A hodge podge

All ten chimpanzees kept all four caregivers in the chimp house today in constant rotation! Even those we endearingly refer to as “a chimp’s chimp” (Missy!) couldn’t seem to get enough of the humans today. Maybe they decided the humans would make do for good enrichment on this particularly blustery day, but needless to say, it’s been a delight. Please enjoy this hodge podge of photos!

Here we have boss lady Jamie, enjoying me taking her photo, but also keeping a *very* sharp eye on her trainee, new staff team member, Sam. We laughed and laughed at these two photos. It probably isn’t as noticeable in blog post format, but when flipping back and forth from screen to screen nothing changes but a slight shift in her eyes, looking at me, then looking at Sam, who was in the kitchen. There was a whole series like this which you probably had to be there for, but she’s stunning, isn’t she?

Burrito, playing tug-o-war (apologies for the pixelated photos, but they were too cute not to share):

Hanging out with Foxie and tossing her twin Strawberry Shortcakes back and forth (you can just see her up in the loft behind the dolls):

Rubbing those happy toes together:

And Missy! She wanted to spend time grooming, playing chase AND tug-o-war for a good chunk of the day. Missy is usually much too busy doing chimpanzee things with her chimpanzee friends to spend time with the humans and we certainly support the chimps’ relationships with one another over their relationships with us, but it makes time with her such a delight.

Missy is not a fan of having her photo taken and here she is in spy selfie mode:

Annie and Missy sitting in the raceway, watching some of the other chimps out on Young’s Hill:

Jody, kicking back in all her wonderful Jody-ness:

Unfortunately I couldn’t capture photos of everyone today, but even Negra was playing with a different one of her chimp friends every time I looked! If you can believe it she had a hold of Burrito’s foot at breakfast and sat there laughing and swinging his leg back and forth the entire time. Ridiculously cute.

And wonderful Mave, Honey B and Willy B kept everyone busy as well, but because they tend to be “close talkers”, it’s often hard to capture photos. Cement walkways were poured outside the expansion area today and let me tell you, Honey B was beside herself trying to get me to let her leave her mark on that wet cement. And let me also tell you, I was beside myself in wanting to let her! (If chimp prints wind up on there, I know nothing and neither do you). 😉