When Foxie arrived at CSNW almost 4 years ago, she wanted nothing to do with toys and especially blankets. While in the lab, the chimps weren’t given much, if any enrichment so it would make sense that after 30 years of living in barren cages, a toy or a blanket would seem a bit foreign to her. When we discovered her love of troll dolls, her distaste for other toys faded some, but she would still toss aside a blanket that was in her way and preferred to sleep on the concrete floor. It’s only been in the last year that we have witnessed her making rudimentary signs of nesting behavior with blankets. I haven’t seen her nest too much lately, but last night, after locking up the chimp area, Elizabeth and I were on our way out the door when we happened to look up and see Foxie laying in the loft playing and nesting with a small blanket. Perhaps she’s a closet nester?
Posts Tagged ‘chimpanzee rescue’
Foxie, the closet nester?
Thursday, March 8th, 2012CSNW’s Crossfit
Sunday, March 4th, 2012Jody is at least 37 years old (we believe she was captured in Africa, so she’s possibly older than that) and she is best known for her elaborate nests, yoga poses, and just her overall proficient ability to relax. But, Young’s Hill brings about a different side to Jody. She’s much more active and even playful when she’s out there. Chimpanzees in Africa spend about 60% of their day traveling. We obviously can never replace the forests of Africa with a 2-acre enclosure, but it’s really nice to see the amount of exercise the chimps are getting out there! With a workout plan like this one, I can’t wait to see how skinny Jody will be by the end of summer!
Negra’s kind of day
Thursday, March 1st, 2012Negra’s not a big fan of the cold, so she hasn’t been spending time on the hill. Even the greenhouse is a bit too cold for her these days. Her favorite spot is lounging in the warm playroom in front of the windows, so today was Negra’s kind of day. Missy stayed in the playroom during breakfast (so we couldn’t clean there until later) so after she ate, Negra got to go right back to lounging in the sunny playroom in her bed.
Snowy snack
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012We got a few inches of fresh snow overnight, and despite the grumbling from the humans at the sanctuary (we’re ready for spring!), the chimpanzees were happy for a frosty snack. Here are a few photos that Jackie snapped this morning.
Burrito:
Missy hauled a big container of snow all the way upstairs:
Piloerection
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012People who have seen Burrito in person often comment that he’s “fluffier” than the other chimpanzees at the sanctuary, and it is an accurate observation. The technical term for this fluffiness is piloerection. A chimpanzee is said to be pilo erect when his or her hair is standing on end due to anxiety or excitement. (Humans also experience piloerection when we get goosebumps, but it’s not as obvious since we have less hair.) When a chimpanzee is completely calm and relaxed, his hair lies flat against his body. Given that Burrito is rarely completely calm — he’s a pretty high-strung guy — it makes sense that he’s very often pilo erect.
I like the following photos because you can see how much of Burrito’s impressive size is body and how much is “fluff”.
Annie the Acrobat
Sunday, February 26th, 2012Annie spent a great deal of time this morning doing yoga stretches in her nest:
Then, as we were getting ready to let the chimps out on Young’s Hill, the chimps got so excited!
Annie offering reassurance to Missy:
Then they got so playful!
Projects
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012Jamie loves a project- pretty much any kind of project. It could be as simple as filing her nails, or stuffing a straw inside of another straw, or as complex as attempting to tear apart the building- she always has something going on. She’s often engaged in projects that are far from natural chimpanzee behavior, but as Diana mentioned in her post last week, captivity isn’t natural, and given her history, it’s not all that surprising that her interests are very human-oriented. Chimpanzees are smart, and they often mimic behavior to reach their desired end result, but Jamie is no doubt a step above the rest.
After seeing J.B.’s recent post about Jamie “sewing”, supporter Wanda Trotta found these great sewing cards for her. I took it out to demonstrate before giving them to her and she was definitely interested, as you’ll see below.
Slinky Entertainment
Sunday, February 19th, 2012Last week’s spiderweb had some pretty amazing details that may not have been captured by the video. There were lots of little bugs (bees, caterpillars, butterflies) caught in the web, along with troll dolls, stuffed animals, beaded necklaces, and plastic Slinkies. The Slinkies ended up being a nice touch, because when Foxie would shake the web, they bounced all over the place, which may be why they got so much attention that day. At one point, I caught Jamie stringing some of the ribbon through the coils (much like she was “sewing”) and later, Missy took one up stairs and played with it for a while. I like how she almost looks proud of her creation in the video below.
The slinkies were sent by our friend from Oregon, Leslie Sodaro, who sends us some of the most amazing things for the chimps! From hilarious stuffed animals (some of my recent favorites being Spock, Alf, Richard Nixon, and Betty Boop) to crazy dolls that Foxie flips for (literally!), when we get a package from Leslie, we know we are in for a treat! Thanks for always keeping the chimps (and humans!) so enriched, Leslie!
Here are a couple more of Leslie’s finds:
Burrito with the blue fish:
Foxie and the wrestler:
Simultaneous silliness
Thursday, February 9th, 2012I 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…
