I got some pretty good photos of Jamie this afternoon. We can never know what she’s thinking, but, for fun, does anyone want to take a guess? What do you think was going through her mind when these photos were taken?
Sanctuary
Young at Heart
Missy does everything with a little extra flair. This morning, instead of walking across the bridge, she walked the tightrope.
And while Jamie and I took a stroll around the hill, Missy spun herself in circles on the rope swing.
When she finally decided to catch up to us, she launched herself forward on the swing. Because walking is boring.
Later, she tried to act her age, but she wasn’t fooling anyone.
New adventures for Negra and mouthfuls for everyone
It’s been another beautiful day in Cle Elum today so I set out a huge lunch forage on Young’s Hill. Everyone went right out, which is always a treat, but not only that – Negra was first! I couldn’t take my eyes off of her as she marched right out and walked over to one of the climbing structures that is a bit further away than her usual spots close to the raceway.
She grabbed a ton of greens along the way and found herself under the shaky bridge, which I am almost certain is an area she hasn’t explored yet.
Then, she just sat right down and enjoyed her lunch there.
This may not seem like a big deal, but Negra hasn’t adventured around the hill too much so we celebrate every step she takes in seeming more comfortable sitting in the grass with no bars overhead. And I’ve never seen her that confident out there! She didn’t ask for reassurance or seem concerned or nervous at all. That’s pretty amazing!
Oh and by the way, there were other chimps out enjoying the forage too. 😉
Foxie and Jody had a little picnic on one of the platforms today. That’s Foxie with the mouthful of lettuce – something she used to absolutely loath.
Jody and Burrito seemed pretty happy about all the limes!
Jamie grabbed a huge handful of lettuce, potatoes, avocados, and limes and happily took her loot to the raceway, so I wasn’t able to get a photo of her mouthful, but rest assured, she had one!
Everyone seemed really happy and foraged out there for a pretty long time. I was thrilled to see all seven chimps out there for so long! And I just couldn’t take my eyes off of beautiful and amazingly confident Negra. After she’d munched on all the good stuff she could find in the bamboo, she moved over to the hammock area.
and sat where she could watch what was happening over at the house, probably for the first time taking in all that she can see from that side of the hill.
Foxie and Dora
It’s very rare to see Foxie without at least one doll keeping her company. In fact, when new volunteers are first learning to tell the chimpanzees apart, they can always tell Foxie by the troll doll or Dora the Explorer she’s carrying. She carried this Dora doll in her mouth for much of the afternoon.
Peace
As J.B. mentioned yesterday in his post, we often remind ourselves that the chimps are experiencing even the simplest aspects of life for the first time at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
It doesn’t make up for all the years she lost, but after almost five years at the sanctuary, Negra has experienced the peace of a good nap in a safe place with a blanket over her head for approximately 1,730 days. Every time I see her enjoying this peace, it makes me as happy as the first day she arrived and she “wore” her blanket.
Taking it in
Certain things about chimps are beyond our ability to measure, but I have no doubt that they share with us a sense of awe and wonder. Primatologists in the field have written about chimps going out of their way to stop and enjoy a sunset. We see the same thing when the chimps climb to the top of Young’s Hill and stare out at the valley below.
Jamie:
Missy:
Other times we see them stop and stare up at the sky. It could be something as simple as a bird flying by or the clouds passing overhead, but it often seems like something more profound, like an effort to take in the vastness of their new world.
Burrito:
Missy:
It’s in these moments that I have to remind myself where they came from, and to try to imagine what it must be like to still be discovering the most basic things about the world at nearly 40 years old.
New iPad thanks to Apps for Apes! (and a plea for a chimp-proof case)
(UPDATE: Thank you Jody! We’ve got our case on the way! If you want to still support the fun iPad project—we could use some iTunes giftcards for cool apps! You can send an e-card to [email protected])
A few weeks ago, Orangutan Outreach reached out to us after seeing my blog post about wanting an iPad for Jamie (and the other chimps, too!) They have this great program called “Apps for Apes” (featured on NBC news) which has mostly been used in zoos and with orangutans. The Center for Great Apes is involved in the program and they are a sanctuary for both chimps and orangutans, but we’re the first sanctuary to be involved with only chimps. I’m really excited to see what apps they want to interact with the most! Orangutan Outreach raises awareness about orangutan conservation while also providing great enrichment for captive orangutans. Their project falls perfectly in line with what we have going on with Eyes on Apes, our advocacy group.
Here’s me (so excited!) with the iPad. I set a photo from today’s earlier blog post of Jody as the background:
And here volunteer Deb and myself show Jamie and Foxie the iPad.
I can’t WAIT to be able to let the chimps touch the iPad themselves. First we need to have a durable case so we can safely have it against the fencing and the chimps won’t break it 🙂
J.B. has done a bit of research and this is what we’ve decided will be the best option: Life Jacket Waterproof Case. We’d like the case as well as the extra mounting bracket which is an additional cost. If someone would be willing to donate the case, the mounting bracket, (or both!) I would be forever thankful (and so would the chimps!)
Though we don’t know for sure exactly what will happen when they’re able to interact with it themselves, I imagine based on how enriching it is just to look at, that they’ll be very interested to touch it!