In addition to grooming one another, the chimpanzees sometimes enjoy grooming their caregivers. To keep everyone safe, our fingers never penetrate the caging, but the chimps can extend their fingers through the caging and make contact with the backs of our hands (or the bottom of our shoes, as you will see in this video).
Cle Elum 7
Jody and Foxie playing
J.B. was hanging some more firehose yesterday – this time in the playroom. As Jody was watching, Foxie decided to start a game of wrestle and chase with Jody.
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!
Cle Elum Seven DVD slideshow – who’s interested?
I am so excited! We are almost ready to make the Cle Elum Seven DVD photo slideshow, set to music composed by CSNW’s very own Director of Operations, J.B., available to purchase in our online store.
Thanks to the wonderful work of Kathy Cochran of Cochran Productions, who put the DVD together, it is absolutely fantastic. It is a little over five minutes long and has LOTS of photos of all of the chimps. I continue to watch it over and over – it’s inspirational to see our chimp friends enjoying thier first several months of sanctuary life. We debuted the slideshow at the Sippin for the Seven event and received GREAT feedback.
I just need to make sure that we are going to be able to sell 25 dvds right away. We’re pricing them at only $15 a piece, so please think about all of the people you can give the dvd to for gifts (plus a copy for yourself, of course), and either comment on this post or email me separately to let me know how many you will purchase once they are available. As soon and I’ve received 25 pledges, I’ll make them available to buy!!
Thank you to everyone for your continued support and love of the Cle Elum Seven. You truly help to provide them with the sanctuary lives they deserve.
Calling cards available!
You can now support the Cle Elum Seven by giving out calling cards (smaller than a business card) to everyone you meet! You can purchase the cards from our online store. The nominal cost of $1.00 for a pack of 25 plus the shipping fees will cover the costs of printing more and the shipping and handling. So buy lots and give out freely!
To refresh your memory about the awesome calling cards, refer to the post about WIGT Printing’s Valentine’s gift of the cards to the sanctuary. WIGT is located in California, but they can ship out their printing jobs all over, so check them out for your next printing job – they are super friendly and professional.
Below are photos of the cards. Aren’t they great?
Fun with trolls
I was thinking today about how incredibly playful Foxie is. She is the most playful adult chimpanzee I have ever known. She doesn’t seem to have non-playful days, ever. When she’s not playing with Jamie, Jody, Missy or Burrito, she play games of catch-the-troll with her caregivers. And if we’re busy? Well, she just invents her own troll games, like this one this morning…
Jody and the toy chimpanzee
Jody didn’t quite know what to make of the plastic chimp toy we put out for enrichment the other day. She decided to take things into her own hands and threw a “car” at the toy.
She got out of the way in case the toy retaliated.
