Posts Tagged ‘Jody’

Me and my shadow(s)

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

Jody is often the first to go out onto the hill when we open it up these days. She may not go out right away, but once she builds up the initiative, she goes! And often Foxie is right there with her. Yesterday, Jody waited a long time before going out but then she all the sudden came charging into the greenhouse from the playroom and walked right out there, with Annie and Foxie right behind her.

But, later Foxie took “following Jody” to a whole new level:

And when Jody decided it was time to go back inside…

Foxie was still right behind her…

and Annie came running after

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.

The case of the droopy lip

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

Jody almost always has a drooped lip when she’s out on the hill. We’ve been referring to it as her “Young’s Hill Face”

Today, her droopy lip seemed to be mixed in with a bit of a sneer. Sometimes I sneer when I’m cold!

She sure does have a beautiful face though…

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:

Nest Envy

Friday, December 16th, 2011

Negra continued her playful streak this morning, but I think her real intention was to steal Jody’s bed.

Decemburrr on the Hill

Monday, December 12th, 2011

As J.B. mentioned in his post the other day, it has been really cold in Cle Elum, but we still haven’t had much snow. We have had significant doses of hoar frost though, which is beautiful! Maybe it’s not as exciting as snow to some, but Jody and Foxie have really been enjoying licking it off of things.

Jody licking hoar frost off of the log bridge:

Foxie was really enjoying licking it off of the climbing structure

And later, Jody joined her

Hoar frost on a tree

Trouble on the hill

Friday, December 9th, 2011

It is getting very cold here in Cle Elum, but the sun is out and there’s no snow on the ground so the chimps continue to go out on the hill every day. Today, Jamie led Missy, Annie, and Jody on a walk through the bamboo.

Later, Jody was alarmed by something in the upper corner of the enclosure. Here you can see a great example of a fear grimace – what many people mistake for a smile.

Annie stayed back, but Jody was determined to go in for a closer look. She kept looking back for some support, but she was on her own.

The chimps love being able to roam across two acres, but at times like this I think it can feel a long way from the safety of their original sanctuary home.

She got as far as the bamboo grove but didn’t seem to have to courage to go any further; at least not without backup.

So she went back to the platform to be with Annie.

Peering in Silhouette

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

Peering is one of my favorite chimpanzee behaviors. It is related to peering as we commonly understand it (looking intently at something), but it has a more narrow usage with chimpanzees. Chimpanzees often peer when they would like another chimpanzee to share some of their food. Rather than asking for some, they stare at the food as if it is some mysterious substance from outer space, sometimes getting as close as a few inches from the other chimp’s mouth. As a result, the peering chimp annoys the other chimp into either turning away or reluctantly giving up some of their food.

Today, Negra was enjoying a piece of ice from Young’s Hill while Jody peered at her. Peering can go on for an awfully long time, long enough to make me uncomfortable just watching it. I’m not sure whether Negra ever gave Jody a piece of the ice.

Giant box enrichment

Monday, November 28th, 2011

The other day, Denice and I filled a giant refrigerator box with all of the chimps’ enrichment and blankets. Not surprisingly, Jamie was pretty interested. But Jody, Missy, Foxie, and Negra showed some interest as well!

Jody and Foxie on the hill

Friday, November 25th, 2011

Jody sampled the snow from many different areas of Young’s Hill today. Her favorite seemed to be the snow from the crater in our miniature Mt. St. Helens replica.

Foxie also went all the way outside today, but she tried to keep her feet off of the snow as much as possible.

Everyone else seemed content to grab some snow from the end of the raceway and watch Jody and Foxie brave the cold from the warmth of the greenhouse.