Help us celebrate Nicole's birthday! 

As part of our Sponsorship Month, we are offering the chance to help our chimpanzees celebrate their birthdays.

Our first July birthday is Nicole’s on July 12. Like humans who have the Cancer zodiac sign, she is empathetic and a true friend. She is loyal, attentive and caring to everyone in her troop. Her BFF is Laura.

She can be a diva and loves to comb her own hair, but she also enjoys getting groomed by Jessie.

Nicole was born at the Coulston Foundation, a primate testing lab that has since shuttered its doors after years of mounting regulatory problems and opposition from animal advocates. Before arriving at Primarily Primates, Nicole was loaned out to other research labs by Coulston.

Now thriving at Primarily Primates, in addition to her grooming sessions, she loves it when care staff uses the bubble machine for her enrichment.

Most of all, she is an avid nester. She will build a nest out of anything—blankets, banana leaves, plastic toys, etc. Here’s an interesting fact about nesting: In the wild, chimpanzees choose tree branches that give them the most firm and stable place to sleep, according to studies. Of the 1,844 chimpanzee nests studied, 73.6 percent were made from a sturdy tree called Ugandan ironwood—even though that species made up only 9.6 percent of trees in a survey of the region.

To make Nicole’s day super special, she would love some bananas, grapes and coconuts. Can you help us make her day special?