Jamie has a mind that never sleeps. We do our best to keep her occupied and enriched, but sometimes she has to take matters into her own hands. It’s not unusual to find Jamie working on a project of her own making – anything from stuffing socks into a hollow tube, to pouring liquid back and forth from one container to another, to tying knots in scarves. (She even participated in routine fecal sample collection once.)
Interestingly, Jamie often prefers that these activities are done in privacy. As soon as she notices a caregiver watching – or even worse, trying to film or take photos – she stops what she’s doing. This morning I caught her using the wooden blocks in the photo below to hammer the red plastic stick into the floor of the playroom. Even though I knew I was pushing my luck, I grabbed the camera in hopes that I might get a video for the blog, but not surprisingly, the game was over as soon as she spotted me.
Speaking of keeping the chimps enriched, we posted the photo below to our Facebook page this morning and asked everyone to guess whose feet are socked up so stylishly. The answer is Missy! Missy and Jody both love to wear socks (and in fact these particular socks were sent to Jody by her Pal Sandy Nelson), but typically it’s only one at a time. Missy loves to pull on a sock (or two) when she’s feeling a little playful. (If you’re wondering why we’re okay posting photos of Missy wearing socks while we advocate against the use of chimpanzee “performers” wearing clothes in movies and on TV, please visit this page.)
So cute. Love the color!
Such sweet little feet.
Jamie’s creativity and intelligence blows me away and I never tire hearing stories about her. But the routine fecal sample collection in a troll doll head takes the cake. All kidding aside, I really appreciate and love her more and more as I get to know her. She is magnificent. Jamie even looks intelligent to me. How in the world did she exist in the lab and keep her sanity over all those years? Sigh.
Upon see the photo of Missy in those little lime green socks I burst out laughing! And I just knew those little muscular legs belonged to her. Oh that photo is sooooo sweet and funny.
Thanks for the laugh and thanks the enrichment you give us with every post!
I’m so glad to see that Jamie likes her red boots!! Makes me happy – as we used to say when my kids were little – gives me a
warm fuzzy!:)