Missy grooming her foot, sporting her trademark “glasses on the back of the neck” style:
Burrito and Foxie were sleeping next to each other on the catwalk when Negra decided she wanted to be groomed. Burrito was happy to oblige:
Missy
The life of the party
The Cle Elum Seven are, on the whole, some of the most playful chimps I’ve known. I think its mostly due to Missy, who is always up for wrestling, chasing, or playing tug-o-war:
I don’t know if we’ve mentioned this before, but she really loves to jump off of things. Just today, she used a boat bumper as a springboard in an attempt to get Annie to play, and later she jumped off the deck to chase after Jamie (and get her blanket back):
Foxie playing in mirror, continued
I caught a couple of still photos the other day when Foxie was playing with her troll-in-the-sock while watching herself in the mirror. Missy did persist in trying to get Foxie’s attention and eventually engaged Foxie in play. I think they are both “kooks” 🙂
Foxie playing in the mirror
Today I discovered a new game with Foxie. I was having difficulty throwing her troll doll back to her (some days my aim is just off), so I put it in a sock and tossed it up, my thought being that she would have more to grab on to. It worked like a charm, and Foxie actually really liked the sock! She almost immediately flung it over her neck, walked down the stairs and began playing with it in front of the mirror. I am sure other chimpanzees have done this before, but it was the first time I have personally seen a chimp play in front of a mirror. She was so enamored with her own reflection playing, that she completely ignored Missy’s attempts to get her attention. For the rest of the day, Foxie carried around the sock, sometimes in her hand, sometimes over her shoulders, and once on the top of her head. Every once in a while she would go back to the mirror and play.
Bad weather, happy chimps
The chimps have been in very good moods lately, despite this late winter snow storm. Sometimes when they’re too cooperative, and they’re not spitting and banging at us at all, I get suspicious…
This morning, when Elizabeth and I went in to say good morning to the chimps, Foxie passed two small trolls to me and proceeded to do a dozen pirouettes and at least as many backflips. Missy and Jody both wore makeshift garter belts for a good part of the day (I think one of them was a scrunchy). I managed to catch a few more of the day’s activities on camera:
Wine tasting success!
Thanks to everyone who came out last night to the wine tasting event in Roslyn. It was a great success! And it was so wonderful to see and meet so many supporters from the local (and regional) community. The chimps are lucky to have such a devoted following!
To make sure the chimps got to enjoy some of the spoils, Pam (a.k.a. CSNW’s Martha Stewart) sent the AMAZING table decorations for the chimps to enjoy. She wrapped pieces of tubing with banana leaves, veggies, and rafia. We added some peanut butter and threw them up on the top of the outdoor area. It created a little bit of a challenge – Missy and Jamie both worked hard to squeeze the tubes through the bars of the enclosure. Annie loved the banana leaves!
Jamie (with head band around her neck!):
Missy working to get the tube through:
Annie loved the banana leaves:
Missy getting the peanut butter goodness:
More outside action shots
Today Missy had more adventures in the fresh air. Jamie, Foxie and Annie were all outside too, but no one was playing with Missy. She ran inside and came right back out with this blanket. Instantly she had a game of chase going! I love the second picture – Jamie got the blanket away from Missy, climbed up the fencing, and then leapt off from about 6 feet up! I snapped the picture as she was almost to the ground.
