Each day, the chimps take vitamins before breakfast. Everyone loves them...except for Patti. Don't get me wrong, she gets super excited for the orange flavored vitamin-c and the gummy bear multivitamin, but when it comes time for the fish oil and flaxseed oil, her stubborn side comes out full force. Every morning, Patti reliably eats her vitamin-c and multivitamin, but only pretends to eat the flaxseed oil and fish oil capsules by holding them in her mouth and then gesturing expectantly towards her breakfast. She does this so often that we had to make a rule that she open her mouth and stick out her tongue at us to prove she's swallowed them. Patti is by far the smartest chimp at Chimps Inc. though and it took her no time at all to come up with a solution to this problem. Chimps have big pouch-like areas inside their bottom lip (just like hamsters do in their cheeks) which let them pack more food into their mouths than we can. It also provides an excellent hiding place for yucky vitamins one would rather not eat. The pouch is so deep that all Patti has to do is tuck the capsules into her lip and then innocently stick her tongue out of a seemingly empty mouth. "See? All gone." Or so she'd like us to think! We figured this trick out pretty quickly though, because as soon as we handed over her breakfast, she spit the vitamins out onto the floor. After that, we made a new rule: she has to pop the capsules in her mouth before she gets her breakfast; that way we know she's ingested the oil. This has worked for quite a while, although it's still a daily struggle.   This morning was the same as any other. Patti gobbled down the good vitamins and then took her time with the oil capsules, pushing them around in her mouth and holding them out to me on her tongue. "Come on, Patti, eat your vitamins," I told her. She responded by spitting them out into her hand and trying to give them back to me. "No, Patti, you have to eat them." She reluctantly put them back in her mouth and then stuck her empty tongue out at me. I rolled my eyes. "I know they're in there, Patti. You can't fool me." She popped them back out of her lip and pushed them around her mouth, every so often poking them out through her lips and then sucking them back in. "Let me see you pop them and then you get your breakfast," I told her. She bit the flaxseed oil with her teeth and then opened her mouth to show me. "Good job," I said, nodding. "Now the other one." She poked the fish oil capsule out between her lips and then gently punctured it with her teeth. She looked me straight in the eye, bit down on the capsule and squirted the entire contents out onto the floor. Then she spit the empty capsule out into her hand and handed it to me. I looked from the capsule to Patti (and I swear there was a self-satisfied smirk on her face) and then sighed and handed over her breakfast. I remember making the same fuss as a kid when my parents made me drink my daily glass of milk so I guess I really can't blame her.   - Rachel Bronstein, Caregiver

The other day was a great work day, everything ran super smooth and the chimps cooperated with us when it was time to come inside, we got done with all the norms really early and had time to focus on various tasks that needed done. In between tasks I noticed Emma quietly observing from the play house window in the kitchen. I told myself to take a moment and give her a little attention. I grabbed a bubble bottle and made my way over towards the mesh. As soon as bubbles started floating her way her mouth was wide open trying unsuccessfully to catch them . Every now and then a bubble would make it across the barrier, catching her off guard, and then it would hit her arm or nose and alarm her. She would then always lick the landing sight, I don't imagine bubbles taste too good, but hey, it made Emma happy. Maggie came to join all of the bubble excitement. She plopped down next to Emma, laying on her back with her belly up, looking upside-down at me. Maggie constantly cracks me up! I initiated the bubble blowing once again and both mouths were open wide hoping to catch one. Maggie was squinting her eyes, all the bubbles kept on popping on the mesh and raining down on her. I blew one more stick of bubbles and had to get back on task. However, I could have stayed there all night blowing bubbles for these two silly girls. ~ Shelby G., Intern  

I was doing behavioral training with Jackson yesterday and one of the rewards he was enjoying was juice inside of a spray bottle. When we finished up our session, I filled his mouth up with a whole bunch of extra squirts (this is customary, to help end the session on a positive note) He held the juice in his mouth, with his cheeks filled up, probably to savor the flavor for awhile. Maggie had been waiting patiently during Jackson's entire training session but could sense it was over and came to scope out the situation. She peered into Jackson's eyes and would not stop staring at his juice-filled mouth. She gently squeezed on his cheeks in an attempt to squirt some juice out for herself. Luckily for her, Jackson was in a generous mood and opened up his mouth to let a trickle of juice fall into her lips. Because he was so surprisingly generous, I gave him a few more squirts of juice. What did he do? Share with Maggie again.

-Allie Morgan, Caregiver

One night at dinner time, I made my rounds to secure all outside doors before serving the chimps with their dinner bags.  When I reached the top floor of the Playhouse, I spotted Jackson sitting by the door.  I started to close the door and Jackson shook his head as if to say “nooot yeeet” and he thoughtfully put a black boot in the track of the door so that it wouldn't close.  I opened up the door again and asked him to remove his boot.  He laughed and put a finger on it as if to tease me that he would actually move the boot.  I started to close the door again and he laughed at my failure.  We played this game for approximately 15 minutes each time he would motion for me to 'try it again', laughing each time it wouldn't close.  I finally decided to call for ‘back up’. All the other chimps were waiting patiently for their dinner bags, and Jackson was clearly holding up the process.  I went into the Chimp House where I saw Thiele sitting in the enclosure that joined the playhouse.  I said “Thiele, are you ready for dinner?”  She grunted and pointed to the feed door.  I said, “I will serve you dinner first if you help me with Jackson.  Come into the playhouse with me.”  She followed me into the playhouse.  I said “Upstairs”.  She promptly climbed the platform to go to the upper level.  Jackson was still sitting at his post, with the boot still blocking the door track.  I explained to Thiele; “Jackson won’t let me shut the door so I can serve dinner.”  She stomped over to the door, shoeing Jackson away; she took the boot and flung it at him with a disapproving grunt.  She looked at me, pointed and motioned for me to go ahead and shut the door while she stood guard.  I closed the door and she quickly returned to her spot in the chimp house, waiting for me to make good on my promise.  I wasted no time returning to her enclosure with her dinner bag in hand.  She grunted with delight as she had gotten her dinner before anyone else. It truly is amazing how intelligent they are.  More than we give them credit for, for sure! ~ Marla, Sanctuary Director

This morning I had just let chimps into the Playroom when one of our volunteers realized that she had left her jacket inside when we were cleaning. I told her no problem, I'd make sure to get in there and grab it for her as soon as I got chimps outside but she shook her head anxiously and told me that her keys and phone were in the pockets. I assured her that Maggie wouldn't think to check the pockets of the jacket, but when I peeked my head into the Playroom, Maggie was sitting on the floor with the volunteer's iPhone in one hand and her car keys in the other. Uh oh. Luckily, Maggie is probably the best chimp to have in this situation. Jackson would have destroyed the phone the minute he found it, Emma would be chewing on it, and Herbie would be thoughtfully contemplating whether he would rather smash it or trade it back to me for a treat. Maggie, however, is eager to please and sharp as a tack, so she knew at once the significance of her discovery. I quickly radioed another caregiver and asked them to bring a really good treat over to the Chimp House...immediately. For an object of this magnitude, I needed something worthy of trading for the phone because the chimps are brilliant barterers and they will only trade something back to you if they're satisfied that the reward matches the worth of the object. I grabbed a bag of almonds that was sitting on a nearby shelf and calmly asked Maggie to bring me the phone. She gave me a calculated stare, looked from me to the bag of almonds to the phone in her hand, and then slowly walked towards me, pausing to sniff at an empty water bottle and munch on a stray peanut shell, as though to impress upon me that the ball was in her court and I could just wait until she was good and ready. "Maggie," I said again, shaking the bag of almonds at her, "Bring me the phone." She stared at me again and then strolled casually over and placed the phone in the feed door. "Good girl, Maggie!" I exclaimed, continuing to praise her as I fed her almonds. Then Allie arrived with the good stuff: gogurt and pudding. "Ok Maggie, go get the keys," Allie said, pointing towards the car keys lying on the ground. This time Maggie immediately responded (gogurt and pudding will do that to a chimp) and made a bee-line for the keys, and then skipped back to us and placed them in the feed door again. "Yay, Maggie!" we sang. "What a good girl!" "So smart!" "Such a good listener!" I passed her a couple more almonds through the mesh, and then Allie said, "Alright, Mags, go get the jacket." Maggie ran back to the jacket and dragged it over to us, stuffing it energetically into the feed door, and then sat back so we could pull it through, swaying in anticipation, her eyes never leaving the treats in Allie's hands. "What a good girl, Maggie!" we cheered as Allie passed her the treats. She accepted them eagerly and then inhaled them one after the other, deaf to our continued praises. I sighed in relief as I handed the phone, keys and jacket back to the volunteer. Words couldn't express how lucky she was to have gotten them back in one piece. - Rachel Bronstein, Caregiver

A night chill is in the air, a snowshoe hare rustles in some shrubs close to her burrow. This small commotion alerts a dangerous predator, and soon he spots her from nearly 250 feet afar. The prowl has initiated. An hour later a lynx nestles down in his den to enjoy his hunt, his favorite meal, a snowshoe hare.

Okay so to be realistic the Lynx here at Chimps Inc., Alfie and Linky, do not go out catching snowshoe hare nightly. However, they have been known to catch birds that dare to venture inside their enclosure. Though these two cats are captive they maintain a great sense of sound and sight. Shayla, a caregiver at Chimps Inc., was explaining how Native Americans connected the lynx' astonishing eyesight to supernatural eyesight, being able to see through objects including one's character; for this reason they were known as the "keeper of secrets".

Being an intern I tend to spend significantly more time observing the chimps rather than the lynx. However,  every time I go up to visit my friends Alfie and Linky I learn new characteristics and behaviors of their breed, not to mention it just bewilders me to see the differences in chimp communication and big cat communication. I am very excited to learn more about this exotic cat as I continue my internship! ~ Shelby,Intern

 

Providing enrichment is a huge part of giving our chimpanzees the best quality of life possible in a sanctuary. They are such intelligent animals that sometimes it is difficult for us to think of new ways to challenge their minds. Often I can spend quite some time wrapping up little snacks inside several layers of boxes and jars and taping everything up, and it takes Maggi all but 2 seconds to rip it all apart. That's why it is great when outside supporters bring in creative new enrichment for the chimps! Last week our friends from Abilitree made a neat little box with food hidden inside and tubes sticking out on all four sides. It was such an awesome idea!! Normally Jackson is the one with the most energy and he loves running around and swinging on bars, but he also has so much perseverance when it comes to getting something he wants. When he got this new enrichment, he found a small twig and sat by the box for such a long time patiently fishing out tiny amounts of peanut butter over and over again. He just loved it, and the effort that was put into making the box was definitely not wasted! Thank you guys so much!!

Another time that I was able to witness Jackson's clever problem solving abilities was when he got a new pair of slippers for his birthday, but somebody had placed them outside of the garden enclosure. Now the slippers were clearly too big to fit through the cage mesh, so any normal person would probably have given up after a few tries, but Jackson was so determined to get his slippers, and tried very hard with various sticks and such to help pull them through. At the end of the day, I found the slippers inside the enclosure, albeit with all the foam parts broken up and pulled out! I guess he never gave up!  ~Virginia, Intern

 

It was an exciting day yesterday here at Chimps Inc. ! The day started early as preparations for the party began. An abundance of fun decorations went up to give all of the chimps some extra fun enrichment for the full day ahead. Plenty of volunteers gathered in to help spread the birthday enthusiasm and even brought more gifts for the chimps! It was heart warming to see the excitement on all the faces of the chimps when they were handed their decorative bag of goodies. Most of the chimps just rummaged through the bags to get the food treats first, which reminds me, the cheerio necklaces were a hit! I think Jackson even stole Herbie's.

                After the chimps had finished all the party snacks they went around snooping in each other's bags for left over goodies, most of which were already cleared out. Jackson was happily swinging around the garden enclosure with his new hat on and later experimenting with his new slippers. He even let his friends take pictures of him with his new sunglasses on! Patti and Thiele were helping decorate by moving some blue streamers around for our boy Jackson.

                It was a blast cleaning up afterwards! There was tissue paper, gift bags, ribbons, and new toys all over the place. Herbie was even wearing one of his new green beaded necklaces today. This was my first birthday celebration here at Chimps Inc. as an intern and it was great seeing the chimps getting excited for their presents. It truly felt as if I was celebrating one of my little brother's birthday parties with all the presents, goodies, excitement and the mess. I know the chimps and I are looking forward to the next party. I'm sure Jackson and all of the chimps appreciated everything and we could not have made it a special birthday for Jackson with out all of the helpful staff and volunteers who were here!  - Shelby G., Intern

Emma is a true sweetheart here at Chimps Inc.!  She never gets angry, and always has a smile on her face.  One interesting thing about Emma is that she loves cleaning!  Yesterday morning, I found her with a broom head in the Playhouse, and she was happily sweeping up leftover food from the benches.  It was so cute!  Later in the day, I went to clean the big windows outside the Playhouse, and Emma came over to watch.  Now Emma always sits and happily watches me when I am cleaning in the kitchen, but this was the first time I saw her get really excited!  As I sprayed the cleaner all over the windows, she kept knocking at the glass as if to say "Give me that, I want to try too!" And then when I got my rag out to wipe up the windows, she stood up too and mimicked me, wiping the inside of the windows with her hands. I was so happy to be bonding with Emma that I must have cleaned that window 5 times!  Virginia, Intern

Adopt me today!

This morning I arrived at my office with a specific mission in mind.  My first priority was to create a video compilation of the chimps and big cats for a very special friend and family member of Chimps Inc.  Upon watching these numerous videos, tears welled up in my eyes.  These chimps and cats are very fortunate!  They have so many people that love and care for them and make sure that every day is a new adventure!  The looks on their faces are priceless.  In the photos they are often seen smiling, if not laughing, and videos are filled with happy chimp noises and silly antics proving that they are very much loved and cared for! While we all know that the best place in the world for these animals would be in the wild, Chimps Inc. is definitely the next best place! Thank you to our amazing team of caregivers, volunteers and board members! You are so inspiring!  You live, eat and breathe this mission and it shows!  And a huge thank you to our supporters, without you, none of this would be possible.   ~ Marla O'Donnell, Sanctuary Director www.chimps-inc.org