Biographies—Pozna

Pozna, the youngest of the PRC chimps, was born on August 10, 1995 at LEMSIP, a biomedical research laboratory in New York. Like many research-bred chimpanzees, she was separated from her mother at birth and raised in a nursery setting by human caretakers. This was very hard on Pozna, and as a young chimp she clung tightly to her close friend, Jenny. The two were inseparable for a long time, and spent their days playing and napping in the Play Room. They liked the Play Room so much that they often refused to leave in the evenings so we could clean. We feel that part of this was due to uneasiness with the adult females, who were not as accepting of the young girls as they were Ike, Rodney and Cory.

Pozna Copyright © 2002 Alan Li

As these girls have gotten older, they have become more confident and they are less dependent on one another for reassurance. Pozna, however, still prefers to spend her days reclining in a big straw nest in the Play Room to the open space outdoors, or the hammocks in the Night Room. She loves human attention, and the big windows into the Play Room from the kitchen provide a safe opportunity to interact with her. She loves to mimic movements of hands and arms, look at herself in mirrors, and show off her teeth and tongue to anyone who’ll stay to watch. Caretakers give Pozna and the other chimps interesting objects and toys to manipulate inside their enclosure, and sometimes show them little animals such as frogs or bugs, to safely observe through the glass. Because she is so friendly and engaging, volunteers often fall in love with Pozna and can spend hours glued to the glass, mutually entertaining each other.

Pozna has more obvious mood swings than the other chimps, and will sometimes get upset with the caretakers for simply asking her to move to a certain area—even when a treat is involved! Pozna is the youngest of the chimps, and certainly still acts like the baby of the group. She loves to flirt with human boys, and will stare and show off for them to get their attention. Although she doesn’t possess the same skills as her friend Jenny, Pozna will also try to spit on the caretakers to get their attention. She is very interested in looking at different human body parts, and will point to her own (such as her nose, ears, and even belly button) in order to tell the caretaker which body part she wants to see. Looks like she’s learned to train us as well!