Let’s take a small glimpse into what a winter day at the Chimphouse looks like for the Fauna residents. Now that it’s a bit colder, the residents are spending more time indoors and occupying their time in different ways.

Cozying Up

Rachel enjoys spending a bit more time around caregivers seeking out opportunities to groom or tickle. While she occasionally enjoys spending time with caregivers more than some of the other residents, she isn’t one to pass up a grooming session with her chimpanzee friends.

On cold days Tatu enjoys spending time in large nests, covered in blankets (see top featured image). She even sets up large nests close to humans in case she wants to groom or look through a magazine with a caregiver.

Regis and Chance can be found most often grooming or in a fun game of tickle! Chimpanzees are strong beings! Even when they play together it’s hard to not wonder how that tickle or poke doesn’t hurt, but the smiles on their faces says it’s all in good fun!

 

 

Healthy Winter Snacks

I don’t know about all of you, but one of my favorite cold weather pastimes is… eating! We try to offer our residents variety in as many ways as we can! Sometimes that means something unusual like a raw potato, which Loulis gave a big thumbs up to! Or something simple like a handful of sunflower seeds to snack on, like Sue Ellen does. How many of you have enjoyed a road trip or two with a trusty bag of sunflower seeds to keep your taste buds company?

Binky loves peanuts — and I mean LOVES peanuts! — so we always try to hide a few here and there for him to snack on. We recently hid some in a reusable bag (which as you’ll see, is no longer reusable) filled with nuts and straw and he used all limbs possible to find the peanuts inside.

A Winter Day in the Life

Although our video shows only a small glimpse, it hopefully paints a little picture of what a typical winter day in the Chimphouse looks like for our residents. And even though the weather is a bit chillier and the residents are spending more time indoors, this doesn’t mean we don’t catch a friend or two running down a skywalk in a game of chase or basking in the warm sun. Winter just means getting cozy for the residents… and getting creative for the caregivers!

 

–Story by Kaeley Sullins, Animal Caregiver