I was leaving GAP Sanctuary in Sorocaba, after over 11 hours of exhaustive work, and passed along the front of Billy’s enclosure. From the window he made me signs and showed me a square pot, different from the others, of a yogurt he enjoyed hours earlier.

That was a different yogurt, a kind of Greek yogurt that comes with strawberry syrup and has just been launched. Billy tried it for the first time and loved it. No doubt that his taste for food is very selective, because this yogurt is a true delight. Billy thinks my car is a walking food supplier, which always takes everything to offer him. I explained that I had no more and that on the following day I would bring another. He understood and gave me a kiss goodbye.

Hours before I was distributing the hot meal of the day, before noon. Charles, desperate, wanted the four pots of “feijoada” for him, but I gave him three and called his mate, Francis, and gave her the forth one, otherwise Charles would eat them all.

I continued my work as a waiter, distributing food during the day and I got to the enclosure of Alex and Carol. Both are fond of hot food. To avoid fights, I gave a pot for each, in their hands, with a spoon, to avoid fights that have already happened.

I continued my work of luxury waiter and arrived where Jimmy is living. He was expecting me. I separated the three babies – the daughters of Samantha that he cares when she spends a few days with her original group, Guga’s, not to lose her origins – and carried a tray with yogurt, juice, gelatin and a hot dish. Jimmy, who was temporarily free of his “babysitting work”, sat and enjoyed lunch, starting with the hot plate.

It’s late, Vania prepared coffee and put it in bottles. Then the fight is terrible. The favorite drink of chimpanzees is a coffee after well served meals, they never miss it. She had to go handing out one by one, since everyone always wants more and more.

After a day feeding the civilized chimpanzees of the Sanctuary, we concluded that the taste of them for food is as delicate as human’s. The more they know about human gastronomy, the more they want to be Homo “sapiens” troglodytes.

 Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian
President, GAP Project International

 – Check the photos taken by Merivan Miranda, keeper and photographer of Sorocaba Sanctuary