Today before lunch Burrito and staff caregiver J.B. played a nice long game of tug-of-war with a scarf. Burrito will often wrap the scarf around various parts of his body during this game so the caregiver can give him a little massage. Today he wanted to focus on his upper back and arms.
Cle Elum Seven
The Warriors
Jamie and Negra are similar in many ways. Jamie, the youngest female at the sanctuary, is the undisputed leader. She rules through a combination of well-considered political strategy and fierce determination.
Negra, the eldest chimpanzee at the sanctuary, is the grandma of the group, but she’s the grandma you don’t mess with.
Jamie and Negra never hesitate to keep their caregivers in line. Both have little patience for (what they consider) incompetence, and they will speak up if someone’s behavior does not live up to their standards. There is something a little demoralizing about displeasing one of them.
The decades Jamie and Negra spent in research labs, being used and abused by humans, could easily have killed their spirits. Many lab chimps give in and give up, and you can’t blame them. We’re so happy that Jamie and Negra have enough fight left in them to keep us on our toes.
An Enduring Love
Over seven years after meeting and falling in love with her first troll doll, Foxie is still so intensely enamored with these strange little dolls that she carries one everywhere. Today she laid down to rest in the playroom and spent several minutes gazing at her doll before closing her eyes.
Missy Uncaged
This was Missy in her transport cage on her way to the sanctuary in 2008. This cage isn’t much different than the cages she had lived in for the previous 30 years.
We didn’t yet know Missy well on that day in 2008, but we would soon come to learn that she wants nothing more than to move her body. She is a natural athlete, packed to the brim with energy just waiting to be released in a sprint or leap or swing on the fire hose. It is almost impossible to imagine what those decades in cramped laboratory cages were like for her. She must have felt stifled and confined in the worst way.
Seeing her take advantage of the wide open spaces at the sanctuary these days never gets old. This morning, a tire swing way at the top of Young’s Hill caught my eye as it swayed back and forth, and I momentarily wondered what had set it in motion since it’s a rare windless day in Cle Elum. After a second I spotted Missy perched on the climbing structure, just a speck on the landscape.
Bub in the Photo Studio
This afternoon Burrito was hanging out in the “photo studio” (one of the chimpanzees’ front rooms named for its perfect lighting for pictures), so I decided to snap a few portraits!
Forages All Day
Each day there is a theme for the enrichment we give the chimpanzees. Having a daily theme helps to ensure that the chimpanzees do not receive the same items each day and also helps keeps life for them interesting. We always try to include favorites, such as boots and troll dolls, and of course they receive many fresh blankets each day so they can make cozy nests. In addition to these staple items we might wrap their toys in blankets for them to unwrap or decorate the floor with chalk art. Today the theme is “forage all day,” so the chimpanzees started their day with a breakfast forage in the greenhouse!
Annie (left) and Foxie (right):
Jamie (center) found an orange slice hidden in the hanging tire (Annie to her left, Foxie to her right):
Missy:
Negra:
Jody:
Burrito:
Extra Helpings
After we serve a meal to the chimpanzees, there’s usually a few pieces of food on the ground that have dropped on the human side of the caging. The meal server typically leaves the food where it is, and the chimps will go find tools to use to pull it closer, or they’ll grab the attention of a caregiver and “ask” for the food by pointing to it.
Today Anna served the chimps a lunch of broccoli, kale, and bell peppers in the greenhouse. I went out shortly after the meal to see what everyone was up to, and Burrito immediately swung down from the platform where he was finishing his chow, and pointed out some kale and broccoli that had fallen on my side of the caging. After a quick scan for boss Jamie (she’ll occasionally pull rank when we try to offer food to the other chimps), I picked up the dropped food and gave it to a very grateful Burrito.
