Today, we gave Foxie the giant troll doll donated by supporter, Steve. Notice the mothering behavior. It makes me terribly sad that Foxie never got to mother a child of her own, even though she had several. This video makes it clear to me that she would have been an excellent mother.
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Steve, what a very nice thing you did for Foxie. You know she’s happy when she claps her hands, this doll will be her baby from here on out. Here’s a pant-hoot to you Steve!
This is a sweet video.
Maybe Jody could be ‘Aunt Jody’ like the way George has his ‘Aunt Julie’ and ‘Aunt Debbie’ at the Knoxville Zoo. See the site ‘Chimp Family Chronicles’ for pictures and video of baby George, his mom, and his aunts.
I’ve never seen a troll that large! Nice find Steve! You made Foxie very, very happy.
Wow Steve, nice present!! I loved seeing Foxie with her troll and knew how loving she was with them but I never imagined Jody would be so caring as well. I wonder if she does see herself as “Aunt”. I’m sure by now all of them know the trolls are Foxie’s. Thanks Jackie.
I guess there would never be the opportunity to add a rescued baby chimp to the 7 at this stage – it makes me sad too that Foxie will only ever had stuffed toys to take the place of motherhood.
bless her heart ~ ?
I must say, only a mother could love that troll. Not the prettiest baby I have ever seen. I wonder if it will end up bald.
It breaks my heart that humans have been so so horrible to animals, including chimpanzees. Foxie should never have had to have a doll substitute–but I am glad she does. We owe them SO much.
Foxie reminds me so much of April at Save the Chimps who adopted baby Mel after her mother rejected her. She is a natural mother with her trolls and they seem to bring her joy. What a sweet, loving girl she is.
I think it is because the troll dolls share enough facial and body similarities with baby chimps that Foxie has been taken with them -except for their hair which she obviously eliminates in most dolls! Some troll dolls even have big brown eyes similar to chimp babies.
This large troll doll is obviously a great addition to her enrichment. As Edie pointed out -it looked like Jody demonstrated the same actions with the troll doll as “aunt” chimps do with real chimp babies…
Jody gave birth to and forcibly gave up many babies as well, one wonders if the size of this wonderful troll elicits some mother instinct. To me it felt like Jody was interacting like a mother too. maybe just recognizing Foxie’s initial claim.
I maybe wrong but my observation has been that Jamie generally “scalps” the trolls, not Foxie. It will be intereting to see what happens with the large one.
Great news about the auction, it felt like a resounding success all night, it’s amazing how generous people are!!!
As a father, the idea of anyone taking away my two children would make me want to kill, and I’m a very peaceful person. What injustice has been done to all the chimp moms at CSNW – especially Foxie.
This is a bittersweet video, but videos like this MUST be shown to prove to all that chimps are loving, feeling, nurturing animals.
It just kills me that there can’t be baby chimp for all to love.
Would it be dangerous (potentially lethal) to introduce a rescued infant (1-5) year old chimp to the mix?
Also, it was very interesting at the 1:20 mark of the video when there was some commotion that Foxie scooped up her troll baby and protected it.
MS,
It probably is outside of the time, labor and logistics for CSNW to be able to introduce a chimp baby or juvenile to be parented by one of the 6 females. All that I have read/seen about doing this is that it takes an extended amount of time to introduce the baby to the adults and visa versa. Also remember that these chimps are only 1 year or so out of mind-numbing, medical testing captivity so it is improbable that they have seen a healthy chimp mother/baby role model anytime recently, if eve, or too far in the past if captured from the wild. Sad to say.
The best idea might be to create a correctly modelled chimp baby doll for the female chimps to have to attach to or perhaps that would not be a good idea as it would essentially taunt them with their losses.
The only other way for them to parent would probably be if Burrito’s vasecomy (I am presuming this has been done) and/or the birth control methods for the females fail. That would be a big oops…
That would be a big oops!! The reason the chimps are fixed is so that there won’t be any more chimps in captivity. Chimps should be in the wild and by bringing a baby into the world we are creating one more captive for 40-60 years.