Pocket Peanut
It’s an obvious one, but you learn right away that all’s fair in love of food. One of the biggest hurdles of being a lower ranking chimp is that getting your daily banana isn’t so straightforward. So for us with low ranker chimp friends, having a pocket snack is the way to go. Whether it’s a banana, peanut, fruit gummies, or carrot, sometimes the illusion of being empty handed is the easiest way to hand off the goods.

Rendezvous
Every chimp’s home has a few hidey holes, corners where the rest of the group can’t see some chimpie easily or there’s a convenient barrel to stand next to. Some of the lowest ranking chimps are the cleverest and will walk new people to these secret spots where it’s the perfect place to get an extra snack and no one else will be the wiser.

Play It Off
For a lot of our chimps playing is their favorite thing in the world. Whether it’s with another chimp or a caretaker, they will drop anything to come bounce and laugh. For some of our big boys, they can be convinced to keep their hands off a friend’s snack with a couple stomps. You learn who your playful boys are by watching the group. When things get tense, our fun loving kids will get right up in a big, fluffy boy’s face and start bobbing their head, and suddenly the whole situation diffuses. Stomping has been the saving grace of many caretakers.

Bait and Switch
Some of the tricks of the trade aren’t even handled by caretakers. Chimpanzees are deviously clever of their own accord. One of the best tricks some of our chimp geniuses have shown off is peeling their banana along the side (not from the top like us) and the result is a very convincing whole banana. They drop this empty skin when they see the alpha eyeing their snack and nine times out of ten this gives them the exact amount of time to run off with the actual banana and eat while the alpha is left opening an empty skin.

Sharing is Caring
Often there’s just no getting around having a swarm of begging chimp faces and only having one piece of food. When the chimp who was intended to get that snack isn’t high ranking enough to shrug off the competition one of the nicest things about chimpanzees is that they can and will share. More often than not everyone is perfectly happy with having just a little bite of a treat and then let the majority of the banana go to the intended chimp. Sometimes the receiving chimp will even break off a piece to share with a friend giving them a pouty lip. Granted sometimes they know behind those big begging eyes is a tantrum waiting to happen. Better to give Maxi a piece of your banana now before she starts crying and rolling around on the ground.

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This fall that included Pickle Day, a “happy hour” for Gracie’s group, and brightly colored origami. Scroll on for cute pics of the chimps digging in!

Pickle Day

Calvin, Sidney, and Sean, who takes the prize for best pickle face!

Happy Hour

Happy hour included sugar-free Pina Chimpladas and Pant-hoot Mocktails with edible straws. L-R: Josie and Suhna

Origami

Sara Soda and Hannah appreciated the care that staff put into their origami pieces, while Sonya was less than impressed.

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Changing seasons are always an exciting time at the sanctuary as the chimps enjoy the cooling temperatures and changing leaves in their habitats. 

This week, a Halloween-themed surprise brought the pant-hoots in the form of pumpkin and “trick-or-treat” bag enrichment. The small pie pumpkins were the perfect size to play with, smash, and enjoy, while jack-o-lantern faced goodie bags were packed with healthy snacks and treats. 

Below are just a few of the chimps enjoying their fall enrichment, made possible by friends and supporters like you. Thank you for giving them a wonderful life at Chimp Haven!

Can’t get enough fall fun? Enjoy video footage below!

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For example, we might scatter food in their rooms so they can spend time looking for it. Or we might give them a variety of soft items to build their nests each day (like making your bed!).

Below are 10 items you might be surprised to learn that the chimps enjoy as enrichment:

1. Ketchup – Do you like ketchup? The chimps do too! We do not give them a side of fries, but instead I’ll squirt some ketchup in a small bucket and the chimps will use sticks scoop some up and lick it off – this is called fishing!
2. Movies – Some chimps love movies! We have several small TVs and a collection of DVD’s that we can set up for the chimps to watch. Our DVD collection includes everything from cartoons, old movies, and even movies about other animals. Pierre is one chimp seems to really enjoy many of the movies we turn on.
3. Pickles – The chimps recently got pickles as enrichment and they were a hit. Very few could resist a cold pickle slice. Barbet even followed me around for seconds!
4. Flour – Sometimes, we will put a scoop of flour in a brown paper bag and pass them out to the chimpanzees. Some chimps will eat a bit of the flour but others dump it out on the ground and look through it. No matter how it is enjoyed, it is very cute seeing all the chimps covered in flour for the morning.
5. Guacamole – Our chimpanzees receive tomatoes, onions, and avocados in their diet already, so it was a no-brainer to make guacamole! Because it was made of several of their favorite items, the chimps loved it.
6. Brushes – Chimps may not brush their hair or their teeth, but toothbrushes and dish brushes are some of their favorite items to carry around. Believe it or not, they will sometimes make a nest with the brushes too!

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You can tell by the pant hoots that pups aren’t something the chimpanzees at Chimp Haven sanctuary see every day – and the perked-up ears of Jax and Parker show it’s a two-way fascination.

National Dog Day’s a perfect time to celebrate the two who make special visits to the sanctuary, going for walks outside and around the chimpanzee habitats. It’s not just for fun – the guest appearances help keep the chimps mentally and physically stimulated and engaged

It’s important to Chimp Haven’s caregivers to ensure the chimps are mentally and physically stimulated and engaged by their environment. They design special activities from sensory experiences like occasional live classical music or dance performances, to challenging food puzzles where chimps design tools to fish out hidden treats. Dog Days at Chimp Haven are one more way to keep life interesting for these retirees.

“Enrichments are things we give the chimps to engage their mind,” said Hailey Adams, Behavior Technician. “It could be something like a fruit they haven’t seen before or lots of different puzzle toys and sometimes it can be special guests like the ones we have for Dog Day.”

For Dog Day at Chimp Haven, Adams’ dogs, Jax and Parker, visit the sanctuary and join the team as they go for a walk outside, and around the chimpanzee habitats. Dogs mix things up for the chimps, sparking their natural curiosity as they observe the dogs from afar.

For many chimps, it’s puppy love at first site. For others, it may be curiosity or wonder. Reactions from the chimps to the dogs vary, several of them run up to the mesh to get a closer look, some observe these new creatures closely, while other chimps “display,” a common behavior where they demonstrate their power to make sure the dogs know who’s boss.

“This gives the chimps something new to see, it’s a change in their environment and to be honest I think it’s really enriching for the dogs too because a chimp is a pretty rare sight,” said Adams. “We do a large variety of enrichment activities here at the sanctuary, but dog days is definitely one of our favorites at Chimp Haven.”

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Chimp Haven’s enrichment team does a wonderful job of organizing a variety of daily enrichment activities for our retirees – this creative team goes above and beyond to provide toys, puzzles, and endless sources of entertainment and novelty for the chimps.

“Tink” as she is affectionately called by care-staff, is a high-ranking female in her group of eleven. She typically spends her days hanging out with her best friend, Kim, and napping in a hammock. She’s also known and loved throughout the sanctuary for her sassy personality.

Recently for enrichment, the retirees were given a selection of branches from our forested sanctuary to use as tools, toys, or however they saw fit.

The next day, enrichment staff installed wind chimes outside the habitat bedrooms for the chimps to listen to. While the retirees couldn’t touch the chimes, they were able to enjoy to the novelty of the beautiful sounds the chimes provided…or so we thought.

As care staff worked their way through the sanctuary hanging chimes, they soon noticed movement behind them. It was Tink – carefully approaching the chime with her stick from the previous day.

Staff watched as she ingeniously used her tool to “attack” the chime until it fell to the ground. Satisfied, she walked away.

We decided to give it another shot – maybe she just needed time to get used to the new sounds. Staff adjusted the chime and moved it a little farther away. But once again, when they left the bedroom area Tink used her tool to remove the offending chime. She was clearly not in the mood for music.

Weeks later, we gave it one last try. This time Tink was standing by, ready with a long plastic toy, to remove the offensive sounds outside her bedroom door. Her grudge against the chime wasn’t going anywhere.

We’re not quite sure why Tinkerbell isn’t a fan of the chimes, but we have to admit we enjoyed seeing her ingenuity, persistence, and unique personality as she took them down.

She’s enjoying her retirement her way.

Without windchimes.

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