Burrito is often intimidated by new things, so while we all had high hopes, we never really expected him to explore Young’s Hill all too much (fun fact: almost ALL the caregivers wore Burrito shirts on day one of letting the chimpanzees out onto the hill. That was not planned– but a great way to cheer him on apparently, as he went right out when the door was opened!). He has completely surprised all of us and is surprisingly comfortable out there, though has never ventured too far away from the safety of the greenhouse. But as Diana mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, Burrito spent some significant time out there foraging and exploring areas we haven’t seen him explore yet, including the bamboo and the furthest climbing structure. The interesting thing is that Jamie was the one leading the way for him! While I wouldn’t call them enemies, I also wouldn’t call them the best of friends either. Jamie often picks on Burrito and treats him like her annoying little brother, so it was really nice to see that yesterday Jamie decided to treat him like a buddy.
Cle Elum
Fostering Friendships
Volunteer Katelyn is in training to be a caregiver. We like to think of training as not only a time to teach people about chimp behaviors and how to safely interact with the chimpanzees, but it’s also a time to foster new friendships. The process usually takes several months beginning with the trainee sticking close to the trainer until gradually the trainer gets further and further away and the trainee gains more independence. It’s a fun process to watch, especially when you watch the chimps become more and more comfortable with the person, and watching their friendship begin. That’s what I witnessed today with Katelyn. She hasn’t had many interactions with the chimpanzees, but today we spent a good deal of time interacting with almost everybody! We played tug of war with Missy and a sock, and Annie came over and tickled the back of Katelyn’s hand– a rare treat! Later, we spent some quality time with Foxie in the greenhouse. Foxie was so playful! She literally rolled the entire length of the deck during a chase game– a sure sign that Katelyn going to be a fun friend.
I feel I should point out that Katelyn and I are standing on different steps in the next couple of photos 😉
More on the new structures
As I mentioned the other day, Ben Parks and Boy Scout Troop 336 from Federal Way worked with J.B. last weekend building new climbing structures on Young’s Hill. I also mentioned that we got some GoPro footage, however, unfortunately there were some technical difficulties with the file and the videos were lost. We did get some footage with our camera though. Thanks again Ben and Boy Scout Troop 336!
New structures on Young’s Hill
Ben Parks and Boy Scout Troop 336 from Federal Way have been withstanding the 100+ degree heat we’ve had the last couple of days and working hard on Young’s Hill with J.B. They built a couple of new smaller structures and put in the posts for a fire hose bridge that the troop is building for us. The bridge will connect two of the climbing structures so the chimps can go between them without touching the ground. It already looks so different out there! We got some pretty cool footage from the GoPro camera today. We’ll post that tomorrow, but in the meantime here’s a little teaser screenshot from the video of Annie climbing one of the new posts. Thanks so much for all your hard work guys!
Happy 4th!
The chimps have had a great party today! The weather has been awesome– right now, it’s 70 degrees and it’s completely wind-less (a rarity these days!). This morning, we set up a huge forage on Young’s Hill- plums, grapes, peanuts, and chow, and the highlight– frozen grapefruit bowls. Last week, I had the idea to cut grapefruit in half and freeze juice and berries inside the peel, and a few days later, volunteers Seana, Lisa and Denice went to work and made it happen! They looked so delicious! Thanks so much for pulling that one off, ladies! The chimps loved them!
Foxie:
Missy:
Jamie collected the majority, of course:
and was very dedicated to the cause:
Annie collected an enormous mouthful of chow!
Last week, we asked our blog readers what they thought we should do for the 4th of July party. We received some great ideas! One was from Sara, who suggested “Firecracker Poppers” (toilet paper rolls wrapped in tissue paper, filled with peanuts, and the ends tied with ribbon. Volunteer CJ and I made these yesterday and they turned out so cute! But I unfortunately wasn’t able to get any photos. So, volunteer Julie is here now and is going to make the chimps’ evening nightbags out of them. Thanks for the cute idea, Sara!
Elizabeth was inspired by blog commenter Annie N’s suggestion to make popsicles, so she froze juice inside Dixie Cups with little popsicle sticks. Again, the chimps were thrilled! Thanks for the idea, Annie!
Missy:
Negra was the most excited about these. While everyone else was exploring for goodies on the hill, she stayed in the greenhouse to have a party of her own– a 4th fit for a Queen!
Field Roast hot dogs have become a CSNW 4th of July tradition. Volunteer Patti brought Field Roast Frankfurters, ketchup, and mustard so we could serve them for lunch. The chimps love Field Roast! They truly savored each and every bite.
Jamie:
Negra ate the bread first
before enjoying the hot dog:
Even Burrito took the tiniest little bites of his hot dog to make it last longer! You don’t see that every day!
Along with making the Firecracker Popper Nightbags mentioned above, Volunteer Julie has also been hard at work making another frozen treat for dinner- limes cut in half and filled with red gatorade (to look like watermelon)! The “seeds” are sunflower seeds!
Happy 4th of July, everyone!
Close friends
It’s so relaxing to watch the chimps groom one another. Grooming is often used as a way to, not only help clean up your friends, but also to strengthen bonds and friendships. Foxie and Burrito have a pretty close friendship and I caught them in the middle of a very sweet grooming session this afternoon.
Party Central
We’ve been living it up here at the sanctuary today! In honor of our 4th Anniversary, today we’ve thrown 4 parties! (If you haven’t already, please check out the amazing retrospective video J.B. put together and posted earlier today– and grab some tissues!)
Party one: Pancakes made by volunteer Denice followed by a lettuce, peanut, and chow forage on Young’s Hill. Unfortunately, it’s been crazy windy all day so no one was too excited to go out to Young’s Hill though a few folks went out to get peanuts (and everyone went out later in the day). And the squeaks over the pancakes were out of this world!
Foxie:
Party two: New enrichment party in the greenhouse. As always, Dick and Robbi collected some great gifts for the chimps. Jamie made sure to check out each and every gift bag today.
Annie tangled herself up in a ball of yarn
Jamie checked out what everything looked like in a new set of binoculars
Party three: Margaritas in the playroom! Well, not really margaritas… it was just yellow Gatorade with lime wedges. But it looked festive!
and the chimps were happy with it!
Annie:
It’s hard to see but Jody is actually licking the bottom of the glass in this photo
Foxie
Jamie
Foxie
Jody
I love the next series of photos. Burrito went through this bag, found a toy with a mirror on it, and proceeded to “admire” how handsome he is. Can ya blame him?
Party Four: Lunch forage in the greenhouse. Mini bell peppers and grapefruit- some of Negra’s favorites!
Jody:
Jamie collected as much as possible, as usual!
And Negra’s birthday would not be complete without nightbags. We did mini nightbags after every meal today. She has been in heaven! The wind has made her want to spend most of the day relaxing in her bed in the playroom (in the one spot where we can’t get photos) but I got a sweet photo of Mr. B enjoying his.
Thanks so much to everyone for making this such a great day!
***Up until about 20 minutes ago, this was going to be the end of my blog post, but as I walked outside to close off Young’s Hill and invite the chimps in for dinner, I found Negra and Foxie out there enjoying some grass. J.B. happened to be out there and reported that when Negra came outside, Foxie greeted her with a big hug and they walked up to the lower platform together. What a wonderful ending to the day! Happy Birthday, Neg!
