- Chimp Haven is a retirement facility.

This is their forever home.

This is where they come to explore

and live like chimpanzees.

(chimpanzees chattering)

In June 2013,

the director of the National Institutes of Health

made an announcement that virtually all of the chimpanzees

would be retired from research.

We have close to 200 chimpanzees here now.

Around half of our colony are veterans of research

that was focused on a cure for HIV/AIDS,

as well as Hepatitis C.

And so, as a result of that,

those chimpanzees had to be infected with those viruses.

- Good morning, Gina!

Genetically, I'd say we're about 98% identical

to a chimpanzee.

And, as you can imagine, that's why they were ideal subjects

in test studies because they wanna learn more

about how they can benefit humans.

So, I would definitely say

that the human and chimp relationship

is one that is ever-evolving.

Give me your hand.

Give me your hand.

Good girl!

They're a lot like us and our family dynamics.

You see siblings, they're interacting,

they're playing with one another.

Every relationship is different;

it's just like us with humans.

Certain individuals you'll have

really close intimate relationships with; some not so much.

- We also have seen some behavioral changes

where a chimpanzee might appear to be overly timid

and, you know, see a change in that over time.

We might see that a chimpanzee is a lot more interested

in exploring the five-and-a-half-acre habitat,

and this might've been the first opportunity

that they had to do that.

- I think it's such a great benefit to know

that this is where they'll live out the rest of their lives

and to know that despite whatever their past may be,

we are at least giving them the opportunity

to live out a time of retirement

where they're with other chimps,

where they're able to exhibit

these species' typical behaviors,

and they're just able to be chimps

and know that, you know what?

Life is good.