Jody is a pretty serious chimpanzee. She seems to take everything she does very seriously, whether it’s greeting a caregiver, playing (somewhat reluctantly) with one of the other chimps, or kicking back in a nest. This is one of the things I find (simultaneously) most intimidating and most endearing about Jody. Check out Jody’s “serious face”:
Jody
More enhanced enrichment puzzles
Thanks to volunteer Cari Parker, we have more enhanced enrichment puzzles. Cari’s friend Stephanie sponsored today in honor of Cari’s Birthday, so Cari sent us a box of enrichment for the occasion. Included in the box of goodies were some PVC pipe puzzles. There is a photo with an explanation in the video below.
Keeping the chimps (especially super smart Jamie) enriched is a challenge. We are always trying to come up with new puzzle ideas- and these are great! (Thanks, Cari!) If you ever have any ideas you would like to share, please email me at [email protected]
Jody and enrichment
Jody is a very casual kind of lady, which is probably why she gets less blog attention. She doesn’t play with toys too often, rather she usually inspects things for a moment and moves on. The other day she had an enrichment-loving afternoon, I suppose, and I caught her spending quality time and even playing (in her casual, Jody-kind-of-way, of course) with a toy dog and later, a popper toy.
Problem solvers
Being the master problem solver she is, one would probably guess that Jamie is super skilled at raisin boards. And they would be right.
Raisin boards are wooden blocks with holes drilled in them that we stuff with dried fruit (because of their size raisins usually work best, but I used dried apricot pieces and dried blueberries in the photos below). We occasionally pass these out (with small skewers or sticks) as an evening “enhanced enrichment” activity, because not only does it encourage tool use and problem solving skills, but it keeps everyone busy and entertained for quite a while. Jamie often uses a technique similar to sewing- she pokes the stick slightly through, grabs it on the other side with her teeth and pulls it the rest of the way so the raisin either skewers on her stick or just falls out. It’s pretty fascinating, actually.
Jody does occasionally use tools, but she usually just pulls the fruit out with her teeth- a method that is also quite successful.
Caregivers as enrichment
Let’s face it- no matter how much we do to spice up captivity with enrichment and projects, it can still get pretty boring sometimes. We try to do what ever we can to keep the chimps entertained, including simple things like drinks from the hose. The chimps have access to water 24 hours a day, but sometimes they just seem to prefer to have us “fill them up”, so to speak, instead. Chimps have prehensile lips and a large pouch in their bottom lip, so they can hold a lot of water in there! And, as always here at CSNW, they have the choice to drink or…
Jody, the 6th staff member at CSNW
I don’t know how this place would function without Jody. When we are shifting the chimps from one area to another and someone lags behind, Jody goes and rounds them up for us. And when a blanket gets left in the door, you can always rely on Jody to get it…at her own pace, of course. I don’t get the sense that she does it for approval; instead, I think she just likes to keep things running smoothly.