Pan bloglodytes

Tatu's Birthday Party

2009-12-30T18:17:28Z

Today is Tatu's birthday and an exciting day for her indeed, filled with the many treats she loves, pants and hugs from her dear mates, Dar and Loulis. As I pondered Tatu's birthday this morning on my commute, I thought about her mother, Thelma. Tatu's birthday, like most mammal's birthdays, really involved two people, Tatu and her mother. Usually mothers are overjoyed at the appearance of their wrinkled baby. I wonder how Tatu's mother, Thelma, felt. On December 30, 1975 Thelma lost her baby. Tatu arrived in the Gardner's cross-fostering laboratory on January 2, 1976, just 3 days old. Meanwhile Thelma had a total of 8 babies; she was used as a breeder by the biomedical community. She went from the Institute for Primate Studies in Oklahoma, to the Laboratory for Experimental and Surgical in Primates (LEMSIP), to Coulston Foundation and now thankfully she is in sanctuary at Save the Chimps in Ft. Pierce, FL. So Tatu's birthday gave me pause today to think of the sadness that her mother endured on the day she lost yet another baby. I follow this with applause to the many people who continue to work to end this cycle of exploitation. Thanks to you all.

Here are some pictures from the party today!

Humans prepping all the exciting treats for the day - including Tatu's favorite: MILK!

Tatu enjoying some of the treats from the party!

Dar stuffed his mouth with three clementines before heading up to the cargo net.

More Sweet Tree Day

2009-12-29T21:35:43Z

Editor's Note: Audrey is a new Chimp-Care Trainee. She is in the beginning stages of her Chimp-Care training. This is her first Sweet Tree Day with the chimpanzees

Today was a great day to be at CHCI...it was finally SWEET TREE DAY!! Yay!! The wait was finally over for Tatu, Loulis and Dar. We all put up decorations in the east room, with Tatu getting more and more excited to go OUT.

As all of us volunteers gathered in the observation area to watch the chimpanzeess come into the East Room to start Sweet Tree Day!! Loulis went straight for the gingerbread house, ripped the top off and put it in his mouth. Tatu went straight for the meat, cheese and cracker filled baggies, trying to find as many as she could. Dar went to the little picnic area and started drinking all the apple cinder. He then found a lunchables pack, and took off with it to the West Room to try to eat it in private. He enjoyed the Reese's candy first, and then bit into the Capri-Sun juice. Tatu eventually caught up with him, and tried to take it his lunchable. Dar shoved a lot of the cheese and meat pieces into his mouth, then gave Tatu just one piece of cheese, as he quadrupedally walked away, his mouth bulging with snacks.

Later, while Lou was examining his gingerbread house, Tatu tried to steal it, but he oriented himself away from her, and she lost interest.

Dar found a pomegranate, and went up into the cargo net in the east room and held it with his foot, looking pretty sleepy.

Not long after, while I was on berm in the observation area, all three chimps were sleeping. It seems that they had "Sweet Tree'ed" themselves out. Today was a very ''black'' day!!

Sweet Tree Day

2009-12-24T18:57:52Z

Christmas celebrations abounded at CHCI this morning. Chimpanzees and caregivers alike came together to celebrate with a big party.

There were bags full of meat and cheese, whole pomegranates and tangerines, peppermint candies, sparkling cider, lunchables packs, leeks, and a beautiful gingerbread lighthouse. There were also wrapped toys and plenty of decorations. The chimpanzees had a wonderful party and, after several hours of eating and playing, settled down for a long winter's nap.

Bird Meat day festivities

2009-12-16T21:43:30Z

Thanksgiving dinner was a huge affair at CHCI. The ovens were going for hours before dinner started, and the chimpanzees were waiting anxiously as the sweet and savory smells of turkey, stuffing, and homemade cranberry sauce filled the building.

Dinner started with an apple cider forage, which elicited many food grunts and squeaks. There was sweet potato casserole, topped with toasted marshmallows, painstakingly arranged by Lani Gusman, rolls fresh from the bakery, green bean casserole with almonds toasted by Missie Cole. The coup de grace was the turkey, roasted to perfection by Lisa Schuster Lyons. Debbie Metzler made the gravy, which was poured over the turkey and potatoes. Madeleine Leake made stuffing and Janie Gibbons freed the cranberry jelly from its can, and sliced it meticulously. Rebecca Hendershott helped with the roasted potatoes and cranberry salad.

For dessert there was a homemade pumpkin pie, baked with love by Robin Potosky, topped with whipped cream

Tatu especially liked the turkey, potatoes, and both cranberry sauces, and had many helpings. Dar ate every roll in sight, and had several helpings of cranberry sauce. Loulis devoured the sweet potato casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauces, and the almonds from the green beans.

Dar and Loulis both enjoyed the pumpkin pie immensely; Dar had two slices!

In the end, everyone seemed to get just what he or she wanted for dinner, and in great quantities. What a party, indeed!

Wish List

2009-12-08T20:54:20Z

Just in time for the holidays: a list of things that the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Center needs.

Just click the link below and it will take you to an Amazon.com wishlist with many things that can help enrich the lives of the chimpanzees that live at CHCI. You can make a direct impact on the lives of Tatu, Loulis, and Dar. There's something for every budget!

Just click here, or copy/paste the below web address into your address bar.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/DQAKW0M8SXUT

Thank you, and Happy Holidays!

Peanut Butter Banana Day!

2009-12-05T20:32:54Z

I started at CHCI this quarter as a Primate 220 student; therefore I am not allowed to have any type of interaction with the chimpanzees. The only way that I can interact with them, is to plan an enrichment activity. I decided to do a food enrichment, which consisted of frozen bananas covered in peanut butter. I froze six bananas with sticks, and 2 whole ones, which I cut up. I brought in my enrichment on Friday, and I was able to put it out that same day. Kelly, one of the techs at CHCI, showed the chimps the bananas beforehand, and they started to get really excited. I threw some of the bananas on top of the human cage, threw some up on the platform, and hid them in various toys and other objects throughout the room. Kelly and Anna filmed and photographed the enrichment for me, so I was able to see how the chimps reacted.

When they first came in the west room, they started emitting high pitched calls, which Kelly told me they do when they are really excited over a food item. Tatu and Dar seemed to get the most treats. Dar was finding all the hard ones, even climbing on top of the human cage to get the piece that was thrown up there. When he first came into the room, he began stuffing as many pieces as he could fit into his mouth. Tatu ate all the peanut butter off her bananas first, and then would suck on the banana part. Loulis seemed more private about his banana eating. He found one that had a stick, and also found a piece that I had put into a small cup. He held everything in his mouth, then went outside, and ate his treats, with his back turned to everyone. I didn't see that he was able to get anymore treats than just the two.

Doing this enrichment for the chimps, and seeing them react so well to it, was such an amazing experience for me. I hope to prepare lots more enrichment activities in the future.

Apprentice Returning for Graduate School

2009-10-29T22:19:39Z

I first came to Ellensburg during the summer of 2008, when I temporarily moved here to be an apprentice at CHCI. I remember thinking, as I was driven around town my first day here, "I left California for this?" I was not excited to be here! Thankfully, once the program started, I made friends, and generally didn't have too much free time, Ellensburg began to grow on me. I even began to imagine myself coming back for graduate school, and enjoying living in this little town. Which is exactly where I am today.
I am now a first year graduate student in the Primate Behavior program at Central Washington University. My time is split between taking three classes and working as an intern at CHCI, and spending time with my dog. Although a lot of things haven't changed from my time here last summer and now, a lot of things have. I think the biggest difference at CHCI is that now I have been invited into ChimpCare, a level of training at the institute where the interns can serve the chimpanzees their meals and interact with them by playing games such as mask and chase (on opposite sides of the caging, of course). I am very excited to begin my training and see where this journey takes me. I have enjoyed getting to know all the other new interns, and spending time with the friends I made last summer. I have even enjoyed being back in Ellensburg, going to some of my favorite restaurants and walking my dog downtown. Overall, I can't think of a better place for me to be!

Facebook!

2009-10-26T19:50:58Z

CHCI is on Facebook! Visit us, and become a fan here:

Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute

Getting Settled

2009-10-08T19:32:53Z

Editor's Note: Tracy is a new graduate student, and will be writing a series of blog entries revolving around adjusting to the culturally new experience that is CHCI.

Home: it's where the heart is. And, according to the Wizard of Oz, there's no place like it. Family and home themes permeated Rockwell's art; John Howard Payne wrote of "Home sweet home;" Frank Lloyd Wright redefined "home..." and I complicated it.

Moving to Ellensburg, Washington, was a very gradual process for me. Having my main "home base" in a Seattle suburb, only two hours away, was both convenient and complicated. I knew I would feel unsettled until I chose a side of the Cascade Mountains and stuck with it. For weeks, I commuted every two days or so, racking up the miles on my little SUV and ratcheting up my blood pressure, as well. The commute was beautiful but tiring, and I found myself getting far behind on what I needed to be working on. I knew I would miss my west side friends and family members, but it was time for the permanent move.

On September 7th, I finally committed to the east side of the mountains, accompanied by everything that I thought I might need. I say "thought" because I had my boyfriend bring over various sundry items each time he'd come to visit. Scarves, gloves, sunglasses, an extra bag, the dustbuster, extra blankets, a can opener, reference books, art supplies: they all made the march over the mountains, weekend after weekend. And now that my home is full of everything I'll need (and many items that, after some clearer thinking, I probably won't need for the next six months), I finally feel "settled" here.

Getting "settled" at CHCI is another thing altogether, though...

A Day in the Life of an Apprentice at CHCI

2009-09-28T17:56:34Z

Editor's Note: Deon was a summer apprentice at CHCI. You can learn more about the summer apprenticeship program here.

My name is Deon Schmalholz and I was a summer apprentice at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute. This apprenticeship was an eight-week program that began on June 28th and ended on August 21st. I am going to share with you my wonderful eight-week experience at CHCI!

My days always started off with an early rise out of bed due to the promptness of the sun in Ellensburg. It was as if the sun was saying, "Get up sleepy head and get a move on to your busy day!"

My day at CHCI began by getting a nice steaming cup of delicious coffee from the kitchen. Every staff member here helps supply coffee and creamers so there are limitless amounts for the much-needed boosts in the mornings. After my morning cup of Joe I was off to check my schedule on the job board!

There are lots of unique work duties at CHCI! I could be scheduled to take observational data outside on the berm (this is an outdoor walkway overlooking the chimpanzee's outdoor enclosure), put together or make daily enrichment, or collect or enter observational data. I could also be assigned to prepare meals for the chimpanzees, which was my favorite job!
I find great joy in preparing dinners for the chimpanzees! The staff here allows us to explore our creativity in the kitchen! You take a quick look in the fridge for ideas and voila, start your masterpiece! My creations included stuffed peppers filled with mashed potatoes, tomatoes, garlic and onions, and BBQ vegetables with rice and crouton skewers for fun!
All the apprentices also had research projects that they were assigned to during the program. I was assigned to work on a survey study to measure the educational effectiveness of the new Chimposiums they have on the weekends for the public. This study was very interesting and I had a great team to work with!

Another great quality that I found at CHCI was the friendly people. Every time I came into work everyone would greet me with a friendly smile and, "how are you doing today?" which is a wonderful thing to have in any workplace! Also, if a problem or question ever arose there was always someone willing to help out!

I had a wonderful experience during this apprenticeship and I plan on taking all the valuable information I obtained with me to my future workplace. I recommend this experience to anyone that is interested in the field of primate care and/or conservation. These primates were amazing to work with and I cannot wait to share my experience with others when I am home! Thank you everyone at CHCI for everything this summer!

A Hug from a Good Friend Goes a Long Way

2009-09-12T17:31:26Z

Editor's Note: Emily was a Summer Apprentice with the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute over this past summer. You can learn more about the Summer Apprentice program here.

One day last week, Tatu, Dar and Loulis were in the outside enclosure, Dar and Tatu on the cement platform and Loulis now halfway up the caging, banging and shaking in Dar's general direction. In fact, Loulis had been threatening Dar on and off all morning, and after putting up with it for a long time, Dar started showing signs of agitation. As Tatu worked calmly at opening a coconut, Dar started rocking back and forth in front of her in a slightly threatening manner. But instead of becoming upset herself, or leaving the situation, Tatu signed CHASE to Dar, and a short game ensued. Tatu has often been observed trying to diffuse tense situations by "changing the subject". Unfortunately it was all a little too much for Dar and after a moment he stopped playing and displayed a fear grimace, to which Tatu responded by giving him a big hug and then grooming him for a few seconds. Then Dar, much calmer, left the platform and climbed to the top of a climbing structure. He seemed much more relaxed and even when Loulis threw a tire at him, he reacted in his usual nonchalant manner. It just goes to show a hug from a good friend goes a long way.

August Enrichment Themes

2009-09-03T19:55:03Z

1. General Enrichment
2. General Enrichment
3. Ice Cream Dar Day (Dinosaur Themed Birthday)
4. Salad Bowl Day
5. Art Day
6. Fiesta Day
7. Sparkle Day
8. General Enrichment
9. General Enrichment
10. Grass Day
11. Men in Black Day
12. Reptile Day
13. Dar, Tatu, and Loulis's Rockin' Luau Day
14. Prom Day
15. General Enrichment
16. General Enrichment
17. Yellow Day
18. School Day
19. Fun Fair Day
20. Support Our Troops Day
21. Bug Day
22. General Enrichment
23. General Enrichment
24. Hair Day
25. Zoo Day
26. Infectious Disease Day
27. Under the Sea Day
28. 80's Day
29. General Enrichment
30. General Enrichment
31. Africa Day

Fiesta Day! Ole!

2009-08-25T20:01:57Z

Last Thursday, Christina and I finally had our enhanced enrichment day. After "Googling" party themes about a month ago, we decided on Fiesta Day. I'd been waiting to have my enrichment day for about 6 months, ever since I learned that I'd be coming for the summer as an apprentice. I wanted to work really hard and for the chimpanzees to really have something to do, so I had a goal of making papier-mâché cacti filled with many goodies. I thought that breaking open a papier-mâché anything filled with treats would be fun for anybody. Needless to say, making a papier-mâché cactus isn't the easiest art project I've came across. Constructing my cactus took several days, a lot of small cardboard scraps, and even more masking tape. After realizing what slow progress I was making, I decided on only one cactus, and a bunch of papier-mâché balloons. Balloons were a much simpler solution. I painted the cactus lime green with pink tissue paper flowers, and we painted the balloons with all sorts of fiesta type designs. We painted a few different posters and bought one of almost everything from the party section of the dollar store.

Thursday morning arrived, and it was time to set up. Well, after a month of preparing, I realized that we had significantly more things than I thought we would have. The room looked good though, like a fiesta should. There were tissue paper flower chains hanging from the shaky tree to the walls. We had chains with plastic chili peppers all over. Fiesta banners and posters were hung in every color. Decorated balloons were hanging on the shaky tree, tied to the platform, on top of the platform, and hanging on the fire hoses. We had a large cardboard Mexican-style pueblo with windows that opened up with treats hidden inside. There were small cardboard boxes that I'd wrapped completely in bright yellow duck tape with treats hidden inside. I'd try to make all the treats double or triple secured to make it a little more time consuming to get to the reward.

My cactus had been hung on the top of the shaky tree, which ended up hanging upside down because the top was heavier than the base, but that was okay; I was just glad that it turned out so well.

When the chimpanzees were let in to the play rooms for the day, they instantly went for the cardboard margarita glasses that Christina had filled with frozen fruit and ice. Loulis went first for the pueblo and ripped part of it off, but didn't find all the treats. They all got to have some balloons. I saw Loulis rip one of them in half. Tatu ripped one of the completely duct-taped boxes open with her teeth and easily got her treat out. Dar took his time unwrapping the single very long piece of duck tape that covered the entire box. It was funny to see Tatu just rip it open and Dar take his time.

No one was getting my cactus, which was the part that I really was looking forward to watching them interact with. So Kelly told Dar to look at the green plant in the shaky tree. It didn't seem to matter much to him, he looked pretty content sitting up on the shaky tree with some treats that he'd found previously. Finally, Tatu went up and ripped the top off the cactus, leaving more treats for later.

Overall, I was very happy with how our enhanced enrichment day went. It looked really good, and I think that the chimpanzees had a good time breaking into everything. They are a lot stronger than we are, and I don't think even layers of duck tape posed too much of a hassle, but they were entertained for part of the morning.

Rockin' Luau Day

2009-08-14T17:36:17Z

So today's the day, Luau Day. Laura and I have been planning our enhanced enrichment theme for a couple of weeks. We decided that our theme would be "Dar, Tatu, and Loulis's Rocking Luau Day," mainly because we found a lot of super great luau decorations at the dollar store, so we figured we could build on that. We also built a bunch of cardboard box tiki-men, which we made into food puzzles, and lots of folks pitched in to make some more great decorations.

However, the piece-de-la-resistance, or rather, the "Pig-de-la-Resistance," would have to be the huge sacrificial pink cardboard pig that we built to hide pineapple in, lovingly named "Pepto." A luau isn't a luau without a pig roast, right?

Needless to say, we spent quite a while decorating the East Room, but it was totally worth it because the place looked great! We positioned ourselves in the observation area so that we could film and take pictures of the chimpanzees when they entered the room. The chimpanzees seemed pretty excited to come in and explore, too, although each took a different strategy: Dar headed straight for the pig, plucked the juicy red apple out of the pig's mouth, and proceeded to amble over to a nice quiet spot to enjoy his apple uninterrupted. After he was done with that, he found a coconut and headed up to enjoy it in the shaky tree, and later was observed leisurely leafing through a copy of Reader's Digest, coconut in foot.

Tatu had a range of strategies: first, a reconnaissance sweep of the entire room, checking nooks and crannies, and then, straight to the pig, which she proceeded to partially disembowel in search of pineapple. We were so happy that our pig was popular!

Loulis, on the other hand, apparently decided that the smaller forages were more to his liking, at least initially, and went for the tiki boxes and the smaller pigs that were scattered around the room, all of which had pineapple in them.

Later, though, Loulis took the pig to task and beat the living stuffing out of it. Poor Pepto was almost unrecognizable. At that point, all the chimpanzees were bagged out, apparently worn out by the morning's luau-tastic activities.

All in all, we like to think Luau Day was a big success. The only downside, of course, is that I am signed up to clean this afternoon. The "funeral" for Pepto is scheduled for 5:00pm.

A Note on Chimpanzee Tastes

2009-08-05T21:42:41Z

Tonight, while conducting hierarchy observations in the area where the chimpanzees come in for dinner, I experienced firsthand a lesson in chimpanzee gastronomy. A bit of background:

First of all, preparing dinner for the chimpanzees can turn into quite an event, with lots of careful planning and creativity going into some of the meals. It's a fair bet to say that the chimpanzees eat better than I do. And I know I speak for more people than just me when I say that it's not uncommon to covet the chimpanzees' dinners. Here's the thing though...you might think that the chimpanzees will like something, given that it has all of their favorite ingredients (read: veggies, etc), and with the added bonus of an artful and creative presentation, you'd think that certain fare would be a sure success with the diners. Au contraire. For example, within the past two weeks, among the things that have shown up on the menu have been: homemade veggie pate, created and slaved over by Emily; and a full-out vegetable and noodle lasagna. I was particularly covetous of that lasagna. However, both items were pretty much fully snubbed by all of the chimpanzees. Dar, upon receiving his bowl of lasagna, promptly turned it upside down and deposited it on the floor. Talk about insulting the chef.

So back to the story: today, I was observing while the chimpanzees were being served their dinner. Tonight's special was rice with veggies. Boy, was that ever a hit. Granted, I haven't observed many dinners, but of the ones I have seen, this was by far the biggest blowout success. Tatu in particular was a true fan. She pounded down the first bowl, and then asked for, and received, a second, then a third, then a fourth helping. Then, apparently she wasn't getting service from the human caretakers fast enough, so she walked over to Dar and ever so casually swiped the bowl out of his hands, and walkd away, whereupon she continued finishing Dar's meal. Now you might say, aw, poor Dar! Well, don't feel too badly for him. Like the good-natured guy he is, he just walked over to where Tatu had abandoned her own still-half-full bowl, and polished off the rest of hers. But Tatu wasn't done. Then she asked for, and received, a 5th serving. Upon deciding she was done with that, she then walked over and swiped Loulis's bowl from him! In total, I definitely saw her go through 6 bowls of rice. Granted, she wasn't fully consuming all the contents of the bowls. Rather, she picked out her favorite things, but still, I've never seen her eat so much. And she wasn't finished. Upon finishing up the first course, what does she ask for but MILK. The girl is a bottomless pit!