Brooks was born into the entertainment world in Los Angeles and was worked in movies, television, and commercials, as well as on stage doing live acts at both Florida and California Universal Studios tourist attractions. When he became too large for his trainers to handle, he was retired at age 6, while still only a juvenile.

Brooks arrived at the Center for Great Apes having had very little experience with other chimpanzees during his working years as an infant and juvenile. He was nervous around the sanctuary chimpanzees and screamed frequently in fear when he was being introduced to them. In order to fit in with the other chimpanzees in Grub's group, he had to learn appropriate chimpanzee behaviors and responses.

Brooks first learned how to be submissive to Grub, the dominant male of the group. He had the most difficulty with Noelle (only 3 weeks younger than Brooks) because she was jealous of the attention he was getting from the other chimpanzees and staff .

His firstl friend was Kenya. She immediately liked Brooks and kept giving him big hugs the first day she met him. He didn’t know how to respond, but after months of caution, he finally learned to play, tickle, and groom with Kenya, Noelle, Grub and Toddy.

We did notice, though, that Brooks didn't really play with toys or objects
like the other juvenile and adolescent chimpanzees. When given new items, he
would sit back quietly and watch the others play.

In his first few years at the sanctuary, Brooks and Grub formed a close bond where Brooks would run to Grub for reassurance when he was frightened or excited. However, as Brooks became a young adult male… and with no learning experience as an infant where he could watch older males interact… Brooks started challenging Grub for dominance of the group when he was only 10 and Grub was 13. The girls in the group – Toddy, Kenya, and Noelle -- always backed up Grub in the boys’ skirmishes, and Brooks became stressed at his inability to win his dominance quest.

When a group of Hollywood chimpanzees arrived at the sanctuary in 2005, there was an opportunity to move Brooks into a younger group where he could develop some leadership skills. At first, he was once again frightened of the youngsters (Mowgli, Natsu and Angel) but soon established a friendship with them, playing and grooming together.

While Brooks continues to make progress in learning to live with chimpanzees, he's still very attached to his human caregivers and seeks their attention frequently.

Just like Toddy, his favorite foods are celery, leafy greens, and tomatoes.
Brooks doesn’t like corn and usually gives it to Natsu, who in turn, lets
Brooks eat her celery.