If you needed a laugh or something to brighten your day Burrito will never fail you!
chimp enrichment
Jamie’s Boots and a Scarecrow Murder Mystery
Before I begin, let’s play a game! Who killed the scarecrow?
If you look closely, there is a hint. Be sure to think about it as you continue reading on. The answer will be revealed at the end!
Last week, I received a new pair of Xtra-Tuf boots. After a year and many miles put on them, holes were starting to develop in them. It is manageable though, however, after the other caregivers noticed my boots, I was convinced to finally retire those pair.
“Retire them” is a vague term however. As you may know, Jamie is a fan of the Xtra-Tuf boots. She is also a fan of what boots belong on what humans.
When I unboxed my new boots, I casually walked near the doors to Jamie’s Playroom, just to see if she would notice without any kind setup. It took her about 2 seconds to notice I was not wearing my “normal” boots. As you know, with any new boots, Jamie has to thoroughly inspect them by grooming them.
This moment lasted about two minutes. Jamie quickly determined that these boots do not belong on this human. In fact, these boots belong on any human except this one.
First, she demanded(!) Katelyn wear them around Young’s Hill with them on, not once, not twice, but three times.
Then, she demanded Katelyn take a trip around Young’s Hill (while showing them off) on the Gator with Sam as the driver.
She even wanted to really break them in by racing the Gator.
Over the past week, she has had every other human wear them.
During my weekend, I was also informed Diana and Kelsi were told they had to wear them throughout the day.
At this point, I think it’s fair to say every human has worn them more than me. I’m not mad or upset about this. I am fully aware this is Jamie’s world and I’m just living in it. If these boots don’t belong on me, then those are the rules.
Here is a bonus photo of Missy from yesterday. As Burrito and I were running around Young’s Hill, Missy came out with a Brussels sprout stalk in her mouth. She ran the entire way with it in her mouth as if it were the Olympic Torch. As I witnessed this, I radioed Anthony to get a photo before she made her way inside. Where did it come from? The only explanation is that it was stowed away safely somewhere after Jamieween.
Have you locked in your guess who the scarecrow killer was? The person who caused this grisly scene was…
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JAMIE!!!!!
Though she also had accomplices.
Burrito and the Giant Kong
Giant kongs are a newer food puzzle and Burrito loves them. We have found him bouncing on the enormous kongs, throwing the kongs, and dragging them behind him. Finally, we have some videos as proof. Though this video doesn’t have any sound, I actually was laughing out loud, usually I can suppress it! However, Burrito can come up with some of the most ridiculously fun games and this was definitely one for the books. If you needed a laugh, something to warm you from the inside out, or just something totally pure of joy this is the video from you today. Burrito is down right funny and we all need a friend like Burrito.
We also did some introductions today. With no surprise Cy and Willy B volunteered, but we were able to get a Gordo to join us, which was a surprise! And of course little miss Honey B popped in too. It took a long time for everyone to settle down at the mesh, eventually things settled and the door was able to be opened, everyone did well! Though, Gordo and Willy B might need some time alone, because Willy B and Cy have a bromance that no one can come between.
Also Jamieween is right around the corner. We just added some new boots for Jamie’s Birthday on the wish-list!
engineering challenges that create fun perspectives
Designing chimpanzee buildings is not an easy task. There are so many functional needs to take into consideration, not to mention having to make everything virtually indestructible as well as fun for smart and strong chimpanzees.
For our most recent construction, in order to connect the two new greenhouses to one another so that chimpanzees could pass from one to the other, a door needed to be installed between them, but we also wanted a human hallway in between the greenhouses with a shelter overhead.
After much rumination, J.B. and Marc Brown of Marc Brown Design came up with a door above the hallway. Our doors on the new side of the building are on a hydraulic system and remotely operated, so the next challenge was figuring out how the human door-operators could see the door while operating it.
The solution was to create a small space of caging embedded within the ledge of the greenhouses on each side that allows the humans a clear view of both sides of the door (Door Q, in case you’re curious), while operating the door using the lever on the left in the photo below.
Aside from the outdoor Chute, It’s currently the only place where the chimpanzees are directly above human space.
Rayne thinks this perspective is very fun, and she surprised me the other day by greeting me from above.
You may notice that Rayne has a strange looking pinky toe on her left foot – this is from a recent injury during introductions. If you know chimps at all, you won’t be surprised to learn that Rayne is not bothered in the least by this injury. She allows us to spray it with Vetericyn, and I’ve seen her friends occasionally paying close attention to it, but otherwise I forget she was even injured. Even directly after the fight when this injury happened, she was ready to be reunited with the sparring chimpanzees, so we put them all back together for the big playroom romp that J.B. wrote about.
The toughness and silliness of chimpanzees will never cease to impress me.
Feels like Sanctuary
Today really felt like sanctuary, I mean everyday does, of course! But everyday is different, each chimps mood varies, what they feel like doing, or not doing. Today was full of patrol walks, laughter, exploring, displaying, excited breathy pants, and of course a few non shifters ;). The beauty of sanctuary is choice and with that choice gives them a sort of freedom, not the freedom they should have and very much deserve, but the closest freedom they can have. Some days I will catch moments that just make your heart want to burst with joy, like Jamie chasing Foxie on Young’s Hill. Because those moments are what sanctuary is all about!
We just updated our wish list for Wildlife Toybox. They have some really fun durable enrichment, we especially need the mirror cover for our “Looky Lou”!
Rayne says goodnight!
Blankets and Nests Type of Day
As part of today’s daytime enrichment we pre-made nests for the three groups of chimpanzees. They are clearly capable of making their own nests with the special modifications to meet each of their personal needs, therefore our pre-made nests might not be up to their standards. We won’t get offended if some rearranging and redecorating occurs, if anything it makes for good enrichment. For example, Jamie likes to incorporate boots and books to hers so tomorrow morning we might see some boot or book additions in them. In the wild their night nests are complex and are made by arranging tree branches and lining them with leaves, while their daytime nests are usually closer to the ground and less time consuming. Just in case, we made some in all areas of the enclosures to allow the chimps to pick and choose where they want to rest, after alterations are made. We mostly used blankets and different fabrics to design them today but other days we provide the chimps different materials to make their evening or daytime resting nests like paper, plant material, clothing, silk scarves, etc.
Last week was busy with introductions so as caregivers were making nests in the different enclosures, some had the same thought I had: let’s just lay down here for a bit.
Caregivers Kelsi and Sam testing out some nests in the front rooms.
What do you guys think about this pre-made nest?
This morning I saw Negra nesting while enjoying squash browse that Dr. Erin brought yesterday.
Jamie on one of the pre-made nests caregivers prepared today in the green house.
Annie nesting in the greenhouse. Note how she is holding her hand and foot.
Missy and Jody on the greenhouse platform, Jody arranging blankets for her nest.
Enjoy some extras:
Burrito sitting peacefully on the platform of the greenhouse. Don’t be fooled, this guy does not let us skip our daily cardio.
Foxie in the greenhouse looking straight at the camera.
Honey B chilling in the playroom.
Missy looking towards the hill on this chilly and cloudy day.
Dora about to eat the raisin she successfully retrieved from the raisin board using a chopstick.
Rayne carrying around a chopstick after going through most of the raisin board enrichment.
PS. Check out our Amazon wish-list for a list of books for this years Jamieween celebration!
Three Exciting Things!
1) HOOT! online bidding opened today. More items will be added throughout the week before the event, which will stream live one week from today, Saturday, September 18th at 6:00pm PT on Facebook and YouTube. Learn more and see the current auction items available for bidding now on the HOOT! auction site.
2) The Lucky Six aired two nights ago on NBC7 San Diego’s Down to Earth with Dagmar, and you can watch it online now! It’s in four parts, so be sure to watch each of the four videos in sequence.
3) You saw the video celebration of Annie’s birthday yesterday, and now you can see these bonus photos of Annie and others in her group thoroughly enjoying the celebration. It was raining during the forage, but, as J.B. said yesterday, that did not slow them down a bit (well, maybe Negra, who decided to find food under the cover of the greenhouse).
Annie:
Missy, who enjoyed the kale as much as the coconuts:
Foxie:
Burrito, in sequence:
Negra on her throne:
