Pan bloglodytes

More Cabbage?!

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:44:09 -0800

Occasionally we end up with a lot of one type of produce and tonight we had approximately 10 heads of cabbage in the refrigerator. We are always trying to look for new and interesting ways to prepare and present the food for the chimpanzees.(If you have ideas or a fabulous recipe please email it to us to try!) I typed cabbage into the Good Search search engine (set to Friends of Washoe, of course!) and got the idea to make cabbage juice. The website raved about all the nutrients present in the recipe but I was a little skeptical about the flavor combination. I thought it would be fun to serve the juice in cabbage leaf bowls. I also prepared farina (the chimpanzees refer to this as CEREAL) with pureed beets and served it the same way.

We stuffed the cabbage leaf bowls with farina, filled others with juice and placed them in the enclosure for the chimpanzees to enjoy as a forage. We also scattered heirloom carrots in the enclosure. All of the produce used to prepare this exciting dinner for the chimpanzees was generously donated from our friends at Cloudview Ecofarms.

During the set-up the chimpanzees were pretty excited and actually waited beside the door that they typically go through to get into the night enclosures for dinner. After the night enclosures were secured, I invited the chimpanzees in for dinner and they showed absolutely no hesitation - everyone came in at once!

All three chimpanzees were investigating the cabbage bowls and taking what they found most appetizing.

Tatu collected a couple farina bowls and meanwhile started munching on several carrots. Even with a mouthful of carrots she signed CEREAL.

The juice was not a hit but the beet infused farina was a definite success. Dar carried a farina bowl into the tunnel only to discover another bowl that we placed up there! Loulis food squeaked (a noise chimpanzees make when food is really exciting) while eating the farina and carrots.

After the chimpanzees finished their dinner, we spot cleaned the enclosure. Since they spend the rest of the night in these enclosures, we want to make sure it's nice and clean for them, so we hose down the floors and then offer the chimpanzees towels to soak up the water.
Once cleaning was finished, we gave out blankets and enrichment to the chimpanzees. They typically start constructing their nests and make a nesting vocalization we like to call the "goodnight noise." It's at this point that we know it's time to say goodnight to the chimpanzees.

As Debbie was saying goodnight, Tatu signed BLACK. Debbie responded with WHAT BLACK? Tatu signed BLANKET. I was able to snap of picture of them both signing BLACK at the same time.

Written on 8/08/2010

Enhanced Enrichment - Around the World Part 1

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:12:09 -0800

For our enhanced enrichment project, my partner and I decided to create a theme for decorating the west playroom based on the book Around the World in 80 Days. Using cardboard boxes and various other art supplies we built a number of the landmarks that the characters in the book stop at or come close to. These included Big Ben, a Volcano, the Gateway to India, an Egyptian pyramid, and the Empire State building! I did not know we would be able to build anything out of boxes because I had never done it before but we succeeded and every thing turned out great. We not only decorated the boxes, but we also hid treats on, in, and under them. In addition, we provided many theme-appropriate enrichment items for the chimpanzees to play with.

The best part of the project for me was watching Tatu and Loulis enjoy the decorations and treats. Tatu moved across the enclosure retrieving treats faster than the other chimpanzees. She started with the volcano, it was covered in ketchup, but once she was convinced she ate all of it she moved to the next station.

She is a skilled forager! She not only got treats out of the top of the landmarks, but she checked every last inch of them, in and out, to make sure she had all of the treats.

Loulis, however, had a much different approach. Rather than immediately approaching the landmarks he simply sat, staring at Big Ben. After a moment his hair became pilo erect (standing on end) and he attacked the clock tower, taking it down in one swing.

It was tons of fun building and decorating everything for the chimpanzees to illustrate our day, Around the World in 80 Swings. Watching Tatu move skillfully around the room foraging successfully was an amazing thing to see and I was glad to give the chimpanzees something completely new in their play room. Hopefully, this was the best part of the project for the chimpanzees!

Berm Duty

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:19:52 -0800

Today was a very nice day to be up on Berm (the area that overlooks the chimpanzees' outdoor enclosure and provides a garden for them).

The weather has finally cooled down a bit, apparently because of the forest fire smog shifted by the winds to Ellensburg. Even though its cause is rather grim, I cannot say we are not enjoying a break from the sweltering heat!

When I got up to the berm Tatu was lying down on the spool near the observation window and nobody else could be seen.

But sure enough, pretty soon, I heard the flap of door A (the chimpanzees' door between the indoor and outdoor enclosures) and Loulis made his way up to one of his favorite spots in the cargo net overlooking the campus surroundings. Disturbed by a particularly loud motorcycle Loulis, slightly pilot erect (hair standing on end), made his way down to communicate with Tatu near door A and then the two made a loop around the whole enclosure together. They climbed up the caging near the human cage, onto the cargo net behind the climbing structure, passing each other constantly as they headed west on the caging. Loulis eventually left Tatu behind and returned to sitting in the cargo net.

I can never tell whether having me there, sitting, watching him, and taking notes, makes him feel awkward. I know that I would certainly feel uncomfortable if our roles were reversed so I just doodled while he looked out over the intersection and we sat in a comfortable silence.

This specific experience is typical of a daily berm shift. Berm is probably one of my favorite parts of interning at CHCI. After the strenuous mental task of coding live chimpanzee play gesture sequences, running around doing laundry, entering meal data, or making meals, I really enjoy the moments when I have the opportunity to just sit near these intelligent and sensitive chimpanzees and remember why I am readily dedicating eight weeks of my summer to CHCI and how truly worthwhile my experience has been.
Written on Thursday, August 5, 2010.

Enhanced Enrichment - Mario Style

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:34:43 -0800

The final Enhanced Enrichment day of the summer took place on August 12th in the outdoor enclosure. For this day, Tatu, Dar, and Loulis got to experience a world that we have only lived in video games - Mario World! This theme allowed for immense variety in the enrichment. We focused on creating lots of foraging opportunities and utilizing every part of the enclosure.

As the chimpanzee family first exited the night enclosure, they were met with Tube Land, where they found a large green tube filled with treats.

Below this, a jungle and ocean scene was set up, complete with green streamers and a kiddy pool full of water and plastic toys. Moving up to the terrace, Bowser's Castle looked out on the rest of the enclosure. We placed another kiddy pool here and filled it with red, yellow, and orange pom-poms to resemble fire and lava.

At the heart of the enclosure, on the large wooden platform, we recreated Peach's Castle and decorated it with tiaras, elegant clothing, and a plastic vanity with a large mirror. Covering the rest of the ground was Rainbow Road, which included the third kiddy pool full of an assortment of colorful balls.
We laid out rainbow-patterned sheets to lead the path to the cave in the back of the enclosure where glow-in-the-dark stars were stuck on the walls, creating a glowing getaway that Tatu spent a lot of time in throughout the day.

And what would Mario World be without the question mark boxes that appear in all of our favorite Mario games? To recreate these features we decorated a variety of cardboard boxes - either as yellow with question marks or as red with brick patterning. We then hung the boxes up in high places and filled them with bananas, toys, and fun packaging materials.
We baked maple applesauce muffins and decorated them to look like the green and red mushrooms found in Mario games. Loulis and Dar enjoyed all the parts of their muffins, while Tatu just picked out the raisins to eat. Finally, we filled colorful balloons and small plastic Yoshi eggs with almonds, raisins, or small toys and hid them all throughout the enclosure. Dar discovered many of these eggs near his favorite spot on ledge and Tatu was first to pop the balloons and find the goodies inside.

It seems that love for Mario is yet another similarity between humans and chimpanzees! We had just as much fun creating enrichment for this day as the chimpanzees had interacting with it. Overall, it was a successful final apprentice enrichment project to end out the summer!

Chimpanzee In Motion

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:53:55 -0800

When you work with chimpanzees taking pictures can be a tricky business. It can certainly be hit or miss when your subject is, by and large, in motion and has no real incentive to sit still and pose for the camera. But every so often, and purely by accident, you end up with an amazing shot. This one of Dar is one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Happy 34th Birthday Dar!

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:10:58 -0800

A friend of the chimpanzees graciously donated the funds for us to host an exciting party for Dar's 34th birthday. I volunteered to shop for party decorations and refreshments. I sought advice on what to buy from Dar's caregivers, both past and present. I wanted to make sure the party was filled with his favorite things. Banana ice cream, laser light show, those spinning light toys you get from the fair, and colorful plastic wrap to hold up and look through were all suggested. I went to five different stores before I determined colored plastic wrap is a seasonal item that is not available for purchase in July and if anyone knows how to put on a laser light show I would appreciate a lesson.

I ended up buying different colored streamers to decorate the room with, as well as wrapping paper and bags for the toys and snacks. I bought cracker jacks, peach and cherry juice boxes, and blueberries for the party and I made some frozen banana coconut balls.

Once the door to the party room opened the chimpanzees immediately began searching the room for snacks.

The room was torn apart in a matter of minutes. Dar and Loulis found some good loot and headed outside to enjoy the sun.

Tatu stayed behind and scoured the party room for remaining berries and juice.

The coconut banana balls were mostly left behind. Tatu demolished them quickly, pulling off and spitting out the outer layer of coconut to get to the delicious banana center. She is not a big fan of coconut.

Dar adores bread. I mixed some dough up in the morning and left it rising in the kitchen all day. When it was time for dinner Dar had warm fresh-baked bread waiting for him.

Birthdays at CHCI are sometimes called ICE CREAM DAY because ice cream is a common celebratory dessert item. Tatu was very excited for the ice cream, in fact the only thing she said to her caregivers all day was ICE CREAM. After dinner they were served Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey in waffle bowls. Tatu picked out the chocolate bits but Dar was more than happy to eat them for her.

I'd say ICE CREAM DAY was a huge success.

Four Seasons In One Day

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:40:53 -0800

Thursday, July 15, was the first enhanced enrichment of the summer created by an apprentice team. The theme of the day was "Four Seasons in One Day." The team, composed of Isabel M. and Stephanie C., decorated two of the night enclosures for dinner with spring/summer themed enrichment items in one room and fall/winter in the other. In addition to the evening enrichment the chimpanzees were given a daytime forage. Tatu, Loulis and Dar enjoyed pine cones with peanut butter and raisins, and peanut gift-bags in the morning and later, for dinner, had personal watermelons, peach and pear sandwiches, fresh corn on the cob, pea popsicles, and ice wreaths with carrots and broccoli.

The spring/summer enclosure was festooned with a riot of colorful flower garlands, rain drops hung from the cage ceiling, and a spring cleaning bucket with water and sponges awaited the chimpanzees' arrival. A watermelon patch capped off the experience with Tatu, Loulis and Dar enjoying their sweet dinner treat. In their fall/winter enclosure, shining stars looked silently upon snowflakes falling from a cold night sky as they mingled with fallen autumn leaves. Three ice wreaths hung from iron boughs and the vegetable jewels within beckoned the chimpanzees to partake in the feast. And they did with gusto!

Spring/Summer room with watermelon patch shown below.Dar in the foreground checking out the ice wreaths.Tatu and Dar in the Fall/Winter room.

Adelaide's Chimpanzee Friends

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:38:55 -0800

About once a month, Jason and I take our daughter Adelaide into the observation area to say hello to the chimpanzees through the glass.Over the last year, it has been fun to watch Addy go from sleeping through her visits with the chimpanzees to interacting with them. When we went to visit them on a recent Saturday, Loulis was very playful and interested in interacting with Jason, Addy and me. He came up to the glass and wanted to tickle Addy's feet, so we put her feet up for a tickle.

When Loulis would put his hand up on the glass, Addy would too.

Addy was enjoying herself as well and pointing to Loulis and babbling. At one point, Loulis offered Addy a kiss through the glass. Addy didn't understand this gesture of friendship, but that didn't phase Loulis who kept on playing with her.

I hope that Addy's friendship with the chimpanzees will help her develop compassion for all life and to understand there is no 'us and them', but only an 'us' which includes all living beings.

Thank You For These Fun Treats!

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:04:12 -0800

Today the chimpanzees enjoyed a fun treat of the wax lips that recent visitor, Gloria Grow, left for them. Gloria is a long-time friend of chimpanzees and the founder of the Fauna Foundation which provides sanctuary for a number of different animal residents (including chimpanzees) in Canada. Gloria was recently visiting in the area and stopped in to participate in a chimposium, our one hour educational workshops open to the public on weekends.

Here Anna, one of the chimpanzees' caregivers, offers the treat to Tatu and Dar from the safe outer human cage areas of the enclosures.

Thanks for all the nuts!!

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:22:56 -0800

The Civic Engagement Center on campus provides students opportunities to get involved in service activities. This last quarter they put together a nut drive for Tatu, Dar, and Loulis. They put boxes around campus and asked students to donate nuts, and boy did they! Yesterday we received the bags of nuts and we are now planning nut enrichment! Thank you to everyone at the Civic Engagement Center and to all the students who donated. We appreciate all your work and generosity!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDON!!

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:16:32 -0800

Back in February we featured Brandon Wood on our blog. For those of you who don't yet know him I encourage you to find out more about this amazing individual. Visit his blog at http://makeachimpsmile.blogspot.com/ or find him on Facebook. Yes, Brandon is a SuperKid and inspiration to chimpanzee advocates everywhere! Yesterday, in celebration of his birthday, we here at CHCI threw a party for the chimpanzees sponsored by his mom, Deanna Fawcett Wood.

The human caregivers had a blast setting up the party room for the chimpanzees. Forage treats included in the party room were as follows: cherries, peaches, apricots, walnuts, licorice and grape juice. From what I could tell the party was a success with the chimpanzees too!

Dar enjoying his forage.

Loulis food peering at Tatu's plum.

Loulis relaxing in the party room. Notice his drooped lip? That's a relaxed and happy chimpanzee face.

Dar with one of his favorites . . . juice, of course!

Tatu discovers the piñata treats.

Tatu & Loulis in the party room enjoying their respective treats.

The party continued later with pizza, fruit tea, and a fruit platter for dinner. All and all it appeared a satisfying party for these three chimpanzees. Thanks again to Brandon & Deanna for making it possible.

Independence Day

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:53:49 -0800

This morning's party in celebration of the 4th of July was a laid back affair. Decorations and forage treats were provided for the daytime enrichment that all three chimpanzees relished; these included saltine & peanut butter sandwiches, raisins and red licorice. After the initial rush for the forage, Dar and Tatu headed outside to enjoy the morning sunshine leaving Loulis alone in the East playroom. Loulis took this opportunity for play (with the human taking pictures!) and for finishing up the leftovers. A little while later, Tatu joined Loulis in East and settled down for a post-party nap.

Washoe's Birthday Celebration

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 11:32:37 -0800

Thanks to the generous donations from both the Groves Conference 2010 and FOW member Evelyn Tulloss the party in honor of Washoe's birthday this year was quite a success. The funds were used to purchase decorations and treats for the playrooms as well as a Dairy Queen dinner later that evening.

While filming the festivities I was witness to much chimpanzee excitement, expressed in food-grunts, squeaks and even a pant hoot or two, and what seemed to be general contentment in a well orchestrated party. Two events stand out in memory that I'd like to share.

First, Loulis, in his quest for treats, happened upon a large plastic mirror hung on one of the rungs in EAST playroom. Often Loulis pulls things down or off of the walls and platforms during his food forages and I expected to see much the same on this day. Instead, Loulis used the mirror to watch Dar who was engaged with a frozen juice bottle across the enclosure. Loulis appeared to be entertained in this way for a short while as he enjoyed his own treats at leisure.

Second, Tatu encountered a new and different toy in the shape of a large syringe-like squirt gun filled with water. What I found so interesting about this encounter is that it slowly unfolded throughout the mornings activities. When they first entered the EAST playroom Tatu found the squirt gun lying across a large tractor tire. She picked it up at this time, examined it briefly, and then laid it back in the same spot. Following this introduction she came back to it again and again as she foraged for treats, each time touching it or picking it up but subsequently replacing it on the tire. Once the foraged treats were consumed and the "party" portion of the morning was winding down, Tatu casually approached the tire, picked up the squirt gun, and continued on to a safe spot in WEST from which to thoroughly examine this new object. After initial defeat, having first tried to bite the end off, Tatu quickly figured out the real mechanics of this toy and squirted the water out onto the floor. This sudden pool was quite a surprise to Loulis who had been closely food-peering as Tatu finished her treats!
Unfortunately, I don't have pictures to show you of these events. However, I hope you enjoy the ones that did turn out. Thanks again for helping us to enrich the lives of Washoe's family in so many ways!

What the Chimpanzees See

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:22:35 -0800

It's summer time, and the garden is beginning to grow! Here are some pictures of what Tatu, Loulis, and Dar see from their outdoor enclosure.

Onion Flowers

Sage Flowers

Dandelion by Raspberry Brambles

Baby Peaches

Strawberries Ripening

Tomato Blossoms

Blue and Pink Forgetmenots

Baby Apples

Black Violets

New Raspberry Leaves

Spearmint in between Raspberry Brambles

Sweetmint Leaves

Celery Plant

The berm garden looks beautiful! Thank you to everyone who helped to make the garden grow!

Week Day Chimposiums

Wed, 26 May 2010 16:45:54 -0800

Being involved with the docent program is rewarding on many levels! One of my favorite experiences as a docent is the opportunity to introduce young children to the wonders of chimpanzees. Spring is a particularly busy time for school groups visiting on field trips; last week we hosted 1st graders from a local school. After the trip the teachers, Debi, Lisa & Sherrie, sent us thank you letters from their students. I've included some of the pictures and a few of their comments below. Click on each link to see each one. This is what being a docent is all about - educating and, hopefully, inspiring a new generation to care about chimpanzees. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!
Abe ThankYou.pdf

Griffin Drawing.pdf

Logan ThankYou.pdf

Harley Drawing.pdf

Katelyn ThankYou.pdf

Noah Drawing.pdf

Shelby Drawing.pdf