Foxie likes to not only rub her trolls on her own belly (and other dolls like Dora or a stuffed animal with JB’s face on it), but she also likes to gently rub their bellies with her thumb. This is just a picture so you can’t really see the action, but even with the troll upside down she’s still rubbing its belly.
chimpanzee
Hiding out
Negra loves to cover herself in blankets, so as we were wrapping up cleaning today, in thinking of her I was inspired to build more forts in the playroom. We have several bullet-proof glass windows in the playroom but for ventilation purposes, we have left the caging over a few of them. Negra often builds her daytime nest in front of one of the window cages, so I decided to tie blankets up to the caging and let them drape off of the railing, making it a cabana-style fort. I think Negra was pretty pleased.
Though this isn’t a great shot, I love that it shows Negra peaking around the blanket to see what is going on outside of her fort
Burrito liked it a lot too. Here he is enjoying his peanuts in his fort
Spring!
We brought springtime inside this morning to celebrate the equinox in memory of our friend Katie Gieser. The chimps had a lovely forage with lots of lettuce (always a special treat!). Plus paper flowers and decorations galore! Here are a few highlights:
Missy (tho I wouldn’t have known it was her unless Jackie told me!) feasting away:
Mister B amidst the spiderweb of yellow ribbon:
Jamie with her collection from the forage:
And Jamie again, posing perfectly for the camera in her springtime nest (note the boot in her hip pocket):
Dora Rescue
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
The chimps enjoyed a St. Patrick’s Day feast this morning. Volunteers Katelyn and Connie brought potatoes, brussels sprouts, and Field Roast grain meat, as well as green fruit & vegetable juice. And while the staff were disappointed to see snow on the ground this morning, the chimps were more than happy to eat it – especially with a little bit of juice poured on top.
Giving Missy a run for her money
There’s no question that Missy gets the most out of Young’s Hill. She has always been very playful and energetic, so we expected her to be in her element out on the hill. But I am still shocked to see Jody running. I think Jody might be a little surprised herself, given the face she makes when she runs!
The distractor
Foxie is excellent at distracting people from what they are doing. She chooses the moment we’re getting ready to lock up the chimp area at night to drop her troll doll outside of the caging and then beg for us to give it back to her. And then, she just can’t seem to catch it when we toss it back to her (even though she is a fantastic catcher). Today, she was all about distracting both me (from cleaning) and Jamie (from nesting).