These last couple of weeks have been a busy one at the sanctuary as we welcomed our newest staff members Amanda and Ellen to the team! They will introduce themselves individually to all our blog readers in a few weeks but for now they are learning the ins and outs of our daily routine.
One of the first steps in their training is to learn to identify all of the chimpanzees. They get opportunities to watch the chimps during meals and in passing as we practice doing door checks but it’s also nice to have additional resources like the blog to check out photos and videos of the chimps. One resource that we have created was an ID playlist on YouTube featuring each of the chimpanzees in different settings. Trainees can watch the videos and see the chimps from multiple angles and in different settings. I discovered that I needed to update our playlist to include the “Lucky Six” so that’s the project I am currently focusing on. Conveniently, these videos can also tie nicely into a blog. Today I made the Cy ID video.
Cy is a big chimpanzee with thick rounded features. He has a silver back and a grey beard. His face features a prominent brow ridge and deep creases. After you watch the above video, what features might you use to identify Cy?