The Honolulu Zoo today announced it has bid aloha to its last two chimpanzees, and that they are now living in Texas as preparations get underway for habitat improvements.

Kumi, 49, and her son, Kibale, 34, have joined a new chimpanzee community at Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, according to Honolulu Zoo officials, and are acclimating well with the animal care team there.

With their departure, Honolulu Zoo no longer has resident chimpanzees as it begins renovations to the now-empty chimpanzee habitat and viewing area built in the 1990s.

Kumi and Kibale were the last of a community of chimpanzees that once resided at the zoo’s African Savanna. The pair came from St. Louis Zoo in 1994, along with three male chimpanzees, Boo, Roscoe and Roscoe’s son Konakona.

Later, male chimpanzees Nalu and Puiwa would join them, having been born at the zoo in 1995 and 1999, respectively.

Roscoe and Boo died in 2021, according to the zoo. Then Konakona, 30, along with Nalu, 29, and Puiwa, 25 were identified as genetically valuable and enlisted to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan breeding program.

Puiwa was moved to Los Angeles in February 2022, and Konakona and Nalu were relocated to Dallas in June 2022, to potentially start their own families.

“Over the years, our staff has done a stellar job taking care of all of our chimpanzees, and many of us were very fortunate to have the opportunity of a lifetime witnessing Nalu and Puiwa’s birth, helping to enrich their lives, and watching them grow and mature,” said Honolulu Zoo Director Linda Santos in a news release. “The chimpanzees were also a guest favorite at the Honolulu Zoo as people would flock to see them when they heard the chimps actively screaming and yelling, banging on walls, playfully wrestling and fighting with each other, and even spitting water at others.”

“It’s a bittersweet feeling as we will dearly miss all of the chimps,” she continued, “each with a different personality and character, yet we are all very excited for them to start another chapter of their lives in new social groupings in beautiful AZA-affiliated facilities.”

Chimpanzees, a species of great apes native to the forests and savannahs of Africa, are listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. They are highly social and can live to be over 50, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

While the chimpanzee habitat is under construction, Honolulu Zoo said its animal care team will work with the AZA and its network of accredited zoos to bring primates back to the zoo’s African Savanna.