It’s a safe bet that anything you give to a captive chimpanzee will go immediately into their mouth, and if it’s possible to swallow it, they will swallow it. Those of you who have expressed an interest in sending gifts to the chimps have probably been directed to our incredibly detailed safety guidelines for enrichment.
Occasionally we put out a few buckets of soapy water for the chimps – they like to play with the bubbles and sometimes they’ll even pitch in with some cleaning. Always keeping in mind that they can’t be trusted not to ingest whatever we give them, we use only a tiny drop of plant-based non-toxic soap. And that’s a good thing given Annie and Missy’s choices this morning:
Annie:
Missy:
Annie has the prettiest face! She looks so young!
Love the bubbly foam on Missy’s bottom lip! Who me? No! I didn’t drink the bubble water.ðŸ˜
Why do I get the sense, looking at that last photograph with soap bubbles upon her lower lip, that Missy might — just might — be harboring some buyer’s remorse for the glass of soapy water which she drank?
Alas, this too shall pass…literally. Indeed, this dubious choice of liquid nourishment brings to mind the anecdote from Roger Fouts’ “Next of Kin”. As a new graduate student attending to Washoe the Sign Language Chimpanzee, he was mortified to observe his simian charge chug-a-lug a bottle of Mr. Clean. Surely, he feared, both Washoe and his academic career were doomed to meet an immediately fatal end!
Having dispensed of the contents of Mr. Clean and the refrigerator’s supply of yogurt, the 2-year-old Washoe resumed playing with her dolls (a la Foxie). After some time had passed, it became apparent that Washoe was in no mortal danger from her digestive choices. “But make no mistake,” I recall Fouts’ recounting, “Mr. Clean cleaned out Washoe like nobody’s business!”
I taught preschool, and the precautions were pretty much the same. Today I’m toddler-proofing in preparation for hosting Easter at my house!