I got some action shots of Missy making a post-lunch nest in the greenhouse today. I love how focused and serious she is.
Missy
Point A to Point B
What is the quickest way to get from point A to point B?
Well, for Missy chimpanzee, that means taking the tight rope walk across the fire hose railing to get to the platform on top of the climbing structure.
Once she made it to the top platform, she took a moment to look out over the valley.
In the first picture, Annie and Foxie were also on the climbing structure. If you look close enough, you can see the blue hair of Foxie’s troll doll lying on Foxie’s back.
Annie (bottom left), Foxie (top left), Missy (far right).
Summer Lovin’
Participants in our summer online auction were invited to donate toward an epic end-of-summer party for the chimpanzees, and they stepped up in a big way. Despite today’s not so summery weather here in Cle Elum, we threw the summer party to end all summer parties.
Thanks so much to everyone who contributed toward today’s party, and to everyone who helps make the chimps’ lives as happy as possible!
Missy and Negra Wrestle
Missy really brings out Negra’s playful side. She slows things down a little when she plays with Negra in comparison to Annie or Foxie who are more active than the Queen, so this play session is a little different than what you’re used to seeing when we post video of the chimps wrestling. Still, even without the tumbling and running, Negra is able to throw in a (playful) punch and a few bites, too. 🙂
Lips
I’ve recently been asked about how we receive kisses from the chimpanzees. The simple answer is that the chimpanzees extend their lips through the wire caging toward us and we put the back of our hand up towards their lips. But, words can only describe so much; pictures actually show it. So, today I tried to capture that through photos, but none of the chimps offered kisses to me (perhaps because I had the camera in hand?). So, I had to resort to the next best way of showing how the chimpanzees extend their prehensile lips towards us to give us a kiss. Meal time is the perfect opportunity to capture the chimpanzees extending their lips through the wire caging.
In the following photos, volunteer caregiver Becca served breakfast to the chimps this morning. On the menu were red pears and oranges, along with a watermelon, banana and protein powder smoothie. Each of the chimpanzees are also given fiber pills and vitamins every morning. You will notice in the following pictures that Becca’s fingers never penetrate the caging. For safety reasons, we consider the caging to be a barrier between our space and that of the chimpanzees, therefore we never stick our fingers into the enclosures.
Annie takes her fiber pill at breakfast.
Annie getting her share of the breakfast smoothie.
Burrito uses his lips to slurp his smoothie.
Jamie uses her lips to take her fiber pill.
Missy
Jody’s lips are pretty impressive. She seems to have the furthest “reach” with them. What do you think?
Jody taking her vitamins.
Projects and Preferences
Jamie has a mind that never sleeps. We do our best to keep her occupied and enriched, but sometimes she has to take matters into her own hands. It’s not unusual to find Jamie working on a project of her own making – anything from stuffing socks into a hollow tube, to pouring liquid back and forth from one container to another, to tying knots in scarves. (She even participated in routine fecal sample collection once.)
Interestingly, Jamie often prefers that these activities are done in privacy. As soon as she notices a caregiver watching – or even worse, trying to film or take photos – she stops what she’s doing. This morning I caught her using the wooden blocks in the photo below to hammer the red plastic stick into the floor of the playroom. Even though I knew I was pushing my luck, I grabbed the camera in hopes that I might get a video for the blog, but not surprisingly, the game was over as soon as she spotted me.
Speaking of keeping the chimps enriched, we posted the photo below to our Facebook page this morning and asked everyone to guess whose feet are socked up so stylishly. The answer is Missy! Missy and Jody both love to wear socks (and in fact these particular socks were sent to Jody by her Pal Sandy Nelson), but typically it’s only one at a time. Missy loves to pull on a sock (or two) when she’s feeling a little playful. (If you’re wondering why we’re okay posting photos of Missy wearing socks while we advocate against the use of chimpanzee “performers” wearing clothes in movies and on TV, please visit this page.)
It’s a forage kind of day
Today we put out a breakfast forage in the Greenhouse and a lunch forage on Young’s Hill.
Annie enjoyed the tangerines, while Burrito pretty much enjoyed every single morsel of food he could find at breakfast.
Jamie loved her tomatoes!
Missy was the first one to find the small sugar pumpkin (part of today’s lunch forage on Young’s Hill) on top of the wooden platform and quickly brought it to the Greenhouse.
Jody was quick to take over Missy’s find. She proceeded to bring the treat into the Playroom to enjoy.
Then it was Negra’s turn.
Jody and Annie were nearby in case Negra decided to share. Here Jody can be seen peering toward Negra.
