Katelyn

A friendly reminder from summer

May 31, 2021 by Katelyn

Summer made a visit to the sanctuary today, just to remind us of it’s impending arrival in a few weeks! Whew! It was a beautiful day! (We just haven’t quite caught up with such temps yet 😉 ). With the exception of California Girl, Mave, who has spent the ENTIRE day soaking up the warmth outside in the chute, most of the other chimpanzees chose to spend the majority of their day inside where it was a bit cooler, munching on ice cube treats and relaxing by the fans.

This morning we saw the cattle enjoying their summer pasture while it was still relatively cool. Here’s Betsy:

Meredith, Honey and Nutmeg, just around the corner:

When Chad returned from doing cattle care later in the afternoon I was marveling that they were all lying in the hot sun. Chad clarified that only Nutmeg and Honey were sunbathing and Betsy and Meredith were down standing in the creek! Good choice, ladies, good choice.

The doors and windows to the chimp house were flung wide today, with birdsong burbling through like a brook and the occasional, hoped for breeze. Annie is in the background, waiting for her ice snack:

Annie crunching her ice cubes and looking cute, because she’s beautiful Annie:

Willy B nesting in the breeze:

Jamie and her boot, taking in the summer-like weather:

Annie on snake patrol:

Missy was eating ice in her greenhouse nest hoping for a breeze:

We don’t tend to get much work up to our warmer weather in this part of the state. It goes from cold to hot pretty quickly, so even when it’s not *that* hot yet, it sure feels like it when it was much cooler a mere day or so ago. We had a lunch forage on Young’s Hill for the seven, but it heated up a little faster than we anticipated and some of the chimpanzees opted to make a quick run out and back. Jody in particular wanted lunch served inside near the fans today, though she did go grab a few items from the hill to enjoy in the greenhouse afterward:

The one person who was completely undeterred by the heat today? This guy, Burrito! It might have been hot with all of us moving in slow motion, but that’s no excuse for not playing. (And notice those greenhouse panels are off! Woot! It’s officially the summer season!):

However, he had no problem falling fast asleep in his nest this evening. Sweet dreams, Bubbie…:

And on the Burrito note, we’d like to send special thanks to Jenara Miller who sponsored today in honor of Carrie Miller, wishing her “Happy Birthday!” Carrie is a long-time chimpanzee pal (to Burrito) and bovine buddy (to Honey Cow). Yay, Carrie!! We hope it was the best one yet! We so appreciate all that you help make possible for all the special beings who call the sanctuary their home.

A hodge podge

May 24, 2021 by Katelyn

All ten chimpanzees kept all four caregivers in the chimp house today in constant rotation! Even those we endearingly refer to as “a chimp’s chimp” (Missy!) couldn’t seem to get enough of the humans today. Maybe they decided the humans would make do for good enrichment on this particularly blustery day, but needless to say, it’s been a delight. Please enjoy this hodge podge of photos!

Here we have boss lady Jamie, enjoying me taking her photo, but also keeping a *very* sharp eye on her trainee, new staff team member, Sam. We laughed and laughed at these two photos. It probably isn’t as noticeable in blog post format, but when flipping back and forth from screen to screen nothing changes but a slight shift in her eyes, looking at me, then looking at Sam, who was in the kitchen. There was a whole series like this which you probably had to be there for, but she’s stunning, isn’t she?

Burrito, playing tug-o-war (apologies for the pixelated photos, but they were too cute not to share):

Hanging out with Foxie and tossing her twin Strawberry Shortcakes back and forth (you can just see her up in the loft behind the dolls):

Rubbing those happy toes together:

And Missy! She wanted to spend time grooming, playing chase AND tug-o-war for a good chunk of the day. Missy is usually much too busy doing chimpanzee things with her chimpanzee friends to spend time with the humans and we certainly support the chimps’ relationships with one another over their relationships with us, but it makes time with her such a delight.

Missy is not a fan of having her photo taken and here she is in spy selfie mode:

Annie and Missy sitting in the raceway, watching some of the other chimps out on Young’s Hill:

Jody, kicking back in all her wonderful Jody-ness:

Unfortunately I couldn’t capture photos of everyone today, but even Negra was playing with a different one of her chimp friends every time I looked! If you can believe it she had a hold of Burrito’s foot at breakfast and sat there laughing and swinging his leg back and forth the entire time. Ridiculously cute.

And wonderful Mave, Honey B and Willy B kept everyone busy as well, but because they tend to be “close talkers”, it’s often hard to capture photos. Cement walkways were poured outside the expansion area today and let me tell you, Honey B was beside herself trying to get me to let her leave her mark on that wet cement. And let me also tell you, I was beside myself in wanting to let her! (If chimp prints wind up on there, I know nothing and neither do you). 😉

The Trainer

May 17, 2021 by Katelyn

Jamie has been working hard all day, putting one of our new caregivers, Sam, through the paces of training! After all, there is so much to teach the new humans about which boots to wear and in what combination, which human to have walk and which to drive the Gator during races around Young’s Hill, I mean the list goes on and on. Thank goodness Jamie is the qualified, professional trainer she is.

Here she is keeping a close eye on her trainee:

It’s been another super busy day here in the chimp house, folks, so apologies for the brevity of today’s blog! An unexpected rainstorm blew in this evening and after some sudden post-bedtime alarm calling from Mave, who we think saw some lightning (Mave *hates* lightening and thunder), all ten chimpanzees and all four bovines are tucked safe and cozy into their night nests. Wishing you all the same!

A continuous celebration

May 10, 2021 by Katelyn

This is how I found Jody first thing this morning. The birthday girl herself, luxuriating in the morning sun shining into the greenhouse, leisurely munching on some leftover lilacs from yesterday’s big celebration for her 46th birthday and Mother’s Day:

In the midst of snapping these photos the most hilarious thing happened. Burrito went stomping past Jody in an attempt to get me to chase him and just as he passed by, she swung her leg out and gently play kicked him right in the tookus! So funny! He marched on, unphased, but then made his way back to grab her leg and try to get her to wrestle. But I think Jody wasn’t quite ready to leave her sun puddle and refused to budge from her nest.

When I opened up the raceway to give the chimps access to Young’s Hill after breakfast, Negra led the charge and promptly found a good spot in the sun to munch on her beloved spring grass:

Jamie, Missy, Annie, Burrito, Foxie and Jody all headed up Young’s Hill together to do a perimeter check:

Foxie and France Dora:

Jody found a bonus piece of chard missed from the forage yesterday. I think for her, the party just continued today. And why not? I can say with certainty that we celebrate Jody and each of the chimpanzees every day. Chard or not. 😉

I found a few bonus photos from yesterday’s lilac forage. Here’s sweet Annie:

Negra in the background. If only lilacs grew on firehoses:

Jody and friends:

Mave, Willy B and Honey B have spent nearly the entire day dosing in the sun from their outdoor chute, seemingly unphased by the return of the construction workers. Willy B didn’t even respond to calls for breakfast and had to be enticed with a visual of what was on offer. And he was just oh…so…sleepy…

A beautiful evening to you all from all of us here in the chimp house. May you each find something to cherish and celebrate, be it a piece of chard or a beautiful bouquet, or well, anything at all that just happens to make your heart sing.

And Foxie says, “HOOT!!”