Today, Jamie built herself yet another nest using a blanket and a box. This sparked a conversation between Diana and I about the similarities and differences of nesting behavior of captive vs. free-living chimpanzees. We couldn’t find many videos on the internet of free-living chimpanzees nesting, however, Jane Goodall’s Discover Chimpanzees Website has a behavior glossary, complete with video footage of the chimpanzees in Gombe engaging in a variety of behaviors, including this clip of nesting. If you compare the following video clips of Jody, Missy and Jamie (in order of appearance) to the video clip from the Discover Chimpanzees Website, you can see many similarities. Notice how the free-living chimpanzee (named Fifi) pulls the branches into her nest and pushes them down to make her bed more comfortable. It truly is an exact science.
rescue
Snow Grunts
The chimps never seem to tire of eating snow. Sitting here in the kitchen, I hear food grunts and squeaks every 5 minutes or so as someone returns from the outdoor area with a giant snowball.
Jamie’s Christmas nests
Jamie took a couple of breaks from the celebration yesterday to make some pretty festive nests.
Merry Christmas morning!
Happy Holidays to all. The chimpanzees got stockings filled with goodies last night and they are coming in for breakfast now. We’re serving them a special treat – fruitcake (more like fruit bread)! Elizabeth just let me know that everyone came in and we’re ready to get the day started. I’ll serve breakfast, then we’ll clean the playroom and set up the party with all of the donated presents – thanks everyone for making the chimps’ celebration so festive! More soon!
Enjoying the snow
YOU did it!
Yay!! Big thanks to Barb in Ohio for her generous pledge for the last $$ needed for the window fund. You’ve raised the money needed to replace one of the caged windows with clear chimp-proof glass!
Thank you to Anna K. for initiating this window fundraising and to Denice, Jill K., Julie H., Gayle B., Theresa, Jeani, Candy, Kathy B., Leslie S., Sue and Jack, Stephanie P., Steph and Kurt, Donna A. and now Barb in Ohio. What a wonderful x-mas gift for the chimpanzees! Thank you also to an anonymous donor and friend who is sending a cash gift for the sanctuary and offered to have that gift go towards the window, if needed. The Cle Elum Seven have the best supporters!
There was a big snowstorm overnight, so winter is here. We’ll keep you updated on the timeline for installing the window. In the meantime, be thinking of Negra’s new view and another window for Jody to lick 🙂
Jody
This morning, I was trying to take photos of Foxie playing with her troll dolls outside when something in the window caught my eye. It was Jody, licking the condensation off the glass.