Last week was the first time any of us had seen Foxie build a true nest. Today, I witnessed her doing it again and snapped a couple of photos. I’m so proud of how far she’s come.
Sanctuary
Jamie looking at you and More New Stuff
First, Jamie:
Now: more new stuff.
There’s no doubt that the Cle Elum Seven have the best supporters out there. Remember all of the new stuff that I posted about back in December? Well, the gifts have kept coming.
In addition to the heater that is keeping J.B. warm as he welds (thanks to Barb in Ohio), we received that metal shelving unit from local supporters Shelley and Patty that we asked for before the holidays. Take a look at the before photo on our Holiday Wishes blog post (4th photo down after the Burrito photo) and the after photo below!
We also received two door mats from Tamela. I probably couldn’t even explain how happy the door mats have made me, because I might sound ridiculous. Let me just say that before we received the new foot bath mat and the door mat from Tamela, our set-up was a tall pan with a towel in front of it. And the door mat we had by one of the human doors to the outside was a ripped piece of astro turf. Below is a photo of the doormat to the outside. The mirror on the door is for the benefit of the chimps (not so I can take photos of my legs) and was a gift that Tamela sent us a while back.
We also recently received a hose cart from Anthony L. which we unveiled today. We can hook it up to the spigot outside:
and uncoil the hose all the way into the greenhouse for our daily cleaning of that area:
(hey, you can see two of the new climbing structures on Young’s Hill in this photo!)
Thanks to everyone who has given us so much over the last 2.5 years. Like I said, the Cle Elum Seven have the best supporters out there!
Progress on Young’s Hill
Yesterday J.B. and volunteers Steve and Rick braved the cold to frame the climbing structures that will be on Young’s Hill. (To learn about our plans for Young’s Hill, a 2-acre outdoor habitat for the chimpanzees, watch this video.)
Foxie, the nest-builder
We love sharing stories with all of you about the chimpanzees’ daily experiences at the sanctuary. This pleasure is all the greater when we have something particularly exciting or momentous to share, as we do today.
Our frequent blog readers are familiar with the saga of Foxie’s nesting behavior. When Foxie came to CSNW, she wanted very little to do with any enrichment. Blankets, in particular, seemed almost offensive to her. If a blanket occupied the space where she wanted to rest, she would often flick it aside before sitting down. While some of the other chimps were making giant, cushy nests out of dozens of blankets, Foxie would build a “phantom nest”, showing ritualized nesting behaviors but using very little actual nesting material. She’s made slow and steady progress: she’ll incorporate the occasional toy or fire hose into her “nest”, and once or twice we’ve caught her with her head resting on the very edge of a blanket. But overall, she’s remained pretty steadfast in her distaste for blankets (or anything soft, it seems). Here’s a review of past blog posts that have highlighted Foxie’s nesting progress:
April 13, 2009
May 15, 2009
June 2, 2009
June 6, 2009
December 2, 2009
January 23, 2010
February 3, 2010
December 24, 2010
Considering all this, she surprised and delighted us all the other day when she went full steam ahead and built her first big, multi-blanket nest.
Trolls
Jamie and Foxie spent some quality time with trolls today. I still can’t get over how integral troll dolls have become in the lives of these chimps…
Noisy Burrito
As explained in Elizabeth’s post a couple of weeks ago, Burrito doesn’t play with toys too often, but as you will see in the video below, he’s really been liking these popper toys these days! He played with this toy for at least an hour today. This video of Jamie and the popper toy comes to mind.
Jamie and Foxie’s wild play
The chimpanzees all have different comfort levels when it comes to intensity of play. Jody and Negra, for example, engage in play less frequently and less boisterously than some of the other chimps. When Foxie and Jamie get together, though, they completely let loose. There’s lots of stomping, slapping, and (play) biting. This morning they spent about 20 minutes running around the playroom like maniacs.
