I’ve been working closely with chimpanzees for over a decade now, and sometimes I forget how unusual my job is. Just like anything you do day in and day out, being a chimpanzee caregiver starts to feel routine after awhile. Not boring – never boring! – but routine. It’s such a strange and amazing little world we caregivers live in, but because we live in it, it seems downright normal. We find ourselves in some truly surreal situations here at the sanctuary – stuffing a troll doll’s head with peanut butter for an enrichment project or wearing a single ill-fitting cowboy boot and taking a perimeter walk around Young’s Hill with the alpha chimpanzee – but even these things stop seeming weird the longer you do them.
But I’ve learned that no matter how many days, months, or years I spend caring for chimps, they never lose their power to captivate. Sometimes it’s seeing them do something amazing or funny or endearing that takes me back a decade or so to when I was first falling in love with chimps. And sometimes it’s just having a moment to study their incredible faces. I find myself mesmerized by each hair, wrinkle, freckle, and scar.
Annie:
Jody:
Burrito:
Foxie:
Such beautiful faces!
beautiful words and portraits–thank you!
Thanks for sharing! I love the beautiful, expressive faces!
I am not sure who is doing this blog but I want to personally thank you and hopefully one day in person. You are amazing in all that you write and I have grown to know and love each and everyone of these relatives of ours. You are a gift to us that follow the postings and the gang is so lucky to have you looking after them. Or is it the other way around?
Please feel free to post the people behind the scenes. I want to know all of you too.
Today was my first round of shots to go to Africa to see the Gorillas.