The other day, Denice and I filled a giant refrigerator box with all of the chimps’ enrichment and blankets. Not surprisingly, Jamie was pretty interested. But Jody, Missy, Foxie, and Negra showed some interest as well!
Missy
Missy’s “snowboarding”
If you saw the blog a few days ago, you may have noticed Missy’s spectacular balancing skills. I caught a whole series of her acrobatic moves, and it almost looks like she’s snowboarding.
Two months since Young’s Hill
Today marks the two month anniversary of the opening of Young’s Hill. Coincidentally it was also volunteer Katelyn’s birthday, so we did have a small party for the chimps. It was only later that I realized we could have also considered it the anniversary party! Here’s some (hopefully) never before seen pictures of the first day on Young’s Hill. I can’t believe it has already been two months! In just that short amount of time we’ve seen the chimps grow more and more comfortable on the hill, and I expect that when next summer rolls around (and all the snow is gone!) they will stay for hours and hours basking in the sun and looking up at the open sky. I watched the KOMO news story again today, and it still warms my heart. It was such an amazing, emotional, and remarkable day.
Snow day
Although snow is really tasty, it’s getting pretty cold in Cle Elum so the chimps are happy to stay warm in the greenhouse.
Sometimes, though, snow is just good enough to risk getting a little cold to reach for it.
Run, Missy, Run!
One of my favorite things so far about Young’s Hill is watching Missy run at full speed. She is like a spring that was coiled up for decades, just waiting to be released. Every time she goes outside, she runs up and down the hill, for no apparent reason other than for the joy of it.
I was surprised by how moved I was when I first noticed that I could actually hear her running…the sound of her hands and feet pounding the ground and her heavy, rhythmic breathing with each stride.
We were talking today about how it seems like Missy is eager for the other chimps to become as comfortable as she is on the hill so that she will have someone to play with out there. Many of the other chimps are still in the cautious exploration stage, but not Missy. She waited 36 years for a chance to run, and now she’s ready for the most epic game of chase ever.
Today on Young’s Hill
I put out a lettuce forage and everybody—even Negra and Burrito—spent some time on the hill today, despite it being pretty cold out. I didn’t get a photo of everyone, but here’s a few shots from this afternoon:
Time on the hill and relatives
We have had pretty sunny weather lately, but it’s getting colder and colder these days (we even have snow in the forecast!) so the chimps have been spending less and less time on Young’s Hill, but that does not mean that they don’t want the option! As I type, Jody is blocking the door in the raceway, even though no one, including her, has had any interest in going out there for at least the last hour. It’s all about choices around here, so I’ll give her as much time as she needs.
Here are a few photos from the last couple of days of folks enjoying the hill. I’m pretty much addicted to taking photos of people out there. I still can’t get over it.
Missy:
Annie:
Foxie has been getting more comfortable and ambitious on the hill these days:
as is Burrito:
Speaking of Burrito, I recently learned that Burrito has a half brother, Clay, who lives at Save the Chimps in Florida. Clay and Burrito have the same father, Mack, who passed away at Save the Chimps a little over a year ago, and Clay’s mother is none other than our Jody! One of our former volunteers, Janie, is working at Save the Chimps now and reported that Clay has many of the same mannerisms as Jody and Burrito, including Mr. B’s signature always-pilo erect hair (pilo erect is the technical term for when your hair stands on end). Check out Clay’s profile on the Save the Chimps website. To me, he looks almost exactly like Burrito with Jody’s almond eyes. The last photo on Clay’s page is a photo of his profile. I found the following older photo of Burrito for comparison.
