As we swing into Independence Day, there will be even more hooting and hollering than usual in the Tropical Forest Complex! In addition to being America’s 250^th celebration, the Fourth of July is the 22^nd birthday of our favorite female Stuhlmann’s blue monkey, Boopster.

The red, white, and blue monkey Boopster is one of our most sociable simians. Zoo guests know her well as she is always ready to interact with them in her habitat window. She loves to investigate everyone’s fashion choices, including fun earrings, hair clips, and even tattoos. She shows the same interest to her keepers when she is off habitat.

Boopster was born on July 4, 2004, at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and came to Pittsburgh in 2011 with our other blue monkeys, male Ricky and female Noki. Boopster and Ricky are half siblings and share the same father, while 27-year-old Noki and 20-year-old Ricky are mother and son. Ricky only has one arm – the other was amputated when he was younger following an injury at his other zoo.

Native to the forest canopies of Kenya and Tanzania, blue monkeys are not really blue but have a grayish cast that appears indigo. They spend most of their lives in the treetops and rarely come to the ground. Blue monkeys play an important role in their environment as seed dispersers: their fruit-heavy diet contributes to forest regeneration and supports many other species who share their ecosystem. At the Zoo, the blue monkeys love training and enrichment, especially peanuts and bananas!

As coincidence of the calendar, two other Pittsburgh Zoo monkeys share the ape-triotic birthday of both America and Boopster.  July 4^th birthdays, too. Fizzle the female capuchin monkey and Cindy, the female colobus monkey, mark milestones at 32 and 26 respectively. There will be stars, stripes, and monkey business as we celebrate our primate Golden Girls!