During playroom cleaning this morning, I decided to grab the camera and film the chimps through the new window. Right away, I caught Missy and Annie in an amusing game of upside down wrestling.
Play
Missy’s icy chase game
Yesterday, Missy spent some time outside playing chase with JB. It was a bit of a slippery slope for JB, though! 🙂
Through The Looking Glass
Today was a really nice day, so I was able to give the chimps access to their Outdoor Enclosure and their Front Rooms while Elizabeth and I cleaned the Playroom. Almost everyone was playing outside at some point, and they were very interested in playing with us through the new glass window. This has been such a wonderful addition to the sanctuary. It must be SO nice to look out and not see bars! And they’ve created a very fun (and distracting!) new game to boot!
Negra
When you take care of chimpanzees in a sanctuary, your whole life revolves around trying to make them happy. You live for those moments when they are food squeaking over a good meal, or playing a wild game of chase around the outdoor enclosure. For some members of the Cle Elum Seven, we’ve begun to take these moments for granted. When does Missy not want to play chase? And is there ever a moment when Foxie is not playing with her troll dolls?
But for some chimps, its harder to tell when they are happy. Negra has one speed (slow) and a limited number of activities that she engages in (eat, sleep, groom, gaze out the window). Perhaps its due in part to her personality; some folks just live life at a different pace. But you can’t help but wonder how much of it is due to 35 years of confinement in a laboratory.
Determining what effect a lifetime of stress in the laboratory has on chimpanzees is currently the work of two researchers, Debra Durham and Hope Ferdowsian. Debra and Hope are conducting a large-scale study of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in ex-laboratory chimpanzees. This summer, we participated in interviews with the researchers to look for indications of PTSD in the Cle Elum Seven.
Debra recently penned an Op-Ed for the Orlando Sentinel (see Drawing Ourselves into the Lives of Chimpanzees), in which she comments on the improvements they have seen in Negra. And, as fate would have it, the article’s publication coincided nicely with this video we took of Negra playing with Missy right before Jamie’s birthday party. (My favorite part of the video? When Negra grabs both or Missy’s ears and shakes her head back and forth 🙂
Its not likely that Negra will ever be rambunctious like Missy, or acrobatic like Foxie. Usually, I take comfort in the fact that when Negra chooses to put a blanket over her head and stare out the window, at least she has a choice. But she does have her playful moments, and according to Debra and Hope’s research, she is still showing signs of improvement. So we can all look forward to seeing Negra pull Missy’s legs and ears more and more in the days to come.
Laughter
The seven chimpanzees living at CSNW are the most playful group I’ve ever met. You would think they were kids the way they play and laugh. As all of you who follow the blog know, Foxie in particular has a kid-like disposition (at least she does now that she’s in sanctuary!) Jamie, on the other hand, can often be very serious. But Foxie is able to bring out the kid in Jamie too, as you’ll see in the video below.
One interesting thing that we’ve observed is that the chimpanzees seem to play wrestle more in the front rooms than any other location within the building. Perhaps it feels like a more private location for wrestling?
Annie & Missy
Annie is the most anxious member of the Cle Elum Seven, but you wouldn’t know it from the photos we take. She always looks so serene:
Missy rivals Foxie for “most playful member of the group”. Here’s Missy in the middle of a game of tug-of-war with me today. She always looks like she’s up to no good:
Always playful
There was a short break in the gloomy weather today, so Foxie made sure we got in a good game of pass-the-troll outside. Even though she’s in her 30’s, she has the spirit and energy of a little kid. The last photo captures the look she gives just before she does some crazy twirl or flip.
