Posts by Debbie
Jamie’s new favorite boots
Jamie loves all her boots, but she definitely has some that are the center of her attention for awhile. I think of it like when I get a new song or album, I listen to it over and over until I’m sick of it—but I still like it and will want to listen to it…
Read MoreUnintentional Enrichment
Enrichment comes in many forms—food enrichment, social enrichment, object enrichment, and structural enrichment—but sometimes the most enriching things are completely unintentional. Nearly two years ago, JB took out the extremely heavy drain covers we used to have and exchanged them for lightweight covers. They are much easier to handle for the humans, but also much…
Read MoreMissy interrupts Annie making a nest
Missy is Annie’s best friend, but she is more dominant on the chimp hierarchy. Today she took Annie’s place in a huge paper nest Annie built (called “displacement”), but Annie didn’t get upset—instead, she started to play.
Read MoreStability
We often mention on the blog the changes that we observe in the chimpanzees and how we’ve seen them grow over the past five and a half years. There’s no doubt that they are still coming into their own, after living the majority of their lives in lab cages and having no control over their…
Read MoreNo such thing as an easy project in Jamie’s eyes
Jamie likes projects. If you’ve been following us for awhile, you’ve probably heard us say something along the lines of “she’s always keeping busy.” It’s so true! Her mind is always working out some puzzle, I think even when she’s napping she’s still getting a plan together about what to do when she gets up!…
Read MoreMargot
This post is by a new guest blogger, Gwendy Reyes-Illg. She is an emergency veterinarian in Loveland, Colorado and serves on the Leadership Council of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association. She has visited and volunteered her services to several primate sanctuaries in the United States and Africa. Currently Dr. Reyes-Illg is pursuing a master’s…
Read MoreReassurance
You might have picked up on this by now since we’ve mentioned it a few times, but it is unseasonably warm these days in central Washington. So on this spring-like January afternoon, we decided to put out a lunch forage for the chimps. Negra, who often chooses to stay inside even on a day like…
Read MoreA small winter snack
It has been an unusual winter for Central Washington so far—we’ve had very little snow overall and some really unseasonably warm temperatures for the last few weeks. But last night, it snowed! And the chimpanzees were excited to get a quick bite of it. However, they don’t particularly like walking in the snow, so here…
Read MoreMissy and Annie play wrestle
Are you sick of seeing Missy and Annie play? I didn’t think so! These two are always wrestling and having a good time. Here’s a video that is bound to brighten your Tuesday afternoon:
Read MoreFoxie with tiny trolls
It seems Foxie has been the center of our blog posts lately, but that might be because no matter what she is doing she is bright, playful, funny, and can bring a smile to all of our faces. You’ll see what I mean while watching this video:
Read MoreCheers!
Happy New Year’s Eve! We want to thank Jody Ubert for sponsoring today for the chimpanzees. Jody, you’ll be happy to know that we had a wonderful little New Year’s Eve party for the chimpanzees today, complete with party streamers and plastic champagne flutes with sparkling apple cider. The chimps loved them! Today is also…
Read MoreJamie and challenges
You may have figured out by now that Jamie is a tough chimp to enrich. Her mind is so active and she requires a lot to keep engaged. Part of our job as caregivers is to come up with new ways to keep the chimpanzees enriched, and in particular, keeping Jamie busy. Though raisin boards…
Read More