The Intelligence of Chimps

I had a shift at the zoo this afternoon, and to my delight I was based at the chimp house.  They have the freedom to be indoors or outdoors in their very big enclosure, and when I got there, they were inside.  There's a big viewing auditorium where visitors can sit and watch them, we just have to control the amount of people at one time and make sure they wear their face coverings and maintain the social distancing.  Today wasn't difficult though as the zoo was very quiet, and I actually spent most of my shift sat outside in the sun, but I did get to watch the chimps too when they were indoors.

At the end of my shift I went up to the glass and Tuppence who you can see here was sat on a tree trunk, but I know that she will connect with you, particularly if she sees your mobile phone - she loves to see photos.  I'd taken a photo of a bight yellow bucket that the keepers use for feeding them fruit, so I held my phone up to the glass with this bright image on it, she saw it and instantly got up and came and sight right up to the glass and kept looking at me and pointing to the phone.  She very gently kept doing a swiping motion with her finger indicating that she wanted to see other photos - the connection is unbelievable and you can see the intelligence in her eyes, they're such amazing creatures.  I took this photo as she was reaching out and I think she was wanting the phone.  Then the cutest thing happened, when baby Vicky saw us and came over to join in and starting pulling faces and blowing kisses - I've added a few extras.  How privileged am I to get to spend time with these wonderful animals?

Tonight, I took Alan to Morfa beach at sunset, he's not been before and it was a beautiful night, the tide was out and the beach was so quiet and peaceful.  We had a lovely walk and only got home at 10.45pm - it's great the nights being so light at the moment.