All the time we refer to different places in the chimp house on the blog—you’ve probably seen us write about the front rooms, the playroom, the greenhouse, and of course Young’s Hill. I can imagine that it might not make a lot of sense for the majority of our blog readers who have never seen the inside of the sanctuary!
So with this in mind I put together a virtual tour. I am a very visual person, so this sort of thing would help me out a lot and I’m hoping it helps you all too! For an idea of how the normal day goes, read this blog about the daily routine.
I also thought to include a map of the chimp house. You’ll notice a lot of letters and numbers between the rooms—these are the different chimp doors. Since we never enter the enclosures at the same time as the chimpanzees, we have another person check the doors before we unlock for cleaning. It’s nice to have a label for each door when we report our checks to the staff caregiver who is unlocking.
Excellent thank you! A few more questions. Do they spend the night in the four front rooms? Do friends like Missy and Annie sleep close by or are they solitary sleepers? Are there any who haven’t adapted to having nesting materials and sleep exposed like in the @#*%$&+ labs? Do they generally settle down when the humans are leaving and they realize the kitchen is closed? That’s when my dogs go to bed.
Thanks for all the questions! Here’s my attempt at answering them:
They actually have access to all the front rooms, the playroom, and the greenhouse overnight so they can sleep wherever they prefer. The front rooms usually don’t have a lot of nests in them, so I think they mostly prefer to sleep in the playroom – usually on the loft or the catwalk. Chimps naturally like to be up high when they go to bed.
We leave before they really start to go to sleep, so I can’t be sure if they sleep together, or more solitary but occasionally we find nests next to one another, and I do think Missy and Annie do sleep near each other 🙂
Both Burrito and Foxie don’t really make nests. They display something we call “phantom nesting” – because they have the instinct to nest, so we see them clapping as if they’re breaking branches together like they would in the wild. Burrito a nest thief and will sometimes curl up in an already created nest by one of the other chimps. Foxie still prefers to sleep on the concrete, perhaps because that is what she is used to. But she’s slowly becoming more comfortable with nesting 🙂 When she starts to “phantom nest” we give her blankets and she sort of places them around her. On her birthday last month, the paparazzi caught her building a true blanket-filled nest! https://chimpsnw.org/2013/08/foxie-on-her-37th-birthday/
They do start to settle in when we close up for the night, but usually they have an “evening enrichment project” to work on – something we set up every evening to keep them occupied for a little while after we’re gone until they decide to go to bed. Before I leave at the end of the day, I say goodnight and make a “nest grunt” sound and sometimes get a response or two back. See this blog from awhile ago for an example: https://chimpsnw.org/2010/10/nest-grunts/
Do the chimps have a view of the kitchen? Also do they sleep together?
mom?
They do have a view of the kitchen! The playroom loft is actually on top of the four front rooms, so they can see directly into the kitchen from there. Also, hanging on the playroom door they can watch us prepare meals. The loft is where Jamie goes to get our attention to put a boot on and go for a walk 🙂
We leave before they really start to go to sleep, so I can’t be sure if they sleep together, but occasionally we find nests next to one another. I think Missy and Annie do sleep near each other 🙂
Re: Kerri’s response. Mom???? I don’t understand
Im sorry, My moms name is Diana, and she keeps up with the 7. So, I was asking “are you my mom”/ 😉