Zombi and Zola Chimpanzees

Actually, this is Hannah with daughter, Hope (born February). A lovely shot!

It’s nice to see Monarto Zoo following Jane Goodall’s naming convention: Zombi (1993) has Zuri (2012) and Zola (2019); Hannah (1993) has Hope (2019).

It’s strange they’ve only followed this for their female infants, with the two males named random names. Comments were made around Enzi’s birth that suggested he’d be a future leader, which isn’t hard to imagine when he’s the son of the alpha female and the youngest male by two decades. This made me think the plan was to retain male infants and export females; which would mean it’d make more sense to give the male infants names that reflect their lineage.

In the case of Zola, several other names were put forth that didn't begin with a 'Z', though several were. I feel as though Enzi still kept the sound in there, even if not at the beginning, so it partially follows the tradition. In Boon's case, it was all about honouring his mother through the use of her nickname.

I'd be highly surprised if the plan wasn't to retain males, and export at least some of the females in the longterm.