Today is sort of rainy out, so we wanted to enrich the chimpanzees with some indoor activity. Sometimes we play the TV for them, which some folks seem to really enjoy. We also know that the chimps like to watch themselves in mirrors, so I thought they might be interested in “Photo Booth,” which is an App on the iPad (and it’s also on most Mac computers) where you can take pictures of yourself. Foxie and Burrito seemed to think it was pretty cool, and I’m glad we were able to come up with some fun rainy day enrichment.
Sanctuary
Run, Missy, Run!
One of my favorite things so far about Young’s Hill is watching Missy run at full speed. She is like a spring that was coiled up for decades, just waiting to be released. Every time she goes outside, she runs up and down the hill, for no apparent reason other than for the joy of it.
I was surprised by how moved I was when I first noticed that I could actually hear her running…the sound of her hands and feet pounding the ground and her heavy, rhythmic breathing with each stride.
We were talking today about how it seems like Missy is eager for the other chimps to become as comfortable as she is on the hill so that she will have someone to play with out there. Many of the other chimps are still in the cautious exploration stage, but not Missy. She waited 36 years for a chance to run, and now she’s ready for the most epic game of chase ever.
Security
Foxie seems to be getting more and more comfortable on the hill each day. Today, I saw her climb up each of the climbing structures, including one that is fairly far away, and she even played a little bit of chase with Missy. She always has her trolls out there with her, though, which I think of as a security thing. She often lets them ride on her back while she walks around to explore, but as you’ll see below, sometimes there just isn’t enough room for all those “babies” on her back.
The treat rock
Today volunteer Laura and I put together a peanut butter/fruit puree and smeared it inside the tubes for the treat rock. The treat rock mimics a termite mound, in that the chimps can use sticks or hoses to fish for treats we place in tubes mounted inside the rock. Thus far, the chimps have been a bit too busy with other things to care about “fishing” for treats in the rock (the hill is a lot to take in!), but today Jody, Jamie, and Missy all spent some time checking it out.
Jody only took a quick peek or two, but was definitely intriqued.
Not all the holes have tubes in them, which Jamie quickly figured out
Missy spent the most time on the rock
and was the most proficient
yum!
Brandon Wood’s Fundraising for Chimps
You may recognize the name Brandon Wood or Make a Chimp Smile from previous posts or from other organizations. He’s truly an inspiration to me and to anyone who knows about him.
Brandon is always busy helping chimpanzees. Recently he’s been busy sending out letters to representatives and the president, encouraging them to support the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act. And now he’s doing a fundraiser for the Cle Elum Seven through his Etsy shop. He has really cool “chimp tags” and earth-friendly tote bags for sale, with proceeds going to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
Show your support of Brandon and his work to help chimpanzees by shopping in the Make a Chimp Smile Etsy store and following his blog at makeachimpsmile.blogspot.com.
Here’s a photo of Brandon that I borrowed from his blog. He’s wearing and holding the chimp tags that he made to support great apes:
Thank you for all you do, Brandon!
A rarity
I’m pretty sure our camera was experiencing cuteness overload on Halloween. The following is a clip of some more of that cuteness I caught just before letting the chimps into the Playroom for their party. Jody and Negra rarely play, and certainly not with each other, so not only was it super cute, but it was a rare sight to see too!
Today on Young’s Hill
I put out a lettuce forage and everybody—even Negra and Burrito—spent some time on the hill today, despite it being pretty cold out. I didn’t get a photo of everyone, but here’s a few shots from this afternoon:
