After we serve a meal to the chimpanzees, there’s usually a few pieces of food on the ground that have dropped on the human side of the caging. The meal server typically leaves the food where it is, and the chimps will go find tools to use to pull it closer, or they’ll grab the attention of a caregiver and “ask” for the food by pointing to it.
Today Anna served the chimps a lunch of broccoli, kale, and bell peppers in the greenhouse. I went out shortly after the meal to see what everyone was up to, and Burrito immediately swung down from the platform where he was finishing his chow, and pointed out some kale and broccoli that had fallen on my side of the caging. After a quick scan for boss Jamie (she’ll occasionally pull rank when we try to offer food to the other chimps), I picked up the dropped food and gave it to a very grateful Burrito.
Happy boy!
How do you know how much to feed the chimps? How do you make sure everyone gets their fair share? It amazes me that vegetables and fruit are enough to fill them up. Do they ever get meat?
They all look so wonderful. You obviously keep them happy and full.
We arrived at our current portion sizes through trial and error. If we notice that folks are gaining or losing weight, we’ll make small adjustments accordingly. In addition to fruits and vegetables, their diet is supplemented with some higher calorie nuts and seeds, as well as primate chow. We don’t give them meat, but the primate chow does contain animal protein.
He looks so content to have the extra helping. Precious.