Posts by Jackie
Hugs and kisses
Burrito was a bit nervous going out on Young’s Hill today- most likely because before Friday, due to the Taylor Bridge Fire, the chimps hadn’t been out there in nearly three weeks. As soon as he got out there, he stood bipedally and his hair was pilo erect (standing on end), both signs that he…
Read MoreCuteness Overload
Burrito definitely loves playing with his human friends (and we love playing with him!) but I really like seeing Burrito play with other chimps. He and Foxie play pretty frequently– I would suspect that of the chimps, Foxie is his best friend. But he and Missy play sometimes too. I caught them in a rambunctiously…
Read MoreToday’s photo shoot
Today I caught Burrito mid-hoot face (the facial expression that accompanies a pant hoot). I love their lips when chimps make this facial expression/vocalization. When he spotted me taking photos, he seemed to get shy and quickly stopped. But then as I started talking to him about how cute he was, he seemed pretty happy…
Read MoreBusiness as usual?
Today, for the first time in a week, has been pretty calm around here. No fires, no firefighters, no smoke, clear skies, and cooler weather. It’s far from over in our minds and flare ups can happen any time, but so far so good. We’ll take it! As tough as the Taylor Bridge Fire has…
Read MoreFun on the hill
The chimps seem to be spending a little bit more time on the hill lately, despite the super hot weather we’ve been having. Today, when I opened the door for Young’s Hill, everyone went right out. It’s still awesome to see all seven chimps out there at once. Here are a few random good photos…
Read MoreHappy Birthday Foxie!
I’m pretty sure Foxie was in heaven today. We caregivers were too! Boy Scout Troop 336 from Federal Way made it out yesterday and were able to finish the new bridge. It looks amazing! The chimps were pretty excited about it too– more on that tomorrow. And, we have just $1,398 to go to meet…
Read MoreMore on brave Burrito
Burrito is often intimidated by new things, so while we all had high hopes, we never really expected him to explore Young’s Hill all too much (fun fact: almost ALL the caregivers wore Burrito shirts on day one of letting the chimpanzees out onto the hill. That was not planned– but a great way to…
Read MoreShowing us how it’s done
Jamie always seems to want to be in the middle of the action- no matter what that action is. If you are friends with us on Facebook, you probably saw the post from a couple of weeks ago about Jamie and the staff meeting. Elizabeth and I were in the greenhouse brainstorming with a clipboard,…
Read MoreLuau!
Yesterday, we threw the chimps a Luau! Volunteer Steph and I have been planning it for a couple of months now and she went shopping and got so much cute stuff! There were 5 adorable pinatas (including a mermaid, a dolphin, a tiki man, a toucan, and a sun), a giant palm tree, fishing nets,…
Read MoreHappiness on the hill
Missy was such a goof when I opened the door to Young’s Hill this morning! She ran right out (and lots of folks followed her) and went up to the new climbing structure in the bamboo. After sitting there for a little while, she decided to get a better view of the hill: And then…
Read MoreFostering Friendships
Volunteer Katelyn is in training to be a caregiver. We like to think of training as not only a time to teach people about chimp behaviors and how to safely interact with the chimpanzees, but it’s also a time to foster new friendships. The process usually takes several months beginning with the trainee sticking close…
Read MoreMore on the new structures
As I mentioned the other day, Ben Parks and Boy Scout Troop 336 from Federal Way worked with J.B. last weekend building new climbing structures on Young’s Hill. I also mentioned that we got some GoPro footage, however, unfortunately there were some technical difficulties with the file and the videos were lost. We did get…
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