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

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...

Lion Country Safari Lion Country Safari is a drive-through safari park and walk-through amusement park located on over 600 acres in Loxahatchee (near West Palm Beach), in Palm Beach County, Florida. Founded in 1967, it claims to be the first 'cageless zoo' in the U ...

in Loxahatchee (near

West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

) in

Palm Beach County Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous county ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Her age was estimated at between 30 and 35 by primatologist

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall on 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English primatologist and anthropologist. Seen as the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best know ...

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 Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be perfo ...

, 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, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

; "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)." While chimpanzees have an average lifespan of 60 years, Little Mama was thought to be in her late 70s when she died in 2017 and was considered the oldest on record.

References

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

See also

References