Sunny summer days are amazing, but so is getting to relax in some cool shade.
chimp
Jody’s sunny profile
Blanket fort play
The enrichment at the sanctuary changes daily, and we try to come up with different things to entertain the chimpanzees. As I was picking up trolls that had clearly been bitten into (some were ripped almost in half!) I was thinking that there must have been some sort of troll forage. Jackie confirmed that they did indeed have frozen watermelon in troll dolls as a forage the day before. I started wondering what the average person must think when they hear that caregivers fill troll dolls with frozen watermelon as a fun project. It must sound so strange! But the chimpanzees really love stuff like that, and we try to take advantage of the kind of enrichment we have (and we have TONS of trolls since they are a Foxie favorite) and make it even more enriching.
Today we set up a blanket fort—we tied blankets together and made a really low ceiling for the chimps to walk under. It was sort of like the day we draped some blankets over the barrels, but this was bigger and more spread out. And it was enriching for the chimps, so I think we succeeded in our goal!
The blanket fort lasted a pretty long time, however I just saw Jody taking it down in order to nest with the blankets. She seemed pretty content with all the blankets she managed to collect since they were tied together.
Pile of Trolls Day
Watch Foxie choose her daily trolls from a giant pile in the video below.
As the video mentions, you can send your troll dolls to Foxie at the sanctuary for her birthday and to be used in the Troll Olympics. In addition to troll and dora dolls, we are looking for bakers to bring vegan baked goods to sell at the bake sale that’s part of the Roslyn Doggie and Troll Olympics on July 22nd. Contact Diana: [email protected] if you want to bake or if you have any questions. More information about this fun event will be forthcoming!
Comfort
A few nights ago while the chimpanzees were being served dinner in the greenhouse, I entered the playroom for a quick spot clean and found this nest in Negra’s current favorite spot in the loft. The photos really don’t do it justice. It was about four feet wide and beautifully put together. The next morning when we (reluctantly) deconstructed it during cleaning, we counted 23 blankets! It was only four years ago that Negra and the other chimps were sleeping on bare concrete in the lab. To Negra, I think sanctuary means comfort.
Team Dora or Team Troll?
Foxie’s new love of Dora the Explorer continues, but that doesn’t mean she’s dropped troll dolls out of her life.
She spent some time with a Dora and a troll doll and a mirror today:
A sure sign of Foxie’s contentment is when she rubs her toes together, like in the photo below and in this video from a couple of years ago. If you’re wondering what the powdery stuff on Foxie’s feet is – it’s pollen. The pollen has been blowing off the trees like snow all week!
Thank you, Barbara King!
Barbara King has sponsored today in appreciation of the chimpanzees’ caregivers. (Thank you, Barbara!) We’re lucky to have a great team of staff and volunteers who provide direct care to the chimps every day. It’s a demanding job, but I think we’d all agree that the rewards are infinite. After all, we get to look at faces like this each day:
Thank you to Barbara and to all of our supporters who make our jobs that much easier!
