With her earnest eyes and amazing drooped lip, Jody gives the best greetings!
A different doll for Foxie!
Foxie goes through phases where she takes special interest in one of her dolls. When it’s not being tossed playfully to caregivers, this purple haired doll has been by her side for weeks:
It’s pretty different than her usual loves, not a Dora or a troll doll, but something that we’ve never seen before. After a little bit of investigation, we found out that she’s a Strawberry Shortcake doll! We’re excited for Foxie to be branching out a little bit and for all the fun shopping that comes with it (this doll has friends with many different colors of hair after all)!
7 eyes
Prepare yourself for the hardest chimpanzee identification test of your life! I present to you, a closeup on each of the Cle Elum 7’s eyes. First one to correctly identify all seven eyes, gets bragging rights!
The Deputy
As many of you know, Jamie considers herself the boss of all the primates that surround her. She rules with an iron fist, not always clear about what she wants, but definitely firm that she NEEDS it NOW. Missy in a one-on-one interaction with a caregiver can range from playful to aloof, all while being relatively casual, relaxed and easygoing. However, put her in close proximity to an annoyed group mate, she becomes an entirely different chimpanzee. Most of the chimps will threat bark or bang at caregivers when they don’t like something they are doing. This is exactly how you might think, a simple way of saying “what do you think you’re doing?” Sometimes this behavior requires that the caregiver make simple adjustments like serving a food item slower (Negra doesn’t like fast movement) or serving faster (Jamie needs a second serving right NOW). These reminders are often followed with a much more intense threat from Missy. Missy is infamous for sharply casting retribution down onto caregivers who have somehow (no matter how innocently) wronged her friends. Her threat bark is more of a “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?! WHO GAVE YOU CLEARANCE TO DO THAT?! YOU BETTER KNOCK IT OFF RIGHT NOW!!” If you’ve ever seen Missy full-on threaten a caregiver, you’ll know exactly why we don’t go into the enclosures with the chimpanzees.
Missy looked a bit like a body guard today as Jamie relaxed in her tunnel hideout:
Late September
There’s nothing quite like a Fall forage on Young’s Hill!
Annie:
After eating his forage bounty, Burrito quietly went back out on Young’s Hill to watch the girls finish up.
Foxie:
Jamie scanning the grass for more food.
Jody was serious about carrots and kale!
Missy kept herself busy!
Negra actually stayed out for quite some time in the cool Fall breeze. Only after we felt a couple raindrops, did she hustle back inside.
Dessert for chimps
The chimpanzees have a very healthy diet consisting of primarily raw, fresh produce. In the morning they enjoy a fruit smoothie (with protein powder), two servings of fresh fruit, a handful of unsalted peanuts and their chewable vitamins. Lunch is a little bit simpler, with three servings of fresh or sometimes cooked vegetables. We end both breakfast and lunch with two small carefully portioned bags of primate chow per chimp (they enjoy small bags filled with nuts, seeds, and dried fruit for dinner). The chimps grew up eating primarily this chow, and while they love eating the fresh items we provide for them, they still really like their old standby food. This chow comes to us in the form of small dry biscuits, and is perfect for wadging mouthfuls at the end of a good meal.
Annie finishes off her lunch:
Grooming with Missy
Missy is a “chimp’s chimp.” That means she likes to spend most of her time with her fellow chimpanzees rather than engage in a lot of human interaction. This is actually a great thing, and we encourage the chimps to spend more time with their group mates, rather than always looking for human attention. Ideally, we want them to form strong bonds and rely on each other for their primary social connections. For Missy, caregivers do come in handy occasionally for some grooming time (when all other primate partners are napping). Missy likes to grab a little piece of stick to groom herself with, while also receiving additional back grooming via caregiver. Of course, it’s also special to us humans when we get to spend a little quality time with Missy. She has a very busy schedule after all.
