CLEVELAND -- Three Cleveland Metroparks Zoo chimpanzees will soon have a new home.

The female chimpanzees, Binti, Bo and Jackie, are moving to the Knoxville Zoo, where they will enjoy a larger exhibit area and a spacious outdoor habitat, officials said.

Jackie, age 34, came to the Zoo in 1976 after being rescued in Africa.

Bo and Binti are 23. Bo was born at the Zoo in 1984, and Binti arrived in 1985 after being hand-raised by keepers at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas, officials said.

"Of course it's difficult to see these chimps leaving the Zoo, but they're going to a great home," said Zoo Director Steve Taylor. "We're going to do everything we can to make sure they have a smooth transition, and we're confident that this move is in the best interest of the chimps."

The space currently used by Binti, Bo and Jackie at the Primate, Cat & Aquatics Building likely will be used as additional room for the Zoo's gorillas or baboons.

"If we could renovate our chimp exhibit right now, we would; but it's not something we can do yet," Taylor said. "Meanwhile, our chimps will live in an incredible facility in Knoxville."

They will join six other chimps and be reunited with male chimp Jimbo, who was their longtime companion at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo until he moved in 2006.