Chimpanzees are sophisticated tool users in the wild, spending years learning complex skills from their communities. Sanctuary chimpanzees need opportunities to express this natural intelligence for psychological welfare.
Chimpanzee cognitive welfare is inseparable from their social and behavioral welfare. In the wild, chimpanzees spend years learning and practicing tools within complex social communities. Sanctuary chimpanzees - many of whom were isolated in biomedical facilities or kept as pets - may have missed these formative experiences. Good sanctuary practice addresses this by providing cognitively complex enrichment, structured foraging challenges, and importantly, social groups where individuals can learn from each other. Cognitive stimulation is not a luxury for chimpanzees; it is a fundamental welfare need for animals with human-equivalent problem-solving intelligence.