What a day!
Thanks for giving these chimps a reason to celebrate. It is such a joy for us to see your support transformed into pant hoots, food squeaks, and hugs. Happy Holidays!
chimpanzee
A day of celebration from Laurel!
This Christmas Day of sanctuary was sponsored for the chimpanzees by Laurel Hecht! It also happens to be Laurel’s birthday and for the past several years this is how she has chosen to celebrate her special day!
Laurel, thank you so much for holding the chimps in your heart year after year and for ensuring their Christmas celebrations are full of all the wonder, magic, joy, and of course Burrito’s most important life ingredient, food! And thank you for turning your own special day into such a unique and compassionate gift for the chimps. We are so grateful to you for loving them. All of us here wish you a Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas!
From a few Christmases past, here’s Burrito enjoying the day:
The chimp house is a flurry with preparations for the chimpanzees’ Christmas party so be sure to check back later today to see the festivities!! To every single one of you who has sent donations, gifts, good thoughts, cheer and love, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Every moment of the chimps’ lives in sanctuary is made possible because of you. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!
Hanukkah and Christmas Eve
Anna and I decided to give the chimps some treats today to celebrate both the first night of Hanukkah and Christmas Eve. You may have noticed that we are pretty strict with the chimpanzees’ diet – nothing with added sugar, very little salt, and rarely any processed foods. Most of their diet consists of raw (sometimes cooked) fruits and vegetables, seeds, nuts, and a bit of commercially made primate chow, which is like a protein biscuit.
Even when we treat the chimps to something they don’t get very often, we try to stick to our dietary goals. It keeps them healthy, and they still love the food they get everyday!
In celebration of Christmas Eve, we set out “milk and cookies” (watered down warm almond milk + primate chow). I’d say it was a hit:
Burrito:
Jamie:
Foxie:
Missy:
Negra:
Jody looking pretty happy:
For the Hanukkah part of the celebration, Anna made some delicious looking (and delicious tasting – we had to try them for ourselves) salt-free potato latkes and I made some sugar-free chunky applesauce to go on top.
The chimps ate the latkes so fast, we weren’t able to get many photos.
Foxie brought France Dora to the meal, because she’s cosmopolitan like that:
Jamie being served by Anna with Burrito on the right:
Missy being served with Burrito looking on (I promise Burrito got at least his fair share too):
Annie took her latkes to the doorway to savor:
Definitely a win for fun food today!
In between the treats we humans came up with, they found some of their own…
And made some time to rest too:
Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and holiday wishes to everyone! There will be even more treats for the chimps tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who supports the sanctuary – you make EVERY day a celebration.
Playful Foxie
Foxie has been playing nonstop the last few days. From aerial acrobatics to wrestling to whatever the heck she and Jamie and Jody are doing in this video, Foxie sure knows how to keep her family entertained.
Grooming the Queen
Chimp to chimp grooming is so much more than just a way to clean up. Sure, there are hygienic reasons to groom, but perhaps more importantly, grooming is a way of strengthening social bonds between group members. As Negra and Jody demonstrate, it takes a fair amount of trust to let someone get so up close and personal with your eyes.
Chimpanzee Displays: Causing a Ruckus
J.B. shared a slo mo video of Jamie displaying yesterday (her slowed down vocalization sounds pretty intimidating!).
In keeping with the theme, below is a video of all seven chimpanzees taking part in displaying earlier today.
If you are interested in this sort of thing, you might also find this video that shows and explains a conflict among the chimpanzees, a fascinating watch.
Slo Mo Dominance Display
What’s more terrifying than a chimpanzee dominance display? A dominance display in slow motion.
The chimps have been crazy all day. Burrito can become very sexually aroused when the girls have their swellings, particularly when all three girls who cycle are in estrus at the same time. But because he was raised by humans (like most entertainment and research chimpanzees), he doesn’t exhibit normal sexual behavior. The result is a lot of tension, a lot of frustration, and a whole lot of chaos.
Jamie stepped out of the playroom during the afternoon to release some of that tension in the form of a dominance display. Displays are partly under conscious control and partly not. In this case, it seemed clear to me that Jamie climbed to the top of the platform with the intention of displaying. But at the same time she wasn’t fully in control of the display. We often liken displays in this way to sneezes. You know when you have to sneeze but you just can’t? And you can’t do anything else until the sensation either dissipates or culminates in a sneeze? That’s what displays can seem like for chimpanzees. Jamie stood on that platform for three minutes, rocking back and forth, softly pant hooting, and then repositioning and hooting some more, until she finally got everything out in a two-second display. When she was finished, she went about her business as if nothing had happened.
I think we’ll all be a lot happier in a few days when Burrito can start to focus on other things…
