Archives for November 2013

The Great PiÃ±ata Heist

November 8, 2013 by Katelyn

The chimpanzees had some special guests today! Friend of the chimpanzees (and the humans!) Adrienne Armstrong, along and her family and friends, Ollie, Jessy, and Jamie, paid a visit to the sanctuary to volunteer in the chimp house. And they brought the chimpanzees piñatas! And you’ll never guess who made a haul of all the loot…Annie!

As you may recall from a previous post, as the least dominant of the chimpanzees, this is quite a bold move for Annie and an undertaking not without some risk involved. As the boss of the sanctuary, Jamie typically makes a quick claim to enrichment like piñatas, leaving the other chimps to wait for an opportunity to see if anything was missed when she casts them aside. But today Jamie was distracted by a new pair of boots being “chimp approved” in the kitchen so Annie decided to make her move.

Jamie was briefly torn between seeing Annie with the piñatas, and staff with the new boots, but after screaming at Annie once and throwing a blanket at her from the loft, the prospective new boots won Jamie’s attention. And Annie seized not only her opportunity, but all, yes ALL, of the piñatas!

Annie wasn’t even swayed by her best (and more dominant) friend, Missy, who continually approached her while peering at her and moderately suggesting she hand the loot over. Annie just calmly picked up the piñatas and moved her spoils elsewhere. Gotta love this girl.

Thank you so much, Adrienne, Ollie, Jessy and Jamie, for all that you do for the chimpanzees and for making their day (especially Annie’s!!) special!

Enriching Jamie

November 7, 2013 by Elizabeth

Caregiver Debbie recently ordered a new food puzzle for the chimpanzees. She just got one of them for now so we could make sure it was chimp-proof (safe and sturdy) and up to Jamie’s standards. Since Jamie’s mind is always three steps ahead, she’s hard to keep enriched. One of our daily priorities is finding projects and puzzles that challenge or entertain her. If something keeps her occupied for a few minutes, we consider it a success!

The new food puzzle was a success, as you’ll see in this video.

The simple things

November 6, 2013 by Katelyn

This afternoon I went out to see who might be in the greenhouse and I found this good looking guy (Burrito, if you are new the the blog!) just hanging out:

Burrito often becomes shy when the camera comes out but he remained pretty calm and nonchalant, until…

I pointed out a lone potato that had been left over from lunch. The look on his face is as if to say, “WHAT?! A potato?!” (Notice that precision focus):

After a quick scan of the greenhouse to make sure no one was watching, he silently swung down, grabbed the potato, and took it back to the top platform to gaze at adoringly and enjoy:

The simple things in life. I am always thankful to the chimpanzees for reminding me to appreciate the little things.

Chimps’ Choice: Clean House!

November 5, 2013 by Debbie

Every day, we clean the chimpanzees’ enclosures to make sure they can enjoy a nice and tidy home. This is what occupies a large portion of a caregiver’s day—and it takes a lot of elbow grease, but we are happy to do it! As you can imagine we go through cleaning supplies pretty quickly. Some of the items we are frequently in need of are gloves, dish soap (which is what we use to scrub the floors), disinfectant, garbage bags, and miscellaneous tools like scrubber pads or bottle brushes (perfect for scrubbing enrichment).

Volunteer Becca cleans the upstairs story of the playroom

I try to keep our Amazon Wishlist updated frequently when we start to run low on these things, for those folks that like to help us out with in-kind donations. Check out the list—right now there’s a bunch of supplies marked as the “highest priority,” but it is always changing. Sometimes we have enrichment items for the chimps like Kong puzzles or sturdy plastic toys, or food items like peanut butter, soymilk, or tea.

NOTE: Amazon does not send us information about who purchased the wonderful gifts for us, so if you choose to send us something from the list (whether it’s today or anytime in the future) please let me know at [email protected] and we’ll be sure to send you a thank you! If you have any other questions about things on the Wishlist please feel free to send me an email.

Do you have a favorite?

November 4, 2013 by Jennifer

People often ask me, “Who is your favorite chimp?” I typically give a diplomatic answer, sounding like a parent who refuses to choose a favorite. For me, it’s just so hard to choose! However, I see how many of you are drawn to a particular chimpanzee because of their interests and personality. For instance,

If you are a leader and like to be bossy, you may choose Jamie as your favorite.

If your friends are worried about your obsession with troll dolls, you are probably a Foxie fan.

If you keep a bag of potato chips by your bedside, Burrito is your man.

If you and your best friend are inseparable, you probably admire Annie and Missy’s unbreakable bond.

If you would rather spend the day in your pj’s while watching a movie, Negra is most likely the Queen of your heart.

If you are introspective and wise, then you and Jody are most likely pals.

Regardless who you choose as your favorite, each of them have won a special place in our hearts. We are grateful that you love them as deeply as you do. In honor of our favorite chimpanzees, this November we are kicking off a contest to see what chimp can get the most Chimpanzee Pals. Sign up today to sponsor your favorite chimp! The contest ends December 31, 2013. Let the games begin!

Chimp ID: Negra

November 3, 2013 by Elizabeth

Today we conclude our series of blog posts on chimpanzee identification with Negra. (If you missed the posts about Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, or Missy, click on their names.)

Negra is the oldest of the chimps at the sanctuary, and because of her wise and regal air, we call her our Queen. Negra has a mostly dark face with white freckles on her chin and in her ears: