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Many of the apes at the Center For Great Apes acted in your favourite movies. One worked with Clint Eastwood, another was Michael Jackson's pet, and others acted in the most recent remake of the Planet of the Apes movie. These are the apes involved in Hollywood, and although they may be more famous than you ever will be, the fact is that they're still animals.
Apes in the Hollywood industry were raised (and sometimes abused) by humans, and lack the basic skills to be able to survive in the wild - they don't know how to gather food or care for their babies. So if they can't go back to the wild to live out the rest of their years, where do these apes go after their careers are over?
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Enter the Center For Great Apes in Florida, which is located on 98 acres of woodland and does not promote itself or allow visitors. Unlike other animal sanctuaries or zoos, this is a place where apes can live in peace. There are currently 31 chimapanzees and 22 orangutans at the center, which play, interact with each other, and enjoy life.
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As these apes have been raised in a human environment, they enjoy different activities than what you would expect an ape to enjoy - including painting. For some of the apes, this isn't the first time they have delved into the art world. Bubbles, Michael Jackson's pet, has been painting since a young age. Other apes only started to paint after joining the center - but all of them love the activity.
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The Center For Great Apes has hosted art auctions, selling the apes' paintings to raise funds for caring for the apes (which isn't cheap). Some of the apes enjoy tasting each color before painting (like Jacob the chimp, pictured above). For such intelligent creatures, having an artistic outlet is cathartic and validating.
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If you're interested in symbollically adopting one of the apes and funding their stay at the Center For Great Apes, check out their website. We can't think of anything more wholesome than adopting an ape so that it can continue to paint.
These Retired Showbiz Apes Love Painting
Apes are actors too, and at a point they need to retire, just like humans. So where do ex-showbiz chimpanzees and orangutans go? To the Center For Great Apes in Florida, of course, where they learn to paint.
For more interesting reading, have a look at this aurora that citizen scientists discovered.
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