Missy had a little scare on the hill this morning. Sometimes the chimps get spooked and we don’t know what caused it. None of the other chimps seemed to care, so I doubt it was anything truly threatening. Plus, when it is a snake or some other potentially dangerous animal, the chimps tend to stick around and alarm call instead of high-tailing it for the greenhouse. If it’s a serious threat, I think they want to keep track of its whereabouts and alert everyone else to the danger.
It gives me goosebumps to see the chimps traveling up Young’s Hill as a troop. It’s like a little glimpse of what could have been if they had not been born into captivity or stolen from their families in the wild.
This video, by the way, shows Burrito walking to the log bridge at the top of the hill, which as far as I know is the farthest he’s ever been. He’s at the back of the line in the video – if we’re feeling generous, we might say that he is guarding the troop from the rear. In reality, at this point I think he’s happy to let the five girls ahead of him deal with any threats they might encounter along the way. But give him time – we see him get more confident each day out there.
