COZI

Cozi's Story

Cozi was born in America and sold to a novelty photographer in Italy. The photographer used Cozi as a prop: the baby chimp, "cutely" sucking his thumb, would be posed beside customers. The photographer was constantly on the move, traveling with two trailer homes, the second driven by his girlfriend. Cozi was still a baby when the photographer died unexpectedly, leaving his girlfriend stranded and almost penniless.

She was nervous of Cozi, locked him into his cage in the trailer home, drew the curtains and did not let him out again — ever. Some nine years later, JGI Italy received intelligence about Cozi: a chimp living in a darkened room, in a cage barely big enough for him to stand upright. JGI Chimp Eden would not normally rescue chimps outside of Africa, but no sanctuary in Europe could take Cozi at short notice, and his condition was critical.

Because he'd been in close confinement since infancy, his bone and muscle development were severely stunted. When Cozi arrived at Chimp Eden, he could hardly walk, let alone climb trees. Standing no chance of survival alongside the big males in the adult enclosure, he was placed in the infants' enclosure.

Here, he's made immense progress, growing muscles and confidence. Eugene has been giving him tree-climbing lessons, and he's now able to tackle many of the trees in the enclosure. Cozi is one of Chimp Eden's biggest success stories, and living proof of the value of the rehabilitation techniques being developed at the sanctuary.

Personality

Eugene describes Cozi as "the chimp with a million faces" — he's a great face-puller. He has a colorful personality, constantly entertaining himself, human visitors and his fellow chimpanzees. However, he can become highly aggressive, especially when exposed to anything that reminds him of his past (for example, blonde-haired women — his former owner having been blonde). As his confidence has grown, he's become more assertive, and has even tried to challenge senior male Jao.

Meet Chimp Eden's resident goofball: Cozi. Eugene Cussons talks about their very special relationship, how it got started and what it's like to be friends with a chimpanzee.