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January 4 Update From a Great Ape House Keeper

Kibibi’s First Winter

The Great Ape House has been very busy over the past few weeks. The weekend before Christmas, Washington, D.C., experienced a major snowfall, which dropped 17 inches over the course of just 24 hours! While the gorillas, who are native to the tropical forests of equatorial Africa, do not go outdoors when the weather is this chilly, they do seem to enjoy having the outdoors brought to them.

Keepers filled large rubber tubs with piles of snow and placed them throughout the indoor enclosures. The gorillas touched, smelled, inspected, licked, and eventually ate this white fluffy treat. Some of them made snowballs and carried them around juggling them from hand to hand, just as we would, in an attempt to keep their hands from getting too cold. Snow and ice are a novel seasonal treat and offer the apes something new to explore. While we are not always thrilled to have a big winter storm, it does offer an excellent enrichment opportunity for our residents.

As the snow gradually melted over the next few days, the Great Ape House keeper staff worked on planning some fun holiday festivities. On Christmas Eve, each of the gorillas received a big red stocking that was personalized and filled with goodies (food, of course) by one of our dedicated volunteer keeper aides.

We also hung a large banner in the gorilla enclosure wishing our visitors a happy holiday. Baby gorilla Kibibi inspected the sign thoroughly as it hung just below her favorite hammock. She eventually ripped a piece off and carried it around with her while her family was busy tearing into their stockings.

Music filled the air and was rivaled only by the loud pleasure rumbles (a vocalization signaling happiness/contentment) from the gorillas as they foraged for popcorn and shook out the last of the remaining morsels from their stockings.

On Christmas Day we celebrated again with more holiday music, and cereal and cranberry forage, which was a big hit! Kibibi, who is becoming an expert forager, decided that she didn’t care for the tartness of raw cranberries, but was a BIG fan of the cereal. She ran around the enclosure grabbing all of the pieces that she could hold onto with her tiny hands. It was an excellent day for all!

We always celebrate major holidays and gorilla birthdays in some way here at the Great Ape House, whether it is dying food green on St. Patrick’s Day, decorating papier-mâché eggs on Easter, or hanging ghosts made out of sheets on Halloween. Once in a while, visitors find it silly or think that we do it for publicity, but the truth is that even though the apes may not understand the concept of “today is your birthday,” they do enjoy big celebrations. The gorillas always anxiously watch while their enclosure is being decorated and special treats are being distributed. For them, there is excitement in novelty and it is important for the keeper staff to embrace holidays as an enrichment opportunity. We strive to make things fun, novel, challenging, and stimulating for our ape residents every single day.

Our next big celebration, in honor of Kibibi’s first birthday, will be on January 10, at 11:30 a.m. Keepers will decorate and provide the gorillas with some special treats and something to unwrap. A keeper will be available to answer questions and talk about enrichment. Please come join in on the fun! You may even hear a pleasure rumble or two (or seven).

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