Santino was the chimpanzee at Furuvik Zoo who stockpiled stones before throwing them at visitors.
Santino was a male chimpanzee kept on an island enclosure at Furuvik Zoo near Gävle, Sweden. In 2009, keepers observed him gathering stones from the surrounding moat and breaking pieces of concrete into crude discs. He placed the ammunition mainly on the side of the island facing visitors, then threw it when crowds arrived.
Cognitive zoologists Mathias Osvath and Elin Karvonen studied the behavior as evidence of advance planning. The important observation was not simply that Santino threw objects, but that he collected and positioned them before the relevant situation occurred. Researchers described this as spontaneous innovation for future-directed deception, while recognizing that interpreting animal intentions requires caution.
Santino later became internationally famous through reports in the BBC and scientific literature. He was castrated in an attempt to reduce aggressive behavior. In December 2022, he was killed after escaping during the Furuvik Zoo chimpanzee incident.