Accidental enrichment is the best enrichment.
Reach
Chimpanzee gestures carry different meanings depending on the context in which they are delivered. Here we look at the extended arm, or “reach” gesture, which can mean “hello”, “come here”, “give me that”, “hop on my back, it’s time to go”, or “it’s OK to approach me”, among other things.
George Explores the Greenhouse
Now that George has completed his quarantine, he is finally able to explore more of the sanctuary. This poses a bit of a logistical challenge—we don’t want him to be intimidated by the other chimps while he explores and we certainly don’t want to give them the opportunity to fight against the mesh or windows at this point, so for this to work the other chimps have to move to nonadjacent enclosures. And that means that both Honey B and Gordo have to be in a cooperative mood. But sometimes the stars do align…
A New George Every Day
I have to admit I was starting to wonder how this was going to work.
After unloading George’s crate and transferring him into the building, I really didn’t see much of him due to our strict quarantine procedures, which made it difficult to pop in and out to say hi while still getting other things done. But when I did see him, he would scream bloody murder and seek reassurance from another person in the room. My presence was exciting, to say the least. How would I be a part of his caregiving team if he was going to be so unsettled by my presence?
It makes more sense now that we’ve been told that he would often react that way to tall men.
Thankfully George has realized that, despite my height, I’m not very intimidating. And today he decided that he would officially consider me an honorary shorter person. It feels good to be pals with George.
Transitions like this are hard for chimpanzees but George is making great strides. From my perspective, it’s like I’m getting to meet a new George every day. He’s funny, confident, and playful. He’s a very gentle groomer. And his food puzzle skills are…going to need some work. But we’ve got plenty of time for that.
Signs of Summer
Summer has come early this year so we’ve been busy making sure everyone stays safe and comfortable. That means moving the cows to pastures with plenty of wooded areas for shade and ensuring our wildfire sprinkler system is ready for fire season. The chimps have gone into summer mode as well, taking full advantage of the outdoor habitats in the early mornings and finding shade or a quiet spot indoors to ride out the afternoon heat.
Willy B’s Choice
First of all, today is Dora’s 36th birthday! Many thanks to our staff as well as interns Sarah and Taylor and Dr. Erin for pulling off a party for the birthday girl even when we were somewhat short on staff. And many thanks as well to Paulette Wrisley for sponsoring the day on Dora’s honor! We’re excited to share photos and video with you all tomorrow when we have time to prepare them.
In the meantime, I wanted to share a video about our boy, Willy B, and the journey he’s been on to become comfortable with the outdoors. I can’t tell you how often I want to be frustrated with this confused, self-sabotaging, sometimes-sweet-and-often-a-jerk, man-child of a chimpanzee. But I know what he’s been through. And I wanted you to get a glimpse as well. It’s really a miracle that he made it out at all. Every time I see him sitting in the grass or walking to the top of the Bray, I feel so proud of what our team has done and what you all have made possible.
My motive for sharing this now, if I’m being honest, is that I thought it would be a good lesson/reminder as to what might lie ahead for George. I know that many of you are excited for what’s next once George completes his quarantine, but I want to prepare everyone to be patient. We don’t know how George will react to other chimps after living alone for so long and we don’t know how he’ll react to a 2-acre habitat after being restricted to small cage for most of his life. Some chimps rush to embrace every new opportunity in sanctuary. Others take their time. It’s all up to them.
But at least now George, like Willy B, will have a choice.
George Starts to Explore
This morning, George got to see a little bit more of the sanctuary.
As an accompaniment today’s video, I thought it might be helpful to detail the process of accepting a new chimpanzee, particularly for those of you who are just now tuning in to our blog because of George. We’re so heartened to see the concern that you all have for George’s well being and we know that you have questions about what lies ahead.
There are three main things that we’ll be focusing on in the coming weeks and months: Ensuring George’s health and that of the chimpanzees already at the sanctuary, allowing him to become familiar with his new home, and eventually integrating him into a social group.
George received a preliminary medical exam on the day he was transferred to the sanctuary and he will receive a second, more thorough exam this week. These exams will help us ensure that he is in good health and will give us a baseline for future comparisons as he ages. The sanctuary’s veterinarian, Dr. Erin, will lead the exam but she will be joined by other veterinarians and specialists so that we can do the most thorough evaluation possible, including an echocardiogram to screen for heart disease. George is currently in quarantine, which is designed to limit the possibility that he could pass along an infectious illness to the sanctuary’s other residents. The length of the quarantine period is based on both the incubation periods for the illnesses we are concerned about and the results of the two exams, but at a minimum it will last several weeks.
As the quarantine process allows, we’ll also be gradually giving George time to explore to the different enclosures and habitats here at the sanctuary. The sanctuary consists of two main wings, one that houses the very first group to arrive at the sanctuary in 2008 and a new wing that currently houses two different groups that were rescued in 2019 and 2021. Each wing has smaller rooms for medical recovery, quarantine, and social introductions, one or two larger, two-story indoor playrooms, one or two two-story greenhouse enclosures, and a multi-acre outdoor habitat. We’ve found that chimpanzees who have lived on concrete floors for much of their lives can have difficulty adjusting to natural substrates, such as the bark mulch in the greenhouse enclosures and the grass and dirt in the outdoor habitats. This adjustment period can take anywhere from several weeks to several years; a few of the chimpanzees we took in in 2019 still prefer to avoid natural surfaces whenever possible. It’s possible that George will need time to adjust as well. Chimpanzees can become institutionalized in other ways, too—notably, chimps who have lived in smaller enclosures can be somewhat apprehensive about open spaces. The two-acre habitat that George will have access to is an open-top enclosure with expansive views of the surrounding mountains so it may require some time before he becomes comfortable. We’re hopeful that George will adapt quickly but he will be in charge.
And finally, a word on integration. It’s a difficult process and there’s never a guarantee that it will work out. Because we know little about George other than the fact that he has lived alone or in pairs for his adult life, we will move forward cautiously. When it’s time, we’ll have him meet some other chimps one-on-one at the mesh. This will be our first chance to assess whether or not he exhibits appropriate chimpanzee behaviors, to gauge his confidence (surprisingly, underconfidence can be worse than overconfidence during introductions), and to determine how his potential new group mates react to him. This process moves along in baby steps, with successful meetings at the mesh (“howdies”, as the are called in zoo and sanctuary parlance) followed by brief one-on-ones together in the same enclosure. Once he has had multiple successful meetings with each member of his potential new group, the process can gradually build until he is integrated in the group as a whole. This can take months. I want to be very upfront here and share that some amount of fighting is to be expected. The responsibility of our staff is to try to foresee and limit the worst aggression while allowing the chimps to work out their social order as chimps do. If George isn’t compatible with the first group we try him with, we will have other options and will ensure that he finds a group of his own. Because he really deserves to be with other chimpanzees.
I’ll leave you with a few photos of today’s lunch forage on Young’s Hill.
Foxie, Annie, Missy, and Burrito:
Burrito:
Annie:
Missy:
Foxie:
