Theresa Strunk sponsored today in honor of Fran Boland’s Birthday. Hope you have a Happy Birthday, Fran!
Below is a photo of Jamie peeking into a gift bag on her birthday last year, one of our biggest parties to date.
Chimps’ Choice!
It’s been a while since we had a Chimps’ Choice item, and we have an awesome idea!
We love to challenge the chimps with puzzles. Not to cause stress, of course, but to keep them stimulated and enriched. Jamie loves nothing more than a project but she’s so smart that it is difficult to come up with a project for her that actually challenges her. Something that would take me an hour to figure out, Jamie masters in less than 5 minutes. The puzzles that Cari donated the other day are just perfect and we would love to have more. The website has a variety of puzzles, but not all of them will work for us, so I added the specific ones we think will be best to our Amazon Wishlist. They are the PVC Puzzle, the hanging sliding feeder, the Forage Raisin Ball, and the Discovery Food Ball. All of these puzzles have a chain attached to them and hang on the outside of the caging. They encourage tool use and creative problem solving skills, and I suspect they will be just the thing to keep Jamie and the others enriched and occupied for years to come.
***Update: The company that sells these puzzles, AbsolutePrimate.com, has a $75 minimum, so if you would like to participate, instead of ordering them through the website, please send us a donation and we will order them. Be sure to mention Chimps’ Choice or puzzles in the gift note section.
More enhanced enrichment puzzles
Thanks to volunteer Cari Parker, we have more enhanced enrichment puzzles. Cari’s friend Stephanie sponsored today in honor of Cari’s Birthday, so Cari sent us a box of enrichment for the occasion. Included in the box of goodies were some PVC pipe puzzles. There is a photo with an explanation in the video below.
Keeping the chimps (especially super smart Jamie) enriched is a challenge. We are always trying to come up with new puzzle ideas- and these are great! (Thanks, Cari!) If you ever have any ideas you would like to share, please email me at [email protected]
This day is for Cari Parker
Today’s sponsor-a-day is in honor of chimp house volunteer Cari Parker from Stephanie Fowble. Hope you kick back and have a special day, Cari!
How to initiate play
Given the fact that Foxie is probably the most playful chimp I’ve ever known, normally one would not need the following instructions. But I suppose they could be good to keep around, just in case. 🙂
Jody and enrichment
Jody is a very casual kind of lady, which is probably why she gets less blog attention. She doesn’t play with toys too often, rather she usually inspects things for a moment and moves on. The other day she had an enrichment-loving afternoon, I suppose, and I caught her spending quality time and even playing (in her casual, Jody-kind-of-way, of course) with a toy dog and later, a popper toy.
A relaxing day for Negra
Today was sunny and beautiful, so the greenhouse was a prime spot for everyone, especially Negra.
You may have heard us talk about Negra’s spot in the outdoor area, which is the southern most end of the deck. The sun beats in the greenhouse in that spot so it’s almost always a warm and inviting place to nap.
Negra spent almost the whole day relaxing there…. and today, no blankets were necessary!
10:00am-
(I think the next one is my favorite. I love the pointed toe!)
2:00pm- Yep. Same place… only this time, she looked like she was practicing her “happy baby” yoga pose:
She finally came inside to her other favorite spot and curled up with a soft yellow blanket:
