Try Something New Today
September 21, 2012 by J.B. -
Jamie decided that she would start Year Two on Young’s Hill by trying some new things. She started by testing out a small structure we built this summer.
Then she moved on to the bamboo. I don’t know if it’s a difference in skill or just a difference in weight, but Missy made it much higher before the whole thing toppled over.
Either way, she seemed to be having fun.
Earlier this summer, when Ben and the Boy Scouts were building the new bridge, I put up some log posts around the enclosure. Some of the logs were far too heavy to lift with our tractor, so I cut them up into smaller pieces and made little stumps for the chimps to sit on. Brilliant idea, J.B., I thought to myself, as I patted myself on the back. And then three months went by without the chimps even looking in their direction.
Well, today was the day that stumps became cool. Everybody was doing it. First up was Foxie:
Then Annie:
And then, farther down the hill, Missy and Annie together:
The chimps are funny that way. They require you to be patient.
When we built Young’s Hill, I had dreams of the chimps going out in the morning and not coming back until evening. But they weren’t ready for that. To them, Young’s Hill is an exciting playground, a wide open space that is both exhilarating and frightening. But they can only take so much excitement before they retreat to the greenhouse to relax in the comfort of something more familiar to them.
Over the last year, they’ve pushed their boundaries and conquered some of their fears. Each day they try something new.
This morning, a year and a day after going outside for the first time, the chimps went out onto the hill in a group and many of them didn’t come back until lunch time.
That’s progress.
7 Comments
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Fantastic to have them all out on the Hill for a period of time. Well done, JB, with your logs and these great photos. Thank you,
Awwww, I am so glad they made use of the logs. It is wonderful seeing them becoming more and more comfortable on the hill. The work you do is so incredibly valuable!
Did Negra go out with everyone else and hang out until they all came back in? Hope so!
Meg
I think she did go out that morning but she didn’t stay out for very long.
I’m not surprised at all to see Annie up on those stumps. I bet she thought you made those especially for her. What I nice resting place to get her feet off the prickly grass. 🙂
JB — Years ago I bought my cats a nice cat tree, put it up and waited for them to love it. What they loved at first, though, was the big cardboard box it came in. It became their fort, hideout, ambush point, etc. I used to say I paid $200 for a cardboard box that happened to have a cat tree in it lol. They did finally start to use it but it took a while.
Funny story Amy.
Guess that’s what happened to the log stumps. It was a great idea JB, it just took the chimps some time to come around to your way of thinking! (And maybe feel comfortable sitting higher up in an open field where they are more exposed 🙂