Missy is beautiful, kind, joyful, goofy, serious, independent, self-assured, and the most loyal of friends you could hope for; she’ll back you up no questions asked. Well, if you’re a chimp friend that is. When the humans have been deemed to have “wronged” one of her family members she is often the first to let us know and she will hurl her tiny self onto the caging in front of you with shocking force while repeatedly kicking it and threat barking in your face with all her might.
One of my favorite memories of Missy is a time when I was trying to serve her something and Jamie decided she didn’t want that to happen and let me know by hitting the caging and threat barking at me. Given that Jamie is the dominant chimp in this society, it’s her right to do so. Even though Missy had her hand out in anticipation, she immediately backed Jamie up and joined in threat barking at me, seemingly incensed that I had tried to do something so egregious. The second Jamie walked away though, Missy immediately asked for the item again (and gestured to be quick about it!) until Jamie caught sight of us and the whole scene played out again. Missy is brilliant at chimpanzee politics.
On nights that Jamie chooses to have the door to Young’s Hill remain open she will often seemingly employ Missy to guard the door while she goes inside to retrieve something she wants. Missy doesn’t usually have any interest in the door remaining open or not and is typically ready for bed, but don’t think you are going to close that door with her standing guard in the boss’s absence.
Honestly, Missy’s a bit of a thug. And we couldn’t love her more.
In other news, one of our volunteers, Jake, discovered the hit of the summer to come! It’s hot today and we were lamenting not having any ice to run through the chimps’ snow cone machine. The chimps have access to water all day, but we occasionally offer ice snacks to help keep them cool and hydrated. So Jake brilliantly decided to experiment with running frozen grapes and a touch of strawberries through the machine and it was an immense hit with chimps and humans alike! They literally melt in your mouth. Go immediately and buy yourselves snow cone machines and grapes to freeze!
Behold:
