If you have been following the blog for awhile you may have seen us endearingly refer to Jody as “Farmer Jo Jo,” and “Jody the Harvester” due to her love of collecting wild plants and bamboo from Young’s Hill. We never tire of seeing how much she enjoys doing this and knowing that this is the first time in her life that she is able to harvest her own plants for eating or nesting makes it especially meaningful.

It’s also exciting every time we see the chimpanzees take an interest in something new. As caregivers, one of the biggest (and most important) challenges we face is alleviating the boredom that can come with captivity and keeping the chimps lives interesting and enriching. They are extremely intelligent and curious individuals and we never know what may spark their interest.

We are so grateful that the chimpanzees have such amazing friends and today they received a new tool kit, thanks to Debbie B., one of our neighbors in Canada! It’s often Jamie who goes straight for these items, but today Jody was the first one to check it out.

First off, the bite test:

Closer inspection:

This was the moment Jody looked up and decided to walk over and attempt to poke the paparazzi through the caging so the photo session ended here. But it was so great to see Jody checking out the new enrichment and expanding her horizons!

And then there’s Annie, just because: