Boma
Born
1986
Boma
was born in 1986 at an entertainment compound in Los Angeles.
Her mother, Oopsie, had
been a baby chimpanzee working in the television industry, and
Boma was her first offspring.
Boma was taken from Oopsie at a very early age, and like her mother, she was trained for work in television commercials and movies.
When Boma grew too large to work in entertainment, she was housed at the California compound with other chimpanzees. She gave birth to at least one infant, Knuckles, who arrived at the Center in 2002. When Boma’s owner retired in 2005 from the business of working and breeding great apes for the entertainment industry, she was sent along with other chimpanzees to the Center for Great Apes. She arrived with her mother (Oopsie), and her sister (Jessie).
These days at
the sanctuary, Boma is part of a social group of seven chimpanzees
which includes four of her own family members. She grooms, plays
with, and generally interacts with other the chimpanzees, and is a
doting aunt to baby Stryker.
Boma has a hearty appetite for her regular diet of fresh produce, but particularly likes grapes, bananas, and frozen juice treats.