Archives for January 22, 2014

It was a bit of a weird day at the chimp house today. For the past few days the area has been surrounded in freezing fog and the frost line can be seen just above where the sanctuary sits. The tree line above Young’s Hill is completely covered in hoar frost and it really looks magical. But even though it’s very cold outside, that hasn’t stopped the chimpanzees from venturing onto Young’s Hill for quick trips before returning to the warmth of the chimp house. Before going out this afternoon, I caught Foxie sitting in front of the door to Young’s Hill with her troll, seemingly debating if she felt like braving the cold with the other chimpanzees.

Foxie and her troll seemed to have a brief consultation over the situation.

I guess they came to an agreement and then Foxie tossed the troll on her back and off they went.

Foxie on a platform with the icy tree line behind her.

Other than the cold temperatures, the freezing fog hasn’t seemed to affect things too much down here. Until today. In the middle of the afternoon we suddenly lost power. This isn’t a common occurrence, and when it does happen, it usually doesn’t last long. Again, until today. It seems the ice had weighed down the power lines. When it became apparent that it might be awhile before our power was restored we ushered the chimpanzees inside and began our emergency protocol to get the generator running and make sure the chimp house stayed warm.

Here’s Jody bringing in her prized chunk of ice she found in one of the tire swings on the hill.

Of course, the chimpanzees knew something was going on but handled it all with ease. Thankfully the power company arrived quickly and went to work on the problem. Not without the supervision of Foxie (and her troll), who watched from the window, where she kindly allowed me to snap a photo of her beautiful face.

Perhaps thanks to Foxie and her troll’s supervision, the power company had everything up and running again just in time for dinner. One thing’s for sure, there is never a dull moment at the chimp house.