Recently, I saw a video from a study of chimpanzee cognition in which chimps were presented with a peanut inside a clear tube that was mounted to the outside of their enclosure. Within a short amount of time, the chimp began filling the tube with water so that the nut would float to the top. Genius! So, yesterday I decided to see how these guys would handle the problem and zip-tied a couple of nut-filled bottles to the outside of the caging. Clearly, my method of attaching the bottles wasn’t quite as elaborate as the one used in the study, since the chimps could just turn them over, but it did keep them busy and entertained for quite some time!
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Primate Awareness Week
This week at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, the recently formed student group called PAN (Primate Awareness Network) is hosting Primate Awareness Week. They have a variety of speakers from the primate community speaking about issues in conservation and captivity, including CSNW’s own Sarah Baeckler and JB Mulcahy. Sarah will be discussing her experiences working undercover at a Hollywood entertainment training facility and JB will tell the story of the Cle Elum Seven. If you are in the area, you should check it out!
Annie’s waist warmer
Last Saturday, while playing with Missy, Annie put a bright pink fleece head warmer around her neck and wore it like that for 2 days. On Monday, her “neck warmer” became a “waist warmer”. It is now day 5 of waist warming! Pretty fashion-forward!
Jody’s yoga
Jody and Missy play
As we’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, Jody doesn’t play too often. But every once in a while, we’ll catch her playing with someone, which is a real treat. Even then though, it’s often a very mellow kind of play… Today, however, Missy got her going, resulting in a full-fledged play session. Notice how Jamie tries to steal their thunder towards the end… very “Jamie-like”, if you ask me. 🙂
Windows
Wondering what windows we will replace if we reach our ultimate fundraising goal? Thanks to LUSH and generous blog readers, we have the funds to replace three windows. We want to replace six total.
Here is the “garden-side” of the playroom. On this side, we would replace two on top and one on the bottom.
This will allow Negra to have a much clearer view. Wondering what the view looks like? See below. There’s actually a lot going on out there between the horses and cattle in the pasture, the road, and the train occasionally going by:
And here is the outdoor area side of the playroom, upstairs. Right now, these three windows have caging plus a glass window and then plexiglass on the other side of the glass window, which obscures a lot of light and makes it very difficult to see through. Replacing these with chimp-proof glass would let a lot more light into the playroom and would allow chimpanzees or caregivers in the playroom to interact with chimpanzees who are in the outdoor area. It would be really cool, in other words.
In case you need any more convincing, here’s what a window looks like with the caging:
and here’s what it looks like without:
We can do this! Keep checking the fundraising progress and thanks so much for everyone who is working hard to help us reach the ultimate goal!
Beautify your space, make life more beautiful for the Cle Elum Seven
If you’ve been to any CSNW events, you’ve seen the work of Pam Lehnert. Pam is an expert at transforming spaces. She actually has a business doing just that. For the last eight years, she’s worked with real estate agents and others with Home Staging Consultations.
To help us reach our 2nd Anniversary Fundraising goal and give the chimpanzees three more glass windows, Pam is offering personal staging consultation services at a reduced rate of $50 per hour, with 100% of the fees going to the Cle Elum Seven.
You don’t have to be selling your home to benefit from Pam’s expertise, and you don’t have to be embarking on a complete remodel. Pam will work with your space and your stuff and help you transform it into something better.
For the time period between now and October 1st, she is expanding her normal work zone to include not only the Seattle area, but Cle Elum and Roslyn too, so be sure to spread the word to all of your Westside and Upper County friends!
Pam is also donating a percentage of all of her business consultation fees from January 2010 to October 1st. What a great way to give to her chimpanzee friends through her own entrepreneurship! Learn more on Pam’s Firstgiving page.
