There are few things better than watching the chimps forage on wild plants. They’re abundant, enriching, healthy (the ones they choose to eat, anyway), and in some cases, even medicinal. I’ve always wondered about the way the chimps sometimes consume individual blades on grass. In Gombe, chimps have been seen swallowing the rough, hairy leaves of the Aspilia plant. Researchers believe the leaves contains antibiotic and anti-parasitic compounds and that the hairs on the leaves may work to mechanically remove parasites as they pass through the intestines. Whatever the CSNW chimps are doing, it’s different from the way they eat fruits and vegetables, and even different from the way they eat grass at other times (Burrito often eats spring grass by the handful). Do they know something we don’t? Or are they acting upon an instinct that’s been divorced from its evolved application, like the way they weave secure nests out of blankets even though the don’t sleep up in the trees? Maybe grass just tastes better one blade at a time.
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Footer
I think its wonderful they have the opportunity to do a naturally grown forage.
Missy is making up for the tomatoes that Neggie wouldn’t share! Is Neggie able to get out at all to eat some of her favourite Spring grass?
Yes, but she doesn’t choose to go outside very often anymore so we also bring the greens to her.
i hope after the mowing there will still be some goat’s beard dandilions for Missy to bipedally harvest.
Thanks for some video of our OG friends!
Will someone be bringing Neggie some prickly lettuce? I think of her whenever I mow my yard and see dandelions and the occasional prickly lettuce. I too am so happy that they can forage wild and seem to know what is good for them and what isn’t.
How is the Tick-situation in the high grass on the hill and de bray?
Any problems?
I look after stray cats and they are full of ticks every day because they walk through high grass.
Nasty creatures, those ticks.
We have plenty of ticks but a low occurence of tick-borne disease, so it’s not something we worry about much. The chimps would love to be able to groom a tick off of themselves or a friend.
Ooh, just the thought alone makes me feel the creeps…..
As soon as you said someone isn’t a fan of the tall grass, I knew it would be Burrito. His sneer face just cracks me up!
I loved seeing the gang out and about. I never realized Missy was such a fan of dandelions!
That was a special treat seeing Missy enjoying her favorite goat’s beard dandelions! I was unfamiliar with this type of dandelion and had to Google it. I discovered that the solid stem lets off a milky sap. Now we I see what Missy has known all along. Yummy.
Make no apologies for not mowing the chimps pathways yet. Back here we call it “No Mow May”! Best for the insects and birds and creepy crawlers who enjoy the longer grass. Plus, I think it’s so sweet that the chimps have mowed down their own path due to all their adventures around the hill. And even though Burrito puts on his best grimace face, it doesn’t stop him from adventuring a little deeper than he’d like!