Little Mama (born between 1937 and 1942, died on November 14, 2017) was a

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...

at Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee (near

West Palm Beach West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...

) in

Palm Beach County Palm Beach County is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's third-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and Broward County and the 24th-most populous in the United States, wi ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, known for being considered the oldest member of her species ever recorded by the time of her death, where she was thought to be in her late 70s. Her age was estimated at between 30 and 35 by primatologist

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall; 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English zoologist, Primatology, primatologist and Anthropology, anthropologist. She is considered the world's foremo ...

in 1972, and the Safari settled on February 14, 1938, as her birth date for commemorative purposes. She arrived at the Safari in 1967, after having spent time performing as an ice skater, possibly in the

Ice Capades The Ice Capades were traveling entertainment shows featuring theatrical ice skating performances. Shows often featured former Winter Olympic Games, Olympic and United States Figure Skating Championships, US National Champion figure skating, figur ...

.The Song of the Ape: Understanding the Languages of Chimpanzees
by Andrew R. Halloran; published February 28, 2012, by

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

; "In these ice-skating shows, the 'amazing ice-skating chimpanzee' (who was usually billed as an adult male) was actually several different juvenile female chimpanzees. Different females would travel to different locations and star as the billed ice-skating chimp. Because of this, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly where Little Mama had performed. The events I've just recounted come from an amalgamation of reports of many different ice-skating chimpanzee performances (any number of which may have been Little Mama)."

References

{{Notable apes Individual primates in the United States Individual chimpanzees 1938 animal births 2017 animal deaths

See also

References