Whenever we drive the Gator (our farm utility vehicle), Jamie excitedly challenges us to a drag race. Exercise, enrichment, and a nice little rest for the staff!
run
On Young’s Hill
For Jamie, patrolling Young’s Hill is serious business. Tell that to Jody, Foxie, Annie, and Missy, who all seem like they’re having a little too much fun.
When She’s Not Constantly Moving….
When one’s mission in life is to stay in motion, to go from point A to point B, running as fast as one can, climbing everything in sight, exploring new structures and tightrope walking (well, in this case it’s fire hose walking), it can be hard to get good closeup pictures. Do you know which chimpanzee I am describing? I’ll give you a hint, she was one of the chimps featured in yesterday’s blog.
If you guessed Missy, then you are right!!
Be sure to stay tuned for the Jamieween celebration (Jamie’s birthday and Halloween combined) happening tomorrow!
The Tortoise and the Hare
The Tortoise and the Hare is a helpful allegory, but who wins in real life? The tortoise (Jamie) or the hare (Missy)?
Missy doing what she does best
Missy seems to have boundless energy and is the chimpanzee most likely to be seen climbing structures with absolute ease, fire hose walking without so much as a wobble (or the use of her hands) and also sprinting around Young’s Hill at full speed. I think JB’s description of her being like a coiled up spring waiting to be released captures her spirit perfectly.
After foraging for lunch on Young’s Hill, Missy made her way up to the top of the hill and climbed the tallest structure. She barely sat down long enough on Carlene’s Tower to take in the view of the valley below before heading over the bridge and climbing back down. And then she was off, doing what Missy does best.
Looking for adventure
Missy was stuck in high gear today.
She tried joining Jamie on her walks but the walks were too slow, so she ran.
Eventually she gave up on Jamie altogether and just starting running around the hill by herself in the rain.
When the sun came out, all of the other chimps emerged from the greenhouse to spend time on the hill. She tried enticing Foxie to play by stealing one of her dolls, but Foxie wasn’t rambunctious enough.
She tried getting Jody to chase her, but Jody couldn’t keep up.
Missy is like an electron, orbiting around the other chimps as if they were standing still. But once and a while, she comes to a stop and starts looking around…
…looking for something that will give her an adrenaline fix.
And when she finds it, she can hardly contain her excitement.
Look at that smile on her face.
At last…
This has been a long, snowy couple of months. But at last, the sun is out and the snow is gone…at least for now. The chimps have been celebrating this week by running, spinning, leaping, and climbing all over Young’s Hill.
OK, not everyone ran. Jody walked. But it was a brisk walk.
Foxie brought along a troll. Dora had to wait inside.
Burrito was all over the place, which is still so exciting to see. He soaked in some sun in Negra’s Cabin.
And climbed from platform to platform.
Negra even spent some time outside in the sun this morning but you’ll have to take my word for it. We don’t often get photos of Negra when she’s out because she doesn’t seem to tolerate the paparazzi the way the others do.
Missy and Annie chased each other over every inch of the hill, smiling the entire time.
I don’t know why Jamie doesn’t engage in this kind of rambunctious play outside. For whatever reason, she prefers to have the staff and volunteers chase her around the hill when she wants to blow off some steam. Volunteer Seana was happy to oblige, but she ended up with more a workout than she was expecting. Jamie first chased her clockwise around the 2-acre enclosure.
Then when they got back to the bottom, Jamie turned around and ran the whole thing in reverse. This pattern continued until Seana and Jamie were exhausted.
