As many of you know, Foxie likes to invite her caregivers to play with her by throwing trolls to (or at) them. Here, Foxie does the same to our chow chow, Honey B. You might notice that Foxie isn’t all playful – its as if she doesn’t know whether she should play with Honey B or display at her. So she does some of both!
chimpanzee
New Fire Hose Swings
The way the chimps react to new enrichment says a lot about them. This morning, I installed some new fire hose swings in the outdoor area. Missy tested them out playfully. Jamie had something else in mind…
Comedy Night fundraiser – get your tickets!
BUY TICKETS NOW
The latest nonprofit comedy night to benefit the sanctuary, Stand-up! for Chimps, is only two weeks away!! We’re going to have some pretty spectacular raffle prizes, and we expect to have the photo slide show DVDs available for sale for the first time that night! So, bring yourself, your friends, your seeds for Spring planting at the chimp house, your checkbook, and have some laughs!
Mini details: Tuesday, May 5th, Comedy Underground in Seattle, 8:00pm
Visit the Events page for full details. And, did I mention: BUY TICKETS NOW!
See you there!
Cooperation
The other day, as the chimps were entering the front rooms for breakfast, we noticed that there was a blanket lying in the track of one of the pneumatic doors. This prevents the door from closing all the way, so we asked Jody if she would grab the blanket for us. Without hesitation, she walked over to the door and pulled the blanket out, dropping it on the floor and out of the way. No begging, no bartering…just a kind gesture from Jody. If only every day were like that!
Dancing with Negra
Negra loves to watch us dance. Usually we initiate the dancing, but yesterday, as Diana was walking past the front rooms, Negra clearly indicated that she would like to be entertained. So we obliged! As we started dancing, Negra came down from her bed and danced along with us in her own special way.
Jamie sometimes disapproves of us having too much fun with the other chimps, as you can tell from her scowl in this video. Thankfully, she chose not to spit on us this time.
An excuse to play
Way back in grad school at Central WA University I did my master’s thesis on chimpanzee play initiation. I watched a lot of video of the chimpanzees at CHCI (mostly Moja and Tatu) begin play sessions. I loved seeing them in person and on the videos indicate to each other that they wanted to play. I found that the CHCI chimps often used objects and clothing when initiating play. And so do the Cle Elum Seven! Sometimes it’s Missy pulling on a sock, and sometimes it’s an object that I personally wouldn’t normally think of as a barrel of fun, like a plastic tube.
Pre-play: Jamie adjusting her scarf, holding plastic tubing, Jody lying in straw, Foxie looking at her troll
Beginning play: Foxie takes the end of the tubing
Foxie and Jamie run around for a while, then Missy chases Jamie
During play, the object is often transferred between partners – like keep-away. Missy got the hose from Jamie and climbed up the fire hose
When Missy jumped down, Foxie decided to join in again
A little bit later, another object comes into play – the scarf that Jamie was wearing.
The Cle Elum Seven sure do know how to have fun!
Chimp Sanctuary Supporters
Something new and cool for all of you to check out (if you haven’t already): http://chimpsanctuarynw.ning.com/
It’s a new social network for people who support the work of chimpanzee sanctuaries. It’s a pretty neat way to communicate with one another, find out what’s going on and talk about chimps. You can personalize your page as much or as little as you want. Hope to see some of you blog lurkers on there soon 🙂
