Foxie and caregiver Katelyn played a fun game of slap-the-window today.
Foxie
Annie’s 40th
We celebrated Annie’s 40th birthday today! Her exact birthday is unknown since she was captured in the wild, but her records indicate that she was born sometime in 1974, and today is the day we picked to celebrate it. Annie certainly doesn’t act 40 at all! She’s still very young at heart—she shows her playful side daily when wrestling with Missy or running around Young’s Hill.
We wanted to celebrate her special day with some of her favorites—green grass, beets, green onions, piñatas, buckets of water, shovels, and chow! Thanks to some supplies Lisa Stuverud brought us we had a fun colorful party with new enrichment, too. We set up a breakfast forage first, and then volunteer Becca served Annie’s favorite veggies at lunch.
Here’s the party setup:
I love this photo — you can see the juice from the tangerine spraying to the side! Good shot by Elizabeth.
Annie with a mouthful of chow (she loves to wadge chow!)
Annie loves green grass, so we picked some for her and included bunches of it in their breakfast forage:
Some of her favorite veggies are green onions and beets:
The other chimps enjoyed the party too! Burrito the charmer practically posed during the forage for this photo:
Everyone loved the fruit! Here’s Jamie:
Jody:
Foxie:
Missy loved the green grass:
And Jody ended up getting the piñatas (there was a Dora the Explorer piñata too, but that was torn up before we could snap a photo!)
Foxie got a new troll and some knuckle rubs from Diana, which made her laugh:
And Negra spent a lot of time in hard-to-see spots during the day, but I did get this picture of her beautiful relaxed face:
Happy 40th Birthday, Annie!
Cowboy Party
What’s one way to make seven chimpanzees awfully happy? Throw a spontaneous party. Supporter Lisa Stuverud sent us a box of decorations and enrichment for a cowboy party (and of course we already had dozens of cowboy boots thanks to Jamie’s obsession), so we had everything we needed for a good time.
Jamie was the first into the greenhouse, and she was throwing back her first drink before most of the others even made it out the door.
She checked high and low for hidden treats. Here she’s getting ready to use a fire hose to swing up into one of the windowsills where we often hide food:
Foxie sampling the pomegranate juice:
Annie:
Negra went through several of these boot bags filled with shredded paper searching for sunflower seeds.
Jody:
Missy:
Burrito’s strategy was simple: to find as many pieces of chow as one man could hold.
Thanks, Lisa, for making the chimps’ day!
Annie and Foxie
Foxie and Annie both have a habit of getting mouthfuls of water and holding it for awhile. Annie sometimes uses the water later to wash her face, and Foxie tends to just take her time to slurp. Today they happened to both have mouthfuls of water, while in the playroom, and while looking at each other. They look like they’re having some kind of stand off.
Then Annie started to groom Foxie (they still had their mouths full) briefly.
And Foxie looked through some enrichment, testing out the trolls that were in front of her.
Foxie trying her hand at rock climbing
Today we took advantage of the cooler weather and put the chimpanzee’s lunch out on Young’s Hill for them to forage. These forages often consist of pieces of vegetables, fruit and chow and we spread them around the hill for the chimpanzees to find. Sometimes we even put some of the food on top of the treat rock (one of the prominent features of Young’s Hill). Jamie and Burrito are the chimpanzees most likely to be seen climbing on the rock in search of food. But today, Foxie tried her hands (and feet) on the rock after all of the other chimpanzees had gone back inside. This is the first time I have seen Foxie on the treat rock!
Here she is sticking her arm in a hole to grab a few pieces of chow.
Here she is trying to get in better position.
She began traversing across the treat mound in search of more food.
Once she got all of the food pieces, she began to prepare for her dismount from the treat rock.
Finally, safe on the ground, she enjoyed the food she found on her climbing adventure.
I also managed to capture Jody, with her mouth and hands full of red cabbage and brussel sprouts.
All About Foxie
Foxie, as you probably know, is quite the charmer. She is apparently also muse to several artists. Did you notice the Foxie theme in the Summer Biddin’ online auction? Take a look at the photo below that launched a thousand (ok, more like three) paintings:
In addition to those three Foxie-inspired art pieces, the below two pieces are also available for your bids!
And if that’s not enough Foxie for you (how could anyone have too much Foxie?), here are a few photos taken today, when Foxie was out with the gang foraging for lunch during a light shower. If you look closely, you can see the rain:
Happy bidding, everyone! The online auction ends Monday at 7:00pm PT
Chimpanzee Photography Experience & Online Auction Opening Soon
I mentioned the other day that some 2013 HOOT! auction bidders had cashed in their photography experience at the sanctuary that they won at the gala.
Right now, we are gearing up for our Summer Biddin’ online auction. While we don’t have a photography session, we do have a really amazing and unique experience to bid on: a Backstage Pass to the Sanctuary!
Bidding for all items opens Thursday morning, and items are still being added, but you can and should (right now) check out how you can help us throw a spectacular Summer Lovin’ Party for the chimpanzees and get some perks for yourself in the process.
Back to Saturday. Martha and Susie were the first winning bidders for the photography session. They had a great time at the sanctuary learning some new photography skills from photographers Karen Ducey and Dean Rutz. They set up photography camp on the observation deck and learned the ropes of the professional equipment that Karen and Dean generously loaned.
And they got some really amazing photos!! Below are just a few.
Annie:
Foxie:
And birthday-girl Missy, looking like her athletic self:
Not only was it Missy’s birthday on the day they visited, it was also Martha’s! Karen was kind enough to bring a birthday cake, which of course we adorned with some CSNW style:
Martha and Susie also took a walk with J.B. around the hill with Jamie of course following on the inside of the fence. Ellie the elk was hanging around the property and joined them too:
You just never know what adventures await at the sanctuary, especially on a party day, which is why you should get ready to bid on the unique Backstage Pass experience and help us throw a great end-of-summer party! You don’t have to wait until Thursday to make your Summer Lovin’ party donation – do it today!
