Willy B
Honey B
Hot Commodity
For once there wasn’t a lot going on today for the chimps or the humans. That happens very rarely in this chimp house now a days! The chimps spent most of their day napping, grooming, lazily playing, or working on some enrichment.
Jody grooming a pile of blankets… oops I mean Negra!
Jamie and Missy spent most of the day coaxing their caregivers over to the small garden where the tomatoes and grape vines were ready to be picked! Of course, we had to oblige!
Terry was a hot commodity today! As I walked by with the camera, Lucky and Terry began grooming.
I took a series of photos of Terry Bronx Cheering (or blowing raspberries) when he and Lucky were grooming. Terry is always Bronx Cheering- whether he is grooming, trying to get our attention, and he even does it when he is working up into a display.
A few minutes later Rayne passed by to join the party. Terry began grooming her and then Rayne reciprocated the grooming.
I found Honey B relaxing on one of the tree leaves. She looked content, but also up to no good all at the same time.
Jamie also found sometime in the day to kick back and relax too.
Sweet sweet Lucky lounging in Oakwood.
Security Video of Mall Walkers
As mentioned on Saturday, I have been working on putting together security camera footage from a couple of weeks ago that captured Honey B and Rayne “mall walking” along with some other fun highlights of that morning. I was able to finally figure out the technical issue with exporting the video, and I wanted to share it with you asap.
I just love that the chimpanzees have their own busy lives completely separate from us humans, and seeing them have so much fun makes all of the anxiety of integrating the two groups well worth it!
Observant watchers will note that the time as shown on the camera footage jumps when the scene switches to the black and white / night vision of the mezzanine. That’s because that particular camera is on a different camera system and the times between the two are about six minutes off. This made it a bit challenging to piece together all of these separate clips.
It would have taken me a really long time to label all of the chimpanzees, so you’ll have to use your best id skills to figure out who is who.
I hope you enjoy this extra long video!
The Other Tomato Party
Missy had such an amazing birthday party yesterday! Because we had so much to cover for her party we weren’t able to share what happen over on Dora’s side of the building! They also had a lunch forage to celebrate Missy. Please enjoy the video and photos from yesterday!
Willy B with an arm full and a mouth full of chow:
Rayne in all her pepper glory:
A very distinguished Mave:
Mave swooping in to grab tomatoes:
Gordo with a mouth full of what we think is chow:
Sweet Dora:
Mask Madness
Chimpanzees in the mist(er)
The temperature is hovering around 100 degrees right now in Cle Elum and we all feel it! Luckily, we have many ways to protect the chimpanzees and staff from the extreme elements. In fact, as I type, I can hear the chimps slurping on homemade popsicles that Chad just handed out. Just before lunch we played around with some mister hose attachments to see if anyone was interested. Honey B and Rayne were happy to try it out. I love watching their wild expressions as they try to catch as much water as possible.
Speaking of beating the heat… If I had one wish for the chimps this July, it would be for the amazingly generous donation of that certain portable evaporative cooler that has been hanging out at the top of our Amazon wish list.
Here’s Foxie expending as little energy as possible today:
Summer Fun
The days have been getting hotter out here in Cle Elum and we have been working to provide the chimps with enrichment to help them stay cool. In Sofia’s Ask Us Anything blog last week, she talked about how we gave them pools of diluted Gatorade as temps were close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. We were able to snag some fun reaction videos from Cy’s group and I wanted to share them with you today! Enjoy, stay cool, and happy summer!
Rayne and Gordo:
Terry with one of the roses we put in the pools: