Chimpanzees' Christmas at the Kumamoto Sanctuary

December 10 and 11, 2011

Speaking of December, we think of Christmas!
We held an annual Christmas party for chimpanzees as part of our special annual enrichment event at the Kumamoto Sanctuary.

We had formed circle-like loops out of fresh bamboo stems to create "Christmas wreaths" for Chimpanzees. We have used a number of colorful fruit and vegetable pieces to decorate these bamboo loops, and created huge Christmas wreaths.

We, all working together, created a total of 16 Christmas wreaths. We had hanged the wreaths in the chimpanzees' playground, in their outdoor enclosures. Eventually all decorations were ready to start the big party! A boy named Yuki, who participated in our event for the first time, really enjoyed this event giving joy and pleasure as to someone else, the chimpanzees.
When we were suspending the wreaths, chimpanzees' joyful food grunts filled echoing the enclosures. Then the party started. Chimpanzees rushed out, plucked their favorite fruits from the giant wreaths and ate them. This time, persimmons were the most popular fruit. Hope, one of our male chimpanzees grunted "Ngugugugugugu...." with relish stuffing his mouth overfilled with persimmons. Sai-chan climbed onto the top of a wreath and plucked fruits from there. We both, chimpanzees and humans all having fun enjoyed these two days.

Sincere thanks to all participants and staff at the Kumamoto Sanctuary!

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