As soon as breakfast was over this morning Jamie was ready (and demanding) to go on her first perimeter walk of the day. If you got a chance to check out Elizabeth’s great blog post yesterday, you can see this is also the time we begin cleaning the chimp house. But Jamie makes sure we keep our priorities straight. So as Anna and Jamie headed off for a walk, most of the other chimps decided to join them (with the exception of the Queen who was enjoying her after breakfast nap in the greenhouse)! And so I headed out to our observation platform to take photos.
It never gets old seeing the chimps traverse their outdoor habitat, but it was a special treat to see them all on the structures together! They looked so tiny out there…
Anna, (top to bottom) Jamie, Jody, Burrito and Missy:
Annie, Missy, Jamie (at top) and Jody walking away with her treasure of found cattails:
Jamie, Burrito, Missy (Anna looks like she’s catching a piggy back on Missy, but rest assured she’s on the outside of the fence 😉 ), and Annie:
Meanwhile, Foxie and her twin Doras had meandered over to climb up Jamie’s Tower:
So tiny…Foxie on Jamie’s Tower (the top right hand of the photo), taking in the woods above the sanctuary (and our new property!):
Jody continued back to the greenhouse with her mouthful of cattails, making her way through the tall grass like a wild woman:
The others caught up with Foxie and reconvened on Jamie’s and Carlene’s Towers together. Annie standing below, Jamie on the ladder, and Foxie up top:
Jamie, Missy and Foxie:
Jamie made her way across the shaky bridge to Carlene’s Tower:
Burrito isn’t as sure of himself on shaky structures so he’s a little more cautious about traversing the bridge, but he made it across, brave chimp man that he is:
Diana cleverly stuck some cattails on top of the roof for Annie’s birthday a few days ago and somehow it’s gone unnoticed by the chimps. Until this morning:
Missy lucked out after Jamie left and found another one. The second she pulled it down a cloud of seeds blew across the hill:
All during the photo shoot, Ellie enjoyed her favorite morning spot stretched out in the shade underneath the platform I was on, or as I like to call it, the elk port:
I can’t imagine how your distinguish each chimp from a far! (although I did recognize Missy’s bum!) And yes, they look so very small in their beautiful open expanse. I love the cat tail seeds! Swoosh! I wonder what Missy thought of it all?!
Hi Kathleen, it seems utterly impossible when you first meet the chimps, but soon enough you can distinguish them from afar just by the way they carry themselves. Just as we would with humans. 🙂
I’m getting more and more concerned about Ellie’s safety. With hunting season coming up and her apparent lack of a healthy fear of humans, will she be at risk? Will she be protected somehow?
It’s hard not to worry about her just in general, but she is very well known throughout the valley and is beloved even by avid hunters. We hope that affords her some protection.
Thanks for the reply Katelyn. I, too, hope her being well-known and loved will provide protection.
She’s so beautiful and that’s such a lovely photo. It allows you to see her gorgeous chestnut coat.
She is beautiful, Francoise! Her winter finery is just starting to appear, which is particularly stunning. 🙂
I’m starting to love Ellie too.
It’s pretty impossible not to, Elaine. 🙂
What a lovely post! I just love seeing them outside wandering, climbing, pondering the scenery wherever they want to go. However, I’m curious to know how much time passed from after the walk to when they decided to come inside for lunch?
Hi Françoise,
While the chimps are spending longer periods of time outside, they really tend to use their outdoor habitat more as a “playground” as opposed to staying out for really extended times. They love to wander, explore, forage, play and of course, check out the perimeter to make sure things are safe, but once they’ve accomplished their interest they usually head back inside to the comfort of the greenhouse or chimp house. This particular walk took place immediately following breakfast – a common time for them to be more active and check out what’s happened overnight. So while the group made their way slowly around the hill via structures, on this occasion they were headed back to the chimp house within about 20-30 mins. 🙂 As a side note, at one point Burrito chose to lie down on Carlene’s Tower for a minute which is really unusual so it was great to see his increasing comfort, if even for a moment.