Pan bloglodytes: The official blog of the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute

As a new graduate student at the CHCI I was asked if I wanted to write a short blog about my experiences here so far.  I moved up here from New Orleans at the beginning of September and aside from the foreboding I feel towards the upcoming winter and slight culture shock from the small town of Ellensburg, I have found the transition to be quite smooth and enjoyable.   Everyone in this town has been very nice and welcoming, even more so at CHCI. 

Writing this blog has made me think a lot about how much my life has changed.  Less than a year ago I was a PhD student at LSUHSC (Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center) working in a windowless lab in sterile cell culture hoods studying microorganisms responsible for STDs.  I used to dread seminars discussing the intricacies of binding sites on alpha chains of proteins.  I used to spend hours agonizing over biochemistry into the wee hours of the night.  And then I decided I had enough and sought out other options, which led me to the CHCI.  

It is all a bit of a blur, trading in my white lab coat for a pair of rubber boots and a spray bottle of vetadine; cooking dinner for the chimps instead of autoclaving glass bottles.  I’d rather ride my bike in the bitter cold on a Saturday morning than drive downtown in the heat to split cells on a Saturday any day.  

But aside from the drastic change in lifestyle, I’m also going through a change of mind.  I’ve learned so much more about chimps than I knew before.  I have always been aware of the biomedical testing and more of the obvious dangers to chimps.  But my eyes have been opened to many other things.  One in particular that comes to mind, as there was a discussion about it just the other day, is chimpanzees in show business.  I always loved seeing chimpanzees on shows or in movies when I was a kid.   I had no idea what really went on.  It has caused me to re-evaluate a lot of shows I’ve seen in the past.  I think back and what I’d always thought was a smile I now realize was fear/anger.   I think about Dar, Loulis and Tatu, whom I’ve watched for a few months now and grown fond of, and how much they would hate to be in such a situation.  It is a small example of what I have learned since being here.   While I’m distressed by the amount of people that still remain to be educated, I am glad I have made it here with the opportunity to teach others what I have learned here, one person at a time. 

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I applaud the apprentices who were here this past summer for their productive creativity. They produced various enhanced enrichment for the chimpanzees that were very well themed. Some of these included cocoon day, theater day, pirate day, Truman Capote day, camping day, dream day, Diamondback day, and even more. Some really unique ones included NASA day and Under the Sea day.

One particular apprentice went above and beyond to make NASA day occur, buying numerous space toys and creating her own laminates including a laminated book of pictures. She even created her own space ship and rockets from cardboard.

Under the Sea day was collaboration between a few students who created enhanced enrichment in the chimps night enclosure. Besides cardboard cutout fish, plastic blow-up orcas, and creatively constructed sea creatures, there were glow-in-the-dark plastic pieces hung just outside the kitchen to give a nice ambiance to the enclosure.

Just after the apprentices left, another much-awaited enrichment day occurred, Moo Cow Day. Paper mache cows were constructed along with a barn and numerous cow related laminates, a calendar, pillows, and stuffed animals. Dinner was also themed. Two students, who were actually vegans and have never cooked meat before, prepared hamburgers for the chimps. This followed with a healthy serving of milk (well, soymilk, but close enough).

Overall, the summer was a great success with interesting and fun filled enrichment days that will be great examples for upcoming students.

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