We are at the peak of a long heatwave here at the sanctuary with temperatures hovering in the triple digits for the past week. I found Negra enjoying a moment of peaceful solitude in the still cooler greenhouse early this morning:
But it doesn’t take long for the greenhouse to get too warm on days like this. Much like the humans, the chimpanzees find it too hot to do much of anything and have been spending a lot of their time in the cooler playroom. (Though Jamie still manages to power through her daily walks in the midday heat!). So we thought today should be an ice-filled enrichment day to help keep everyone hydrated and cool.
The chimpanzees love ice so we filled their wading pool, gardening table, wheelbarrow, and buckets with several bags full and then volunteer caregiver-in-training, Sandra, tossed in a few cherries, frozen raspberries from the chimps’ garden, and sunflower seeds to jazz up the forage. There were pant-hoots and food grunts galore.
Burrito was pretty overwhelmed at first and didn’t seem to know where to begin:
But he made good use of those fabulous prehensile lips of his:
Missy and Jody joined Burrito (though Jody was avoiding the paparazzi today):
Missy LOVES ice and she didn’t leave this spot for some time:
Foxie made the rounds of the ice smorgasbord, taking mouthfuls from several locations:
Then for the second frozen course, volunteer caregiver, Steph, showed up with frozen water bottles filled with strawberries and cucumbers! These were a huge hit and Foxie got right to work on these as well:
Annie enjoying hers in the greenhouse:
Surprisingly, I wasn’t able to get any photos of Jamie, but she was beside herself with so much to do and at one point was seen drinking from one of many bottles she had collected and scrubbing the front rooms with a brush and bucket of water (at the same time, of course).
And while this is not a great photo I couldn’t resist sharing Negra, with perhaps the biggest mouthful of all!
