Friday, October 17

Finally, I post for Friday. I had a great time, I feel like I have hit some sort of stride. I didn't get any pictures, but thats okay.

Today I did Juice Bottles. Basically, I would use the fruit juice from the cans of fruit they put in the apes' breakfast. I put about 2 tablespoons in a water (or large juice) bottle. Then, I would put about twice as much water in the bottle to dilute the juice. We don't bother putting the bottle lids on, as it doesn't much change the time it takes for the apes to process the enrichment.
So anyway, I just put the bottles out, about 2 per individual. It was so cute to watch them drinking their juice. Mosi didn't do as well, he got a bottle and just slung the juice everywhere. I didn't see the orangutans use theirs, I need to remember to try and watch them next time.

I am pretty sad though, there are some changes coming in the great ape program, there will be a couple of new guys coming. I am not supposed to broadcast the changes just yet so they can have time to adjust to their new lives, but I will write more about that later. So anyway, they are suspending the program for a couple of weeks, probably around a month. As soon as it resumes, I will be glad to meet the new guys when I can come back.

Ironically, I got my pass card/id card today! And now I can't use it for another month. Pretty funny.

I really like talking to Ann. I feel that she really really cares about the apes and is very thoughtful about their situation. Not that the other keepers don't, but I find it very easy and interesting to talk to her about the apes. She was telling me that she was glad I liked the program so much, so I came out and told her how I was feeling after the second and third time I came. I wasn't dealing well with the apes captivity, and how to deal with them as more than just organisms, but individuals. Almost people. I told her that I had moved past it, but it was so hard that I wanted to quit. She told me that it was something she went through every couple of years. I was so glad she told me that, I felt that she really understood where I was coming from. A piece of wisdom that she told me was that even if you aren't there, they still are. Essentially, if you are bothered by the fact that the apes are in captivity, just because you avoid the fact doesn't they are closer to being free. I agree. I hope that I, and anyone else who works with the apes, can just make life better for them. The enrichment activities gives them something to look forward to, something to break up the monotony of life in captivity. And the truth is, none of these guys would last long on their own in the wild. Beautiful neurotic JJ would have to suffer for his heart condition, and probably wouldn't last long with the stress of life in the wild. Laid back, sweetheart Fossey probably wouldn't be able to have his harem and his little son Mosi. Mahale would still be Miss Priss, but she wouldn't get her way near as much in the wild. Chiquita, who doesn't like to go outside, would be out all the time! Of course, all of these guys would probably have different personalities if they were born and raised in the wild. But with the zoo, I hope that some little boy or girl will come to the zoo and watch Mosi, and really care for the gorillas. Or someone who looks at Chiquita or Rok and wants to know more about how the wild orangs live may someday lead the movement to save the orangutans left in the wild. Or someone may see the little comedian Chance, and want to know how he can be so similar to any 6 year old human. Its important for people to empathize with these guys, and therefore it is important to have zoos. And as I was telling Ann, although I am loathe to say it, there may not be any great apes left in the wild in my lifetime. That would truly be a tragedy, but we are moving towards that. Ann made a good point when she said to me that even the great apes in the wild are essentially living in a cage. Their habitat is forever being encroaching upon, and their homes shrinking is similar to a shrinking cage. Populations are being isolated, less resources are available to the groups existing now.

Sorry to leave on such a serious note. Soon I hope to have news of the new arrivals, as well as updates on enrichment. The whole idea, in my head, is to preserve our closest cousins in the animal kingdom. They are so important to us, for so many reasons.

Went last Friday, and Today

But I will just write about last Friday for today. Today will be posted tomorrow. You get it.

October 10, 2008

8 am to 9:30 am

Today Jeff Wright came and took pictures. So finally, pictures! Please do not use the pictures without permission, email me if you need it. They are his pictures and I am using them with his permission. Here are some pictures of me doing the enrichment. On one I am walking back to the staging area where the enrichment stuff is kept. In the other I am showing Jeff the schedule on which every day's activities are recorded. This ensures that the primates aren't given the same enrichment day after day. Unfortunately, Jeff didn't seem to take any pictures of the silverbacks. I will have to take pictures of JJ, Fossey, and Brutus. They are magnificent, I don't know how he neglected to get pictures of them, they must have been out of sight. I know that he started to take a picture of JJ, but the poor guy was nervous and grinding his teeth so Jeff just left him alone.

Here is Mosi and his mom eating some of the forage, which includes popcorn. This is the only picture I have of Mosi, I need to take another picture of him on the inside of the building, so you can see his sweet little face. Today was the day before his 2nd birthday! The next day the zoo had a "birthday party" in which people could come and eat a cake donated by a bakery. Even the gorillas got a treat, Ann told me they were given some gorilla-friendly muffins. You could even bring Mosi a birthday present, such as juice. It was so sweet.

So the enrichment for today was fire hoses, stuffed with alfafa and cereal. Actually, the Enrichment for today was "nothing", but since the next day would be super busy with Mosi's birthday, I did the next day's enrichment instead. Its good for them to have "nothing" days as well as enrichment days, because the point is to break up the monotony. Therefore, no enrichment every couple of weeks is a change! Ann also gathered some forage for them, so you can see the gorillas with the forage. Its basically cut bamboo from near the chimp yard, behind the lemur enclosure. The picture to the left is Catherine and Sekani (Mosi's mom) getting forage and the cereal from the fire hose.

Here is Catherine when she first came out, inspecting the fire hose. I liked this enrichment activity in particular. Basically, strips of old fire hose have been donated by the fire department. They are cut into strips between 1 and 2 feet long. When they are constructed, you have to make sure they are shaken out because they are kept in piles, and we don't want the apes being bit by spiders. Some alfalfa is stuffed in, then a little cereal is thrown in, then more alfalfa. It was great to see the apes processing them. The gorillas mostly pulled the alfalfa out themselves. The chimps, however, just picked up one end and shook them. Some of the chimps were as meticulous of the gorillas.

I didn't really get to see the orangutans process the enrichment, but I have pictures of Chiquita with cereal in her mouth! The chimps and orangutans got a cereal that looks a lot like Cheerios. The gorillas, with their special diets, got a different cereal. It was something with whole grain flakes and dehydrated strawberries.

It looked pretty good! Here is old Trudy, eating her forage. I don't see her and Brutus much, they are in the more overgrown area and I almost never see them as a visitor. Brutus is a very young male, and I think Trudy is the 3rd oldest gorilla in the United States. She is always very sweet to me, and the first time I ever talked to her she was laying on her back holding her feet, just looking at me.

Here are the chimpanzees with their enrichment. They were funny to watch. Chance, ever the antagonist, was chasing Judy around with a hose, and actually threw it at her at one point. He is a mischievious guy. This is Chance with his hose, before he started tearing around after Judy. I wish we had gotten pictures of that!

Sometimes Mahale is a spoiled brat, and doesn't want to go out with the others. Today she ran out as fast as she could, grabbed her enrichment materials and some forage, and ran back in. So while she was in there, I talked with her and Jeff took pictures. Isn't she beautiful? She has so much intelligence in her eyes. I tried to get her to play tug of war with a blanket with me, but she just looked at me like I was an idiot. However, she seemed to really like Jeff. Ann said that she likes guys. You could tell! She was so relaxed she was letting her lip hang. She is so cute.

Ann was talking to her at one point, rubbing her lip. Mahale opened her mouth and showed her teeth and Ann explained to us that she was trained so they could check her teeth and ears, as well as administer shots. Ann asked for her to show her teeth and she did, and asked to see her ear, which you can see she did in the photo. She asked for Mahale's arm, and Mahale turned and pressed her arm to the bars. Such a smart girl! Its probably a very good thing that it is so easy to do checkups on her, its much easier on everyone than having to sedate. Sedation, while not really too dangerous, is just stressful for everyone involved and saved for necessity. Of course, there is the added bonus that she got a piece of monkey chow from Ann for showing us that she knew what "arm" "ear" and "teeth" means!

Last but not least is the orangutans. Jeff got a couple of pictures of them, this is one of my favorite overall. You can see Chiquita's success with the enrichment activity, apparently she had no problems. Look at the cereal in her mouth! Jeff got a picture of both of them. I am pretty excited about it, since it shows their sexual dimorphism. Rok is obviously the huge guy! Rok is sitting over one of the fire hoses. A little in front of them you can see one of their sheets. There is one beside Chiquita as well, in the picture to the left. Apparently, Orangutans love fabric. The gorillas and chimps like fabric too, but if you put it out daily they quickly tire of it and start to ignore it. The Orangs, however, will use it every day. They mostly either drag it around or wrap up in it. I see Chiquita put it over her head sometimes. Ann postulated that it may have something to do with the fact that in the wild Orangs will use large leaves to shade themselves, and have been seen holding large leaves and dragging them around. Who knows.

And now, I will leave with a video of Fossey and Sekani playing, when Mosi was about 4 months old. You can see how massive Fossey is, yet he can play with Sekani without harming Mosi. Its so amazing how something so incredibly strong can be so very gentle. Here is another of Fossey and Mosi playing around that same time. Now they play a lot, and a lot rougher, but its mostly Mosi trying to beat up on Fossey while Fossey just rolls him around like he weighs nothing. Pretty much like any human father and his little son!

Waiting.

I found out today that I don't have Ecology on Friday. At first, I thought that I could show up to Isgrig early (the archaeology site I have been volunteering on) but then I remembered that I need to increase my hours at the zoo. I just emailed Ann, and hopefully I can work on Friday morning. I also asked if Jeff, one of my fellow students, could come and play photographer. We need more pictures of students actually doing things for the Anthropology Club. We will see!

Today was...

great! Miss Mahale did not spit on me. When I was walking by her cage at one point, she raced over to where I was but I made it to the next room (and past her cage) before she got there. Now, the last time she spit on me it was when she raced over and leapt up and got me as I was walking by. This was the same situation, and although it was hard not to, I didn't try to hurry through the doors, I just happened to beat her. At this point I thought, "okay, this has to stop, I can't work like this, and it isn't good for her". I walked in front of her and crouched down. I looked at her from the corner of my eye, but didn't directly look at her. She stared at me for about a minute, then just started looking away. After that, she didn't even go to the bars everytime I walked past. I hope that maybe we have reached an "understanding", I guess I will know next time I am there.

Speaking of next time, I need to email Ann and ask if she cares when I come in again, because I am officially DONE with my orientation, and can now act autonomously. Pretty cool!

I got to see Brutus up close today. He is the third adult male gorilla. He's a pretty young guy, and is in an enclosure with Trudy, who is an older female. Normally Trudy is in the cage adjacent to the main hallway, but today since one of the automatic doors wasn't working right Brutus was forced to be in the area with her, instead of nearer the outside door as he usually is. He wasn't really excited about me, he kind of hit the bars a little and gave me menacing looks.

JJ is getting used to me apparently, he didn't try to scare me today. He just grunted a little when he saw me. I could tell that someone strange had been in there (a guy trying to fix the door) because it smelled pretty bad, and JJ had peed over the entrance corridor. His cage is in the very front on both sides of the entrance, connected by a walkway over the hallway. So, if he wants, he can stand directly above you. Apparently he stood up there and peed. Its such a pungent smell, very far from pleasant indeed.

Ann wasn't there today, but I finally got to meet Daphne. She is the one I originally talked to about the program over the summer but then I think she had some personal things come up, so this is the first time I have seen her. She's prettty nice. On the schedule for today was "kool aid bottles". I am not sure what they are, and never found out. Daphne said that we have a crapload of cardboard tubes to get rid of, so it was yogurt bombs again. Today the chimps and orangs got lemon pie filling (!) and the gorillas got natural creamy peanut butter. Apparently the pie filling has way too much sodium, and as male gorillas don't have the best hearts around here, they got the peanut butter which has NO sodium. While I was making them, I stood in front of Fossey & Co's cage, and Mosi was sitting on a podium right in front of me with his mom. He is so cute, he just stared and stared at me. At one point he thought I was ignoring him so he rattled a metal toy (it looked like a climber's hook) to get my attention. He is so sweet and cute. He reminds me so much of a human toddler.

Well, hopefully I will be back at the zoo in a couple of days. I haven't logged but maybe 4 hours and it is already October 7th. I may start doing hours in the afternoons and weekends.