Such a nice portrait:
Burrito
Nightbag Rituals
As Diana mentioned yesterday, she got some photos of the chimps enjoying their nightbags last Friday. As most of you know, Negra is the biggest fan of nightbags and almost seems to live for that time of the day. But the reality is, nightbags are truly loved by all. Each one of the chimps has their own ritual with nightbags. If we serve them in the greenhouse, everyone immediately scatters when they get their bag, heading off to a safe and more isolated location. Nightbags are a prized possession, so everyone is careful to ensure their bag is not stolen by someone. Jamie immediately goes up to the window sill, tears it open and dumps everything out so she can pick through what she wants to eat first. Negra doesn’t tend to move away very far, as eating it is her number one top priority (not to mention I think she knows no one would steal her nightbag!). She tears a hole in the bag and munches on it through the hole, allowing nut shells and empty sunflower seeds to collect on her belly. Jody tends to lay down to eat hers, usually tearing it open but leaving it neatly on the bag while she picks through the mix with her lips. Annie usually bites a hole in her bag and holds it like a cereal bowl. Foxie’s method is pretty similar to Annie’s, only she usually dumps small amounts in her hand and sorts through it there:
Missy usually tears it open and spreads it open like Jamie- a perk of being a more dominant chimp, in that you don’t have to worry about people stealing it as much so dumping it out isn’t as big of a deal. And then you get to go through and eat each nut and seed at your leisure:
Burrito uses the cereal bowl method as well though I think his favorite part is going back and sorting through people’s abandoned scraps!
For Bruce
Volunteer Deborah sponsored today in honor of her husband, CSNW Board Vice President Bruce Wagman. Bruce works tirelessly for all animals – the Cle Elum Seven of course, but also horses, dogs, cats, farm animals, and countless others, not to mention the “Wagmanagerie” of cats and dogs who live at the beach with Bruce and Deborah. Deborah loves you for all your hard work, Bruce, as do the rest of us here at the sanctuary! Have a happy Valentine’s Day Eve!
The Charmer
Burrito often bites on something when he’s feeling playful. Here he’s doing his best to charm me into playing with him while I’m trying to take photos.
Floppy ears
I just happened to notice that Burrito has 996 “likes” on Facebook! Let’s get him to over 1000! It shouldn’t be hard with an adorable video like the one below. “Like” or share this blog post with your Facebook friends and suggest they “like” Mr. B, if for no other reason, because his ears wiggle when he chews, and who can resist that?
Yawning
It’s been a very quiet day here at the sanctuary. Lots of napping and grooming, with the occasional break to go outside and get snow.
Negra is a pro at napping. She tried to groom with Missy for a while but it apparently wasn’t exciting enough to keep her awake, and she started yawning.
I’m sure you’ve experienced contagious yawning before. Chimpanzees experience the same thing. In fact, the humans and chimps at CSNW “catch” yawns from each other all the time. I have been yawning nonstop for the last ten minutes as I’ve been working on this blog post.
The jury is still out on the function of yawning, but some scientists believe that yawning is contagious in some animals because it facilitates the synchronization of activities, particularly the transition between activity to rest. One study showed that chimpanzees “catch” yawns more often from males than from females. Why would this be the case? According to the authors, we should expect the group to synchronize with male behavior more than females because males are the dominant sex.
In any case, I hope you all feel better now that you’ve had a good yawn.
Deep snow
You may have noticed a lack of Young’s Hill photos and videos over the last month or so. That’s because when the snow gets so deep, it reduces the voltage of the electric fence, making it unsafe to allow the chimpanzees out there. Well, yesterday, J.B., Sarah and I (mostly J.B.) all went out and shoveled around the entire perimeter of the fence (who needs a gym membership?), freeing up those bottom wires covered in snow so that the voltage was sufficient to let the chimps back out! It was very hard work, but the chimps were so excited that it was well worth it! There were lots of hugs and kisses in the chimp house (between the chimps 😉 ) and breathy pants echoed in the greenhouse. Sometimes our job isn’t glamorous but it is certainly rewarding, especially when you see a face like the one below (Jody’s).
Jody was the first one to go back out. She was food grunting (we had lettuce out there, plus look at all that snow!) and had a huge playface!
Annie used Jody’s head for support as she passed her on the log bridge. Jody didn’t seem to mind.
Look at the joy in her eyes!
The snow was really deep, so J.B. and Diana shoveled paths along the log bridge to the first climbing structure and to Negra’s cabin. Most folks just walked along the paths, but Missy chose to walk on the fire hose.
From left to right, Jamie, Missy, Annie and Jody, enjoying the lettuce forage on top of the first climbing structure.
Did I mention the snow was (is) deep? Foxie walked along the paths but she looked so tiny from our vantage point (tinier than she already is, even!).
Annie figured walking bipedally made more sense. Gotta say, I agree!
While everyone else foraged for lettuce, Annie climbed up to the top of Negra’s cabin a couple of times.
And Missy discovered a TON of lettuce Sarah put in the cabin!
I think she was pretty pleased!
All of the chimps went out at some point, though Negra didn’t leave the comfort of the raceway (and only so she could grab some lettuce and snow) and Burrito was only out for a couple of minutes (also just to grab a little bit of lettuce and snow) and didn’t venture out very far, but everyone seemed very happy to have the option of the hill back! And that’s what sanctuary is all about.
Annie following Missy back to the greenhouse:
