Archive for the ‘Jamie’ Category

Jamie as chimpanzee

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Jamie has always been the most human-like of the Cle Elum Seven.  She often does human-like things (files her nails, ties shoelaces, sews); she’s always very interested in any cleaning, maintenance, or construction the humans around her might be doing; and sometimes she even seems to prefer the company of her human caregivers to that of the other chimpanzees.  None of this is unusual for a chimpanzee who has grown up in a captive situation.

But on Young’s Hill, Jamie is all chimpanzee.  Something about the wide open spaces or the natural surroundings seems to bring out a different side of her.

Chasing deer:

Hunting squirrels:

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Fishing for treats on the treat rock:

Leading her friends on a walk:

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.

 

Regular Morning Routine

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

As we mentioned on the Facebook page yesterday, sometimes the daily routine fluctuates, and as caregivers we have to be pretty flexible depending on the choices the chimps make. Typically though, we do have a regular schedule. First we invite the chimpanzees in for breakfast—and as long as everybody comes in, one person (the Care staff or Level III volunteer) will serve breakfast while the other person (the Lead Caregiver) will start cleaning the playroom. We never enter an enclosure at the same time as the chimpanzees, so we have to ensure that all the chimps are out of the room we want to clean, and that every chimp door is secure. We do this for cleaning the playroom, front rooms, and the greenhouse. (To see what cleaning is like, watch this video from a couple years ago). Today things followed the regular routine, which you’ll see in the video below.

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.

Stealth Mode

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

As many of our readers know, Jamie is the most dominant chimp of the Cle Elum Seven. That means that if food is nearby, whether she is interested in it at that moment or not, the other chimps respect it as hers and avoid grabbing anything that she might consider her own. You’ll see a couple interesting politics in the following video. Burrito knows that Jamie has left some chow on the floor and abandoned them to start wrestling with Foxie. He’s waiting for a point where he can take advantage of that distraction and get the chow pieces for himself. Once he eventually gets his opportunity, Foxie catches him in the act, and wants some for herself. Although Jamie still appears uninterested, Foxie asks for her permission to take some chow… but Jamie decides that she wants to keep the few pieces remaining for herself.

Thank YOU for an amazing year

Saturday, December 31st, 2011

Find out what the chimpanzees are wishing for in 2012:

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.

The Silent Sacredness of Young’s Hill

Tuesday, December 27th, 2011

It’s still amazing for the humans to see the chimpanzees on the two-acre hill, so we’re often silent too as we watch…

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.

Cleaning up

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011

The chimps spent a little bit of time on the hill today, but it was really cold, so they were all warming up either in the greenhouse or inside. I was sitting in the greenhouse watching a nice peaceful grooming session between Annie and Missy…

…when all the sudden, I heard water spilling- a lot of water spilling. I looked over to find Jamie sitting at the water spigot in one of the front rooms, only she wasn’t getting a drink. Her feet were muddy from being on the hill, so she was pouring the water on her feet and wiping them off on the wall

I wasn’t able to get a very good photo, partly because of the angle, and partly because as soon as Jamie noticed I was taking pictures of her, she went back to just “getting a drink”