chimpanzee sanctuary
Sittin’ Pretty
The other day, Elizabeth, Debbie and myself were in the greenhouse and we caught Foxie in a rare cross-legged moment.
And I was getting ready to post the photo, it occurred to me how frequently we catch the Cle Elum Seven chimps in non-chimp-like postures. So, here’s a collection of photos we’ve captured over the years.
Jamie’s adventures on the hill
Inspiration
I often use things I’ve seen the chimps do as inspiration to help me come up with enrichment themes. Annie seems to really like beaded necklaces. I often see her playing with them– swishing them around in her hands, using them to play tug of war with her friends, or shoving a bunch in her mouth, filling up with water, and sucking all the water out:
So, today I decided to make it easier for her, and everyone. I took containers, filled them with beaded necklaces and then filled them with water. The chimps must have been inspired because almost everyone spent some time playing with the necklaces. It seems it’s no longer just Annie that thinks water-filled beaded necklaces are fun.
Close friends
It’s so relaxing to watch the chimps groom one another. Grooming is often used as a way to, not only help clean up your friends, but also to strengthen bonds and friendships. Foxie and Burrito have a pretty close friendship and I caught them in the middle of a very sweet grooming session this afternoon.
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.
Toning it down a notch
Missy probably has more energy than anyone I know, especially when she’s playing. But it’s fascinating to watch her play with Negra. Negra doesn’t play too often and is usually pretty subdued about it when she does, so watching Missy tone it down a notch in order to get to play with the Queen is really pretty special.