Archives for December 2024

Stages of Play

December 31, 2024 by Ellen Brady-McGaughey

In today’s blog video, come along with me to play with Gordo! I hope it brings as much joy to your day as it did mine.

New Puzzles, New Challenges

December 30, 2024 by Ellen Brady-McGaughey

Today’s blog is all about enrichment! We are so grateful to the many supporters who helped make it possible for us to purchase new enrichment and craft new food puzzles thanks their generous support during our Comfort and Joy online auction. Some of the donated supplies are still waiting to be turned in to their final form, so stay tuned for a future blog to share more. Today’s video and blog will highlight the newly made giant holey lids courtesy of Tricia M. and new troughs thanks to Kathleen C.!

I love watching the chimps meet a new challenge, and find their own ways to accomplish the task at hand. Some puzzles require a demo by the humans, but most of the time we let the chimps try on their own first. As you’ll see in the video, Honey B has come up with a very different approach to the new troughs. Honey B’s method comes as no surprise, and she accesses the treats in record time!

Below is Lucky showing off her mostly clean trough! We put sugar free strawberry pudding in the bottom, and tossed some pomegranate arils on top which stuck to the pudding, requiring that she use the bamboo stick in her hand (or a different tool) to get the pudding and pomegranate. These troughs are the perfect depth, as the chimps cannot simply use their fingers to reach the bottom, which encourages the use of a tool and engages them with the puzzle for more time. Lucky was the first to master her method, which Willy B and Terry also utilized. Sometimes we put seeds, cereal, or other non-sticky food items in the troughs, which they can access by tipping the trough towards themselves (or using the Honey B method!).

Below is a newly made giant holey lid, ready for it’s first use by the chimpanzees! I cut several holes into the large (brand new) trash can lid, and bolted a frisbee to the middle of the lid. The frisbee can easily be rotated to cover the different holes, thus allowing one chimpanzee to control access to the other holes in the lid. Peanut butter has been smeared on the back of the lid, around each of the holes. I created this with the intention of using it as a social enrichment device with Cy’s group as they continue to undergo their reintroduction. If you’d like to learn more about social enrichment, see here! The below photo is what the puzzle looks like from the chimps’ point of view.

This photo show the back of the puzzle with smeared peanut butter, and is what the humans see after hanging up the puzzle for the chimpanzees.

Willy B was the first to try out the new puzzle today. He quickly figured out how to access the peanut butter, and moved the frisbee slightly. When a conflict started in the group which required Willy B’s attention, Rayne was quick to seize her opportunity and worked on the puzzle for quite a while. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the chimps get to experience this new food puzzle, and hope to see them move the frisbee more intentionally in the future! Thank you again to Tricia M. and Kathleen C. for your generous gifts to the chimpanzees!

Who’s Playing with Burrito?

December 29, 2024 by Diana

There is nothing better than the sound of chimpanzee laughter filling the chimp house.

See if you can guess who is making Burrito laugh before the video reveals their identity!

Catching Up

December 28, 2024 by Sabrina

The tinsel and lights are slowly coming down, and as the holiday magic fades into January’s quiet, life settles back into its familiar rhythm. In our little corner of the world, everyone’s finding their way back to their favorite routines – each in their own way.

Cy, our resident bookworm, has already disappeared behind a stack of magazines. You can almost see the contentment radiating from him as he catches up on the reading he was distracted from during the holiday hustle.

Meanwhile Honey B is doing what she does best – turning her favorite cubby into the coziest spot in town. She moves blankets and other crucial items around until it’s just right, she is an interior decorator with very specific ideas about comfort.

And then there’s Jamie, who hasn’t given up on her ongoing mission of collecting all the boots. Her dedication to claiming these prized possessions from their two-legged owner would make any master strategist proud.

Rebuilding the Village

December 27, 2024 by Anna

It’s been a bit of a wild ride at the sanctuary these last 5 years. When COVID hit in 2020, we sadly had to close our doors to the majority of our volunteer population to limit the possible exposures to the chimps and staff. At the same time, we spent the “COVID years” expanding the sanctuary to welcome Cy’s group of 6 chimps. As we clawed our way out of the pandemic, we were very eager to open our doors back up to a larger population of volunteers, now with an even greater need for help since our facility and chimpanzee population had grown. Understandably, many of our pre-COVID volunteers (and all of our university interns) had moved on to different phases in their lives and were no longer able to volunteer. Now we have entered a bit of a rebuilding phase of our volunteer program as we focus on recruiting and training new volunteers to bolster our sanctuary. It’s been a joy seeing new faces start to come through the door and join our “OG” volunteers in helping the staff provide quality care for our beloved chimpanzee friends.

Here are just a few of our volunteers, both seasoned and new. Please join me in giving them a heartfelt thank you for all their hard work and dedication. If you or someone you know is looking to join our volunteer team in 2025, please visit our website for more details.