The humans of the sanctuary have been very excited about the Olympics, and today we were able to share our excitement with the chimps by tuning in to the Olympics where they could watch too! Cy and Rayne were especially interested in watching this morning’s events. All of this inspired us caregiver’s to compete in our own Olympic sport – competitive nesting! The rules were simple, each nest builder received the same number of blankets to use in building their nest, and each was allowed one novelty item. The item had to be approved for the chimps to use already, but could be anything besides a blanket. Interestingly each contestant chose to use multiple colorful peace sign blankets – a wonderful choice in the spirit of the Olympics! After two high quality nests were made, caregiver Ellen assisted Judges Rayne, Terry, and Honey B in scoring each contestant. There were three categories to score: technique, creativity, and comfort. Kelsi scored high in all 3 categories, getting notable mentions for her inclusion of a knot in her nest design and the overall comfort of the nest with its high walls and a Squishmallow being utilized as her novelty item. Jenna also earned high scores, but lost some points in technique due to her difficulty completing the difficult slinky maneuver. We had a lot of fun in today’s event, and who knows…you all might get to see more events as the week goes on!
