Each night after dinner, we give the chimpanzees treats in the form of “night bags.” These are brown paper bags with a small amount of sugar-free cereal, dried fruit, salt-free nuts, seeds and sometimes dried pasta or other goodies. Our beloved volunteers make these bags up 21 or so at a time to ensure we have a supply for a few nights. Negra in particular likes this snack and sometimes asks for her night bag before dinner is even over. She asks by loudly clapping and sometimes extending an arm out. One night last week when J.B. was serving dinner, I snapped a few photos of Negra making her request, then enjoying her night bag.
chimp enrichment
Happy Halloween-Birthday, Jamie!
You can give both Jamie and her caregiver Elizabeth a birthday gift through Elizabeth’s birthday wish on Facebook!
Below are a few photos of Jamie (and her special pumpkin) from the morning/afternoon party. Jamie thanks Robbi, Stephanie P., Tamela, Margaret, Cari and Jeanie for the birthday goodies.
Stephanie brought Jamie a pair of cowboy boots for her birthday and she loves them! She picked one up right away and has been carrying it around with her all day. You can see the sole of the boot in the photo above – it’s tucked into Jamie’s groin pocket. It’s very windy today, but Jamie and I just played chase outside for a couple of minutes – a sign that she is in a great mood! J.B. will post a video in just a bit showing more of the party. Happy Halloween everyone!
A window with a view
Here’s Negra earlier today, at one of her favorite lookout spots. She spends a lot of time gazing out the windows here. Early next year we’ll have an exciting project: replacing some of our “caged” windows with bullet-proof glass so that the chimps can look out upon the valley without having to see bars. We can’t wait!

Tutu Retrospective





And enjoy this brief, quiet moment with the fashionista herself:
Mail call
We received a good number of returned auction invitations (be sure to update us when your address changes!) and decided to give them to the chimpanzees. Jamie made her way through them one by one…
Housekeeping
Lettuce bonanza
Jackie threw whole heads of lettuce on top of the enclosure tonight as part of dinner. If you know Negra, you probably know two things: first, she is not exactly the ‘athletic’ type. Second, she LOVES lettuce. So, we were very impressed when we saw her climb up and dangle from the tippy-top of the enclosure to get her head of lettuce! In the second part of this video you’ll see Missy doing the same thing, but with a bigger payoff. At the end it looks like she doesn’t quite know how to drop down to the platform without dropping her haul!














