THE atmosphere in the noisy jungle-like enclosure is electric as the alpha male chimpanzee swings from rope to rope, picking up speed.
Soon the other chimps are following his lead and nimbly climbing the tall wooden frame, gripping the thick logs with their human-like hands.
The squawking grows to an intense din, until in one swoop the mighty male runs at the glass partition and slams his fist into it with a tremendous thud.
At just 16 years old, Qafzeh is young to have established himself as the leader of the troop, but he has a strong character and the others quickly fall into line.
Qafzeh is one of 11 chimps – six males and five females – who have just moved into their new £5.6 million Budongo Trail home at Edinburgh Zoo.
Zoo bosses have allowed the Evening News to preview their new star exhibit – which has the world's largest ape-climbing frame and will eventually hold up to 40 chimps – before it officially opens to the public on May 2.
Visitors can read, touch, hear and smell the interactive exhibits as they decide the answer to the question "98 per cent human?" which looms on a screen overhead.
Prior to their move the chimps lived in a low building, without the height and space to climb freely or be separate. Their new space is intended to give them room to move, make noise and generally act as they would in the wild.
"It's like going from a council house to a millionaire's mansion," says education and interpretation manager Stephen Woollard. "That's how different it is."
The Budongo Trail is modelled on the Budongo Conservation Field Station, which the zoo sponsors in Uganda.
The trail comprises three "pods", rooms with different humidity, temperatures and light, linked by tunnels, where behavioural experts will monitor how they react to their new environment.
The pods are linked to an outdoor climbing area, separated from the public path by a moat, which – due to their dislike of water – the chimps will not cross. Much of the chimps' behaviour resembles that of humans, though the poses they strike can be deceptive.
"A lot of people who look at chimps see themselves in their behaviour," says Stephen.
"Sometimes a chimp can be resting his head on his hands and people will say 'oh, he's bored', but really it's just a comfortable way for him to sit on a log."
The keepers say the chimps are sociable animals and often groom each other, or run their fingers through each other's hair, removing dirt and ticks.
When they are enjoying grooming they will show this by lip smacking, tooth clacking and lip buzzing.
Each chimp in a troop quickly falls into a role and the alpha male establishes himself as the dominant chimp with lots of chest puffing. However – much like humans – chimps can fall out. Former alpha male David has now been displaced by the more muscular Qafzeh.
The chimps eat a varied vegetarian diet and each one has its own preferences. For example, Louis loves kiwis, while Ricky – the oldest of the chimps at 47 – prefers strawberries. Visitors can buy smoothies, each named after the chimp whose favourite ingredient they contain.
Stephen says: "We have tried to implement new ideas – things like a cartoon film of how chimps walk and the facial expressions they do, called 'Eddie Says'.
"The idea is for children to copy the way the chimps walk. Eddie shows them how he walks, why he walks in the way he does and then says: 'Can you do what I do?'" Stephen has also created a chimp gossip magazine called Ape Vine! with stories about grooming and mating. He says: "We are trying to introduce people to those stories through the magazine, which we will sell and the money will go to the project in Uganda."
Just returned from Budongo in Uganda last Friday, James Silvey is one of two education officers employed to explain the chimps' behaviour to visitors.
The zoology graduate can differentiate the chimps by their facial features, though he claims this is small fry compared to head keeper Jo Richardson's ability to identify them by a leg coming round a corner or the sole of a foot.
"It's easy after a while. They look completely different. Some have longer faces or rounder faces and Lucy has really big ears.
"Look at that one, with the Jimmy Hill chin and grey stubble," James exclaims, pointing out a chimp sitting in profile. "That's David."
James is currently editing a ten-minute film about the Ugandan conservation project which will be shown in the film theatre.
He got used to dodging "wadges" and other undesirable debris that fell from the treetops in the tropical forest in Uganda.
He recalls: "The chimps put all the food in their bottom lip – like chewing tobacco – and then spit out what they don't want. That's a wadge."
In bark-lined pod three, Lucy and her son Liberius are lazing on straw beds, tickling their chests and periodically flashing their teeth in massive yawns.
"They often lie down at the hottest part of the day," explains head keeper Jo, as Lyndsey knuckle-walks in scavenging for lettuce, hidden amongst the straw to encourage foraging.
Pod one is brighter, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a compost floor. "There's more natural light and more height here," says Jo,
"On a really sunny day they will often make nests in this area. We will eventually plant up the floor to see how they react. We want them to have as many experiences as possible."
Lucy gets up from her bed and wanders over to Lyndsey, who she has spotted crouched on the floor with a handful of tempting bananas.
She taps her on the wrist and Lyndsey generously hands her a banana.
"Lucy is quite a high-ranking female," James explains, clearly excited by the behaviours they are already noticing in the chimps' first weeks in their new enclosure. "She made a really intricate bed of eucalyptus leaves the other day. In the wild they would do that but she hadn't lived in the wild, it was just instinct."
Staff believe the Budongo Trail is as close to the chimps' natural African environment as it is possible to get in captivity. So is it eliciting the type of behaviour they would expect in the wild?
At just a few weeks in, it's early to tell but so far the signs are good – the chimps are making more of a racket, pant-hooting and calling to one another as they would in the forest.
Stephen adds: "In the design here we have a lot of climbing frames and vertical and horizontal spaces and the outdoor area is very complex. I won't be surprised if there are days when the visitor will say: 'Where are the chimps?'. That's exactly what happens in the wild. It will be much more of a real experience."
WHO'S WHO IN THE BUDONGO TRAIL
Cindy: Born in 1964, Cindy is the mother of Lyndsey and grandmother of Kilimi and Kindia. She is good at solving puzzles.
Lyndsey: Cindy's daughter was born at the zoo in 1983. Quiet and laidback, she is the mother of Kilimi and Kindia.
Kilimi: Daughter of Lyndsey and sister to Kindia, Kilimi, 15, is starting to get noticed by boys.
Kindia: The 11-year-old son of Lyndsey and brother of Kilimi sometimes gets into trouble. He has very prominent ears.
Louis: Strong and large with a silvery-grey back, he spends most time with the other adult males, David and Ricky.
David: A strong adult male chimp with a round grey head and damaged left ear, David, 33, was alpha male for a while .
Lucy: Aged 29, she has a roundish appearance with large ears, and is the mother of Liberius. She tends to grab lots of food and eat it all at once so the others can't take it from her.
Liberius: Lucy's son was born at the zoo in 1999. He is playful and mischievous, and has a light-coloured face.
Ricky: Born in 1961, Ricky is a real character, who doesn't know all the chimp social skills because he was kept as a ship's mascot for five years.
Emma: Qafzeh's mum was born in 1981 at Whipsnade Zoo, she came to Edinburgh in 1991. Emma has a strong personality that makes her stand out.
Qafzeh (pronounced Kaf-see): Large and muscular, he was born at the zoo in 1992. He has just risen to be dominant male.
• www.edinburghzoo.org.uk
The full article contains 1462 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
