J.B. was hanging some more firehose yesterday – this time in the playroom. As Jody was watching, Foxie decided to start a game of wrestle and chase with Jody.
troll
Foxie meets Honey B
As many of you know, Foxie likes to invite her caregivers to play with her by throwing trolls to (or at) them. Here, Foxie does the same to our chow chow, Honey B. You might notice that Foxie isn’t all playful – its as if she doesn’t know whether she should play with Honey B or display at her. So she does some of both!
Foxie and the boat bumper
I’ve been wanting to post this for a few days. Elizabeth and I hung one of the boat bumpers in the play room the other day and tied a troll doll to it. Foxie and Jamie were the most entertained by it, and Jody tried to pull up the boat bumper from above (smart!). The video is of Foxie “boxing.” She wasn’t upset – she mostly seemed curious and appeared to want to see if she could get the troll off of the rope. She wasn’t counting on the troll bouncing back!
Foxie nesting!! and Jamie’s new method for carrying trolls
Foxie was genuinely nesting with a blanket this morning
and even lied down on it ever-so-briefly!
She was really happy about her new speedo troll doll with yellow hair from yesterday. I tied a yellow scarf to the troll and gave it (him?) back to Foxie – this occurred right before the nesting.
Jamie seemed pretty intent on getting the troll and scarf, so I gave Jamie a substitute, which she decided to wear by tying the scarf around her torso, baby-sling style:
Jamie’s dexterity
Jamie LOVES it when we give her a ball point pen. I love her pen ritual – it’s as though she needs to collect a certain shopping list of things before she can begin writing. You can almost see her planning in her head. She’ll take the pen, pause while she scans the play room, and then walk around to collect what she needs. Sometimes it’s a blanket, or a stool, and a certain toy. Today she needed a blanket, an address book, and a scarf with a troll doll attached. There’s been so much talk about how strong chimps can be – but think about the gentle, fine movements required to draw with a pen!
Portraits
Foxie (with troll) and Annie.
Foxie playing in the mirror
Today I discovered a new game with Foxie. I was having difficulty throwing her troll doll back to her (some days my aim is just off), so I put it in a sock and tossed it up, my thought being that she would have more to grab on to. It worked like a charm, and Foxie actually really liked the sock! She almost immediately flung it over her neck, walked down the stairs and began playing with it in front of the mirror. I am sure other chimpanzees have done this before, but it was the first time I have personally seen a chimp play in front of a mirror. She was so enamored with her own reflection playing, that she completely ignored Missy’s attempts to get her attention. For the rest of the day, Foxie carried around the sock, sometimes in her hand, sometimes over her shoulders, and once on the top of her head. Every once in a while she would go back to the mirror and play.