Sofia asked you last week for suggestions for upcoming blog posts… and we received MANY wonderful questions and ideas. Thank you for all of them! We will do our best to answer or touch on those topics in the upcoming weeks.
There were many quick questions so I thought I’d answer as many as I can today!
Question: What are the alpha dynamics in each group?
As many of you already know, Jamie is considered the alpha in her group. For our newly integrated group of 9, Cy is treated as alpha by all of his group members.
Question: Are things quite settled between Willy B and Cy? Is it understood that Cy is the “top dog” so to speak?
I would say so! When the group of 9 first started living together 24/7, we were not sure if Cy or Willy B would be considered alpha of the group. Once Willy B began submitting to Cy, it was a dead giveaway that Cy was considered more dominant in the hierarchy. Despite this, Willy B and Cy are good friends and spend a lot of time grooming together daily. While we don’t know what their hierarchy looks like long-term, this is how it stands now.
Question: Do the chimps recognize their name?
Yes! With the chimps being in captivity for decades, they are used to being spoken to. They do know and respond to their names.
Question: How many hours total a day are spent on cleaning, food prep, laundry, feeding, meds, play?
This is a tough question because it varies day to day! Some days we start laundry at 9am and don’t finish until the evening. Some days we finish by the afternoon. However, cleaning typically takes us about 4-5 hours everyday. Other than pre-washing fruits and veggies, we meal prep directly before the given meal. It takes about 20 minutes to prep a meal for both groups. Serving the meal also takes about 20 minutes! Although some meals go faster based on how excited the chimps are! We do meds prep prior to each meal as well. This is usually a quick process, depending on the medical needs of the chimps. As for play, we play all day long! Even if we’re in the middle of scrubbing the Playroom floor, we will always stop and play with the chimps when they’re up for it!
Question: Have you ever given them a video on a big screen?
Yes! Movies are considered enrichment. We don’t do this all the time, but the chimps love movies when we do! Especially while recovering from a medical procedure.
Question: Are the chimps allowed to go out on the trails whenever they please, or are the times structured by the crew?
The chimps are not allowed out on Young’s Hill without caregivers in the chimp house! However, they do have 24/7 access to their Greenhouses.
Question: Do you inspect the hill before letting them onto it?
Yes we do! Following the answer from above, we do a perimeter check of the hill before letting them onto the hill. It is important for us to make sure our electric fencing system hasn’t been damaged overnight.
Question: Do they like music?
Some do! Just like how some really enjoy watching movies and others do not, same goes for music!
Question: What is the biggest challenge in creating enrichment for 16 individuals?
Some individuals have more restrictions than others. So we operate by group! For example, Jamie’s group may get different enrichment than Cy’s group. This is based on our knowledge of what the chimps break or eat, when they’re not supposed to.
Question: What happens with your beautiful facility someday when (hopefully) there are no more lab chimps in need of rescue?
We are constantly working on what the future looks like for us. Unfortunately, there is still a need for homes for lab chimps. Also, just primates in general. Not to mention, chimpanzees live a long time in captivity (there’s captive chimps in their 60’s!). I would love to live to see a day where there is no longer a need for sanctuaries, but unfortunately, I don’t think it will be in my lifetime.
Question: Does Cy share his reading materials?
I don’t want to exclude anyone from this, but I’ve also seen Rayne reading magazines lately! We provide enough magazines to Cy’s group so that anyone who would like, can help themselves!
Question: How do you make sure each one gets their share of the food?
Caregivers hand-serve the chimps their meals. This means we are handing each piece of food to the individual. From there, it is relatively easy to monitor what they eat and what they don’t. Most of the chimps will not accept a food they don’t like. Therefore, we don’t usually have to worry that they take the food from us and abandon it elsewhere. We also keep an eye on any food thieves, which happens from time to time! In those instances, we will replace what was stolen for the individual.
Question: Do they all go to sleep and wake up at the same time? Are there early risers that get the other ones going?
The chimps usually are getting themselves ready for bed or are already in bed when we close the chimp house in the evening. The time varies but typically the chimps are early risers!
I hope these help! We will answer more soon!
Sweet Cy:
Gordo working on a raisin board:
Rayne working on a raisin board:
Thanks, Jenna!
Of course, this leads to more questions…:smile:
Since the 7 don’t care much for music (Neggie is mostly about The Dance), what are the musical tastes of the 9?
Do the caregivers in the evening do anything to help prep the next morning’s breakfast? (like wash or chop what they can) just yo make everyone’s day start off smoothly? I imagine that’s when the chimps are hungriest
Hi Linda,
I havent narrowed down any particular music tastes of the 9. They do see a lot of blog videos on caregivers phones and you already know the music to those! 🙂
All of our veggies and fruits are washed as we receive it twice a week. So in the mornings, all we have to do is chop up what we are serving! We also prepare chow bags and nightbags in advance so we dont have to make those before every meal. Those are tedious so its nice to have them prepped!
Tell Jamie that, on her recommendation, i bought the Nat Geo book on Mummies. She is right it has very interesting pictures. Good choice.
Thank you Jenna for todays Q&A enrichment! Great questions and fun having them all answered in one place.
It’s always an eye opener to be reminded of the many hours you caregivers put in on a daily basis doing the things we rarely see featured on the blog — cleaning and laundry duty! I know your days aren’t just fun and games, so I want to say a big “thank you” for all you do and the way you do it. Indivually and as a group, you make your jobs appear fun and seamless.
Thank you, Kathleen!!!
Thank you Jenna for the wonderful information. i love looking into Cy’s eyes. They speak volumes and bore right through you.
Jenna, thanks so much for taking the time to share all this info about the daily goings-on and all the effort it takes to do a day’s work on behalf of the chimps. I’m surprised to learn that Cy is the leader of his group and not Terry. But perhaps Terry is too busy chasing the “girls” around to focus on his leadership skills! Given Cy’s depth of knowledge and wisdom of the universe and everything in it from all his reading efforts, I guess it makes sense he’d be the Alpha male in the group!