If you know Willy B, you know that he is big on his “screen time.” He loves his “stories” (current favorites are: Wild Chimpanzees with Jane Goodall, Orangutan Diaries, Orangutan Eden, Ice Age, and Terminal (while I find this one curious from a human attempting to see things from a chimpanzee’s perspective, I have no explanation for this one, but it doesn’t matter because it’s his choice). He is also a big fan of our iPhones and LOVES to see himself, take “selfies” and look at photos and videos of other animals, particularly chimpanzees, whenever he can. He knows we all carry iPhones and knows which pocket we carry them in and will gesture while looking at my pocket and blow raspberries to request seeing it. And as you’ve probably read a zillion times, it’s such a challenge to get photos of him, Honey B, or Mave because the second Willy B sees the camera, he’s front and center!
While we don’t spend an extended amount of time doing this with him, we do try to oblige him when he requests it. He was clearly was very familiar with phones and cameras when he arrived to the sanctuary and greatly enjoys it, so we treat it as any other form of enrichment, offering it when he asks and including it along with a myriad of other enrichment items and/or activities on offer to the chimpanzees to engage with (or not) as they choose. Anything with a screen is probably Willy B’s equivalent of Jamie’s boots or Foxie’s dolls, or Burrito’s endless games of chase with caregiver, Chad. 😉
Whether you spend all your time on social media or avoid it like the plague, you may (or may not) be familiar with filter options for taking selfies. You’ve probably seen them, the ones that add animation to the screen (and your face) with things like dog ears and whiskers, sparkly crowns, falling glitter, floating hearts, the list is endless really. Well, I thought #WillyB might like to try these out. Needless to say, social media influencer that he is, he did:
A couple of random things seen while cleaning the greenhouse when happening to look up above our heads that made us smile (and to remind you to look up and around yourselves because you never know when something beautiful or magical or just plain silly might lift your spirits):
And a bonus of this beautiful, beloved, woman, Jody, who makes my heart swell with how special she is and how much I love her. Right before I took this she held out her fingers and wiggled them in greeting to me, then let out the biggest sigh of contentment, ensconced as she was in her plush giant wolf blanket nest:
