Meet the Chimps

On this Meet the Chimps.

Riley makes a power grab.

Carlee learns survival 101.

And new guy, Midge, double dates.

But will his charm pay off?

Deep in the forests of Louisiana lies a primate paradise...

...for over 300 chimps.

Retired from research facilities,

they're getting a second chance at life...

in the world's biggest chimpanzee sanctuary.

Thirty families...

- and a lot of drama. - (SCREECHES)

Get ready to meet the chimps.

8:00 a.m. at Chimp Haven, breakfast time.

Stomachs are growling...

...and patience is growing thin.

Good job, guys.

Lots of kale today.

The group's alpha, 34-year old Sara Soda,

takes the lion's share of the food.

- (CHIMPANZEES SCREECHING) - Sara kinda has a force field around her.

The chimps know if they get too close that she's going to give a little warning,

an aggressive noise toward them, and they just know to get back from her.

As usual, her two lieutenants

Dea and Mackenzie, are next in line for their fill.

Dea and Mackenzie, um, I'd say are really close friends.

It's very seldom that they're apart.

Further down the ranks,

ten-year-olds Mason and Jimmy Dean forage for their share

before the others dig in.

Way down the pecking order of this 20 strong gang

is Passion and her two year old daughter, Carlee.

As the youngest member of the group,

Carlee makes do with unwanted food scraps.

A growing girl needs to find a way to get more.

Carlee is a sassy little thing.

Usually the babies are a little more timid,

um, but not her. She's full of sass.

To get her fill, Carlee has a few tricks.

- (CANDY GRUNTS) - (CARLEE SCREECHES)

Playing the cute card just won't cut it.

Carlee has reached an age where she can't always rely on handouts.

If she ever wants to make it off the bottom rung,

she must learn to fend for herself, and fast.

Sara Soda's forest family is just one of nearly 30 communities

living in different neighborhoods throughout the sanctuary's 200 acres.

Morning, guys.

Almost all of the residents arrived here from medical facilities,

many after research on chimps ended in the US in 2015.

If we were to take our chimps

and release them into the wild, they wouldn't survive.

They just don't have those skills necessary.

We offer them their forever home,

and we offer them a place where they can find a forever family,

a group they can live with for the rest of their lives.

Looking after 300 chimps is a 24/7 job.

The chimps are part of our family as well.

I see them every day. I see my patients every day.

Um, and so we have relationships with them, um, we care.

- Good boy. - How are you?

You wanna go for another walk?

How are you doing? How are you doing?

What's up, Max?

I know. Hello!

Chimpanzees always keep us on our toes,

and it is very much like watching a soap opera with them every day.

Carlee finally found some breakfast.

Now, she just needs to hold onto it.

Carlee still has a couple of years

before she's completely independent from Mom.

In the meantime...

she'll watch and learn from others.

Sometimes the safest spot for breakfast...

comes with a view.

Climbing single-handed is an advanced skill that older chimps,

like Natalie, have perfected.

- (NATALIE HOOTS) - (CARLEE HOOTS)

Carlee is learning an essential chimp survival skill,

perfect for keeping your food safe, and spotting any intruders.

Today's intruder is a welcome one.

We have a new male chimpanzee, named Midge,

that's coming to Chimp Haven to find a new chimp family.

The good thing about Midge is that he is a people chimpanzee,

which means he loves the interaction with people.

Dah-dah-dah-dah!

The face masks serve as a barrier

to diseases that we can pass to them, and that they can pass to us.

All righty!

We have a chimp caretaker here, named Brea.

Brea actually worked with Midge at the institution

from which he's been relocated from.

Hey, Midge!

Midge was one of the first chimps I ever had the opportunity

to look after and to help, um, caretake for.

I had never worked with chimpanzees before

and I remember him running up and wanting to immediately

start playing chase with me.

- (MIDGE HOOTING) Doing good, buddy!

Hi, bubba. Oh, you're so good.

Get over there, buddy.

We're moving Midge into quarantine.

So we wanna make sure he's not harboring anything

that could potentially make someone else in one of the other social groups ill.

We need to make sure that he gets a clean bill of health,

before we let him into our existing population.

Midge has already been alone for almost seven months.

He was previously housed with a female named Lulu.

Lulu passed away.

With Lulu gone,

Midge's caregivers knew he needed a new family.

Anyone that works with chimpanzees will tell you

that the best thing for a chimp is another chimp.

And so, our goal is to be able to safely get him integrated

into a larger social group, so that he can thrive.

There's no guarantee that Midge's integration will work.

Chimpanzees have a very strict social hierarchy.

Uh, they... everybody has a place within the family,

and so it can be very difficult for a single chimp to come into that...

into a family, and to find their place really easily,

but we have a lot of hope with... with Midge.

I mean, we think he's gonna do amazing,

'cause he has just great social skills. He's just a really cool chimp,

and I think he's gonna do great.

Not every family member wants to just fit in.

While most of the 11 residents of Slim's Place

laze in the mid-morning heat...

one just wants to shake things up.

Meet Riley, the wild child.

Right now, Riley is the only male in that group.

He's just coming of age,

where he's trying to figure himself out as a male in an all-female group.

He's trying to show off how strong and tough he is.

So he's starting his very flamboyant displays,

where he'll be making lots of noise and trying to make all the girls scramble.

Riley is the eight-year-old son of Nina,

a trusted lieutenant of the group's female alpha, Slim.

With his high-ranking mom, and no rival males to challenge him,

Riley is next in line to become the alpha.

Nina and Slim, the highest ranking females

give him a lot of leniency, so he can get away with a lot.

But it's kinda fun to see the dynamic of "Riley can do no wrong."

You can just see it in his eyes, whenever you look at him.

Even though he's sitting still,

you can see he's thinking of something to get into.

And right now, Quilla's new toy is hard to resist.

Nine-year-old orphan, Quilla, is a year older than Riley,

but with no high-ranking family connections,

she's lower in the pecking order.

Riley's really good about the hit and run strategy.

So he's trying to be the big alpha of the group,

showing how big and strong he is.

It's his way of showing the other youngsters

that he outranks them.

But it's not enough for Riley.

One way further up the ranks?

Boss around chimps bigger than Quilla.

Meet Angela, the gang's docile old-timer...

and Riley's new target.

He's waiting for just the right moment.

Riley proves he can push around his elders.

As usual, high-ranking Mom doesn't stand in his way.

Right now, he's getting away with all these antics,

chasing the girls around, stealing food,

and, uh, these ladies are kinda letting him do it.

So he's got quite an ego going on, and it's just fueling it.

This gang could use a lot more space.

And they're about to get it...

right next door.

Where we're standing is in one of our new corrals.

We have beautiful, tall climbing structures,

multi-leveled, with lots of platforms, and shade for the chimps.

Chimps live in groups where they fission fuse,