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

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!

Share This

Thursday 26th July was Scotland Day at CHCI. For weeks I had been (and still am) amusing everyone with my Scottish accent and so I decided to give Washoe, Loulis, Tatu and Dar a taste of Scotland too. The East Room was decorated with all sorts of Scottish themed items: flags, a velcro map of Scotland, a big Celtic knot design, a (replica) golf-flag and tee and some brochures of the Scottish Borders (where I grew up).

I was very pleased to see that when Tatu settled down to leaf through the brochures she signed BLACK (which she uses like we might use “cool”). I will be passing on the message to all my friends at home.

Dar seemed to most enjoy the golfing area, lying back on the blanket and playing with the flag.

I also noticed him admiring the Scottish postcards along the window on which we had written messages wishing the family a fantastic summer and thanking them for their hospitality while I’ve been here.

Scotland day didn’t end there, for dinner we hand-crafted fantastic green Loch Ness monsters from rice, potatoes and onions.

I just hope everyone enjoyed Scotland day as much as I enjoyed preparing it.

Share This

My enhanced enrichment theme was Jungle Day. It was a combination of my lack of creativity and Shona’s great thinking that led to our choice of theme day.

Once we came up with the theme, we went to work making things. I have always liked to color and it relaxes me so I went online and found pictures of animals that are commonly found in the jungle such as orangutans, gorillas, bandicoots, parrots, and frogs. I then printed them off and set to work coloring them. Once they were all done, I cut them out and glued them to construction paper. Shona and I both made paper chains (you know the ones you made as a kid to put on your Christmas tree) and those became our “vines.” I also drew, cut out, and painted several large leaves. Shona drew a picture of tiger eyes and Angela made us a flower out of cardboard and egg cartons which I then painted. Shona’s tiger eyes were put in the smaller of the two large tires, partly hidden behind my leaves. It looked very cool and very scary.

On the day of my enrichment, I came in early to help set up and to prepare the forage. I decided to use frozen bananas and, at Shannon’s suggestion, sunflower seeds. These we put together in Press ‘N Seal bags and hid throughout the East Room. The rest of the sunflower seeds that weren’t in the baggies we spread around the room, hidden in pockets and in containers.

As the chimpanzees came in, the first thing they did was tip over the tire with the tiger eyes in it. Then they went searching for the food. It appeared that Dar found all but one of the baggies and ate them. (Later, when I was up on berm, it did appear that Washoe was able to get some of the bags, though.) Tatu went around searching through everything looking for sunflower seeds. She sat for quite a while eating while I was filming. I also heard from another volunteer up on berm that Dar had a couple of the baggies and he used his lips to pull part the two halves of the Press ‘N Seal as not to tear it and spill everything out!

Overall, I think that the Chimpanzees had a good time searching to find the bags as well as the mess of sunflower seeds that were all over the East Room.

Share This

For my Enhanced Enrichment day, I chose “Casino Day” as a theme. It was a lot of fun getting the enrichment together. I purchased some sheets that had cards and dice on them. I found posters, too, that had Casino themes and even bought cards, chips, and dice for the chimpanzees to take up a real game, if they wanted to. The poker materials were everywhere at the end of the day so I imagine they had a good time throwing them and playing with them. I guess everybody came out a winner, especially me, as I got to decorate and choose all these fun things for them on this day.

I chose Casino Day because I didn’t think it was a theme that has been done before. I knew it would be fun to investigate, play with, and toss around the dice, cards and chips. Also when I think of casino towns like Las Vegas and Atlantic City I think of lights and fun. I remember my trips to Vegas and Atlantic City as two of the best vacations I have been on — and I don’t even gamble! Casino Day at CHCI was just like being in there except the lights weren’t quite as bright at CHCI as in Vegas, and the dice in Atlantic City aren’t quite as big. However the patrons at this casino were a lot more interesting than what I usually see.

Tatu foraged underneath ALL the signs, and looked in the homemade dice I made for the fruit that we had hidden there. She even checked the purses and each of the pockets in the clothing we put out. (I think she gives us more credit than we deserve for finding good hiding places for the food.) We did hide food in the mouth of one of the stuffed animals. Loulis found the hidden food, and put it his mouth just the way he’d found it in the stuffed animal’s mouth.

Casino Day turned out to be a smashing success! Especially, if you measure success by the mess at the end of the day. Washoe, Loulis, Dar and Tatu were all very enthusiastic, especially about the food. I think the decorations were appreciated too.

Share This

Friday was my choice for enrichment day. I chose India day since I have been there three times. My mom sent four saris (6 yards of beautiful fabric a piece) that she donated to CHCI. I painted the Taj Mahal to put on the wall.

I also bought a couple of Hindu-based children’s books. One was a picture book of many of the Hindu Deities. I tore the pages out and glued them to colored construction paper and an awesome staff member (thanks Lynn!) laminated them for future use. I also bought a beautifully illustrated book on the Hindu deity Hanuman, the monkey god.

Hanuman helped Rama defeat the most evil Rakshasa god, Ravana. Ravana asked Brahma for immortality, but was refused. He then asked for domination and invulnerability over all other gods and wild beasts, but because he had contempt for humans and monkeys and already felt superior, he did not ask for the same protection from them. Even thousands of years ago, the Indian scholars believed monkeys and apes were akin to humans! If you take the first “an” out of Hanuman, you get HUMAN! When Ravana kidnapped Rama’s wife Sita, Hanuman was the only being, of monkeys or humans, who could fly across the water to Ravana’s island to rescue her. The monkey and the human armies combined to defeat Ravana.

I left this book out for my chimpanzee friends. When they came out, Tatu peeked inside the book and seemed very curious about it. Unfortunately, I had to get back to work and was not able to stay long enough in the observation area to see any of them pick it up and look at it. When I cleaned up that day, though, the Hanuman book was in another room. I’m guessing they did flip through it, as they do like to flip through magazines and books. The other day, while on the berm, I watched Dar hold a magazine in one hand, hold on to the ledge he was balancing on with the other hand, and flip the pages of the magazine with his lips! Amazing!

The apprentices on duty the morning of my enrichment did an awesome job when they helped me set things up. They draped the saris across the wooden platform, giving the east room an exotic, tent-like feeling.

Tatu loved the saris my mother donated! I watched her drag one of them around with her foot all day. When she would stop to rest, she would bunch it up and hold it. When they were invited into the night cages for dinner and sleep, Tatu dragged in two saris, wrapped them around herself, and slept with them.

I found a large pack of bindis at the college bookstore on their clearance table. I took them in and everyone wore a bindi on their forehead all day. We all enjoyed India day very much!

Share This