Jamie helps clean up
December 29, 2011 by Debbie -
As we’ve mentioned before, Jamie is particularly human-oriented. (Read this post from the first week Jamie was in sanctuary). She definitely watches us do things and will do them in her own style later. Jamie also likes to check up on any kind of work that’s been done and once she’s given access to a room that was previously closed off for maintenance, she will rush in to give her quality control tests.
In the first part of this video, you’ll see her cleaning up a recent paint job in one of the front rooms. We are replacing the benches, so you’ll see some primer on the wall in the spot where the bench used to be. In the second part of the video, Jamie is scrubbing a notably hard-to-reach spot. Clearly I did not do a good enough cleaning job! But I’m so glad to have Jamie’s help.

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What would you guys DO without Jamie?? 😉
Some of the chimps once got out at Fauna and they found them, they were cleaning! Or doing their version of cleaning, which meant way too much soap, etc., so it was pretty messy. (I’m not sure I’ve got the details right but that was the general outline of the incident.)
I think Jamie got the plea for volunteers 😉
Watching Jamie clean made me wonder – do the chimps have bathroom facilities? Do they have access to a shower or would they want one? Do they have a place to go to the bathroom? They and their habitat always seems to be clean so it makes me wonder – do they like water?
Thanks for the questions Maria! They don’t have a bathroom, and they tend to just go off of ledges—they don’t like to soil their area. Chimps in the wild would also not want to soil their nests. They don’t have showers but they are continuously grooming one another so they stay pretty clean! Sometimes we give them buckets of water to interact with, which they enjoy. In general, chimps can’t swim very well (they tend to sink more easily than humans) so they don’t like to immerse themselves in water.
Thank you for the response – and sharing your wonderful sanctuary with us. Watching Jamie wash her feet off, then clean the habitat made me wonder about their habits and likes. Looking at their body structure it makes sense that immersing themselves in water wouldn’t be a natural instinct, but if you decide to rig a hose to give them a sprinkler to play in in the summer please take lots of video – lol. I’m guessing a shallow kids pool to play in wouldn’t last long!
Ha…. I always miss that spot. Thank you Jamie for picking up the slack.
what a cute little domestic Jamie is 🙂
I am hugely relieved knowing that Jamie is there to help you out, Debbie! She probably watches us and thinks, “I can’t believe they missed that spot….” 🙂
Oh, I know she watches us meticulously!
Oh Debbie, that was great! I’m glad Jamie is filling in for all the sick ones that are out! What a helper you have. Maybe we could try the old fashioned washtub with the scrubber and give her some blankets to clean LOL !
Whatever makes hewr happy, is okay, and it is Jamies choice, and that is the objective. Wonderful for Jamie and all the chimps.
She is the greatest. I laughed so hard, thanks Jamie!
Ran across this blog while reading post-holiday cleaning blogs…very entertaining. Does Jamie want a job?