Jamie is still completely charmed by every cowgirl boot she meets. They don’t always fit her extra-wide feet, but that doesn’t stop her from trying.
Jamie
Intruder
While no match for equatorial Africa, living in rural Cle Elum does afford the chimpanzees some interesting experiences. The other day a garter snake made its way into the chimp house, and the chimps let their feelings on the matter be known.
Jamie in repose
Our enrichment theme for today is “Jody Day.” Why should Jody have to wait for her birthday to get all of her favorite things? So we put out lots of blankets and straw for nests, cattails, fresh produce from the garden, sunflowers, and buckets of soapy water. All the chimps seemed to enjoy their Jody day. Here’s a picture I snapped of Jamie reclining amidst the straw and cattails. I love how she’s holding up her right elbow with her left foot!
The Party Police
We sometimes (lovingly) refer to Jamie as “the party police”. It’s as if Jamie doesn’t want anyone to have too much fun, especially not without her. Usually her aggression is directed at the humans, like when we’re playing “pass the troll” with Foxie, but occasionally it’s directed at the other chimps.
Cowgirl Jamie
Because of their opposable toes, chimpanzees have feet more similar to our hands, therefore their feet are quite wide. So, I’d say Jamie seemed very proud to find a boot wide enough that she could squish her feet into.
**Editor’s Note**
For those of you unfamiliar to our organization or to those first-time blog readers, please visit this post for our stance on chimpanzees wearing clothes. We put out a variety of enrichment (toys, blankets, clothes, etc.) for the chimps to play with every day. They have the choice to either use something, or not, and in what ever way they see fit. So, if Jamie decides to put on a boot, that is her choice… and on this day, she made the choice to put on the boot. 🙂
-Jackie
Jamie cleans
Jamie is very human-oriented. She is always interested in what the humans in her home are doing and how they’re doing it. Out of the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees, Jamie is the most likely to sit and watch while we work on a construction project, fix a mechanical problem, or scrub the playroom. It’s no surprise, then, that she participates when she can.
