If you ever climbed trees as a kid, you might remember that going up is the easy part…
…getting back down is an entirely different challenge.
Foxie seemed unprepared for the latter when she climbed to the roof of Carlene’s Tower with her Dora doll to check out the view. It took her a few minutes to formulate a plan and work up the courage to get herself and Dora back down safely.
I found myself holding my breath as she made a few different attempts to lower herself to the platform below.
But she is a chimpanzee after all, so both she and Dora returned from their sightseeing excursion without incident.
And I see by the smile on Foxie’s face in the last photo it was all worth the thrill! (I was holding by breath too, just looking at the photos made me nervous). Fabulous photos — breathing I should say!
What an incredible moment! I never imagined that any of them would try to get on the roof of Carlene’s Tower. What an accomplishment for Foxie
Wow! How Foxie has grown! I bet she felt so proud of her accomplishment! I’m glad you were there to record it and share the joy with her JB.
Great pictures to show us how adventurous she was, along with the beautiful view from up there – so glad Foxie and Dora both made it down safely. I love the way Dora rides on Foxie’s back.
I remember those days! Sure was fun climbing up, going down was totally a different story. Reading this put a smile on my face because of the memories and because Foxie is exploring more. 🙂 Thank you for the daily blogs. It is nice to get a glimpse of their lives.
yay Foxie!
Thank goodness she brought Dora down too. You didn’t have to climb up and rescue her !!
When we discovered CSNW, Foxie had just arrived and was a damaged, broken chimpanzee. Now look at her! We are so proud to be a part of this amazing sanctuary which is filled with people who are always advocating for the chimps and whose love has propelled these chimps into lives of dignity and joy, allowed them to be chimps in the wild on Young’s Hill and all of the wonderful opportunities for growth found on that hill. Kudos to Foxie and to the humans who make all of this possible. Wonderful post! When I saw her on the roof, I wondered how she would succeed in getting down, but she did it!
She’s pretty proud of herself, isn’t she? Great photos!
First Doro is thrown up then Foxie lifts herself up. Great view until she realizes whoops, what did I do. I’m holding my breath just looking at these photos. She would never have been able to do all of this “fun stuff” without the love, caring, and attention you have given her and these beautiful Seven.
Could I ask you please if Negra is happy? In all of the pictures I see of her she isn’t playing, she just sits there with no expression. I know she is the “Queen”, but I worry about her. After all she has been thru I can understand the sadness, but the other chimps are shown playing, moving around, but no picture of Negra showing the same adventure. Is there something I can do for her besides donating money for her. She really means a lot to me and I want her to know she is safe and loved. Thank you for your reply ??????
Hi Kathleen,
It’s so nice that you are concerned about Negra. I think about all those years she had no one to watch out for her – now she has family around the world!
Negra is definitely different than the other chimps. She is less active, less interested in enrichment, and less social. She still plays with the other chimps, grooms with them, and goes outside, but she does so less frequently and at a slower pace.
Our philosophy has always been to let Negra do her thing at her own pace. We did test her for hypothyroidism, just to make sure there wasn’t an obvious underlying medical cause, but her thyroid function was normal. So we just give her as much opportunity as we can and let her decide whether she’d like to play or go outside, or just stay in her warm, comfortable nest. She now has a pretty stable routine, and a clear preference for how her day should go: sleep, eat peanuts, take a nap, eat lunch, take a short stroll outside if the weather is nice, nap some more, groom with Burrito, eat dinner, and sleep again 🙂