Staff at Edinburgh Zoo have welcomed 11 new chimps to Budongo Trail to join the existing 11 resident chimps to create a 'super group' in the world's largest chimpanzee enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo.
After a series of staged introductions, the complex process of integrating the two groups has now been successfully completed.
Chimps live in complex communities led by a dominant male. Due to hierarchical groupings, keepers closely observed the status level of every chimp in the new group and correlated this to the nearest in status in the existing one.
Jo Richardson, head keeper at Budongo Trail said: "It is important for the success of the integration to know individuals well as chimps have a lot of group politics and social dynamics, and are an extremely intelligent and volatile species.
"This has been the biggest challenge and achievement for all the team at Budongo Trail so far, as this is the largest integration of chimps we have ever undertaken."
Originally from Beekse Bergen Safari Park in Holland, it is hoped that the 11 new chimps will be an important part of Edinburgh Zoo's contribution to the captive breeding programme which is now concentrating on the endangered Western chimpanzee.
