I’ve never seen a chimpanzee sleep so soundly and for so long as Burrito did after his dental procedure yesterday. He slept from mid afternoon yesterday straight through to this morning.
J.B. and I decided to leave the playroom empty so that Burrito could have a peaceful rest without the girls disturbing him, They spent the day in the greenhouse and Young’s Hill. Around 7:00 last night I opened up a couple of the front rooms for the girls for the night, leaving one empty as a buffer between him and them.
Even with the noise of operating doors, Burrito continued to sleep soundly. Burrito’s position in Front Room One meant that the girls couldn’t see him. They sure did try, though. I had taken the photo above of him sleeping, so I decided to show that to whoever wanted to take a look. Jamie stared at it for a very long time – I’ve only seen her look at photos that long when they are of herself.
Jamie seemed reassured that Burrito was okay, and made her nest up on the bench in Front Room Three, with Foxie bedding down next to her. Negra was very eager to make a nest. She chose a spot on the floor in Front Room Three and used most of the blankets that were in that room, so I handed out more. Jody made her nest on the lower bench in Front Room Four, which allowed her to see down the hallway.
When Missy and Annie went back out to the greenhouse after trying to see Burrito, I went out to see what they were up to. It turns out they had decided to camp out on the top of the structure of the greenhouse.
Here’s Missy making her nest at the top of the structure:
And here she is, all covered up and ready for sleep:
I handed out more blankets to Annie, and she made her bed next to Missy:
When I went back a few hours later, Burrito was still sleeping, and either Missy or Annie had moved into the upper bench in Front Room Four. I didn’t want to disturb sleeping chimpanzees, so I don’t know who it was, but either Annie or Missy had a nice sleep out in the greenhouse, which was probably a first for an overnight!
This morning, Burrito was much more alert – all that sleep served him well!
He was anxious to get back with the group, but we wanted him to rest up some more, which was probably good because the ladies had a fight this afternoon, so it was just as well that he stayed out of that.
As is the routine after a fight, grooming commenced. Here is Missy, Jody, and Foxie:
Burrito was back to his usual self by the late afternoon:
By the time dinner came around, everyone was insisting that they be reunited. And so they were.
In the photo below, Burrito is standing bipedally and Foxie, Negra, Jody, and Missy are all rushing to greet him.
Foxie was particularly enthusiastic with her greeting:
And here’s Mr. B doing what he loves most – eating. He’ll be on a soft food diet for a few days, so there will probably be many more baked sweet potatoes in his future:
