In December, the Washington Post’s Kid’s Post put out a special request to their readers –  send wrapped board books as holiday presents to the chimpanzees at Chimp Haven!  You can read the online version here:    http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/chimps-need-books-too/2011/11/18/gIQAMNh4HO_story.html

The response was overwhelming.  As each book arrived they were placed under Chimp Haven’s Christmas tree in our lobby.  The books started coming in and the pile of presents continued to grow!  As each book came in, a thank you card from the chimpanzees was sent to each family that donated the books.  We’ve estimated that we received nearly 400 books.   And the books keep coming, even though it is now mid-January!

This week some of the books were passed out to the chimpanzees.  Many of the chimpanzees excitedly opened their packages and began thumbing through the books.  Some of the chimpanzees, like Keith, opened three packages before he decided which book he wanted to take to look at first.  Boys like Henry and Matthew seemed to prefer the books about cars and trucks. Emma and Sarah enjoyed the touch-and-feel and lift-the-flaps books.  Mason liked Barney.  Both Rita and Betsy, two of our older, wild born females, took their books off into the woods to view at their leisure.  Suzie enjoyed thumbing through a Dora book while Trevor was more interested in Batman.  Merv was interested in the books that had photos of babies or the Sesame Street characters while Tracy, our youngest, looked at a book titled “Brainy Animal Babies”.  Conan, Tracy’s Daddy, found a mirror in one of the books and became enamored with his reflection for quite some time.  Queenie fell asleep in the sunshine while looking at her book.

Some of the chimpanzees did not appreciate that a staff member was interrupting their reading time trying to take photos.  Verana and Suzanna in particular displayed expressions you might see on an annoyed library patron when someone was not following proper etiquette.  Some of the other chimpanzees didn’t use the books quite as intended – Flora made a giant nest of books, while Queenie threw one of the books at carestaff members who weren’t quick enough to toss her a banana.

A few days later, many of the chimpanzees are STILL enjoying their books.  Yesterday, before we left for the night we noticed Connie, quiet on an outside perch, quietly turning the pages of one of her books.  As we wandered around the sanctuary today, Juan was carrying around a small board book everywhere he went.   Grandma was lying on a perch inside showing a book about babies to her stuffed baby bear.  The sun was shining and both Suzanna and Jimoh were resting in the sun, continuing to thumb through the donated books.

See some of the photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphaven/sets/72157628855162175/

Thank you so much to the children for your donations that mean so much to our chimpanzees!  They will continue to enjoy the books for weeks to come!