Foxie and caregiver Katelyn played a fun game of slap-the-window today.
Jody the Thinker
New Boot Protocol
When Jamie gets a new pair of boots, she likes to have a caregiver model them first. Here’s Debbie showing off new boots from Lisa Stuverud yesterday. (Jamie didn’t seem to mind that the boots were too small for Debbie.)
Then Jamie usually demands that the caregiver modeling the boots accompany her on a walk around Young’s Hill. When that’s done, Jamie’s ready for us to give her the boots. She spends some time inspecting them closely. Yesterday she even licked them.
Cowboy Party
What’s one way to make seven chimpanzees awfully happy? Throw a spontaneous party. Supporter Lisa Stuverud sent us a box of decorations and enrichment for a cowboy party (and of course we already had dozens of cowboy boots thanks to Jamie’s obsession), so we had everything we needed for a good time.
Jamie was the first into the greenhouse, and she was throwing back her first drink before most of the others even made it out the door.
She checked high and low for hidden treats. Here she’s getting ready to use a fire hose to swing up into one of the windowsills where we often hide food:
Foxie sampling the pomegranate juice:
Annie:
Negra went through several of these boot bags filled with shredded paper searching for sunflower seeds.
Jody:
Missy:
Burrito’s strategy was simple: to find as many pieces of chow as one man could hold.
Thanks, Lisa, for making the chimps’ day!
Choosing a Companion
Each day we put out a variety of enrichment for the chimpanzees to play with. This is usually some assortment of toys, socks, scarves, hairbrushes, toothbrushes, scrub brushes, buckets, paper, stuffed animals, and anything else we think the chimps might enjoy. There are two types of items that we absolutely must include with each day’s enrichment: boots for Jamie and dolls for Foxie.
This morning Foxie spent a few minutes in front of a pile of dolls in the playroom, choosing which one(s) she should carry around for the day.
Foxie frequently uses the bite test to assess a doll’s worthiness:
In the end, she chose all three dolls, and the four of them headed into the greenhouse for some rest.
Easy To Please
Caring for captive chimpanzees can be a challenge. They are intelligent and curious, and they get bored easily. We’ve written before on this blog about how much effort it takes to keep the boss Jamie happy and enriched.
Burrito, though, is remarkably easy to please. He has few demands, and the ones he has are simple. He yearns for a full belly (the fuller, the better) and friends to play with. Luckily, we’re all about good food and good friends here, so Burrito is a pretty content man.
During a break between cleaning this morning, I went out to the greenhouse to see what the chimps were up to. As soon as Burrito saw me, he stomped his foot loudly on the platform to invite me to play a game of chase. I was more than happy to oblige.
Waiting Out the Storm
For the last couple of days, we’ve gotten a much needed break from the hot and dry conditions here in Cle Elum. It’s been overcast and cool, with some rain and thunder. While the chimpanzees don’t love to be outside when it’s raining, they do seem to love cool, gray days, so they’ve been enjoying exploring Young’s Hill whenever the rain stops for a bit. When it starts up again, they head inside and cuddle up with some blankets or a favorite doll. Katelyn snapped these photos yesterday of Jamie and Negra keeping dry indoors.
Jamie:
Negra:
