Today we celebrated Missy’s 42nd birthday and the amazing chimp woman she is, so naturally we’ve been partying all day long!
If you know Missy, you know that she thinks tomatoes are the.best.thing.ever! So naturally, we bought more tomatoes than we thought one small chimp woman could possibly eat. $42 worth to be exact. Missy was beside herself when she saw them all this morning! These are of course meant to stretch out for a couple days (our plan, not hers), but we still served tomatoes with every meal. And she still thought it wasn’t enough.
We planned an indoor/outdoor forage brunch party with fresh fruits, veggies, and primate chow to compliment the tomatoes along with sparkling cider and pineapple coconut juice and everyone seemed pretty pleased with the festivities. Though I didn’t include a photo of her, Jamie was on the go drinking up all the juice.
Missy with a mouthful of cherry tomatoes:
Missy’s bestie, Annie, with a treat bag:
Negra with a mouthful of corn:
Missy on the go, foraging:
Burrito:
Jody:
We also scattered forage with lots of tomatoes on Young’s Hill with some special hothouse tomatoes still on the vine high up on the shaky bridge – a classic Missy spot – in the hopes she’d be the one to find them. Foxie is right up there with Missy as far as tomato connoisseurs go and they ended up being the only two who decided to venture onto the hill for the outdoor portion of the forage. They headed out together and played it cool so as not to attract the attention of the others.
Foxie found a whole tomato and quietly looked around to make sure no one was watching before popping the entire thing in her mouth. And you may not be able to see, but she’s rubbing her toes together which is Foxie speak for pure happiness and contentment:
Here she is hiding behind a post as she enjoys her secret tomatoes:
Missy searched high and low (and she did find the tomatoes on the vine!):
The Birthday Tomato Queen herself. We love you Miss! Happy Birthday and sweet tomato dreams. Rest up! There’s more tomatoes to eat tomorrow!
Jo says
Beautiful! Fabulous! Wonderful! U ROCK, all of you! Hugs to you all….
Barb says
Your the best!!!
Kathleen says
Looks like a fun filled, food filled Birthday Celebration for Missy and all! I am happy Missy found the vine of tomatoes too. Happy Birthday Missy! Much love to you today, XOXOX
Silly question, How did Missy and Foxie know you had a forage on Young’s Hill? Did they spy you laying out the goods? I am surprised all the chimps didn’t venture out…… or perhaps the food was so good on the inside the risk of going out was too great. The old a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush theory?!
Katelyn says
Hi Kathleen,
Not silly – the chimps can see us from the playroom windows. π I’m not sure why no one else ventured out other than it was quite hot yesterday and the others must have felt happy with what was inside the greenhouse. And it’s possible some didn’t see us setting it up out there. Foxie and Missy were definitely working hard not to attract attention out there haha.
Althea says
Oh, beautiful Missy! I wish that I could do back flips for you in honor of your birthday! Happy, Happy Birthday sweet Missy! It looks like you and your family had a wonderful day filled with your favorites to eat and enjoy. Lots of love for you on your special day????????????
Carla RenΓ© says
I’d also think with their heightened sense of smell, even if they hadn’t seen you laying the forage feast, they could still probably have smelled it.
These photos are GREAT! I always love it when you post so many in succession.
But silly, silly chimpanzee-carer-peoples…do you not know that ANYTIME there’s a party in the chimp house, and they’re munching happily on treat bags, tomatoes, onions and watermelon, you simply MUST post video?! Seventy-five minute videos would be best, methinks. Ha!
BTW, Mr. Burrito-toes has great taste in fruit–watermelon’s my favourite, too! π Does he like blackberries, or have you ever tried those? What about mangos, dragonfruit, or other non-mainstream fruits, like kiwis? Have they ever tried Grapefruit? Ooooh! Just wondered something else!
Have you ever seen them invent concoctions? I know sometimes Jamie will play at her cookstove with the tools like she’s cooking, but have you ever witnessed a chimp combining certain foods? Like, for instance, how humans will squirt lemons/limes over their veggies. I wonder if you had someone there by the cage at lunch/dinner where they could watch you do it, if they would pick up on that behaviour and do it at other times. Any ideas on that? That topic alone would make one “fruity” post. HA!!!!!
Querstion: I can’t remember ever reading this one fact, but do the chimpanzees have an inherent aversion to air-conditioning? I know the humans must have it in some parts of their work space, but do you use it for any parts of their housing? I guess I just assumed you had it for those days that get super-hot, but probably didn’t need it in other parts like the playroom, because of the concrete flooring and block/concrete walls and how that material tends to absorb very little thermal energy.
I wonder if there have ever been groups of sanctuary chimpanzees that have actually been shown to evolve to the point of adapting to what used to be completely human entities, like air-conditioning. I think that would make an interesting doctoral thesis for someone. π
Thank-you, as always! And srry for all the questions. But it’s your own fault–that’s what you get for being so interesting and making us THINK. π
Cheers. <3 <3 <3
Arlene and Michael says
Happy birthday Missy so great to see you enjoying yourself with all of your friends. You deserve it!!!