Today’s blog is kind of a revisit of last Wednesday’s blog. Same boy, different toy.
As most of these games with Burrito go, this is just his warm-up. Eventually, he can stand it no longer and launches down off the bench (as he’s moving to do here) to advance into the tickle and chase portion of the game.
Of course, it’s incredibly fun to have the honor to play with any of the chimpanzees, but it’s hard to find words to express the heartfelt gratitude as we witness them living their lives with such joy after all they’ve been through. That they find within them such a capacity to enjoy each day out from under the shadow of their histories is the best gift of all.
That first photo is a pose straight out of GQ.
I love the 3rd picture down, his face just says “I know, I’m adorable”
I have to say it too, first picture is calendar material!
Mr. B is such a sweetheart!
Oh Mr. B, promise me you’ll never change. Sigh…..
Yes, agreed, that first photo is super model material!! And Katelyn, I love your very last paragraph. Almost made me cry.
Well, at least we all agree that Mr. B is photogenic and more than pleased he (and the girls) are enjoying their present & future in spite of their past! Love y’all Cle Elum 7!
OMG! He is soooo adorable.
Great pics of such a handsome boy!
These photos are precious and I marvel at how many different ideas you caretakers come up with to amuse the Chimps. I remember seeing a bucket.. full of troll dolls in ice a while back … I suspect for Foxy…and thought that was very clever. Two of JB’s newslettersr troubled me for a while about their violence; really scary stuff that made the one new inntern burst into tears. Was nice to see what JB looks like in that video of him playing.
Do Chimps have fingernails? The above picture (4th one down) looks as if there is an indentation, but no nails.
Hi Elaine,
Being the intelligent and curious people chimps are, experiencing boredom at times is inevitable in captivity even in the best of circumstances so keeping enrichment new and interesting for them is definitely one of our biggest challenges. Sometimes I think it serves as enrichment for us as well. 🙂 Yes, the chimpanzees’ capacity for violence can be very difficult to see at times, but it’s a normal part of chimp society and the brilliant thing is they might have a terrible fight, but once it’s over they immediately work on reconciliation. And with established groups such as these guys, though they do occasionally incur injuries, it’s much more often than not just a lot of screaming and yelling. And yes, they do have fingernails. Burrito is missing one of his as you noted. All of the chimps arrived to the sanctuary missing parts of fingers, toes, ears, etc., from past fights and injuries, but we don’t have the details regarding all of them. Thank you for your interest and question, Elaine!