Mr. B is almost always playful, but he really has been over-the-top playful lately! This video is definitely a good laugh, but my personal favorite part is the cackling you hear coming from the videographer (who shall remain nameless) when Burrito and I are playing tug-o-war.
Party Central
We’ve been living it up here at the sanctuary today! In honor of our 4th Anniversary, today we’ve thrown 4 parties! (If you haven’t already, please check out the amazing retrospective video J.B. put together and posted earlier today– and grab some tissues!)
Party one: Pancakes made by volunteer Denice followed by a lettuce, peanut, and chow forage on Young’s Hill. Unfortunately, it’s been crazy windy all day so no one was too excited to go out to Young’s Hill though a few folks went out to get peanuts (and everyone went out later in the day). And the squeaks over the pancakes were out of this world!
Foxie:
Party two: New enrichment party in the greenhouse. As always, Dick and Robbi collected some great gifts for the chimps. Jamie made sure to check out each and every gift bag today.
Annie tangled herself up in a ball of yarn
Jamie checked out what everything looked like in a new set of binoculars
Party three: Margaritas in the playroom! Well, not really margaritas… it was just yellow Gatorade with lime wedges. But it looked festive!
and the chimps were happy with it!
Annie:
It’s hard to see but Jody is actually licking the bottom of the glass in this photo
Foxie
Jamie
Foxie
Jody
I love the next series of photos. Burrito went through this bag, found a toy with a mirror on it, and proceeded to “admire” how handsome he is. Can ya blame him?
Party Four: Lunch forage in the greenhouse. Mini bell peppers and grapefruit- some of Negra’s favorites!
Jody:
Jamie collected as much as possible, as usual!
And Negra’s birthday would not be complete without nightbags. We did mini nightbags after every meal today. She has been in heaven! The wind has made her want to spend most of the day relaxing in her bed in the playroom (in the one spot where we can’t get photos) but I got a sweet photo of Mr. B enjoying his.
Thanks so much to everyone for making this such a great day!
***Up until about 20 minutes ago, this was going to be the end of my blog post, but as I walked outside to close off Young’s Hill and invite the chimps in for dinner, I found Negra and Foxie out there enjoying some grass. J.B. happened to be out there and reported that when Negra came outside, Foxie greeted her with a big hug and they walked up to the lower platform together. What a wonderful ending to the day! Happy Birthday, Neg!
Lazy Sunday
The chimps have been ridiculously playful lately (see Negra and Missy’s play session from last Wednesday, as well as Missy and Annie’s goofiness on Friday)! But some days, they just want to kick back and relax. It’s been sunny but really windy today (and the last several days!) which makes for a really warm and relaxing greenhouse.
Annie has been laying in a super comfy-looking nest all morning- the perfect place for a little yoga:
Foxie has been kicked back with a couple of troll dolls while grooming herself. There’s something so adorable about Foxie’s tongue!
And just now, I caught Jody grooming Burrito. I love the way she was holding his foot!
Negra’s Choice
We are less than one week away from our 4-year anniversary (June 13th)! And that means it’s almost Negra’s honorary birthday! Because Negra was born in the jungles of Africa, we do not know her actual birthday, and because she is the Queen of the Cle Elum Seven, we chose the chimps’ anniversary of their arrival to their sanctuary home as Negra’s special day.
Negra is not only the Queen of the Cle Elum Seven, she is also the Queen of nuts! Nothing makes her happier than her nightbag (nightbags are paper bags of nuts, dried fruit and seeds that we give the chimps each night after their dinner)– check out this video from a couple of years ago. It really is the best part of her day.
In honor of our Queen, we are hoping to stock up on unsalted, in shell nuts! Nuts.com (formerly NutsOnline.com) is a great company that has care packages specifically designed for the Cle Elum Seven, so we hope you will support them while supporting the Seven, too. For $25, we get 1 lb bags of mixed nuts, raw pumpkin seeds, hard shell pecans, raw almonds, raw walnuts, and raw Brazil nuts! It’s a great deal and is sure to make Negra and the rest of the gang so very happy! Visit this link to place an order.
We would also love to stock up on Safeway gift cards. We’ve got big plans for Negra’s big day next Wednesday and really hope to buy some great produce for the party- including lots and lots of lettuce, another one of Negra’s favorites! You can order gift cards and have them mailed to us directly by visiting this link.
Help us give Negra the best birthday yet! We promise to throw a spectacular party for the Queen!
Blanket Play
Today as the chimps were waiting for their lunch to be served, I caught Missy playing with a red blanketed lump, also known as Negra Chimpanzee. It stood out as particularly funny to me because, although Negra loves to wrap herself (head and all) up in a blanket, and although lots of the chimps, particularly Missy and Jamie, often play with blankets over their heads, we don’t often see Negra playing like this. I love seeing Missy bring out Negra’s playful side!
The endless salad bowl
One of the best things about the hill lately has been the fact that it’s an endless salad bowl of grass. Everyone has a favorite “harvest” spot, but lots of folks are discovering that Missy’s Mound has the best grass. Today I drove the gator around the hill and caught Missy getting some grass from there. As soon as she saw me, she grabbed a huge handful of grass and playfully ran inside. Once I parked the gator and walked in, I found Missy standing in the playroom with her mouthful of grass, and she playfully ran back out to the hill to get me to chase her.
Foxie, Missy, and the Carrot
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such silly behavior revolving around food.
