PLAYING WITH ANNIE!!

(Yes, the caps lock is actually needed and appropriate for the first time in my entire life.) 

Monday in the chimp house was a warm welcome from Jamie chimpanzee. Immediately when I got there, she was so excited and wanted to come down and say good morning and check out my shoes. A very nice change from last Monday when I was running out of doors to avoid poop. 

Jamie was having a mellow day, which provided the perfect opportunity to interact with some other chimps. Most of the day Jamie was in the playroom when others were in the greenhouse, giving ample space between us to play! Jamie and I did our walk around the hill and some boot grooming as usual, and when she was done she went inside, I got some things in the chimp house done and then I grabbed the giant green toothbrush that Burrito and I have been playing with a lot lately. 

I quietly walked past Jamie, careful not to disturb her or draw to much attention to the fact that I was on the way to interact with other chimps, and made my way to the greenhouse. There I found Big B, and we played some chase for about 10 minutes.  Chase with B usually involves running around the outside of the greenhouse. In the late fall/winter/early spring the greenhouse has sheets of hard plastic up to keep it insulated and you have to bang on them when playing chase, its a must. If you were watching me play chase from a ways away, it would look like me banging on the walls, chimp laughing and running back and forth like I have no idea where I'm going. B wasn't really into any grooming games, he just wanted to play some chase. After he took the toothbrush and ran out onto the hill, I went inside the greenhouse to see who else was inside. (Also to check if Jamie was on her way out to tell us to stop playing.)

Missy and Jody were on the very top of the platform just relaxing, and Annie was on the bottom platform, just hanging out. If you've been following this blog long, you know that Annie and I have a secret friendship. She will say hi and interact with me briefly, usually in the morning and when no other chimp or human is around. Needless to say, I was so excited/confused/happy when Annie and I had 10 minutes of play on Monday with other chimps around! 

I said hi to Annie, and sat down on the ground in the human area of the greenhouse. I didn't ask Annie to come over, I just sat down to be an observer. Sometimes the best times are when the chimps don't know I'm there. I get to see how they groom one another, who sleeps in what position, etc. After a few seconds of sitting, Annie grabbed the rope nearby, and flew over to me. She grabbed a nearby plastic hose tool and began to groom me. All I could say was "woah Annie!"I was so taken back by her initiating the play and her doing the grooming. She was using the tool to try and get into my boot, so I took my boot off, then my sock and she was pumped! Annie apparently has a thing for naked human feet, something the staff is just learning about, and she loves to investigate a good foot! She groomed my foot for a few minutes and then we started a weird new game I will call "pass the tube." Annie let me grab the other end of the tube and pull it completely to my side of the caging. She then put her hand up on another spot on the caging where I passed her the tube. She took the whole thing on her side of the caging and put it through another spot. This continued for a good 10 minutes! IT WAS AMAZING. 

During this interaction, Annie was hyper aware of surrounding chimps. She made eye contact multiple times with Missy, who was fine with us playing. She checked doors X and 4 multiple times in case an angry Jamie was on her way. Annie is not a big tool user either, probably why she was extra aware of Jamie being around. In the past, if a chimp is using the plastic hose tool in front of her, Jamie gets a little upset and will storm over and take it away. Due to the fact that Annie is not a tool user on a frequent basis, she was a little awkward with the plastic tube. Unsure of where to grab it, not quite confident in how to groom me, etc. At one point she just blew air into my face by blowing into her end of the tube. It was a free-for-all of "how the fuck do I use this??!?" 

It dawned on me on the way home that Annie is 40 years old (41 this September) and is just now learning how to manipulate a tool like a long plastic hose. Just now of course meaning, since she arrived at sanctuary in 2008. Chimpanzees are highly intelligent, that much has been proven over years of observation; tool use, language use, etc. I would argue that in some cases, chimpanzees are vastly smarter than me. Watching Jamie problem solve with tools or objects in the chimp house sometimes blows my mind. She's so fast and smart and knows just what to do to reach her end goal, and some projects that she finishes in a matter of minutes I couldn't do in an hour. Annie bumbling around with the tool at 40 years old... can you imagine for a minute that you are 40 years old and you have never, lets say, drank milk from a glass? You have no concept of holding a glass in your hand, the speed of pouring a liquid into your mouth, etc. The first few times you do it it's probably a disaster. Now imagine that all your other 40 year old friends have been doing this forever. I don't think Annie is quite that frustrated, but I'm sure at times watching Jamie maneuver a tool with such ease is a little intimidating. I'm so proud of all the things Annie is trying and accomplish and achieving, and I can't wait to see the things she does in the future. I truly wish her youth had been spent in the jungle with her family learning how to use tools, but we can't go back. We can only improve situations for chimps to come. 

Lars and I have made some big decisions for our future (NO WE ARE NOT PREGNANT CALM DOWN) that we will announce later. But I am so excited for what we are about to embark on. 

4 months to the day until #jorgensenwedding2015. I genuinely cannot believe how fast time moves. Raleigh is about to turn 3. Butters will be 4 in July. Lars will be 26. I'll be 24! (Not 25, even though I firmly believed I would be 25 the day before my wedding for months before Lars corrected my math.) Now more than ever I'm feeling especially aware of people around me and spending time with those I care about. Something I think we only do in situations of great tragedy or need. Not to say that's a bad thing, that's when you do really need people around you; but trying to be more aware of that on a daily basis can't be a bad. :)

More next week.
B

Dealing with a cranky chimp + Annie's peaceful morning:

Sunday evenings and Monday mornings my Facebook feed is filled with things like this:

And I just have to laugh. Mondays are my FAVORITE day of the week, and it's always so funny to see everyone react to my "oh I love Mondays!" sentiment. 

I'm used to Mondays being rough for humans, and this Monday Jamie chimpanzee was feeling the homo sapien sapien reaction to Mondays as well, she was quite cranky. Mornings at the chimp house consist of preparing breakfast and saying good morning to the chimps. It's a hit or miss thing, if everyone is in a high arousal state it's a little testy in the chimp house. If Burrito is running around displaying and getting the girls all worked up, we usually wait for the screaming and running around to stop before we enter the chimp area. If it's a long time of screaming and loudness, a staff member will quietly enter the area to observe and see if there is a larger problem at hand. Monday was a noisy morning, as Burrito was doing his thing and the girls were simply not having it. I imagine it like yelling at your younger sibling when they are running around acting crazy and you are trying to watch tv or paint your nails. Sometimes you just have to yell, and the ladies were certainly telling Burrito what they thought about his morning display. 

After the yelling quieted down, we went in to say good morning to everyone. Almost immediately after entering the chimp area, Jamie threw poop at me. I said "good morning James, how are you?" Her response "How do you think I am??!?!!?" *throws poop* Narrowly missing me. So I went back in to the kitchen and finished breakfast. When Jamie is cranky or throwing poop I leave the area and apologize. Clearly, she needs some space and its my job to read that and give her the room she wants. 

Cleaning involves moving the chimps from one area to another with automated doors operated by the humans. To clean the greenhouse we need to move the chimps out of there so it's safe for the humans to enter and clean. On cold mornings the chimps are usually already inside, but as it gets warmer the chimps sometimes hang out outside. To get them all inside and close off the greenhouse, we will serve some of breakfast inside to get them all in. Monday was one of those days, so I served some apples and juice in the front rooms while staff closed the doors to the greenhouse. I gave Jamie an apple and moved to the other chimps, everything was fine and then boom. poop. I was serving Foxie an apple and Jamie turns around, grabs a nearby pile and throws it at me. The majority missed me, but my arm wasn't so lucky. I apologized, gave out my last few apples and went back into human area. 

While finishing up serving juice, staff member K also got poop thrown at her 2 times! Jamie was having a rough morning, and was letting us know. 

Crankiness in chimps is extremely similar to crankiness in humans. (minus the poop throwing.. I hope..) Jamie just needed some space from us. I have a hunch that Burrito's morning display woke her up on the wrong side of the nest. Much like humans, sometimes the crankiness is not always directed at the person who caused it. She also asked me to walk with her right when I got there, which is not possible with door Y closed, and before breakfast the door is always closed. So she might have really wanted to go outside first thing and was upset that she couldn't. Either way, as caregivers it's our job to read Jamie's crankiness and respond appropriately. Later, she wanted to go for a walk just as we were starting to clean the front rooms. Normally I tell her that I have to clean and when I'm done we can walk, but because she was so grumpy earlier in the morning, staff said I should go walk with her to relieve some of her crankiness, and possibly avoid getting a poop shower while we were trying to clean the front rooms. 

During breakfast, after we have cleaned the greenhouse, we open door Y, which is the door that gives the chimpanzees access to Young's Hill; the 2 acre outdoor enclosure where the chimps can sit under the sky and where Jamie walks me to death. Typically. the chimps are so excited about food and eating that they get all their breakfast and then go explore outside, if the weather permits. Monday's breakfast involved Annie going straight outside as soon as door Y was open, with no breakfast! This is amazing for a few reasons: 1) Annie is easily the shyest chimpanzee at CSNW. She is normally never far away from Missy and goes on the hill only if Missy and/or a few other chimps are out. Recently, Annie has been coming out of her chimp shell and spending more time by herself, more than an arms reach from Missy, and going on the hill by herself. 2) Hill excursions all alone are not typically for Annie, so to go outside, without any food, without Missy was quite the feat. 

(picture of Annie on Easter, stolen from CSNW's blog.)

Annie didn't even come over to see what was for breakfast. She was sitting by door Y and quickly adventured out as soon as it was open. As everyone was munching, I stepped outside to see what Annie was doing. Maybe there was something exciting outside, like a leftover Easter treat, etc. When I looked out on the hill, there she was, my sweet secret friend Annie Chimpanzee sitting so peacefully on a log enjoying some alone time. I told her we were eating breakfast, but that didn't seem to phase her. In all honesty, I almost didn't want her to come inside. Just seeing her sitting there on her own brought a tear to my eye. I am so happy for Annie and her new found peace with being alone. Living with 7 other chimpanzees all the time can be exhausting I'm sure, and the ability to be okay with being alone is so important. Seeing her out on that hill relaxing was such a happy moment. Eventually she did come in and get her food/vitamins and chow. 

Being a back scratcher: 

After Jamie's morning crankiness wore off, we took a walk around the hill and groomed for a while. Jamie wanted to groom my feet/shoes/tattoos for a while and after 20 minutes of her investigating every part of me she could, I asked if I could have the tool to groom her. She handed me the tube (in the video) and I took my turn grooming. She turned around, like in this video and nodded her head when I began to scratch her back with  the tool. One spot in particular, on her left side, she really liked being scratched. I could tell by her shaking her head very quickly and when I would stop scratching the area she would shake her hand at me as if to say "no keep going right there." Back scratching might be the new hair brushing with Jamie and I. 

Monday was not a whole lot of interaction time with anyone other than Jamie, and this video is pretty much the only interaction we had because there were lots of things to do in the human area of the chimp house. The freezer was defrosted and we had to go through bags and bags of old frozen fruit and transport what was too old and gross to the compost bin. In doing so, the compost bin was full so we had to do some rearranging of composted materials. Lots of heavy lifting this particular Monday. 

aka my little noodle arms are dead. 

You can check out some glamour shots of my boss Jamie after her crankiness dissolved here: http://www.chimpsanctuarynw.org/blog/2015/04/mood-swings/

Until next week, friends! 

B

 

A Non-Chimping Monday...wut?

Well, for the first Monday in many Mondays, I didn't go to the chimp house. WEIRD RIGHT. It is for me, anyway. I have what Lars and I like to call "Non-Catholic Guilt" which is exactly what it sounds like: experiencing the "catholic guilt" for not doing something that gives you immense feelings of bad juju, as though you have just told 100 grandmothers that you can't make it to their 90th birthday. I experience this on a daily basis, no exaggeration. My last year of my undergrad when I was taking the full load of classes, working 2 jobs, tech-ing/designing 4 shows at the same time and volunteering at the chimp house I was asked to take on another show. I could not possibly deal with the consequences of saying no because of my "NCG" and the inability to say no to anyone. So I said "Of course I have time!" and I spent September 2012-December 2012 crying almost every night and sleeping probably 2-3 hours because I had so much shit to do. Thankfully, I learned my lesson and have never taken on that much work at the same time. Proving the lesson, "you have to learn some things the hard way." The really hard way. The excruciatingly hard way. Yikes. 

ANYWAY. Fighting the few little voices of the NCG out of my head, my very best squirrel friend, aka life partner, aka Elizabirth, went to Mount Vernon to explore the Tulip Fields. I'm not sure if it was the wonderful sun, the wonderful company or just being in a field of flowers like we've all dreamed of doing since childhood-but it was exactly the reboot I needed. Relaxing does not even begin to describe how it feels to just go vibe with nature. The fields were beautiful, and the flowers were amazing-even without an Instagram filter. As you can see: 

Random/maybe not so random thoughts I'm having: 

Chimpanzees and their freedom from dependency on material objects. 

People who think evolution favors humans, when we spend our lives chasing money and material objects we don't *really* need.

The argument: If we as humans cant even take care of each other, how are we supposed to put time and energy into saving another species? And the inverse of that. 

Collecting moments and not things, in a culture that values the opposite. 

The wedding industry is a giant money sucking scam.

lolz. Sometimes my brain is just a bunch of random thoughts with no end or beginning. Pretty much the ship scene in Willy Wonka that you watched as a child and said "WTF mom and dad. I thought this was a kids movie not a horror film!" 

And on a completely different and possibly unrelated note, with a reluctant and jealous heart, I send one of my dearest friends and mentors Mitchell David Terrence Underwood Mackin Treherne back to the other Washington. He is 1 of maybe 4 people who came into my life and changed it in the best possible way. I met Mitchell in arguably the most transitional part of my life to date, the summer before I went to PLU. I just graduated from a class of 33 and I was about to join 850 other new lutes. Mitchell came dancing into my life (literally) and made me question everything. EVERYTHING. Which is exactly what I needed. He has LIVED and I appreciate his willingness to let Lars and I into his life, as his attitude of how to look at things is infectious.  He is, without a doubt one of the strongest, most inspirational, hilarious, intelligent and attractive humans I've ever met, and I'm so MAD at WA DC for taking him back, but thankful for the 6 years we've had. The hard part is not saying goodbye, but not knowing when our paths will cross again.  In the off-chance he reads this: Mitchell, I fucking love you. I fucking miss you. And I'm always dancing for you. 

SAD SAD THINGS MAN. I hate when people I love move to the next thing. Which is a stupid comment, as that's what people are doing our entire lives. We are just meeting people and letting them go, headed our own respective ways. That's all life is; a series of crossing paths with people, for a little while or a long while. And then you die. 

Heavy? Maybe. 

Well this was all over the place right? Chimps on monday, and a more chimp related blog to follow, I promise! 

B

Soapbox; but also chimp laughs with Buritto:

Priorities, amirite? I'm filled with a lot of different and conflicting emotions this week as priorites are shifting in my life all on their own, without my consent! LIKE WTF, self? 

This week I was lucky enough to spend Sunday and Monday at the chimp house, as opposed to the regular just Monday chimp day. It doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but to someone like me who would sell just about anything to wake up and spend everyday working in the chimp house, it's pretty fricken cool. Even if it's just doing laundry and washing produce, just being in the chimp house is my absolute favorite time of the week.Its a time to shut off the self-serving part of my brain and operate for the chimps. 

*If you are here just for the CSNW chimp adventure, I would advise you to scroll down.*  

People find out that I volunteer with chimpanzees and almost immediately want to discuss animal welfare, zoos vs sanctuaries, bushmeat law, animals as pets, etc. All of which I love to discuss as I have an opinion on almost all of those topics. (Specifically bushmeat, as I spent 3 years of my undergrad deeply involved in research with the bushmeat trade surrounding Tanzania. Seriously, ask me anything.)  The problem is, there is not just one answer to solve all of the problems facing animals today. I can only speak as to what I think solutions are, and my priorities are different than yours. Which is not a good or bad thing, it's just a fact. I'm coming to this place in my life where things I used to think were the worst, are becoming a valid idea or attempt. Ideas are changing, opinions are becoming a little more grey and less black and white. 

The example for which this is relevant: The Woodland Park Zoo Elephants. A year(ish) ago WPZ announced that the elephant exhibit was being phased out, as "adding more elephants for greater genetic diversity for the group was not possible in the foreseeable future." Elephants are social beings, much like primates and Bamboo and Chai needed more than just each other to be truly happy and enriched. (I mean, could you imagine only seeing 1 other human for the rest of your life? Living in a world of elephants, you and one other human? I would need more people to talk to for sure.) 

Props to WPZ, they understood a fundamental aspect that not many of us get, that elephants need friends and family to be happy, and WPZ had their hearts in the right place. We then hear that the options for Bamboo and Chai are sanctuary or a different zoo, and most of us are on the sanctuary side. Letting those two live out their lives in a large enclosure where they can do what they choose seems like the obvious choice right?  After time to think and weigh the options, WPZ decides to send them to the Oklahoma City Zoo and you can almost hear a collective groan from the sanctuary side of the vote. I myself said, "Well now I'm boycotting the zoo for sure." 

Of course, there are two sides to everything. Something I try to remind myself of whenever I am really opinionated or passionate about something. Stepping back and looking at things from both sides, and being able to weigh the facts. I confess, I'm not an expert at this yet. (but who the fuck is.) And in this weird moment I have a complete turn around of opinion. The deciding factors come out from the WPZ's decision and I learn that the Oklahoma City zoo has a family that Bamboo and Chai would fit right into. (http://www.zoo.org/elephantnews) And I'm standing here with my metaphorical pants down like "well maybe this is good news?"

So now, I'm in this weird place of being excited for Bamboo and Chai to have a bigger family to interact with, but with some residual feelings of anger that they are going to another zoo. I like zoos. AND I hate zoos. Putting any living creature in a glass box and shoving your face up against it, banging on it is annoying and sad. If you were that gorilla you would probably be pretty annoyed that people are in your face all day being loud and eating delicious looking food that you aren't allowed to have! I mean come on! GIVE ME SOME OF THAT FUCKING COTTON CANDY TINY HUMAN. 

" Zoos aren't a good place. "

But the inverse of that is that zoos are one of the best educational learning spaces for young kids to obtain knowledge about animals they would only see in books. If there were no animals at the zoo, who would go just to hear people talk about them? Adults maybe, sure. But we want the brain when it is thirsty for new knowledge. When we can teach them about the lion and what is happening to his habitat. (I'm thinking we need some sort of 3d designed zoo, anyone know anyone who could do that? lets chat.) 

AND THEN there are sanctuaries. Amazing places where visitors are rarely seen and animals come first. Still not as good as the wild, but better than a tiny enclosure with kids in your face all day. But why give your money to a sanctuary when you could pay to see a gorilla 1" from your face?!!? (counter argument. not my thoughts. ugh, please give your money to sanctuaries though.) 

BUT THE WILD ISN'T SAFE EITHER. Bushmeat trade, habitat destruction, deforestation, overpopulation of humans taking animal space, you name it and the humans are taking more and more from the animal habitats. Now a zoo is sounding pretty good isn't it? Daily food, some cool toys, safe from predators (sort of) and a family around you?

(lets just not get me started on animal testing. it's disgusting, any way you look at it. that's all i'm going to say about that.)

So now my brain is saying WELL WHAT THE HELL DO WE THINK IS BEST BECCA. You can't work in the animal field without opinions about these things! (sentiments I've heard)  Honestly, I can see the good in all of them; which is vastly different if you would have asked me this a few years ago. I would have probably said something like "ZOOS ARE DEATH" or "IF YOU LIKE THE ZOO THEN GO LIVE IN IT AND SEE HOW MUCH FUN IT IS."  Someone had good intentions with the idea of a zoo. People who own primates as pets (sometimes) think it's whats best for them. The grey area is where I'm at these days. If zoos were bigger, gave animals more space to run and live, and people weren't eating in front of them or banging on their house and if the educational value was pumped way up, I'd probably work at one. (sounds like a sanctuary huh?)

If bushmeat laws were more efficiently enforced and national parks were taken care of, the wild would be a better (safer) place. 

If having a wild animal as a pet was accurately reported instead of making "cute youtube videos" making everyone want a chimp or slow loris in their home, then we could better educate the world.

If sanctuaries were given more funds to create larger spaces, we could get more animals out of testing labs and into retirement. 

But which do we solve first? How do you prioritize? Do more problems arise in other areas by solving one problem?

PRIORITIES AMIRITE?

*steps off soapbox* Phew. Okay. Chimping: 

Being at the sanctuary two days in a row throws everyone for a loop I think. The chimps seem to look at me like " wait, didn't we just see you yesterday?" In being there more times, the chimps get more used to you and slowly become okay with you being around. Jody for example, offered me 2 greetings on Monday morning! Normally Jody gives me a butt bounce (exactly how it sounds) from a ways away. Monday she offered me her butt and her back for a little knuckle rub greeting. I verbally said good morning the first time, as her butt was two squares in the caging away from Jamie's fingers and I didn't not want to start the day off by upsetting Jamie with a greeting that was not directed towards her. A few minutes later Jamie was in another area and Jody offered me her back, so we did a little knuckle rub goodmorning! I said thank you to Miss Jo and we went our separate ways. 

*I always say "thank you" or "that was very nice" to whoever I'm interacting with when we are done because it's just good manners. It's their house, and none of them have to interact with me if they don't want to, and I always want them to know I appreciate it." 

Monday was also wonderful because I got to play with Burrito for nearly 20 minutes which was wonderful. Here is a little snippet of what that looks like:

B is a big sweetheart and loves to play chase, tug-o-war and really likes when humans mimic his behavior. (some chimps HATE that, but B chimp laughs along as you do what he does.) In the video you can hear me making "raspberries" which is a typical Burrito sound, and also some chimp laughing near the end when we are playing "follow the finger" (a name I literally just made up for when he puts his finger through the caging and I have to hit it with my hand.) B started to initiate play with me when I noticed the toothbrush behind him, so I said "B hand me that toothbrush!" and he picked it up and brought it over to the caging so we could play some tug-o-war and do some brushing. B likes to put it in his mouth or under his arm so when I lift up and down on the brush, it lifts his arms/legs/etc. We just chimp laugh forever. It's wonderful. 

Out of frame Jamie is sitting in the window with a boot, and every few minutes I just give her a head nod and say "I'll stop if you want James" and she just gives me a little nod and continues sitting, as if to say "fine but keep it down." Once we get loud or out of control, Jamie usually lets us know we are done. 

Foxie is also warming up to me more and more each time I'm there, almost immediately offering me a troll doll. Monday almost got me in big trouble with the big boss Jamie. I was interacting with Jamie, looking at our boots, and all of the sudden Foxie is above me getting ready to throw her doll down to me (hazardous as I did almost get pegged with a Dora) and Jamie was NOT okay with me attempting to interact with Miss Fox. I caught the doll and immediately Jamie let out a threat bark, telling me playing with Fox was not okay. So I held on to the doll to wait for a better time to play with Fox, after Jamie was in another area or went for a walk. Foxie starts blowing raspberries and waving her fingers through the caging, letting me know she would like her doll back. I step into the chimp area and say "Fox are you ready?" attemping to throw the Dora back to her, and Jamie comes flying up to the caging with a hand full of (thankfully) alfalfa to throw on me. "Sorry James!" I say quickly and hold onto the doll for a later attempt at return. Hazards of the job, I'm telling you. 

Here is Jamie giving me a little pedicure: 

 Monday was Rainforest day, so I brought some big green paper in and made a canopy (kinda)

 Lettuce Tree! 

All in all,  a very successful two days in a row with the chimps. I adore spending time with those 7 beautiful creatures. 

My partner in crime, for 9 years. <3 (We had to take a selfie after his first shift!)

March 22nd brought the anniversary of being with my main squeeze for 9 years. aka most of my little sister's life. Since I was 14 I knew I wanted to marry this man, and I am so excited to get to do that this summer! I can't express in words just how much this man has done for me the past 9 years, but I am in awe of how lucky I am to have him in my life. Truly the only constant in my world, there are many times I thought "gosh I wouldn't have made it through x without Lars in my life." Sure, he's pretty messy. And never puts his socks in the washer, but hey. After all the times he's taken care of me, in and out of the hospital, mentally and physically, I would pick up his socks for the rest of my life. 

Lars did his first volunteer chimp shift that day, initiating him into the CSNW family. One day he'll be serving meals and playing chase with B. I am so excited for him to get to know the chimps and fall in love with them the way I have. What else would we do on our anniversary besides work at the chimp house? NOTHING. 

my fingers hurt. 

kbye,

b

Playing with the elusive Missy:

Monday was a very good example of the age old sentiment "when it rains, it pours." I was able to get good interaction time in with Missy, Foxie, Burrito and Jamie. Jamie was surprisingly relaxed about me running around playing with other chimps, and no poop was thrown! Huzzah!

The enrichment theme of the day was "all forage day" meaning instead of serving the chimps their meals, we cut the food into smaller pieces, spread it out in a certain area, and then let them forage for what they can get. Similar, or as much as we can get, to foraging in equatorial Africa. Each chimp has their own way of foraging, different foods in a specific order, and its always fun to watch who goes for what.

In this video you can see Missy getting some cucumbers I put on the ledge of one of the doors.

Missy was feeling especially interested in the human caregivers yesterday, which is a little out of the ordinary. Missy is what you would call a "chimps chimp" meaning she would rather interact and play with her chimpanzee companions and not so much her human companions. When she is feeling interested in you, its always a treat! After lunch forage there were some plastic straws in the front rooms for the chimps to use to get food from in front of the doors. Missy handed me one, I assumed she wanted to reach the food next to me so I just told her she could reach it with the straw. She then handed me another straw, much to my shock, to play tug of war! Only a few seconds of tugging before Jamie came in, assuming we were after food, so Missy got out of there real quick. A few hours later Missy and I played a few rounds of chase, which is also the most tiring with Missy because she is the fastest chimp on the planet! By the time you get to where she is, she's already gone! Missy is slow to warm up to the humans at CSNW but we are making a relationship, slowly but surely! 

(photo by CSNW)

Missy is often distinguished by her white patch on her face. 

In this video: Jamie on tool use

Jamie and I only took one stroll around the hill yesterday. We did a good amount of hair brushing and I even attempted to make some art with her, but that didn't last long. I grabbed a piece of paper for each of us and a crayon for each of us and sat on the other side of the caging with the hopes that we would both draw on our papers. Not even a minute in, and Jamie ate the crayon. The running joke was I could come back tomorrow and pick up my drawing smeared on the wall. Jamie is on her own schedule, and was more interested in eating that crayon than drawing with it. 

This video has a little more Jamie with tool use and Missy looking through the shopping bag, but its mostly for the sound. There is no better sound than chimps chomping on their food. <3 <3 Just sitting and listening is sometimes my favorite part of the day. 

Below is Jody (left) and Annie (right) getting the cucumbers off of the door ledge. 

Foxie and I also got a good 15 minutes of baby beating in. If you've ever checked out the CSNW blog, Foxie beating her babies is nothing new. She likes to create some beautiful soundtracks of the day with her babies and beating them against the caging, the walls, other enrichment, etc. Yesterday Fox gave me her babies and we played chase/musical babies on the walls and sinks and other things Foxie can't normally beat her babies on. She head nodded and danced along as we chimp laughed and continued baby beating and running around the playroom and front rooms. Foxie is getting more comfortable with me holding on to her babies for longer amounts of time. Sometimes she'll pass me a baby and immediately ask for it back, and sometimes she lets me run around and dance with her. 

Just another wonderful Monday with the 7 most amazing chimps in Washington! :) 

-b

Quiet Lunch.

In all honesty, I don't have much to report from this Monday's chimp shift! I picked up produce to deliver to the chimps so I didn't get to the sanctuary until 12:45. And was, of course, greeted by Jamie who was ready for a walk around the hill. 

After our walk Jamie did some grooming of me and the boot. She likes to check out the hair on my legs, probably wondering where it all is (compared to her lovely black leg hair.) Jamie is lip smacking in the video, chimp grooming noises, mimicking eating bugs out of a friends hair. 

Jamie is very independent, as I've said before. If she wants to groom me all I usually say is, "you have to get a tool" and she'll take off and come back a few minutes later with a big plastic straw or a stick or comb and is ready to go. Sometimes I help her by getting a stick from outside, like in the video. I grabbed a small piece of bamboo, gave some of it to Jody who was very interested, and gave the rest to Jamie to shape down to the appropriate length to reach my leg/knee and she was ready! 

Shockingly, Mondays lunch was the quietest meal I've had in a long time. Normally when I walk out to serve lunch, I food grunt to let the chimps know its time to eat and they respond with grunts and usually come to where I am to see what we are having. Monday, everyone was already in the green house, and my food grunts were met with blank stares. Foxie, Missy and Annie didn't even come over to the caging to have lunch, until they saw the tomatoes. Burrito even denied the asparagus! (which doesn't inherently sound weird, but if you know Burrito's love for food, you would stare in shock.) All I could say was "Really B? You don't want food?" Negra didn't eat anything. Not one bite of any of the food pictured below. She took her chow bags at the end of the meal, but didn't eat anything else! 

As worried as I was about Neggie not eating a bite of anything, it's her choice, and that's the beautiful thing about sanctuary. The chimps can choose what they would like to eat. Neg wasn't a fan of anything on the menu so she chose not to have any. Foxie only ate the tomatoes and a few carrots. Missy didn't want asparagus. They all chose what they wanted to eat and passed on things not as delicious. (Fear not, Neggie ate everything at dinner including a carrot and almond milk soup/puree and loved it! Which is also abnormal as she usually passes on smoothies and/or drinkables at breakfast.)

Some meals are high arousal. Whether its because of the food or a prior fight/squabble, some meals are just full of pokes from B or threat barks from Neg. And some meals are quiet and uneventful. Dinner was VERY high arousal with the soup, everyone was excited to have some, which made it slightly more difficult to serve. The hardest part about serving meals is there is one of you and 7 chimps. Someone is always waiting and annoyed to be waiting. For the most part the chimps are forgiving; they understand that you are only 1 person and you don't have 7 arms. When there is a high prized item on the menu, patience isn't always a priority.

Lunch for the chimps: Tomatoes, Fennel, Asparagus and carrots. Overall, underwhelming. 

Jamie was a fan of the red socks and her black boots. 

Post hill grooming.

Burrito (top) and Jody (bottom) twin resting. 

Another wonderful monday with my dearest non-human primate friends! <3

Also on Monday: a good round of chase with Burrito and a few moments of tug of war with the shy Missy. Don't worry, Jamie threw sand at me to let me know that we were done playing. Someone has to keep us in line right? RIGHT. 

I'll be back in a week! 

b

Ellie brings the Drama:

okay look, I really tried to blog when I got home yesterday but let me tell you, I was too pooped. I was in bed trying with all my might to keep my eyes open at 8:15, and I lost that battle. When sleep is calling, I cannot ignore it. 

An old friend came back to the sanctuary on Monday, Ellie the Elk; who I haven't seen in a number of months. Ellie hangs around the sanctuary usually breaking into the compost bin outside for some snacks, or trying to start a fight with the dogs or just upsetting the chimps with her presence. I captured this little video when Jamie and I were trying to take a walk around the hill and Ellie wanted to join us. 

The video is pretty self explanatory, but I did have to cut it off about a minute short because blogger says it was too big. What you don't see in this video is all of the chimps (except Neggie because she doesn't have time for that) giving Ellie a little bit of "what's up" Meaning: all of the chimps want Ellie to know who's house it is. By standing up on two legs, hair standing up and making threat calls, it's the chimps' way of intimidating any unwelcome guests. (Maybe not always unwelcome, sometimes it's just a notice to tell you your behavior is unwelcome.) The chimps know Ellie and have seen her many times, but as you can see in this video, she is a little close to the chimps enclosure which causes them to remind her where she is. After Burrito does a little display dance the chimps break off to go about their day and Jamie and I continue our walk. Ellie follows me around the hill, and on the 2nd time around we reach the bottom of the hill Ellie is there waiting while Annie and Missy keep a close eye. Another wonderful example of how the chimps work together to ward off any unwanted guests. Even if Jamie and Jody were having an off day 2 minutes prior, the second Ellie tries to stick her face anywhere near the chimps they all have the same goal: to show everyone who's in charge. 

(here's a quick shot of Jamie turning around to assist a pilo Jody)

(My "way to go Ellie" face.)

In a not so shocking Monday, Jamie and I did 6 trips around the hill and combined with her walks with other caregivers she did around 11 trips. It's perfect weather for Jamie to do lots of walks on the hill. Not too hot and not too cold, so she takes full advantage of whoever is there to take some strolls with her. I love walking with Jamie towards the end of the day  because she's getting tired from all of her previous walks and will take breaks in between (letting me get a few bites of lunch before she's ready for another go.) But I really love end of the day trips because Jamie will come inside and let me brush her hair for a few minutes. Jamie loves hair; as I've wrote about before and because the chimps are not allowed to groom our face or head, I sometimes just sit with her and brush my hair so she can watch. Brushing my hair, braiding my hair and eventually grooming her for a little while is such a simple and therapeutic interaction between us. How do I know she's okay with me brushing her hair? Typically it looks like this: 

We stroll around the hill.

We come inside. 

I get a brush or comb from the chimp enrichment.

I show Jamie the brush and say " I can brush your hair if you want?" 

She comes over to the caging and either sits with her back to me or she pushes her shoulder/hip up against the caging. Presenting me with which area she would like brushed. 

I comb through her hair while making chimp grooming noises, and she moves accordingly. (when she's had enough grooming in one area she will switch sides.) 

When she's done and/or ready to go outside again she will get up or move away from the brushing. (aka, you KNOW when you are done.) 

Sometimes, truthfully I think she lets me brush her hair because I enjoy it so much. Speculation, obviously as i'm not in Jamie's head. But don't we all go to the hair salon to let someone else do our hair because it's fun? Because we don't want to do it? Because our hair dresser is now our friend and someone we trust to make us look good? Thoughts for another day. 

Jamie is one of the most persistent primates I know, humans included. Which is the main reason I ate my lunch in small doses over 3 hours yesterday. When she wants you to do something, you'll know clear as day. It does make it a little difficult to have interaction time with the other chimps at times. For example: Burrito is a big fan of chase. And tug-of-war. And all games. And laughing. And happiness. So when Burrito starts play stomping at you, its almost impossible to say no. We checked the area for boss lady Jamie and then began a little game of chase. I love playing tug-of-war with Burrito because he will put the scarf or straw under his arms or around this neck to when you pull on it with him, he gets a mini massage. Its quite literally the most adorable thing to see him shaking around, laughing while you play with him. So, I took a quick break from chase to go inside to grab a scarf to tug on with him. Burrito grabs the other end and tugs on it literally 2 times before Jamie comes right behind him, nudges him a little and gives a little grunt, takes the end of the scarf and pulls it from my hands taking all of it into the enclosure, telling me playing with Burrito was absolutely over and it was time for another young's hill trip. Right to the point. No beating around the bush. You are done with him and lets get all your attention back on me okay. Yes mam. There are days when Jamie doesn't mind you playing with Burrito or passing a troll doll with Fox, but it is always polite to ask permission if she's in the vicinity. #mannersmatter

Here's a pretty normal chimp lunch: fresh yummy veggies. Yams, peppers and celery. Jamie prefers red peppers, Neggie won't eat the peppers unless the yams are gone but Jamie wont eat the yams until after the peppers. The things you learn. 

Until next time fellow primates! 

-B