September 2007 Archives

Cleve Hicks, a former graduate student at CHCI, has written a new article to appear on RichardDawkins.net about the newly discovered Bili apes. The chimpanzees are facing new threats from mining and bushmeat. Cleve has given us permission to reprint his article on the Friends of Washoe website.

Read The Bili Apes Are In Trouble! by Cleve Hicks

Learn more about bushmeat, the single biggest threat to chimpanzees in Africa

Read more about The Bili Ape Project, at the Wasmoeth Wildlife Foundation

With all of the hype of the latest J.K. Rowling book and movie this past July, Lindsay and I thought the chimpanzees needed to be included in on this phenomenon, this prodigy, this boy named Harry Potter! With this idea formulated for our enhanced enrichment, we set out to realize a vision, to charter a journey into the magical world of Harry Potter. Armed only with our Harry Potter obsession and our imaginations we created an epic day, built with our very own muggle hands to bring the magic of Hogwarts to the chimpanzees.

The Chimpanzees would need broomsticks, obviously, to get around this mysterious world, we fashioned Nimbus 2000 Pan troglodytes models for their flying desires.

However, you can't be a true wizard unless you have your trusty wand! These were provided for any spells they wished to cast. The wands had an applesauce snack hidden inside for their fun day.

In order to recreate the magic of Hogwarts, masterful portraits were hung on the walls and floating candles were suspended all around the grand room. With the Gryffindor emblem emblazoned on our banners and the heroic colors of maroon and gold adorning the enclosure, the East Room was transformed into a magnificent rendition of Hogwarts and the spirit it embodies.

Not only were there broomsticks, wands, portraits and floating candles, but there were snitches, witch hats, scarves, Harry Potter book covers, the whomping willow and fun laboratory experiments which resembled frozen fruit and water in the shape of cups.

But alas! One is never safe in the world of Harry Potter. Lo and behold a Basilisk had slithered its way into the east room and lay sulking in the shadows of the shaky tree ready to strike at any moment! But have no fear, Loulis and Dar promptly destroyed the shredded paper filled Basilisk before it could cause any harm.

With the danger now eliminated, Tatu dug into the candles in an earnest search to see what she could find, only to be showered with more shredded paper (of course she found 1 of the only 2 candles that did not have a marshmallow in it!). Discouraged temporarily, Tatu turned her attention to the yummy fruit hidden in ice. Meanwhile, Dar cast his frozen treat onto the ground in order to get at the fruit inside. Washoe calmly worked on her own fruit cup all the while.

Later in the day somebody found a marshmallow in the floating candles and the marshmallow frenzy began! Everybody was able to enjoy the fun food and enrichment of Harry Potter day. We feel that we were able to sufficiently recreate a magical world for the chimpanzees and include them in the Harry Potter craze. An epic day indeed!

Music has been a part of my life since I can remember; I began playing the piano at age six, the trumpet at age ten, and the euphonium at fourteen. I was fascinated by the effect music had on me: it calmed me and excited me at the same time; it was a means to express myself that I had never explored.

We wanted to bring some of the magic of music to the chimpanzees - the excitement of sitting in an orchestra pit right before the concert begins, the feeling of awe a child has when he or she sees a musical instrument for the first time, the elegance that surrounds a night at the symphony.

The first step toward creating our "Night at the Symphony" at CHCI was selecting elegant clothes that the chimps could nest with during this special day. My mother had purchased glittery top hats for Dar and Loulis, and we selected two beautiful gowns from the enrichment room for Washoe and Tatu. These were set out on the tire in the East room, with artificial roses around them to simulate those thrown on stage by patrons at the symphony beckoning an encore.

Instruments came next, designed especially for the chimpanzees to interact with! Hallie and I constructed a harp out of cardboard and yarn: the frame was cardboard and the yarn (complete with dried apples tied in) formed the strings! This was put on the wall for the chimpanzees to discover during their morning forage. My father sent some PVC pipe from his workshop and we filled them with beaded necklaces (and a few slices of fresh oranges) to create shakers. To finish off the decorations and preparation, black and white streamers were tied all around the East room and music notes cut out of cardboard were taped all over the walls, wooden platform, and shaky tree!

The chimpanzees seemed to enjoy this day of enrichment thoroughly! Dar and Loulis headed straight for the harp with the dried apples and picked out each one, while Washoe and Tatu set to opening the shakers with the oranges inside. A few boxes of colored water were set around as well for added enrichment and Tatu managed to gather all of them for herself!

Hallie and I had so much fun bringing a magical "Night at the Symphony" to Washoe's family - judging by the way Washoe and Tatu manipulated those shakers, we just might have some musicians on our hands!

The docents of the month for August are our 2007 Summer Apprentices. With many of the student docents away, and many of our community docents traveling, summer is a notoriously tough time to find volunteers for our Chimposiums. Thankfully, most of our 2007 Summer Apprentices decided to volunteer as docents, this in addition to the 30+ hours a week they were already working for the chimpanzees as part of their Apprenticeships. Altogether, they volunteered well over 150 hours to the program, and help educate 842 Chimposium guests! We absolutely could not have run our Chimposium program this summer without the Apprentices. Thank you all!

Here's a little bit about each of the Summer Apprentices who volunteered as docents, in reverse alphabetical order by last name (you're welcome, Lindsay).

Lindsay Zager

Lindsay came to CHCI from Kenmore, Washington. She is a 21-year-old Senior at Pacific Lutheran University where she is majoring in anthropology with a minor in music. Lindsay plans to return to PLU to finish her senior year. Then she hopes to either attend graduate school (she's interested in returning for graduate school here at CWU, yay!) or apply for work at a zoo.

"The docent program was a great way for me to share my passion for the urgency of primate conservation. Seeing lives and minds changed -- for example, my grandmother, who is in favor of biomedical research, actually read Next of Kin and attended not one, but two Chimposiums -- made me really believe that the world can change for the better, and already is in small (and big) ways."

Cristy Rasmussen

Cristy comes to CHCI from Yakima, Washington. She is one of the first two students to arrive at CHCI through the Bridges to Baccalaureate program, a joint venture of Central Washington University and Yakima Valley Community College. She is currently a junior at YVCC and will be transferring in the winter to CWU, to double major in Psychology and Primate Behavior and Ecology. Cristy doesn't yet have any plans for what she wants to do when she is done with school at CWU, but she "hopes to have it all worked out when the time comes to start paying back those student loans."

"I plan to continue at CHCI (including volunteering as a docent) because my experience with Washoe's family and all the humans here have been so positive. I also plan to learn as much as I can from the mentors and the unique family here."

Jan Mead-Moehring

Jan came to CHCI from Wichita, Kansas. She is a 38-year-old graduate of Wichita State University; she just graduated in July with her degree in biology. Jan plans to take the next year off to prepare applications for graduate schools, and may do some substitute teaching in Wichita's high schools.

"Docenting was my favorite part of my summer at CWU and CHCI. I enjoyed meeting and working with the longer-term docents, especially Cindy, Sydney, and Kelly, who were wonderful people."

Hallie Jensen

Hallie came to CHCI from Boulder, Colorado. She is a 23-year-old graduate from the University of Colorado at Boulder where she earned her degree in anthropology. After leaving this summer, Hallie is returning to Boulder for a bit. After that, she hopes to travel to Italy for a few months, and then on to Cambodia or Africa for a year-long internship working with non-human primates. Then it's off to graduate school.

"The docent program was an amazing experience! It was my first experience public speaking; I thought it would be unbelievably scary, but it turned out to be so fun! It was wonderful to know that I was educating the public about something so important. And, of course, interacting with the chimpanzees is always an incredible experience! Thank you guys so much."

[Editor's note: At CHCI docents must be trained and supervised during interactions with the chimpanzees, and all interactions take place through glass. No one at CHCI interacts with the chimpanzees within their enclosures or without proper training and supervision.]

Greta James

Greta comes to CHCI from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada (so she says words like "pasta" and "process" a little funny, but we love her still). Greta is a fifth year student at the University of Waterloo where she is triple-majoring in psychology, anthropology, and cognitive science. Greta hopes to "spend the rest of her days studying the evolution of the mind, consciousness, and language."

"You should definitely volunteer as a docent. I was nervous to do so, myself, because I was here for such a short time, but I loved it. It was one of the best experiences I had at CHCI. For once, everyone had to listen to me."

[Editor's note: Greta speaks with such volume that most of us cannot imagine a scenario where she was not the center of everyone's auditory world.]

Shona Duguid

Shona came to CHCI from Edinburgh, Scotland. [Editor's note: I feared we might lose Shona to frustration, as during her first week everyone was pestering her to say things in her beautiful Scottish accent. Thankfully, she's a patient soul.] Shona is a 20-year-old fourth year student at the University of Edinburgh. She is majoring in psychology. Shona is returning to Edinburgh for her final year of school, after which she hopes to travel to Africa. Shona tells us that watching tapes from Gombe as part of research here at CHCI has made her even more determined to get back to Africa.

"The docent programme was a great part of my time at CHCI. I enjoyed being part of the team educating guests about the CHCI family and the broader picture with regards to chimpanzees. I'll be spreading the word when I get back to Scotland."

Mark Darrah

Mark came to CHCI from Fountain Valley, California. He is a 22-year-old Senior from the University of California, San Diego where he is majoring in biological anthropology and minoring in history. Mark is keeping his options open after graduation (a nice way of saying that he hasn't a clue what he wants to do after school) - though he's considering graduate school, after taking a year off.

"I have had a wonderful experience being a docent this summer. I got to meet a lot of people who are docents but not interns or Apprentices, who I wouldn't have been able to meet otherwise. The interactions and time we got to spend with the chimpanzees when I was docenting were priceless. I'll never forget it. Great program!"

Ande Cira

Ande came to CHCI from San Francisco, where she is a 29-year-old student majoring in psychology and architecture. She's returning to San Francisco after her summer at CHCI "with a renewed interest in primate studies." Ande hopes to work for conservation and with zoos to improve conditions for captive animals.

"It was great to hear from so many different perspectives. My entire experience at CHCI has opened my eyes and strengthened my convictions. I miss everyone already and hope to return some day in the future!"