The morning started with flurries. Both of the snow and chimpanzee varieties. While snow lightly wafted through the cold morning air outside, Jody engaged Burrito in a wrestling match:
Don’t worry, part of chimpanzee play is “play biting” so even though Jo’s arm is in Burrito’s mouth, he’s not hurting her, it’s all in good fun (if you’re a chimpanzee):
I spend a lot of my time when I’m outdoors searching for and identifying wildlife tracks and one of my favorite things about winter is being able to see so many stories that go unseen during the rest of the year. While doing the perimeter check of Young’s Hill this morning, I found a bobcat neighbor had made their own loop around Young’s Hill and through the surrounding fields, in search of the owners of all the mice and vole tracks I saw, I suspect:
By afternoon, the sun made a much welcomed appearance and even though the temperatures remained cold, the chimpanzees raced outside. Burrito, Jamie and Missy took off with the humans, while Annie (below) opted to look for snow snacks closer to the greenhouse as she occasionally cast a glance toward the comet streaking across the hill, her bestie, Missy:
Once Missy completed her marathon of one, she joined Annie:
Burrito:
I always have fun asking my wildlife tracking friends to identify these prints. 😉 The Pacific Northwest Mountain Chimpanzee! (foot, left and knuckles, top right):
Speaking of mountains, a mountain of In-Kind donations from our Amazon Wishlist were delivered today and you should see the chimpanzees’ mountain of holiday gifts growing! Many, many thanks to all of you who have been able to help us out with our and the chimps’ wishes, donate toward our year end goal (and hopefully welcoming home six more chimpanzee people!), become a Chimpanzee Pal, a Bovine Buddy, a Produce Patron, Sponsor a Day of sanctuary, or send us your gracious support and love through social media, good ol’ fashioned post, or heartfelt good thoughts. You’re a gift to us, every one of you, in so many ways.
