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.
rescue
A nest with a view
The other day, someone made a beautiful nest by one of the upstairs windows with a mix of blankets and timothy hay. I am guessing this was Missy’s. She is a nesting perfectionist and often builds the walls so high that she disappears into them. Many chimps will lay directly on the floor and build the nest around them, but Missy makes sure hers has a nice cushioned bottom.
What always amazes me about chimp nests is that everything is so interwoven that you can almost pick them up whole. This, of course, comes from the instinct to weave branches together securely to keep from falling out of the trees at night. Jamie often builds her nests next to the caging, and she will take the ends of the blankets and weave them through the wire mesh. Her nests take a lot of time to deconstruct!
$900 to go for the cageless view
We’re more than halfway to a new chimp-proof glass window. Anna Kircher kicked it off with the challenge pledge of $1000 and $600 more was pledged almost immediately. Thank you Anna for initiating this gift and to all who responded so quickly. Replacing one of the windows that currently has a safety cage over it with clear chimp-proof glass will make a significant difference in the lives of the chimps. And we only need $900 more! Please see Anna’s original post and the responses so far: https://chimpsnw.org/?p=3082
Thank you!!
Greenhouse construction continues
More progress on the greenhouse, thanks to Jim and John Spencer. Today was cold, but when the sun was out you could imagine how nice it will be inside once we’re done.
Foxie snuggles up
For those of you who know her, you’ll be pleased to see this cryptic picture of Foxie (which I had to snap it quickly in case she got up!). She’s got her head on a blanket in a nest she built the other day after dinner. If you’re just meeting Foxie, she is a special girl who generally avoids cozying up with blankets. All of the chimps here at CSNW make nests of some sort (and nesting is definitely a hard-wired behavior!) but Foxie’s are usually circles of plastic toys. It’s very heartwarming for the humans when, once in a while, Foxie uses a soft blanket to nest with. Of course she can choose to nest with whatever she likes, but hopefully this means that she is getting more comfortable here. The chimps have been here for a year and a half, but they’re still recovering and changing after years and years in medical research, and everyone has their own pace. It’s an honor to help them get comfortable!
Music
This morning, Jamie played the piano as we cleaned. Later, she played backup for Eddie Vedder.
Troll rescue
Foxie pulled an Indiana Jones this morning. I was letting the chimps out to the playroom after breakfast, and Foxie was the last one through the door, with her giant troll in tow. Just as I closed the door behind her, she seemed to realize that she had left a few other trolls behind. She wheeled around and looked through the closed door for her missing dolls with a slightly panicked look. I reopened the door, and she flew through the room, gathering all of her trolls with her free hand. She was back out the door before I even finished opening it!
Of course I didn’t catch that on camera, but I did take some photos of Foxie yesterday:
