There is a window in the loft of the chimp house that looks out over the driveway. The chimps – Negra, in particular – like this spot because they can see the humans coming and going. When Sarah and I went into the playroom to clean this morning, we were not surprised to find a nest by this window. But with this nest there were just two toys from the dozens of new toys given out at yesterday’s party: a periscope and a pair of binoculars.
Housewarming Party
The chimps had a great time at their housewarming party today. Here are a few photos – more photos and video to come.
Annie enjoys some cattails:
Burrito opens his new lunchbox:
Foxie found a new doll, but hasn’t given up on Trixie:
Jamie got dressed up for the occasion:
Jody inspects her new pinwheel:
Negra with a flip flop:
And as the party wound down, Missy fell asleep wearing her sunglasses on top of her head:
Today’s Photos
Foxie has a love/hate relationship with dolls. Sometimes she seems scared of them, and she will attack them with a rapid series of karate chops to the torso (very impressive). But then she will carry them around for the rest of the day and even nest with them. Today, Foxie carried this troll doll around in her “pelvic pocket”, an area between the hip and the thigh where chimps like to hold objects.
Burrito can look so innocent sometimes. I took this photo two minutes after he ran through the group, hitting the girls indiscriminately (as far as I could tell) as he went. Negra was very upset. But minutes later, everything was quiet again. Such is life in the chimp world… J.B.
Missy in a shirt
Missy plays a toy piano
People are often surprised to see the kinds of toys we give to the chimpanzees. True, wild chimps are not likely to encounter a toy piano, and you probably wouldn’t see toys like this in a zoo’s chimpanzee exhibit. But our philosophy is this: if its safe and the chimps might enjoy it, its worth a try. Anything to make their day a bit more interesting. Many thanks to all of you who continue to send these wonderful gifts to the chimps. J.B.
Jamie Sewing
Today, we hung fire hose in the playroom. Since the chimps were locked in the front rooms while we worked, Sarah and Diana decided to give Jamie some yarn, a plastic needle and some plastic mesh to see if she would be interested in doing some needlepoint while she waited. Jamie, of course, was up to the challenge. J.B.
Dinner Forage
The chimps love forages. Rather than serving food hand to mouth or through the food chutes, we like to occasionally set out all of the food in the front rooms before the chimps come in for their meal. They get to watch us set everything up, and the anticipation makes the meal all the more enjoyable. When they are finally let in, they search through all of the bowls, buckets and boxes for their favorite foods. Here you can see (from left to right) Annie, Missy and Burrito munching on lettuce, frozen oranges and herbal tea (many thanks to the Cle Elum Safeway and Roslyn Natural Market for donating produce). Listen for the food grunts – a signal that they are enjoying the meal. J.B.