Mave and her family celebrated her 34th birthday today with a forage that included young coconuts. Initially, Mave did not get her own coconut but after some time foraging her best friend Dora placed an extra one by Mave’s side. Did she mean to offer it to Mave or did she simply not object when Mave picked it up? Either way, Dora is a good friend and it was the perfect gift.
chimpanzee
Portraits & Pop Quizzes
Today is the epitome of PNW moody, cloudy, drizzly, & brisk weather. I know there are quite a few of us that are bummed about being at the tail end of summer, but I cannot express how excited I am for cooler weather, hot apple cider, snow, and all the other fun things that come with fall and winter. And after a day like today, I don’t think I’m the only one!
One of the first things that we do in the morning after we arrive is safety checks for both Young’s Hill and The Bray, so that we can give both groups access to their respective outdoor enclosures. When I gave Jamie’s group access, everyone immediately left the greenhouse to explore the hill. Even Negra went out to her cabin right away and they all enjoyed the bit of sunshine that was coming through the clouds. And as soon as Chad gave Cy’s group access to the Bray, I heard him call out that Cy and a few others were going on a patrol! It seemed that everyone was enjoying the brisk morning.
A little bit later I went out to serve Jamie’s group breakfast and found Negra and Annie out by Negra’s cabin, foraging for what looked like prickly lettuce. They chose to stay out on the hill during most of breakfast, but eventually made their way inside. As soon as they came in, Missy and Foxie went out. Then Missy came in, only for Burrito to go out. Then Foxie came in, only for Jamie to venture back out. It was a test for my memory as I tried to remember who had their carrot, who got their pears, and if someone had already turned down peanuts or not.
After we wrapped up breakfast, which took a good deal longer than normal, Katelyn and I started to do safety checks to enter and clean the playroom for Jamie’s group. Most everyone was easy to find, but we couldn’t find Missy. After searching and searching, we finally located her in Carlene’s Tower at the *very* top of Young’s Hill. By herself. With her chow bags. Happily munching away.
The theme for today seemed to be perfect weather + tricky ID tests, since everyone was exploring so far from the chimp house. So, keeping with theme, I have two ‘pop-quiz’ photos for you! 🙂 A bit of background: before staff members unlock and enter any enclosure, we have two trained caregivers complete safety checks. This includes identifying each of the chimps in that group, without relying on the process of elimination. Sometimes this is easy and sometimes (like today) it’s tricky.
Let’s start with The Bray, which Cy’s group has access to. I walked outside the greenhouse to see this which I caught on one of our cameras (with some zoom). Can you identify who is in this photo, from left to right?
Next, let’s go over to Jamie’s side! This was taken as everyone was hurrying to enjoy the lunch forage on Young’s Hill. From left to right, who do you see?
How’d it go? 🙂 If you want to see how you did, scroll down to the very bottom for the answers (but no cheating!).
It also seemed to be a good day to get some portrait photos. I hope you enjoy these snip-bits from throughout the day!
Annie, nested in the Greenhouse:
Cy, watching his caregivers down the hall:
Foxie, being her beautiful self:
Gordo, enjoying an apple (or two) from today’s lunch forage:
Jamie, on a mission during the lunch forage:
Missy, with a coveted cherry tomato during today’s lunch forage:
Terry, also enjoying an apple (or two, maybe three, or perhaps four?) during the lunch forage:
Photo A, Cy’s Group on the Bray, from left to right:
Rayne, Lucky, Terry (on the log), Gordo.
2. Photo B, Jamie’s Group on the Hill, from left to right:
Burrito (running away), Missy, Foxie (back center), Jamie, Annie (closest to the camera on the right).
Rainy Days With Neggie
Personally, I am in deep denial about summer being over. Negra, on the other hand, seems to be enjoying the weather change. Today was a cool, overcast day that turned into a light misty rain from time to time. Negra has perfected rainy day comfort. She finds a cozy nest in the green house, finds a blanket to cover over her whole body including her head, and if she needs to get up- say, for breakfast- she grabs what she needs and goes back up to enjoy breakfast in bed. However, blanket must come back up over head.
Please enjoy this photo series of Negra on a rainy day, as much as she did :).
Snoozy Negra:
Breakfast in bed:
Play All Day
Grooming with Terry
Chimpanzee grooming vocalizations fall into a few broad categories. Generally speaking, you’ve got your teeth clackers, your lip smackers, and your raspberry blowers. But within those categories, every chimp’s vocalization is unique. Some are quiet, with the lips just barely touching as if they are whispering. Others are quite loud – I can often hear Willy B’s teeth clacking during the morning grooming sessions through the security camera system audio.
Each chimpanzee has a different style of grooming, as well. Terry likes to do two things: 1) gently brush your skin with his fingers, and 2) try to pull individual hairs out of your arm. Our safety rules prohibit us from allowing the chimps to use two hands while grooming us, so Terry is forced to try to pluck our hairs by grasping them between his index and middle fingers. Luckily for us, it’s not very effective.
For chimps like Terry, grooming seems to be more about spending quality time with chimp and human friends. For Honey B, on the other hand, it’s all about picking scabs and drawing blood. She gets frenzied when she sees something to pick at, and she will continually direct you to turn your arm or present a different body part until she finds something good. I actually feel bad disappointing her when I haven’t injured myself recently. Honey B is the reason why we sometimes turn around and wonder how someone got in a fight without us hearing a sound. Where did all those wounds suddenly come from? Turns out Dr. Honey B was on duty and she opened every nearly-healed scrape and scab on one of her friends!
I wish chimpanzees were always as gentle as Terry is in this video as he tries to shoo away the third wheel at his grooming party.
A Day for Annie!
There can never be enough parties!!!
That must be one of our mantras here at CSNW. After celebrating HOOT! 2023 yesterday evening, we rolled into the chimp house this morning ready to celebrate again. Today, though, we are celebrating Annie’s 49th birthday! Like Jenna wrote in her blog yesterday, it truly takes a village to support the chimpanzees and cattle in our care. Thank you to everyone who participated in HOOT! yesterday, whether in person or remotely. It’s really wonderful to be surrounded by a community such as this one.
Today, we celebrated Annie’s 49th. It’s always shocking to me when I remember Annie’s age, because (for me) she is timeless.
Annie is a special lady. She is what we refer to as a ‘chimps chimp’, in that she prefers spending time with her group mates rather than with humans. She lets others in her group take charge and can be anxious at times, but loves spending time with Missy and is known to play rough with Burrito every now and then. She has had a tough journey- we celebrate her birthday on September 10th and we believe it’s possible that she was born in the wild. Before coming to CSNW, she spent her life in biomedical research where she was used in hepatitis vaccine studies. She also had quite a few babies while in the lab, potentially even up to 7, but they were all taken from her. In the lab, she wasn’t given the opportunity to decide how she would be known.
Here at CSNW, she is known for making her unique ‘bird-noises’ when she’s laying down, for washing her face with water that she cups in her hands and rubs vigorously across her forehead which leaves the hair on the top of her forehead all spiky. She is known for walking (or even running) bipedally while out on the hill, and for her love of human toes and comfy nests. Us humans often know when spring is coming after a long winter when we find Annie wearing one of her beloved head bands around her waist. She is sweet, kind, and often quiet, but will adventure to the top of Young’s Hill with her best pal, Missy. If you’re serving her, she will let you know if you are taking too long (or if she’s not ready to take something yet). Her food grunts when she’s eating something she loves (like pears at breakfast this morning) are deep and soothing.
We love her for exactly who she is.
A big thank you to Paulette Wrisley for sponsoring Annie’s birthday today- from everyone here, thank you for helping us celebrate this special lady!!!
BONUS PHOTOS:
Annie:
Foxie:
Jamie:
Negra:
CSNW’s Funniest Home Videos: Part Two
It has been quite a busy day here in the chimp house, so I’ve decided to keep my written blog brief and hope the video speaks for itself! 🙂
Back in January I wrote a blog titled ‘Cheers to The Goofy Moments‘- the first instillation of our own version of America’s Funniest Home Videos. We’ve been continuing to collect blooper moments throughout our work days here in the chimp house when we can. I hope you get a chuckle out of watching them just like we do!
Enjoy!
Bonus Photos:
Annie, gazing lovingly at the Frisbee Puzzle Enrichment they received today:
Terry enjoying the cool, cloudy afternoon by taking some time for himself out on The Bray: