VIDEO: 29-year old chimp sees sunlight for the first time after lifetime of captivity

Vanilla the 29-year-old chimp saw the open sky for the very first time after arriving at the Save the Chimps sanctuary in Florida. Vanilla had previously lived in labs and unfortunately had never been outside of a small cage or garage-sized enclosure.

She seems delighted to live in the Sunshine State, and another chimp warmly greeted her with a hug upon her arrival. She now lives with her own kind on an island community, and she sometimes swipes food from the alpha male.

“Vanilla is settling in very well,” primatologist Dr. Andrew Halloran said. “When she’s not exploring the island with her friends, she can usually be found perched atop a three-story climbing platform surveying her new world.”

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