Spending Earth Day on the Earth
April 22, 2012 by Jackie -
Today was Earth Day and thankfully it was an absolutely beautiful, almost summery, day for it! It’s been around 75 degrees this afternoon and very little wind (which we get a lot of around here!) so I gave the chimps Young’s Hill as early in the day as possible. We didn’t have a full-fledged party, but it’s pretty surreal to think that after decades of bars and concrete, finally the chimps truly got to celebrate Earth Day on the grass and with no bars overhead.
Missy and Annie spent some time sitting on the grass in the shade
Foxie climbed up high to enjoy the view
Jamie and volunteer caregiver Stephanie went for a little walk around the perimeter of the hill
And Burrito climbed up a climbing structure he hasn’t explored yet
It must feel so good to have blue skies overhead with no bars!
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Seeing these chimps roaming free after all their horrible years confined, brings me to tears-happy tears though! Happy Earth Day to all!
Did Negra find it warm enough to go outside?
She didn’t go out yesterday, but we’re hoping as the weather begins to warm up more and more she’ll find that it’s just the right temperature to go out and explore.
What a joy to see the Chimps celebrating Earth Day outside, in the warm sun and fresh grass. It was pretty chilly and rainy here in the Mid-Atlantic region on the East Coast, so I’m glad the CE7 enjoyed the day on everyone’s behalf!
We know that chimps share many of the emotions humans do…have any of the caregivers witnessed what they could describe as joy? (Would it be the Burrito dance or the Missy run or the Negra smile in the sun?)
I believe the chimps absolutely experience what we would call joy. Burrito’s “dance” however, is really more of a display. Sometimes it relates to his excitement over something, but I wouldn’t describe it as joy necessarily. Foxie definitely seems to experience joy on a daily basis, as does Missy when she’s running all over the hill or Jamie when she receives a new pair of boots. And anytime we set up a party or a forage, I would definitely call the emotion the chimps are expressing (based on their vocalizations, etc) JOY!