Missy and Negra didn’t feel the need to release much energy in this morning’s play bout. Notice how it devolves slowly into a grooming session. Negra approves of all interactions where she gets to stay in bed!
Play
The many uses of enrichment
The chimps are not known for being gentle with the enrichment they receive. Many of the toys they get each day have a primary use (to be examined and played with) and a secondary use (to be destroyed by any means possible). I imagine there’s something pretty enjoyable about making a huge pile of fun destruction and then have housekeeping come in every morning so you can do it all over again.
Annie’s Fountain of Youth
How does Annie stay looking so young?
All Play Today
It may come off that Jamie is all work and no play (which can be true), but she knows how to take a load off when she needs to. And who better to help her relax than Foxie? The hard part is capturing the moments when they are happening! As you can see in the video a hand slyly comes up to suggest I leave. We never want to intrude in any chimp to chimp social time so I left shortly after. Jamie and Foxie proceeded to play for another 15 minutes before Missy suggested everyone enjoy some tomatoes from the garden!
Hot, sleepy and silly
Burrito was curled up in the corner of the greenhouse this afternoon sooo hot and sooo sleepy. In-between barely being able to keep his eyes open, he intermittently somehow found time to still be adorable without having to get up or really move outside of spinning around on his back to face the opposite direction. But adorable, this guy has down. We know that.
Yawning while looking for something to play bite:
Found his toes to bite:
The classic play face/play bite:
This is love.
Guy Time
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest tends to be female-heavy (as do most animal care professions). Of the seven chimpanzees who live here, only one is male. Of our six-person staff, only one is male. Out of our 36 current chimp house volunteers, seven are male. Out of the 10 volunteers who are trained to play and interact with the chimpanzees, two are male.
Burrito is a friendly and inclusive guy, and when it comes to human play partners, he does not discriminate. That said, he does seem to feel a little outnumbered from time to time. It’s a special treat when one of his guy friends is up for some man time.
