Sometimes my brain is in no mood to write a blog post so I go through my phone to see if there are any photos I haven’t posted. Thus, I present to you, apropos of nothing, these photos from last summer of Dora and Cy stopping to watch the train go by as they eat oranges.
Keeping up with Burrito
I followed the chimps up the hill this morning as they made their way to the wooded area. Burrito followed Jody closely as they made their way through the gully and up along the fence line.
Foxie was not far behind.
Missy, of course, had made it to the top before anyone even noticed she was gone.
When we arrived at the top, Burrito appeared determined. He may not be ready to climb a tree just yet, but he was going to do something adventurous. He climbed past Missy and went to the roof of Carlene’s Tower.
From there, he took in the view of the Yakima River and the distant town of Cle Elum.
But then he was off to do other things, like climbing the log pile with Jamie.
The group returned to the greenhouse. Jody brought with her a piece of pine bark with scars form the Taylor Bridge Fire and what look like holes from a woodpecker.
Throughout the morning, the group (minus Negra, of course, who remained in her cozy nest) would continue to make trips up to the pines. Annie is still wearing her waist band, as you can see.
After lunch, Jamie brought her sweet potatoes for a picnic and took some time to inspect the insect and chainsaw markings on the logs.
On their fourth trip up, it was clear that Burrito was not slowing down. Missy chased him across the log bridges and nearly captured his toes.
Next time, Missy.
They stopped to rest together.
In the original side of the building, there’s a small interior room called Front Room 4 that has a view into the kitchen and foyer, where we work throughout the afternoon. Burrito has learned that if he tries hard enough to get our attention, the humans can’t concentrate and must abandon their attempts to write the blog.
And so long as you’re not doing anything, you might as well take a walk with Burrito, right? Great! He’ll meet you outside then.
He waits for you to arrive, and then he’s off to the top of the hill once more.
Impressions
It’s officially mud season, and boy do we have a lot of it this year. Construction on Young’s Hill and The Bray finished too late last year to replant grass in the disturbed areas, so what was dust last fall when the chimps went back outside is now a squishy, slippery mess. One benefit of the mud, however, is finding the chimps’ hand and footprints all over the hill.
Unlike a lot of the animal tracks we find around the sanctuary, the chimps’ fore and hind limb prints are very distinctive from one another, due to the fact that chimps use the middle phalanges (not the knuckle itself but the area between the first and second knuckles) of their hands for walking while, like us, they use the soles of their feet.
Here are some hand prints:
Footprints show the entire sole of the foot with the big toe extending almost 90 degrees from the other toes.
There was a time when most of the Cle Elum Seven, who previously knew nothing but the concrete and bars of their laboratory cages, wouldn’t dream of stepping in mud. Times certainly have changed. It’s not as if they enjoy being dirty, however. When they return from an adventure outside, they promptly clean themselves up by wiping their hands and feet on walls, caging, cardboard boxes, or anything else within reach. And then leave it for their cleaning staff to take care of 🙂
Scenes From the Day
Mave and Dora
Sometimes dinner is so exciting that you just need a hug.
On the other side of the building, Jamie and her gang spent some time out on the hill today. We have been under clouds and fog for so long now that we’re wondering if Cle Elum will ever be known again its sunny winters. This morning, Anna came back from outside and exclaimed, “The fog is getting brighter!” We all celebrated the change from gray to light gray. The chimps celebrated, too, by heading out to the hill.
Jamie took along her favorite book:
Burrito followed:
Foxie of course took her doll along to fetch some snow:
Perhaps tomorrow will be an even brighter shade of gray. If not, I might need one of those hugs. Or just a cozy nest:
Terry update: He’s feeling much better and is as playful as ever!
Burrito’s 40th Birthday Bash
I could say a lot about the significance of this occasion but that will have to wait for another day. For now, I’ll just say that we all love this guy more than anything and we’re so happy to be celebrating his 40th birthday.
Happy Birthday, Bubs!
Stuff
As many of you know (especially if you watched the recent Christmas videos), the CSNW chimps have a lot of stuff. Most of the chimps are not attached to these things – they use them and enjoy them and then go on about their business. But some chimps are quite materialistic and borderline obsessive about it, too.
This morning, Sofia and I were cleaning the playroom when I heard Jamie emit a “low moan” from the front rooms. This is a vocalization that often indicates satisfaction. I imagined that she had saved her primate chow from breakfast, as she often does, and was digging into it in private while the others chimps groomed in the greenhouse. But when I peeked around the corner I found that she didn’t have any chow and was simply making a nest. With her, however, was her favorite book, I’m Lucy.
An attachment to things wouldn’t work very well for a species that ranges across a vast territory and rarely sleeps in the same place twice. While Jamie was not fortunate enough to know the life of her wild counterparts, there’s some comfort in knowing that she gets to experience the same pleasure we do when settling down with a good book on a snowy winter morning.
On a separate note, I just wanted to express our thanks to the rest of the staff (and their spouses) who dealt with some challenging conditions while Diana and I were gone on a longer than expected trip. Kelsi mentioned that the well froze up, but she may not have mentioned that the cattle water also froze up just as we left, the radiant heat in the original chimp building stopped working the next morning (we have backup heaters on standby), and the tractor refused to run, requiring them to find someone to come plow the sanctuary’s long and steep driveway on short notice and make multiple trips to the well house with a heat gun using snowshoes. All of this on top of having to take turns staying overnight at the sanctuary through the holidays. Some might say that Diana and I were the real heroes last week, as we valiantly struggled to enjoy all the cookies, cocktails, and Christmas presents with my family while burdened with the knowledge that the rest of the staff were facing one catastrophe after another. But I’d say our coworkers did a pretty good job, too.