If we asked the chimpanzees what their caregivers’ #1 priority should be, “giving us food” would be the unanimous response. We serve other purposes too – we keep their enclosures clean, we serve as play partners – but nothing’s more important than food.
Because humans are always separated from the chimps by caging, we have two main strategies for getting food to the chimps. Most meals are served directly to the group by a trained caregiver. The chimps all gather in one place and the caregiver hands food to each chimp. This allows us to make sure that everyone’s getting enough food.
The other type of meal is a forage: we close off a part of the chimps’ enclosure and scatter their meal around, and then let them back into that area so they can collect their own food. The advantage of forages is that they encourage “species-specific behavior” – basically, they let the chimps act like chimps. Free-living chimpanzees spend much of their day searching for food. The other advantage of forages is that the chimps lose their minds with excitement. As they watch us scatter their food, they break out in deafening food squeaks, pant hoots, and anticipatory screams.
Today volunteer caregiver Sandra and I set up a lunch forage in the greenhouse, and then watched the excitement unfold.
Annie:
Missy:
Burrito:
These beautiful 7 are a joy who read about! They take after my own heart …
I love seeing Mr. B with his hands, arms, and mouth full of goodies! And one of my very favorite things is to watch the chimps enjoying their mealtimes!
It must be so much fun to place things so the chimps have to think and work to get them. Sneaky and fun! Anything to add challenge and enrichment to the wonderful 7’s day.
I haven’t seen any pictures of Negra lately. Did I miss them or has she been hiding? Q
Negra can be a little camera shy – especially in the winter when she’s tucked away in her cozy nests – but she did have a small cameo in this blog from a couple of days ago: https://chimpsnw.org/2015/12/these-resilient-spirits-28689/