Here’s a small sampling of what Burrito was up to this morning. Where does he get all this energy?
chimpanzee
King of the Hill
While on a walk with Jamie, I observed Burrito and Missy following each other on the logs and then start to wrestling. It made me think about when I was young playing king of the sand dune with my brother. I asked the rest of the staff if they had ever played this game when they where kids, which of course they had! Some of their variations were: king of the mountain, king of the hill, and king of the log! The object of the game was to be the last one standing and then you were pronounced king of the object you were standing on, said log, mattress, or hill and then you have bragging rights for as long as you rein! Today, for Missy and Burrito it seems as though no one holds the title but I see a rematch in their future!
Time has flown by! Can you believe it already been 4 years with our wonderful bovines!
Honey and her gang:
Honey:
Meredith:
Nutmeg and Betsy:
Jamieween 2022
This year’s iteration of Jamieween was a joyful success!
With the help of our amazing supporters, we caregivers prepared a feast and party to celebrate The Boss’s honorary birthday. The staff collected some video clips and photographs of the event to share with you all. Please be aware that we also recorded the highlights of the other group’s party but haven’t had time to sort through all the files yet. We hope to share additional content from today’s event very soon!
Some of the plentiful treats and toys we served and delivered to the chimps today:
Burrito:
Jamie:
Jody (with the prized pumpkin):
Jamie turned 45 years old this year, but the decades haven’t slowed her down one bit. Yesterday, for the first time in her life, she courageously shimmied her way up into the canopy of a real, living tree. This chimpanzee’s confidence, intelligence and curiosity truly know no bounds, and we’re honored to care for her in her sanctuary home.
Here are some of my favorite photos of Jamie from the past year:
Rainy Day Adventures
It’s a rainy, cool day here in Cle Elum today. Driving into work this morning through the mist I thought that the chimps would maybe be pretty relaxed and be content to spend the day in comfy nests listening to the rain.
I was wrong. 🙂
When I went to say good morning to Cy’s group, everyone was rearin’ to play chase, groom, or just stare at me for long periods of time without blinking (hi, Honey B). On the other side of the chimp house, everyone was off on their adventures as soon as I gave them access to Young’s Hill! I’m pretty sure Missy spent the whole morning after breakfast out under the trees and everyone else came and went as they pleased. I was cleaning Playroom 1 with one of our awesome volunteers, Patti, when Jamie decided it was time to go for a patrol around the hill. She had me wear one of her new favorite boots and when we made it to the top of the hill, she stopped and hung out for a while. It was a pretty exciting walk- be sure to check out today’s video to see why! 🙂 I might have cried a little bit, but that’s just me.
This afternoon, though, has been quiet as everyone nests in warm, fresh, cozy blankets. All in all, it’s been a pretty darn good rainy day.
Cy:
Gordo, holding his feet, because why not?
Sweet Lucky:
Terry, mid-chew:
Honey B, gazing into my soul… pretty sure she knows my social security number, what I got on my SAT’s in high school, and every other little secret about me:
Predictions
During introductions it was hard tell who Honey B would become friends with. We knew Honey B enjoyed her alone time, but still appreciated the company of her chimp and human friends on her terms. When Honey B first re-met Dora they were both so excited to see each other! However, Terry and Honey B had to put the work into rebuilding a friendship. Recently, Honey B has been hot commodity with her new group. It seems like everyone wants to “mall walk,” groom, play, or just be around her. If we had to predict which chimps would bond with Honey B, Dora and Rayne would really be my only guesses. Lately, we find Honey B and Terry hanging out a lot. We have been seeing some play with her and Cy and even Gordo gets a little quick play session in from time to time.
Words can’t express the feelings I have when watching Honey B build connections with her group. It’s everything they worked so hard for and why a bigger social group is so important for chimps, especially one like Honey B.
Cy grooming Honey B:
Rayne grooming Honey B:
Honey B in the middle of a grooming train:
A series of different Honey B nests:
And one more picture for fun! Can you guess who was wearing this accessory as an anklet?
Look below for the answer!
If you said Burrito, you would be correct!
Vignettes of Young’s Hill
We caregivers have been excitedly toting around cameras while the chimpanzees continue to explore the new version of Young’s Hill. The outdoor habitat has retained all the lovable qualities of the original and provides the chimps with even more space and a potential for novel experiences (e.g., climbing up the trunk of a real tree). The weather has cooled substantially since last Wednesday’s big reveal, but we can still count on Jamie and her companions to do a thorough patrol of the new perimeter each morning.
For today’s blog post, I thought I’d share some additional images from the group’s first outings in Young’s Hill 2.0.
The group patrolling together:
Missy climbing a new log structure:
Burrito using the familiar Twister to get a better view:
Burrito waiting impatiently for the others to catch up:
Burrito perched on a tree trunk, inspecting the new vegetation:
Annie using a new structure to take in a new view of the property:
The most popular addition has been the grove of Ponderosa pines (and one Douglas fir) that is now located just within the enclosure’s eastern boundary. The relocated lookout tower provides a perfect vantage to both examine the evergreen trees up close and take in the scenic mountain views across the valley.
With the bright afternoon sunlight coming down from the southwest, the chimpanzees were visible as dark silhouettes against the golden backdrop of early autumn. Missy made an imposing figure when perched atop the lookout.
As Jenna demonstrated yesterday, focusing the camera lens on the chimpanzees is tricky when we have two layers of field fence and electrified wires between us. Our objective isn’t to make you forget about the fencing entirely, but rather to portray the chimpanzees as we perceive them, with the wires out of focus and their expressions in clear view. If you look back at any of the photographs above, you can see the hazy streaks created by the fencing that separates us and them.
Auto-focus admittedly makes tracking the chimpanzees a little bit easier, and a lens with a wide aperture helps to blur out foreground obstacles, but we still often find ourselves embroiled in games of trial-and-error just to get a few photos for the daily blog.
This image, for example…
…was taken just milliseconds before this one:
Have a great week, everyone!
P.S. The answer to yesterday’s guessing game is 17 blankets. Congratulations to Linda C., Nancy Potter, and Gayle Marie Stone for guessing correctly!
Spotted on Young’s Hill: Negra
Today was a beautiful day for a lunch forage on Young’s Hill! While it is still quite cold, the sun was out which overall made the day more tolerable. The forage included red onions, mini sweet peppers, and tomatoes. Here are some photos from today’s forage! As you will see, Negra was too fast for my rookie camera skills. Enjoy!
Foxie:
Jamie:
Missy:
Burrito:
Here is evidence that Negra did go on the hill… hold the applause for these excellent photos (camera couldn’t focus in time).
Negra:
On Friday, I posted two photos of “Mystery Lips”. Many of you got #2 correct, but #1 appeared to be more difficult. How did you do?!
Mystery Lips #1:
Mystery Lips #1 belong to……. CY!
Mystery Lips #2:
Mystery Lips #2 belongs to…… HONEY B!
A few weeks ago, Jen Feuerstein made a comment suggesting we should have a game where we guess how many blankets are in the very popular hangout spot, aka Room 7. So instead of guessing how many candies are in the jar…
How many blankets do you think are in Room 7? We will post the answer tomorrow!
