I was in the kitchen yesterday preparing the chimps’ lunch when I heard lots of laughter echoing throughout the playroom. When I went in to check it out, I was bombarded by simultaneous silliness, but not with your usual cast of characters…
Archive for the ‘Play’ Category
Simultaneous silliness
Thursday, February 9th, 2012Foxie in the window
Monday, February 6th, 2012Enriching Negra
Thursday, January 26th, 2012Negra doesn’t hang out with her human friends all too often, so when she’s in the mood to play (or to even just sit next to you), it’s a real treat. Lately, however I think she has been more interactive than usual, both with her human caregivers and with the other chimps. This morning while we were cleaning the playroom, I caught her casually spying on me through a mirror. At first I just greeted her with a head nod and she enthusiastically head nodded back, so I started dancing for her (Negra loves it when her caregivers dance and often bobs her head and moves with us a bit when we do). I think she was definitely enriched.
Vertical Play
Saturday, January 14th, 2012I found some gems when going through videos today. The rungs in this room (what we call around here Front Room One) normally lead to a bench. The bench was taken out and will be replaced soon, but that doesn’t mean the rungs aren’t still used by acrobatic Foxie.
Someone to play with
Friday, January 13th, 2012In a previous post, I mentioned how it seemed like Missy was anxious for the other chimps to become comfortable on the hill so that she’d have someone to play with. Thankfully, Missy’s best friend Annie has decided that she’s ready to take advantage of her new two-acre playground.
Stealth Mode
Monday, January 2nd, 2012As 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.
Adventures of a peanut butter jar
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011The 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:
Nest Envy
Friday, December 16th, 2011Negra continued her playful streak this morning, but I think her real intention was to steal Jody’s bed.
Negra keeps on playing
Sunday, December 11th, 2011If you saw the blog from last week about Negra playing a fun tug-o-war game, and yesterday’s blog about her playfulness with Annie and Jamie, it should be of no surprise that Negra was playful again today. It’s really great seeing someone who was taken from her home in Africa to be used in biomedical research—housed in complete solitude for several years—be so playful. And with Annie, no less! Annie and Negra are definitely both coming out of their shells, and it’s a wonderful thing to see.
You’re never too old to play
Saturday, December 10th, 2011Negra apparently likes her playmates to hit her on the head.
