The sun has finally returned to central Washington! Today was gorgeous, with blue skies, temperatures in the high 40s, and lots of glorious sun. The beautiful weather has put all of us, human and chimpanzee, in great moods. The chimps spent much of the day playing, swinging, and laughing outside in their (very nearly completed) greenhouse.
Snake!
Given their history in captivity, the chimps here at CSNW (unlike their free-living counterparts) have probably never encountered a real snake before, but when this toy snake (see video) went out as part of their enrichment one day, they treated it with a healthy dose of caution.
Foxie nesting
We just caught Foxie in the playroom nesting with a blanket! Hopefully, it’s just a matter of time before she’s nesting with many blankets.
Burrito comes out of his shell
When it comes to play partners, Burrito tends to prefer his human friends. It is pretty rare to see him join in with the girls’ games (it’s hard to say why — perhaps he’s a little intimidated). Although he spends a fair amount of time grooming and being groomed by the other chimps, once things get playful, he usually withdraws a bit. So I was quite excited this morning when I caught him playing with Foxie in the front rooms. Apparently it looked like such a good time that Jody and Jamie tried to join in, too.
Burrito in a nest
Boys will be boys
The other day, Burrito and JB had a marathon play session. Tug of war is one of Burrito’s favorite games, and you’ll notice a lot of it in the video below. Of course, tug of war between chimps and humans is no real competition at all. Burrito has to play down his superior strength to accommodate our relative physical weakness (and we have to be prepared to let go at any time so we don’t get pulled into the caging!).
B-day
I think it’s safe to say that Burrito has had a pretty terrific birthday. Since the guy is all about food, we decided to make his day all about food, too. At 8:30 I invited the chimps into the front rooms for breakfast. Everyone came in (though Jamie almost decided against it — she was enjoying watching the greenhouse construction outside from a window in the playroom loft), so volunteer Denice served a tasty breakfast while I started the playroom clean-up. After breakfast, Denice joined me in the playroom to finish up cleaning. By about 10:45, the playroom was clean and blankets, birthday presents from Cle Elum Seven friend Robbi, and a forage of fruit, nuts, and Cheerio necklaces were set out.
While the chimps enjoyed the treats in the playroom, we cleaned the front rooms, and then the real fun began. Today we did away with our usual three-meal-a-day schedule in favor of frequent snacks, so that Burrito could enjoy his favorite time of day (mealtime!) all day long. He was pretty pleased with the idea, as you’ll see in this all-Burrito video (thanks so much to supporter and friend Tamela for the awesome new camera!).
