Our routine for the day depends on the cooperation of the chimpanzees. Considering there are 16 chimpanzees in different configurations throughout the building, it’s a tribute to all of the primates (the chimpanzees and their human housekeepers) that we usually get every area, or at least almost every area, cleaned each day. But it definitely requires some flexibility on the part of the humans.
There are some usual suspects who are more likely to throw a wrench in the plans (looking at you Missy, Honey B, Terry, and Mave). We use routine meals, food puzzles, and forages when shifting so there’s some motivation for the chimps to oblige us. For the food-focused, this method works great. We’ve been known to bust out a People magazine if Cy shows reluctance to move when asked, and that has worked 100% of the time. Not everyone is as influenced by food or magazines, and we make an effort not to up the ante or outright bribe individuals with high-value food because that can create runaway expectations and demands. Any chimpanzee on any given day can decide to exert their will and thwart what the humans have strategized.
Today, while shifting Cy’s group, I had an unexpected truant. Though I was offering the seven in that group access to greenhouses and a playroom laden with cabbage and boomer ball food puzzles with peanuts, Lucky firmly decided to stay put right where she was in one of the front rooms. I was about to close her in by herself and clean around her when her friend Rayne ran in from the Chute holding a boomer ball and an armful of cabbage. That’s the ultimate truant move–impede the human’s plan for cleaning while at the same time getting the benefits meant for those who comply. I had to admire Rayne for pulling that off and getting the better of me.
So, I closed both Rayne and Lucky in the front room while I adjusted my plan for the rest of morning cleaning.
