Edinburgh Zoo

Born: 19 September 1961

Appearance: Ricky is an older looking chimp, much greyer and slightly bald in places.  He is our oldest chimp.

Ricky photo by Edinburgh Zoo Facebook fan Simon McGlary

History and character: Ricky was born in the wild, but sadly was captured as an infant and sold into the pet trade. He spent his formative years being raised by humans on a merchant naval ship.  This meant he missed out on valuable time learning how to be a chimp.  At the age of five, he became too big and strong for his human handlers to cope with, and came to Edinburgh Zoo.

At first he didn’t understand the other chimps, but he soon settled in, and enjoys spending time with David and Louis. He is a gentle, kindly chimp who can be easily upset, but the group is immensely fond of him, and look out for him.

Go back to Meet Our Chimps