The video says it all. It was a relief to see Honey B with Rayne and Lucky today and with Dora yesterday. She was different with each one of them, and of course it wasn’t non-stop play, but the play was definitely the highlight!
Honey B
Ups and Downs
We did a number of dyadic intros today – some great, some disappointing. Honey B and Terry did not hit it off despite Terry’s best efforts, so that relationship will take some time to develop. Neither was injured but Honey B did end up with a souvenir from their encounter – a mouthful of Terry’s hair. And much to our dismay, Willy B would not even give Dora the time of day! She was heartbroken. But there were some promising signs near the end of their meeting and they will certainly meet again, perhaps when Willy B is less distracted. Thankfully, Mave – as she always does! – put on a masterclass in chimp introductions when she met an anxious Dora and tailored her behavior perfectly so as to engage Dora without upsetting her.
But the greatest story of the day by far was when Honey B met Dora. These two had lived together in the past. As we saw with Terry, this doesn’t guarantee a happy reunion. This, however, was the happiest of reunions and it took us completely by surprise.
They met at the mesh and instantly started breathy panting and grooming. When the door opened, they hugged and then launched into a game of chase. We’ve never seen Dora smile so much! Honey B doesn’t know how to dial it back like Mave does and we were afraid that Honey B would overwhelm Dora with her rambunctiousness but Dora loved every minute of it. They wrestled, tickled, ran, and laughed, and then did it all again. Here you can see Honey B playfully dragging Dora across the floor by the feet.
And here’s a still from a short video I took. The look on Dora’s face says it all. There’s nothing like reuniting with an old friend.
New Chimps New Routine
New chimps also means a new routine. We are definitely trying to work out some kinks. Shifting can be hard when chimps don’t want to leave a room. Sometimes it means the humans clean until later in the day or if the chimps decide not to leave we can’t clean. Eventually, Dora’s group and Mave’s group will get into a new routine of shifting, but that probably won’t be this week ;). Today was no different, but we did get to clean Playroom 3, which feels like a win. So you might hear us say it was a busy day or today was crazy. What it really means is us humans are a little tired, but we got most of their areas clean. Also, have we mentioned how great our sixteen chimps are! I still can’t believe there are sixteen chimpanzees that get to call this place home! I couldn’t get photos of everyone today, but I was fortunate to get a few and have some kind caregivers share some of their photos with me.
Annie this morning looking over at the neighbors. I mean you have to keep an eye on the new guys, right?
This photo I captured last week and just wanted to share because it’s Burrito! How lucky are we to have this guy in our lives.
Little Miss Foxie exploring through the tall grass.
The ever so mischievous Honey B!
Jody also had to go spy on the neighbors this morning.
While cleaning Playroom 3 we found a grooming train! The Green House has so much vertical space, it really is amazing. In this photo you can see Gordo grooming Lucky and Lucky grooming Terry. Dora has a nice little nest on the other platform and if you look below, Rayne foraging for cherry tomatoes.
Look at this Mave!
After Rayne was done foraging in the Green House, she came up to say hi.
I can not get over how handsome Willy B is. No wonder Dora gets excited to see him.
Shut Up and Blog
Today was pretty busy day for the humans, but the chimps made sure to fit in some fun. Of course, Burrito played with everyone! Jamie had a lovely day napping in a extravagant nest full of book pages and boots. I loved watching her sort through her big bag of enrichment too. Honey B and Mave had a blast unrolling around in the raffle tickets! Cy flipped through magazines. I wasn’t able to capture much from Lucky’s group, but they were busy inspecting one of the security camera JB just set-up.
Today’s blog was going to be my favorite type of blog, a smorgasbord of photos! But, throughout the day I was able to get some fun video clips of some of the chimps. So why not do it all! It made me start thinking. What are all of our blog followers’ favorite kinds of blogs? Do you like blogs that are interactive like games or educational? Do you like blogs with lots of content or are you like, enough already I want to see the photos. Maybe you’re more into the videos where you can see the chimps and get more familiar with the building. Personally, I love photos with descriptions! Whatever you are into, I will stop talking so you can enjoy these photos!
Annie and Jody:
Honey B with her raffle tickets:
Jamie looking through her giant enrichment bag:
And a series of photos of Jamie nesting:
Mave unrolling her raffle tickets:
Queen Negra and Missy:
Sisters Day!
Happy National Sisters Day! We have some sisters here at the sanctuary now. Honey B, Lucky, and Rayne are half sisters and share the same father! As we get to know Rayne and Lucky more and they share their personalities with us, I’m sure we will see more similarities between the three of them. There are already some showing through. Honey B and Rayne have a very similar stare, where you feel like they are looking deep into your soul. Rayne does this a lot when you offer her a new food item. She has to inspect you and the food. Honey B gave me this stare a lot when I first started. Also, Lucky and Honey B seem to both really enjoy grooming our boots. Here are some photos of the three of them. Can you see any similarities in their features?
Here are some close up photos of Honey B. This first one is mine, but I have to give photo credit to Anthony for the other two of Honey B.
Lucky can be a hard one to get photos of. She is either resting up high or right up against the mesh ready to interact with us.
Last, but not least here are some photos of Rayne.
Afternoon Photos
Today was the first day The Lucky Six were out of quarantine! They have been in quarantine since they have arrived and during that time we took turns working with them each day. So it was nice to be able to pop over from time to time today and say hi! You will notice a lot of my photos are of them, as I was taking advantage of this. Sometimes it’s hard to get photos in the first half of the day since we are busy cleaning. This afternoon I spent some time walking around between the three different groups to see what photos I could get. Not only did I get some photos this afternoon, but a relaxing grooming session with Jamie and a play session with Dora!
Sweet Dora drinking from the extra tub of water we set up in their enclosure.
Gordo relaxing in one of their Playrooms.
Rayne was all about finding good resting spots today.
Lucky watching me from above.
Cy flipping through one of his magazines.
Cy taking a little break from looking at his magazines.
Jamie waiting to have a grooming session with my boots.
Foxie and her doll resting in the Greenhouse.
Honey B with her makeshift table and chair.
Morning Greetings
Even though today is Sunday, it’s my “Monday” and I always look forward to coming back from my weekend and seeing the chimps again. We are so lucky as caregivers to be able to greet and be greeted by these amazing individuals. I love seeing how they all spend their mornings and what we can find them up to.
Some mornings are full of greetings and today was one of those days. Jamie was in a playful mood and wanted to play chase! We ran back and forth a couple times and then it was on to a short game of chase with Burrito. As everyone knows, he is ALWAYS ready to play. Negra was still lounging in her nest in the Greenhouse, but sweet Jody was waiting to greet me. As I moved along, Honey B was ready for a long game of chase! She wanted to play chase from the ground floor up to their Mezzanine. The Mezzanine is located above their front rooms and involves us climbing a ladder to get to the top level. Since I had to take the long route, Honey B would patiently wait until I got to the top and then would run back down.
As I was walking around the outside of building, Terry was excitedly waiting to say hi from a distance. Cy gave me a quick greeting from above, but went back to reading his morning magazine.
Each morning before we let the chimps onto Young’s Hill we walk around outside of the fence line to make sure everything still looks intact. Not only are we greeted by the chimps in the morning, but sometimes the cattle as well! I found them along my walk this morning and here are some photos.
Honey
Betsy
Nutmeg
Meredith
Here are some photos from the rest of the day!
Missy on the hill.
Jamie making sure things are in order.
Burrito making everyone’s heart melt.
Honey B always watching.
Willy B enjoying his night bag.
Willy B with his PVC peanut butter tube.
A photo of Rayne from last week using a box as a foot rest.
Gordo making good use of the same box.