Monday was a interesting day for me in my training. Usually I get to interact most with Jamie, because a) she is really interested in the humans of the sanctuary and b) other chimps take longer to warm up to interaction with the humans. This time, I got to spend some time with Foxie, Burrito, Jamie (of course) and shockingly, Missy!
(photo by CSNW)
This is Missy! (Also known as Miss, Miss-Miss, Missy-Miss and most commonly identified by the white patch of skin on her upper lip.)
Missy is known as the acrobat. She is almost always in a constant state of motion running around inside and outside and is often only a reach away from her best friend Annie. Both Missy and Annie are not very interested in their human caregivers, so even some staff have yet to interact with Missy in the way they have with Jamie or Burrito. So, it came as a shock to me and staff member Katelyn, when Missy presented her back up against the caging asking for grooming FROM ME. Missy sat for at least 10 minutes, rotating like a rotisserie chicken after one side was groomed enough, and back again. It was amazing. When a chimp who pays little attention to staff members she's known since the beginning wants a newbie to groom her, its a little shocking and also amazing.
Another big moment of the day was holding one of Foxie's "babies."
(photo by CSNW)
Foxie loves troll dolls. And Doras. They are her babies, and she usually always has one on hand. Most staff believe they are substitutes for the actual chimp babies she had while in medical labs. All of the female chimps were breeders while in the lab, and Foxie had 5 babies including a pair of twins. Fox loves playing with her babies and caregivers, often passing them in and out of the caging with staff member Katelyn, who will do a dance with them and give them back to Foxie. She is a chimp who takes a little time to warm up to new people, and on monday let me give her a little knuckle rub! Not for very long, but it was progress! While Katelyn and Foxie were playing, Katelyn handed me her troll doll. Like touching, you have to be around for a little while before Foxie is okay with letting you hold her babies. I was ready for spit to fly once Katelyn handed me the doll. To my surprise, Foxie didn't mind at all. Katelyn said this was a really good thing, and probably means that Foxie and I can play once I'm officially a level 3!
Later in the day after all the chores were done and before dinner time, Lisa took me outside to see if Burrito wanted to play. Burrito loves playing chase and tug of war with his caregivers, and is usually up for playing anytime. We went to the greenhouse where Burrito was and Lisa showed me how to play tug of war with him. Both of them having play face on and laughing, I was so excited to try and get some time in with Burrito. Not long after that, and just as Lisa and I were going to switch places, Jamie rolls in bipedally, pilo-erect and throws poop at Lisa for playing with B. (This is a daily occurance with Jamie, she doesn't really like when caregivers give other chimps all the attention, and especially if you didn't ask if playing was okay. Like Foxie and her trolls, sometimes one caregiver will play with Jamie inside while another caregiver plays with someone else outside, so Jamie is getting the attention she wants.) We apologized to Jamie, and she presented her back for grooming, which I had the pleasure of doing. I grabbed a small stick and began to groom Jamie's back while Lisa continued interacting with B. After a few minutes, Lisa said we could switch and I could see if Burrito wanted to play chase. B, lying on his back with a toy in his mouth could not have been bothered, and when I tried to play chase he just breathy laughed at me like "uh, are you blind? Jamie is right here and there is no way she's going to let us chase." So we just played a mirroring game (where I mirrored what he did, which most of the chimps hate but Burrito really loves.) until it was time for dinner.
and their delicious dinner was lettuce, corn, carrots, peppers and a night bag (which is a bunch of nuts.)
So, its getting pretty exciting as training goes on, getting to interact with everyone more is SO AMAZING and I can't wait to continue. Everyone has such a distinct personality and play favorite that you have to remember what each chimp likes. Foxie likes quick almost poke-like knuckle rubs for play, but Jamie wants slow almost massage-like knuckle rubs. Missy likes being groomed slowly and only where she presents whereas Burrito likes to play chase and bang loudly on anything that makes noise. It's honestly amazing getting to know each personality individually and solidifies my life plans more and more each time I'm there.
Oh don't worry, Jamie is still the boss and always supervising me. Here she is watching my clean room 4:
And here she is taking a siesta before dinner:
And just because I know Jamie cares, here are the awesome socks I wore for her: Neon orange lions on them, and she definitely checked them out.
In my sanctuary news, I am all registered for the NAPSA (North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance) workshop 2014 in San Antonio! All of the sanctuaries of the US will have a representative there and Lars and I will be learning all the ins and outs of just about everything we will need to know about starting and maintaining and chimp sanctuary. I'm honestly probably too excited about it. Booked our swanky hotel (the Menger, seriously so beautiful) and made a countdown for it. Lars and I are working on business cards, websites and a name so we can trade at the workshop and make some seriously awesome connections. It's definitely a big scary step but super informative. (Even Lars is excited people, this is real.) Locations are down to: Montana, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and Texas. Here's to making a decison!
I really also have to give Beth, Josh, and Lars all of the love. They are seriously holding me together at this crazy busy point in my life, and I know it's only going to get more hectic as time goes on. They will definitely have a wall in my sanctuary with their names on it in the BIGGEST letters, and will get to meet my chimps first. Do chimps have godparents? Well. they will now. Seriously, amazing people I've got in my corner.
lurv lurv lurv
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