A chimp whose name is Brent won $ 10000 in a "Chimpanzee Art Contest." The contest was organized by The Human Society of the United States. The victory was decided by public vote.

The chimp Brent is from Chimp Haven Louisiana and is said to have used his tongue for the painting. Dr. Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall institute and UN messenger for peace was a judge in the contest.

Dr. Jane selected another chimp "Cheetah" from Florida for the judged prize. The judged prize carries a $ 5000 as prize. The chimp also placed second in the public vote which carried an additional $ 5000.

The prize money will go as grants to the sanctuaries housing the chimps. Some of the animals living in these sanctuaries like Cheetah were said to be living in laboratory as a test subject.

Chimpanzees from six sanctuaries are said to have participated in the contest - Brent from Safe Haven, Cheetah from Save the Chimps, Jamie from Chimpanzee, Patti from Chimps Inc, Jenny from Primate Rescue and Ripley from Centre for Great Apes.

While the first two places went to Brent and cheetah the third place with a $ 2,500 grant went to Ripley. The other sanctuaries will receive a grant of $500 regardless of whether their chimps win a place or not.

The background and interesting facts about the participating chimps were posted on the Human Society of United States Web site.

Brent is said to love to play and laugh he is also protective of "grandma," who is the oldest resident of Chimp Haven. Ripley was in a zoo and saw his brothers shot when they escaped due to a human error.

Jamie is said to have an active mind and loves activities. Jenny was born in a biomedical research lab in New York. She was rescued by Primate Rescue Centre and now has ten chimpanzee friends. Patti was raised by people and used to perform for the crowds. She now lives at Chimps Inc.

The paintings of the chimpanzees from the art contest are set to go for an auction sale on eBay. The proceeds are said to benefit the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance.