Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Jody

We’ve Got Ten!

by

Today was a pretty busy day. We had an amazing group of volunteers from Suncadia come and help us with the new extension on the Hill which provided a lot of supervision opportunities for Jamie and the entire chimp house really! But guys… Honey B, Mave, and Willy B got to go out in their new tunnel yesterday afternoon!! The seven and the three got to see each other from afar, and to say they were excited would be an understatement. I mean, Burrito almost forgot to eat dinner! So there was a lot of hustle and bustle between the work on the new hill and getting a peak at the new guys! There will be a video soon, but I thought today I would show you a collection of photos of each one of the chimps!

And a big thank you to the volunteers who came out to help us!

Jamie supervising:


Foxie:

Jody:

Annie:

Missy:

Neggie:

Burrito:

Sweet Mave with beet lips:



Willy B:

Honey B cleaning the Mezzanine after we had cleaned, it was not up to her standards:

On the hunt for wild greens

by

The chimpanzees made a group dash for Young’s Hill this morning after breakfast, everyone filing up the hill along the perimeter together. Then to our delight, they all decided to hang on the upper structures, Jamie’s Tower and Carlene’s Tower together. But Ms. Jody was on the lookout for something exciting to eat. And being “Farmer Jo,” as we endearingly call her, naturally, she came back with a prize.

Jody and Burrito:

This technique 🙂

And two bonus Negra and troll photos:

Our newest family members, Honey B, Willy B, and Mave continue to loosen up and settle in more with each passing day. I arrived this morning to find Honey B racing and ripping and flailing around playfully, much like Foxie does, instigating a game of chase. I wasn’t able to capture any photos today, but they all enjoyed an afternoon of selfies and checking out some recent videos. I showed the video from Missy’s birthday bash last Friday which they all wanted to watch a few times. They seemed to really enjoy the jazzy music so I also showed this older one of Foxie and her belly button and troll doll which appeared to be a personal favorite of Willy B’s. Every time it ended he’d bounce up and down frantically which I took for “Play it again!” So of course, I did. I even noticed him rubbing his toes together while he watched it. 😉

The one with Jody, Jamie, & Missy

by

These chimps were having so much fun this afternoon! Foxie was spinning, throwing dolls, and running around with Caregiver Katelyn. Missy was wanting to be tickled by caregivers and ripping up boots. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really get any photos. Tomorrow there will be a video of Missy, but rest a sure I have lots of photos to share!

I love this one of Jo with a troll doll not too far:

Annie laid back:

And this morning we found Annie wearing two sweatbands! TWO!

After Jamie and I looked at #cowboyboots on Instagram, she decided to relax on a barrel in the Playroom:

Jody enjoying her apples out on the Hill this morning:

A story about Jody

by

One of my favorite stories about Jody involves a baby mouse and a top hat. A blue velvet top hat, to be precise. And on a side note, who doesn’t need a blue velvet top hat and why don’t I have one?! But I digress.

A couple years ago, when Jody began exhibiting more of her seemingly natural “den mother” inclinations, I found her lying on her stomach in the greenhouse gently grooming the tiniest of baby mice with her lips. My heart sunk. But again and again, Jody would set the mouse down gently and watch them with seeming concern and curiosity, only to pick them up and touch them with her lips again when they squeaked.

As you may have seen us mention on the blog before, chimpanzees are territorial beings by nature and extremely intolerant toward any other animals being in their home space. Any time any animal is in the chimps’ enclosure we do our best when possible to invite the chimps into another area (i.e., attempt to bribe them with a small treat like gum, for example) in the hopes of being able to close off the area the animal is in and safely enter on a rescue mission. It should also be noted that once something has caught the attention chimps, they are not typically ones to forget about it and walk away. Sadly, I knew this baby mouse was probably not going to make it on their own, but I still wanted to spare it further stress. So we offered the chimps a treat in the front rooms and I was happy to see everyone leave the greenhouse and rush inside. But what did Jody do? Well, she scooped that baby mouse up, grabbed a nearby blue velvet top hat, gently placed the baby inside and carried hat and all into the front rooms to collect her treat.

Once in the front rooms, Jody set the hat on the ground next to her and whenever one of the other chimps would push it aside, she calmly reached out and pulled it back next to her. I waited for Jody to decide that mouse had to go. But she never did. She just sat quietly and continued to guard her mouse and her hat. While the chimps enjoyed their treats, and we watched our rescue plans growing dimmer by the minute, dear, sweet, Annie approached Jody, curious to see what all this top hat business was about. When she looked inside the hat, I suppose she didn’t expect to see a mouse and that woman screamed at the top of her lungs (thank goodness it wasn’t a snake) and tossed the hat and poor mouse across the room in a fright. And Jody silently went to collect them.

I wish I could say that the end went well for that precious wee mouse. And I wish I could say what Jody had been thinking. We were able to finally retrieve the mouse and relocate him or her to a calmer final resting place in the garden. For a story not ending as I would have liked, it remains dear to my heart for some reason. Intriguing, from a behavioral perspective. But mostly, endearing. And somehow, quintessentially Jody.

I captured beautiful Jody enjoying a minute of solitude in the shaded doorway to the greenhouse, inspecting this blue-haired, bunny slipper clad troll doll in much the same way she did that sweet baby mouse. It made me think of that story again. And that blue velvet top hat I still need.

Missy & Jo

by

We have talked about this before, but Missy is a great friend to all. She understands that etiquette of play with each of her friends. Every game is different for the chimp. Missy can get anyone to play with her, even the most unlikely playmates aka Negra and Jody. Don’t get me wrong those chimps can play, we have all seen it! I would say it is even pretty normal to see Negra playing with Missy. However, it is fairly uncommon to see Missy and Jody playing. That is why today you are all in for a treat! J.B. got some great shots of Jody really letting go and having fun with Missy. Jody can be described from time to time as a serious chimp or the den mother and those are all true. Still, even serious humans or non-humans have to cut loose at some point.

It was a hot one today! I thought I would share an extra photo of Burrito shoveling watermelon shaved ice in his mouth today because, well, why not?!

Whatchu lookin’ at?

by

Food peering can be defined as one chimpanzee staring closely at the other chimpanzee’s face and/or directly at their food. (Also known as “if I stare long enough, maybe that person will share.”) Sometimes this behavior works and a chimp will share, depending on the value of the item and who the chimp is. However, the owner will often keep on eating and decline to share despite having another chimp peering at their the face. This behavior might seem uncomfortable and probably because it would be for us humans. But these guys do not seem to mind most of the time!

Negra was taking her time at breakfast and enjoying her bananas:

Jody had eaten her portion and noticed Negra still had bananas. Naturally, Jody began food peering:

Though Jody was food peering, Negra was not swayed. Negra stayed there and ate her bananas:

At least Jody gave it a try. What is that quote? “You miss 100 of the shots you don’t take.”:

Also bonus photos!

Burrito (pilo) walking on Young’s Hill this morning:

Foxie:

Jody surveying the Hill:

Jody holding her feet:

This one makes me giggle a little bit. I think it explains Jamie well. She has her people (Missy and Annie) grooming as she relaxes: