Sarah

We were going through old posts the other day and realized that Jody doesn’t get much publicity on our blog. This is probably because she seems to be an independent gal. She spends a lot of time interacting with the other chimpanzees, and she often greets JB with a very excited grunt, but throughout the day she’s less likely to seek us out for play or grooming than the others. We’ll all have to get to know Jody more together.

Great news! We are making progress on the chimpanzees’ outdoor area. It’s coming along very well, and we can’t wait to get the chimpanzees out into the sunshine. Here’s a picture from this afternoon.   

Tonight we served onion pancakes for dinner. Check out the video to hear Negra (and the others in the background) food grunt with delight!

Free living chimpanzees make nests high up in the trees using twigs, branches and leaves. Captive chimpanzees, even those who were born at labs, often make nests too. It’s a natural chimpanzee behavior. Negra and Jody both make massive nests out of piles and piles of blankets and sheets. They carefully arrange the blankets as I imagine their counterparts in Africa carefully arrange their twigs and leaves.

I love taking apart the nests in the morning when we clean.  Sometimes I feel like an archaeologist, carefully unveiling layer upon layer. Not only do they use blankets and sheets, but they also stash other treasures in their nests. Today, one of the nests I came across included a shoe, a belt, a cup, a paintbrush, a scrub-brush, and three sheets:

While we can’t give them forests and trees, it’s great to know that we’re giving them what they need to express natural chimpanzee behaviors, even if that means scrub brushes and belts! -Sarah

Tonight the chimps had a spaghetti dinner. Sitting on the floor, watching Burrito munch on his dinner, I couldn’t help but think of how little it takes to make our chimpanzee friends happy. Something as simple as dinner can make such a difference. Enjoy dinner with Mr. B tonight! -Sarah

Here’s a video of Jamie, Foxie, and Jody checking out a stuffed animal chimpanzee – and letting the toy know who’s in charge!  –Sarah

My, how time is flying here! It feels like we’ve been caring for the Cle Elum Seven for years! At the same time, we’re learning new things about them (and surely they’re learning new things about us) every day. Foxie and Jamie are almost always up for interacting with us, even if it’s just sitting quietly together in the sunshine. Here are a few portraits so you can get to know their faces.

Foxie:

Jamie:

-Sarah

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