Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Food is serious business to Burrito Chimpanzee and today he was seeing green. It’s been an unseasonably warm day today, so the greenhouse was a luxurious 60 degrees or so. We set up a huge lunch forage out there– I think Burrito was very happy with this decision.
Here’s the video I promised in yesterday’s blog post. My favorite part is when Annie joins in the play (using her favorite blanket-swinging method of play initiation), something she’s doing more and more as her confidence continues to grow (read Diana’s thoughts on the changes we’ve seen in Annie here.)
I’m going to be honest: Sometimes it’s just more fun to watch the chimpanzees play than it is to scrub the playroom. JB and I had a hard time making any significant progress this morning because the chimps were on fire (figuratively speaking)! We had some serious sun today, and relatively mild temperatures, which meant the greenhouse was warm and inviting. Foxie, Missy, and a troll doll had a lengthy play session on and around one of the window ledges; I’ll do my best to post that footage tomorrow.
For now, here’s a video of Annie reprising her stand-on-Missy game from this past summer (see that video here).
Yesterday after playroom cleaning, instead of distributing the clean blankets around the room, we put most of them in a big pile. We figured that the chimpanzees would stop by the heap, take what they needed to build their nests, and move on. Jody, though, had different ideas. She made a beeline for the blanket mountain and immediately went to work.
Planning birthday parties for the chimpanzees can sometimes be a challenge. We try to keep things creative, and come up with ideas that are uniquely suited to the honoree’s interests. For some of the chimps, this can be tricky. How do you plan something new and exciting for Jamie, the girl who’s seen and done it all? Burrito, on the other hand, is extraordinarily easy to please. The one thing he loves above all else is food.
For Burrito’s birthday last year, we did away with our three-meal-a-day routine in favor of very frequent snacks. He was so delighted that we decided to do it again this year. Here is today’s meal schedule (we may have gone a little overboard, but what’s a party without a little indulgence?):
8:30 a.m.: apples, oranges, fruit smoothie
10:00 a.m.: sweet potatoes, grapes, cabbage
12:00 p.m.: leeks
1:00 p.m.: bananas
2:00 p.m.: peanut butter sandwiches, tangerines
3:30 p.m.: pears, avocados, pineapple
In addition to all of the delicious food, the chimps really enjoyed checking out their presents from friends Robbi and Dick. It really has been a day of riches.
What a special week this has been! Over the last few days, we’ve received tons of items from our Amazon Wishlist, we received our brand new, top of the line camera from our amazing board members (which produced the spectacular footage below), and today, the chimps had the most awesome party! Special thanks to Robbi and Dick Brown, Leslie Sodaro, Jeani Goodrich, Diane and Syd Marcus, Sue Elfing, and the GFWC-Battleground, WA for all of the enrichment and to all of our amazing supporters and volunteers, who make days like this possible. Happy Holidays, everyone!
