Thanks to Clocktower Media, we are getting a new look to our website! We asked you to participate in the redesign by choosing your favorite photos of the chimps to be featured on their profile pages. We’re also going to make prints of these photos available for purchase through our online store. Check out the winning photos below:
Primates
Celebrate Foxie and her string o’ trolls!
Foxie’s birthday is coming up soon! On August 8th Foxie will be turning 33, and we are going to celebrate Foxie-style. We are planning to put out more trolls than she has ever had at once. So, dig out those trolls you collected in the eighties and send Foxie a couple to PO Box 952, Cle Elum, WA 98922.
For inspiration, here’s a video of Foxie with her string o’ trolls:
Link to King 5 video
You can watch the King 5 video online and pass it along to your friends!
New hat for Jamie
We received a package of hand knit scarves and hats for the chimps the other day from a supporter in Georgia. In addition to a really sweet card, she also sent some packets of seeds since she won’t be able to attend next Tuesday’s Stand-up for Chimps comedy night in Seattle (have you bought your tickets yet?)
Jamie wore one of the scarves during the early morning and one of the hats as soon as we gave them to her. Below is Jamie with a blue hat. Pretty stylish, I would say.
Jamie’s casual cleaning style
As we’ve mentioned numerous times on the blog, Jamie is almost constantly busy doing something. And she definitely has her own style during her activities.
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.
Lessons from chimpanzees
When I am feeling down, I think about the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees at CSNW and everything they have been through in their lives.
I am amazed and humbled that Jody, after decades of living in a small cage in a medical laboratory, after having seven babies taken from her, can still enjoy relaxing in the February sun, holding her feet:
and Foxie, who endured research protocols, five babies being taken from her, and periods of social isolation, can greet each day with the desire to play with her caregivers and her chimpanzee friends
and Missy and Annie, who spent years without each other, can decide to sleep in together, napping in the side-by-side nests they created in the playroom
When I think about my chimpanzee friends and their lives, I realize I have little to complain about. And, if I can remember to live for today as they do, each day should include relaxation, happiness, play and companionship.
