The chimpanzees are ready to harvest their garden! The garden, however, is still growing. But try telling that to the chimpanzees. Thanks to the hard work of volunteer caregiver, Denice, it’s really starting to take off!
And Jamie is keeping a close watch on it. Every single day:
This is what Jamie has her eye on from atop her barrel at the barn doors:
Every day Jamie and Missy in particular look out the windows and emphatically gesture toward something they would like to taste. So far we’ve been able to oblige the chimpanzees’ requests with chives, strawberries and today, onions! Jamie takes in the view of the garden, sliding from window to window on top of her barrel by pulling herself along the walls:
Or if you’re Missy, you balance on a tire while checking out the garden:
The garden not only helps us supplement the chimps’ diet and adds beauty to their home, but as you can see, it also provides great enrichment for them. It’s a wonderful thing for them to be able to ask for something they see and for us to be able to harvest it for them.
Much to the chimpanzees’ delight, volunteer caregiver, Erin, was able to serve them onions from the garden today at lunch. You should have heard the never-ending happy foot grunts from Jamie:
Jody was so excited she was a little pilo (hair standing on end) and reaching out to get Erin’s attention for more:
Having a more dominant position in the hierarchy, Jody thought she would also help herself to Negra’s onion. You can see Negra (left) with a fear grimace reaching out in a submissive manner to touch Jody, asking permission to keep her onion. While this is a normal part of chimpanzee society, it’s actually pretty rare that anyone decides to take anything from Negra. She seems to fall outside the hierarchy and maintains a level of respect from the other chimps overall. It must be her role as queen! But the garden onions elicited quite a bit of excitement and Jody was unswayed by Negra’s royal status.
But of course, there was enough to go around and Negra was able to enjoy some onions along with everyone else:
After all that excitement, Annie cuddled up with a blanket for a peaceful afternoon nap in the warm breeze:
such a wonderful story!
Thank you Denise for making this all possible!
Beautiful! Thank you Denise for your kindness!
Oh, I love this so much. Now, I know what to call those sounds I make when I eat something wonderful that I just picked from my own little patch!
This read like a delightful storybook! The garden by Denise is a garden so lovely and perfect even Martha Stewart would be envious. I would never have imagined that the chimps enjoy watching their garden grow and I would never have imagined that Jody had a higher ranking than Queen Negra. But taking Negra’s onion?!?! Now that’s unimaginable for sure! ; )
Loved this post, thanks Katelyn!
very sweet. Please think about my offer. I can come up every three months and volunteer for a week.. I am not afraid to get my hands dirty.
This was a lovely post about the Chimp’s beautiful garden! I’m wondering…is there anything that they cannot have…other than people food of course…that is a natural food or growing wild that might make them ill? Also I had asked about popcorn in a previous post but can’t remember which one it was to go back and see the answer!
And yes, I too am shocked that anyone would take something away from Queen Negra! 🙂
Hi Chris,
Thank you and so glad you enjoyed the post. We serve the chimpanzees primarily fresh fruit and vegetables with a few nuts and seeds. We also add protein powder to their breakfast smoothies each morning and avoid anything with added sugar or salt. Annie is allergic to mangoes so those are off the menu but they love most fresh produce. We were just talking yesterday about the variety of wild plants the chimps (particularly Jody) love to harvest from Young’s Hill! We research all the plants they have access to and confer with our veterinarian to be safe. And yes, we do occasionally add plain popcorn to their night bags, or in buckets outside the caging for enrichment.
Oh that’s good to know that they can enjoy popcorn too, like the rest of us! 🙂 Can they enjoy things like raisins, dates or any other dried fruits or do you just mainly give them fresh. Oh, what about peanut butter? The next time I come over, I will bring another big bag of Salal…I have tons of it growing in my yard and I do not use any chemicals of any kind anywhere in my home or gardens! 🙂
Chris,
Yes, we do primarily serve the chimps fresh fruits and veggies. They do love dried fruits and peanut butter (no added sugar, salt, chemicals) and we primarily use these in the night bags and food puzzles. But we limit the quantity of these as well to avoid too much additional sugar/fat to their diets. We often have approved items on our Amazon Wishlist and also have care packages of nuts through Nuts.com. Our guidelines for chimp safe food can be a helpful resource as well so I am adding it here for your convenience: http://www.chimpsnw.org/you_can_help/single/see-our-wish-list
Thanks for your questions and for caring about these amazing chimps! 🙂
The Garden story would make a wonderful children’s picture book.