It’s 6pm. We’ve given the chimps their dinner, spot cleaned the playroom, passed out fresh blankets for nesting, and finished our long closing checklist to make the sure the chimps are safe, comfortable, and secure overnight. Each of the chimps is either finishing their after dinner food puzzle or settling into their nests for the evening. It’s time to call it a day. But we can’t leave until the boss gives us the OK and that can get complicated when your boss is a 37-year-old chimpanzee with a cowboy boot obsession.
Sure, it’s possible to just close the door and leave, but we’d be walking away from one very frustrated and potentially angry chimpanzee. Because when she goes to bed, she needs to take certain boots with her, and it’s our job to figure out which ones she is after.
Tonight, it took three staff members to model all her current favorites. We danced, did the moonwalk, and pirouetted for her. One particular pair grabbed her interest, and as I held them up near the caging, she began to groom them.
The grooming turned into tickling as I did my best attempt at chimp laughter (chimp laughter is akin to hyperventilating and can have similar consequences if humans do it too long or too enthusiastically).
You can tell when Jamie is finally satisfied. She lets our a low moan of approval and echos the nest grunts from her family as they bed down throughout the playroom. She begins to build her own nest by surrounding herself with blankets and weaving them into the caging.
Then, and only then, are we allowed to leave. But not with the boots – those stay with the boss.
i LOVED this post…i love it when you let us in on some of the behind the scenes stuff…thanks so much.
Gotta love b the queen.
Great post! I wonder why Jamie finds boots so appealing? It must be a wonderful feeling to be a caregiver to these very special beings!
I’ve often wondered this, too. My theory is she had a human ally/friend either in the lab or when she was a pet that wore cowboy boots. Maybe she grew to associate them with friendship.
Wonderful that you guys engage in this nightly ritual with this most deserving chimp.
Love Jamie… and the cowgirl boots 🙂 Sweet little idiosyncrasy.
How patient and kind you are to attend Jamie’s needs. When she arrived at the sanctuary, did she come with a pair of cowboy boots? If not, how this whole boot thing get started at CSNW? She is one amazing chimp who is very specific. She knows what she likes and wants and she makes sure she gets it! What a girl!
We’re not sure where she got her love for cowboy boots. We discovered it early on when a visitor to the sanctuary came wearing them, and all of the rituals developed from there as we gave her more and more boots and tried to figure out exactly what it was that she liked about them.
Gotta ove her.
HILARIOUS!
Was she in the circus or a pet? I can’t remember…but someone with cowboy boots was kind to her…. and she loved them…. that is my theory……
Hi Lorraine – She was owned by a trainer until she was 9 years old, but that’s about all we know.