably one on the right side of his neck.
Clive Pinnock was at the Giraffe Feeding Exhibit on Valentine’s Day, teaching visitors about Cupid, his children and the other giraffes at Lion Country Safari. “He’s such a wonderful animal,” Pinnock said. “He was hand-raised, so he’s a little bit more playful.”
The giraffes that come up to the feeding exhibit are all male, and all come to the feeding station voluntarily. If there is a day when they don’t feel like it, they are allowed to stay with the rest of the giraffes. There are always at least a few giraffes at the feeding station, and they’ve had as many as 10 on occasion.
“The lettuce that people are feeding them here actually makes up less than 1 percent of what they eat each day. They generally eat between 80 and 100 pounds of food a day. The bulk of that food is made up of grain, hay and browse,” Pinnock said.
Cupid is a different subspecies from the rest of the giraffes at Lion Country Safari, which helps strengthen the gene pool and makes him easier to spot — his coloring is quite a bit darker and he has other distinguishing characteristics.
The giraffes do know their names, Pinnock said, and Cupid will often respond when called.
Lion Country Safari has just under 20 giraffes at present, including a few babies that are 2 years old or younger.
For more information about Lion Country Safari, visit www.lioncountrysafari.com.
ABOVE: Cupid the giraffe looks for a snack.
