Archive for the ‘enrichment’ Category

the snow days continue

Saturday, January 21st, 2012

If you’re in Washington State or have heard the national weather news, you know that there’s been no shortage of snow this week! We probably have about 16-18 inches on the ground now with more expected. The snow accumulation has caused the electric fence voltage on Young’s Hill to reduce (this is normal and expected). That, combined with the chimpanzees generally not enjoying walking in snow, they haven’t been on the hill this week. But that doesn’t mean they haven’t been able to take part in the weather!

J.B. shared a video on Thursday of the chimps snacking on troll doll snow cones – snow combined with a bit of orange juice, then frozen overnight outside.

Today, we filled up the big tub in the greenhouse with snow, so the chimpanzees have been free-snacking on it all day. Below are a few photos.

Burrito (Jamie in the background):

Burrito going in for snow in the big tub

 

A series of Foxie:

Foxie eating snow from the tub

Foxie eating snow from tub 2

Foxie eating snow from tub 3

Forget milk mustaches, 2012 is all about snow beards:

Foxie eating snow from tub 4 snow beard

If you’re wondering if Foxie went to the tub empty-handed, the answer is no – she brought a troll doll and a brush:

Foxie eating snow from tub 5 troll doll brush

 

Negra opted to bring her snow inside for snacking:

Negra holding snow

Negra eating snow

Negra eating snow looking out window

Troll head snow cones

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

These were a big hit this morning.

Chimp Love

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and we’ll be launching a new holiday store with fun Valentine’s Day presents for the chimps soon! To get you in the mood, here are a few sweet photos of chimp-lovin from over the years.

 

Blanket fort fun

Monday, January 16th, 2012

This morning we put a bunch of barrels together and made a blanket fort, with all the toys inside of the fort. Not surprisingly, Jamie was interested in checking things out.

 

Another Burrito day!

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

Burrito received an abundance of new toys, sponsors, and lots of love on his birthday. His new friend, Adrienne Armstrong, who sponsored the party and sent Burrito a lovely (and GIANT!) fruit basket, tried to get some new toys to us but unfortunately they didn’t get here in time. So in honor of new friends (and as an excuse to keep on partying!), we threw him another little party today. The chimps have been loving all the new stuff, especially Negra, who has been curled up with her new, super soft blankets all day.

Thanks so much Adrienne!

Your friend, Burrito

Creative Jamie

Saturday, January 7th, 2012

I enjoyed watching this in person as much as I enjoyed making the video. Jamie is endlessly fascinating. I love the intense purposefulness that she employs no matter what she’s doing.

Silly B

Sunday, January 1st, 2012

Burrito was in an exceptionally silly mood today. After putting a paper bag around his shoulders like a cape, he went out into the greenhouse and spent some quality time with a blue fish.

Jamie helps clean up

Thursday, December 29th, 2011

As we’ve mentioned before, Jamie is particularly human-oriented. (Read this post from the first week Jamie was in sanctuary). She definitely watches us do things and will do them in her own style later. Jamie also likes to check up on any kind of work that’s been done and once she’s given access to a room that was previously closed off for maintenance, she will rush in to give her quality control tests.

In the first part of this video, you’ll see her cleaning up a recent paint job in one of the front rooms. We are replacing the benches, so you’ll see some primer on the wall in the spot where the bench used to be. In the second part of the video, Jamie is scrubbing a notably hard-to-reach spot. Clearly I did not do a good enough cleaning job! But I’m so glad to have Jamie’s help.

Tangerine forage

Monday, December 26th, 2011

For the big Christmas celebration yesterday, Diana, Elizabeth, and Seana put out some tangerines on Young’s Hill in addition to the ones strung on the Christmas tree. However I guess the chimps were too excited about the big party inside that they didn’t really go out and forage for the tangerines yesterday. So today, they were still hanging out there, frozen for sure. I decided to leave them because I know how excited the chimps get about frozen fruit. Turns out that Jamie was pretty much the only one willing to brave the cold for any length of time, so she ended up with lots frozen tangerines to herself!

Foxie quickly came out and grabbed one tangerine while Jamie was working on some by the bamboo:

Jamie decided to eat her collection in the warmth of the greenhouse.

Adventures of a peanut butter jar

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

The other day, we put a mostly empty plastic peanut butter jar in with the chimps’ enrichment, which is something we often do when we’ve used the bulk of the peanut butter- the chimps spend hours trying to get the peanut butter remnants off the insides! Foxie was the lucky one who found it first the other day, and she took it on quite the adventure. First, she had it in the playroom. Later, she took it out with her into the greenhouse, and then she and her peanut butter jar went on a hike on Young’s Hill.

She took it with her as she climbed up and down a couple of the climbing structures and then around the perimeter, enjoying the occasional snack. At one point, Jody decided to start a game of chase. She got in front of Foxie and started playfully walking backwards, encouraging Foxie to follow her.

They played for a little while, but then Foxie got distracted and put down the jar. I can’t say if Jody had an ulterior motive for starting the game of chase, but it definitely seemed to work in her favor.

Jody enjoying the peanut butter jar in the greenhouse: