Today J.B. worked on some welding on the new raceway that leads to Young’s Hill. Recently Jackie wrote about how it seems that the chimps definitely know what’s been going on the last few months, and mentions that J.B. watched Jamie try to get his attention and pull on the door a little, too. You’ll see some of that in this video. We are lucky to have such great quality control around here–Jamie is always making sure we did a good enough job!
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Siesta Time
Afternoons are often very quiet around here. After the chimps have their lunch, the food comas set in and it’s almost always time for an afternoon siesta. Jamie was clearly thinking along those lines today.
CSNW is a trendy establishment
A couple weeks ago, volunteer Connie mentioned that she had a lot of pea plants and was inquiring whether or not the plant parts would be OK for the chimps to munch on. I did a little bit of online research and discovered that yes, the parts of a pea plant are indeed edible. In fact, there was this great article that describes it fairly humorously in my opinion: “You’ve probably seen them on plates in Asian restaurants and trendy establishments. Pea shoots and tendrils may look exotic or sophisticated, but even gardeners who can’t grow peas to maturity can grow pea shoots and tendrils.”
Well, Connie was able to grow not only the pea shoots and tendrils, but also the peas to full maturity in their pods! Today we put them out as a forage and the chimps really enjoyed them.
Negra, with the pea plants in the background:
Annie, taking a break and laying down while eating her peas:
Burrito:
Missy:
I spy…
Negra did some spying on me today. She seemed to thoroughly enjoy my dancing while watching me through the mirror. Maybe she didn’t want me to know just how much she was liking it?
Burrito, the tool user
Here at the sanctuary, we are constantly trying to find ways to encourage species-typical behaviors. Tool use is a great example. Presenting the chimps with a challenge that encourages problem solving keeps the chimps busy and entertained, which is so important in a captive environment.
Unlike Jamie, Burrito isn’t much of a tool user. J.B. said it perfectly in this post from last year- it’s not that he’s not intelligent enough, he just seems to lack the patience to use tools, especially when he can just ask for help from a caregiver.
However, the addition of the puzzles in the evenings to our daily routine has changed things a bit, and Burrito has been sharpening his skills. The fact that the puzzles are set up at the end of the day just before the caregivers leave, means that he can’t exactly ask for our help in some cases, so he’s becoming more and more willing to give it a try. There’s nothing like food to motivate Burrito!
Foxie’s 35th birthday video
As promised, here’s some video from yesterday’s celebration:
Thanks to everyone who donated trolls and made this troll bonanza possible!
Photos from Foxie’s birthday party!
It’s Foxie’s 35th birthday today! And we decided to celebrate by creating a huge troll bonanza for the troll-loving lady. We literally put out at least a hundred new trolls, most of which participated in last week’s Troll Olympics.
Here’s a few pictures from the day, tomorrow I’ll post some video from the party!
Some of the trolls in the sandbox:
Foxie picked out a couple of her favorites:
Troll blanket, found and troll-adorned by volunteer Jeani:
Foxie checking out the troll blanket:
We hung some frozen watermelon from the ceiling in the outdoor area, which the chimps really loved. Foxie eating her watermelon:
Jody munching on some watermelon:
More to come tomorrow!
