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.
Tips from the chimps – How to build a better drinking fountain
One of the many reasons why I love caring for chimpanzees is that they continually surprise me. This morning, Sarah and I opened the front rooms for cleaning, and we discovered that someone had modified one of their drinking fountains overnight, using a straw from their breakfast smoothie. It works much better now than it did before. J.B.
Photos of Annie
Like Foxie, Annie has also been coming out of her shell lately. Annie is naturally a bit shy with humans, but over the last couple of days she has been interacting more with her caregivers and using more of the enrichment items that we put out each day. She has also started to give us a great chimp greeting each morning when we arrive for work. J.B.
Foxie and Diana playing chase
Already, we are seeing big differences in the chimpanzees’ personalities. Until now, Foxie had been fairly quiet and reserved. But today, she surprised us by playing a full-fledged game of chase. It is possible that this is the farthest she’s been able to run in her entire life. J.B.
