Sophie was born in Norman, Oklahoma in 1976 at the Institute for Primate Studies Inc., a chimpanzee breeding facility.

She was purchased by the University of Montreal to be used in cross fostering and cognition studies. She was raised as a human child for her first years of life along with her 3 companions, Spock, Merlin and Maya.

When she was no longer used in the research, she was donated to the Quebec City Zoo, in 1983. She had lived at the zoo for 25 years when it closed, leaving her with no home until Fauna’s rescue.

Date of birth: February 6, 1976 - April 23, 2008

Personality: From just a glace, you can tell that this is a truly sweet chimpanzee. She is very fond of humans, very engaging, and inviting. She loves Spock, a chimpanzee in her life since childhood. Only a few months apart in age, these two are very connected, and Sophie is very protective of him. Sophie is incredibly intelligent, understands most human vocabulary and how to use everyday items that humans use.
Since a youngster, she has been familiar with using utensils, crayons, and cleaning objects. She is very good at communicating about the things she needs. Very clever, not much can slip past this very wise individual. With her strong character, one might assume she was a leader. However, leaders usually try to get along with everyone -- Sophie does not and she does not care to either. She knows who to be nice too but she has no interest in keeping anyone happy. She has favorite chimp friends and sticks with them. She is tough, knows what she wants and to get it!

Favorite Activities: It seems like Sophie’s favorite activity is eating. This is likely because of the boredom of captivity, as well as some health issues, including diabetes. She is being treated for anemia, which of course makes her very weak so you don’t see Sophie running anywhere -- except to help Spock when he is in trouble.

If Sophie lived in the wild, she would be very busy, always doing something new and exciting. She would most likely not be having the many health issues that have resulted from her lifetime in captivity. She would probably be teaching her children all sorts of great things. She would have been a part of a big family circle, and been able to be a truly wonderful protective mother, aunt, sister and friend. Because all she knows is captivity, just like other chimpanzees raised in this way, she likes to clean with the hose. This is something Sophie can spend hours doing, spraying and “squiggy-ing.” She is extremely good at this. She is thorough and rarely misses a spot. Even though this gives her a great deal of pleasure, she gives back the hose once she feels done.

Sophie loves to spend time making the perfect cup of hot tea. She starts by taking a few cups and putting a tea bag in each one. Then she takes the bottled water, adds just the right amount, stirs and then sips it from a teaspoon. She learned to do this, to eat with utensils and to make her own mixtures in bowls when she was a child. She finds it all very entertaining.

Favorite Foods: In the fruit category, we have yet to find a fruit that Sophie does not like. We could say that she loves all fruits. When she has a choice, grapes and apples seem to be huge favorites, but she also loves blueberries, raspberries, oranges, pineapple and so on. We are still trying to find her favorite vegetables. Like many other cross-fostered chimpanzees, she prefers cooked vegetables to raw -- including mashed turnip, potatoes, or carrots and squash.

Lately, she has been experimenting with fresh endives, and raw corn on the cob. Human favorites like pasta are right up there with oatmeal, hummus, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, muffins or banana loaf. Actually, she is very wise concerning the needs of her medical condition. She has a gastric ulcer and chooses foods that soothe her stomach. Her diabetes presents a challenge to her weight and certain of her favorites, which have to be restricted for her own well-being. We work hard to balance the needs of her physical health with her need for some simple pleasures in life.

Sophie left us on April 23, 2008, she was 32 years old.

Although we knew Sophie for only a few short months -- so little time together -- it was so easy to see what an amazing chimpanzee she was. Sophie was very special and very intelligent, and intuitive. She was strong, and wise, and incredibly brave.

Sophie without a doubt was one of those truly great chimpanzees that you will never forget. She was someone so easy to love and respect.
We deeply regret not having had the chance to get to know her better, to watch her grow in her new environment that she certainly did love, and to see her become a strong leader and great friend to all.
Her story is a tragic one in so many ways, although it was unlike the life of a chimpanzee from a laboratory. With a short time in behavioral research as a child, she was then sent to live a lifetime on exhibit in a zoo.

Her daily life there -, the environment and the people – had many parallels to life in a lab. The most obvious is the loss of free will, the oppression of captivity and the inability to determine your own life. It would be these things -- the stress, the lack of control, the restrictions, and the captivity -- that would affect your mental health. Captivity, in and of itself, creates tremendous stress and anxiety and leads to physical and psychological illness in our chimpanzee kin. Sophie was a seriously ill chimpanzee from the day she arrived. Despite years of veterinary help, the damage of captivity could, in the end, not be undone.

Sophie was a strong and important member of her group that she came to Fauna with. Her very close friend Spock will miss her terribly. While those of us at Fauna who were with her daily will miss her and the lost opportunity to know her well, there are thousands who visited the zoo who met Sophie. We know many of them, who knew who they were looking at – the noble and wise spirit that she was --- will miss her too.