Joe’s First Day Out – A
Magical Day for All
photos by Jane, Steuart Dewar, Lyn Lewis,
Pete Halliday or
Kelly Maneyapanda.
Note: almost all photographs are
thumbnails that you can click to bring up a larger version!
by Jane Dewar,
02May2004
On Wednesday April 28, 2004 I got up
around 7:00 a.m. to make coffee for our guests, gorilla enthusiasts Jim and
Linda Davis, who were here for their annual volunteering visit to Gorilla Haven.
It was 31.4 degrees (Fahrenheit) according to the digital thermometer, and Pete
reported seeing frost on his way into work. In typical North Georgia fashion,
by 11 a.m. it was over 60 degrees, the sun warming things up quickly, and
highlighting the blooming azaleas and a myriad of greens, as the mountains come
to life.
The day was going to turn out to be
one of the most exciting and magical ever at Gorilla Haven. By the afternoon,
we were all taking off sweaters and basking in the 81.7 degree temperature of a
fabulous spring day. Joe was enjoying the sunshine and warmth too, which may
not seem that extraordinary, except that for the first time in
over a decade, Joe was able to sit outside on grass and explore his almost 2 acre
portion
of the 8.5 acre habitat. The diagram on the right shows Joe's 4 cages of
Silverback Villa; D is his favorite and it is connected by a small squeeze cage
to C, the second indoor cage. Cages A&B are both outside, overlooking the
8.5 acre habitat of Phase 1.
After years of preparation and
anticipation for this event, the doors from the B cage of Silverback Villa were
opened into the habitat. We’d all tried to guess what Joe would do when he
first realized he could now step outside and into the forested and grassed area
he’d been watching over for a year. We were all amazed at what happened at
11:10 a.m., when Joe, standing in the B cage saw the door open up. Joe
strolled confidently to the newly open door, then shot outside and did a stiff
legged silverback strut down the side of the slope towards the Administration
building, running past one of the viewing windows where Jim and Linda were
sitting. The photo on the left shows Joe past the first viewing window
(and Jim and Linda) and about half way towards the Admin. Building.
Click here for a short
movie (1½ min.) of Joe: Dial-up (560k)
or DSL/Cable (7.5Mb), where you
can see Joe running, chestbeating and relaxing, and hear Steuart (who was
filming) say "we were all wrong" - since none of us expected Joe to go onto the
grass so confidently and quickly!
(Movie requires Windows Media
Player - if movie does not play, see note at end of page).
For
the first 12 minutes, Joe strutted
and stopped, looking around with great interest and obvious delight. He ran
past the viewing window and smacked the glass by Jim’s face several times,
causing us all to giggle a bit, since Jim is one of Joe’s favorite people and it
was clear Joe was showing off for him (see photo on the right). After about 20 minutes, Joe
sat down for the first time, his exposed lower teeth expression of
stress/anger/concern now gone, giving way to the most relaxed, confident, and
(dare I say it?) “happy” gorilla I’ve seen in a long time! Pete snapped the
great photo of Joe standing on the left, and Dr. Lyn snapped the closeup, which show Joe's tight lip expression,
which soon gave way to a more relaxed countenance when he sat down to eat
(photo below left).
Pete and Kelly had scattered Joe’s
favorite foods (green beans, romaine lettuce, a head of cabbage, an orange, etc)
on the top of the slope, and after about 25 minutes, Joe started to nosh on his
goodies, laying on his tummy while scouring the area around him to find the
treats. Joe was aware he was the center of attention, and much to our
amazement, he not only didn’t seem to mind, but he seemed to be enjoying the
audience! Steuart was perched on scaffolding with his video camera capturing
the moment of exit and first 2 hours or so of Joe’s time outside. Next to him,
was one of our vets, Dr. Lyn Lewis, who was taking many of the excellent photos
featured here, using our own digital camera (who knew a vet was such a good
photographer!). The photo on the right shows Steuart and Lyn filming while
Joe chomps on an ear of corn, sitting near Jim and Linda.
Pete and Kelly were watching Joe from
the safety porch on the B side of the villa, and Joe would occasionally stroll
by them for reassurance that this was all his and everything was all right (see
photo left). Dr. Francis Cipullo, our main
vet, and I were upstairs on the villa’s research viewing area. As Joe shot out of the
door onto the grass, we were all smiling from ear to ear … about 8 minutes after
Joe went out, he did the first chestbeat I’d heard him do since he was in his
travel crate (over a year ago!). Gorilla chestbeats have several meanings and
Joe’s meaning was clear to us all: “Watch out world! I’m Joe the Magnificent
Silverback, and this is my domain!” It was a wonderful display by a gorilla
whose confidence has grown in leaps and bounds since arriving at Gorilla Haven
just 13 months earlier. The photo on the right shows Silverback Villa in a full
side view, which we seldom see, since we don't usually have scaffolding up.
Joe can be seen on the villa apron in front, relaxing, as some of us are on top
in the research viewing area.
For
two full hours, Joe stayed outside, exploring, relaxing, eating and patrolling
his newly expanded world. We left the door to the B cage open, and after about 40 minutes, Joe went back
inside, strolled over to the A cage, picked up a head of romaine left over from
his breakfast, and carried it back outside to munch in the sun (see photo right). He strolled
along the front of the outside cages of his villa, where he’d watched many
visitors sitting/standing for a year, and was very curious to look inside the
cages from the outside, almost as if he was thinking “Hmmm, so this is what you
people have been looking at all these months!” We will be watching Joe carefully
over the next few weeks, as he continues to explore his new world, hoping he’ll
steer clear of the hotwires protecting some of the islands of larger trees.
Joe's a very gentle and cautious silverback, so we don't anticipate any problems
with him, in this regard, but in keeping with our policy, we're being overly
cautious and will have someone watching him the entire time he's outside for the
first few weeks.
Joe exceeded our hopes and dreams and
by the end of the day, my face was sore from smiling. Photo left shows Dr. Francis Cipullo (GH Vet), Pete, Jane
and Kelly from the vantage point of the research viewing roof of Silverback Villa
and photo right shows a happy Steuart on the scaffold, with Joe relaxing in the
background. We worried if Joe would
want to come back in, but on schedule, without hesitation or concern, Joe came
into his favorite D cage by his 4 p.m. dinner time, exhausted yet exhilarated by his day of
excitement and exploration. Pete and Kelly stopped by the cabin after work
ended, to pick up a DVD of the video we shot of Joe’s big day (which I quickly
made for them), and joined us in a celebratory glass of champagne, toasting what
we’ve all been working for: Joe’s successful new life at Gorilla Haven.
The end of a great day!
Update on the update: 29Apr04 – The
door into the habitat from the A cage didn’t work this morning, when testing it.
It hadn’t been used in a year, so we need to tweak it to get it operational.
After shutting Joe inside his villa (cages C and D) first thing in the morning, while Steuart and Ted tried
to figure out the problem with the door, we decided to fix it later today, so
Joe could go outside again. Around 1:30 pm, without all the visitors and
fanfare, we opened the door from B to the habitat. Within a minute, Joe climbed
outside, calm and relaxed as could be, as if he’d been doing it for years. I was
videotaping from the safety porch, and just like at Christmas, Joe tolerated me
up by the mesh long enough to get some good footage of him down by the viewing
window (was he looking for his old friend Jim?). But as he strolled back towards
Silverback, I “knew” my video time was limited, even though Joe was moving
casually and not making any outward signs of annoyance. I backed up just in
time for Joe to slam the safety porch door, where Pete and I were standing.
“Fine,” I thought, “I get the message, Joe, and I’ll leave you and Pete alone,
as you prefer it.” The only trouble with this is, Joe stayed where Pete was, so
to encourage him to move, Pete moved upstairs to join Steuart, who was taking
some still photos.
That got Joe focused on his new
kingdom again, and he got up and strolled deliberately towards Bonz Villa,
sitting down to study the hotwire and gate with the goat fencing we put in front of the
hotwire, as a friendly “warning” not to touch it. He approached the
gate near Bonz and appeared to be staring at this villa (still without
steel mesh) for a better view than
he’d ever had before from inside Silverback villa. You can see Joe down by
the gate near Bonz Villa in the photo on the left. Then he slowly ambled back
towards Silverback, where he sat near the lixit (drinking fountain), held onto
the mesh and looked inside the B cage, studying that with great interest too
(see photo above right).
For another half an hour or so,
Joe patrolled his Kingdom, occasionally sitting down in front of Silverback, staring into the cages, while Pete
and Steuart chatted above him. I was in the safety porch, being ignored, as
usual. Suddenly big winds started to pick up and clouds were moving fast
overhead, as if it might spit some rain from a rogue rain cloud. At this point,
Joe got up and casually strolled past me and into the A cage, where he rolled on
his back, kicked his feet in the air, scratched and rolled his head and let our
a loud rumble of satisfaction. (Photo right shows Joe "washing
his hair" or moving his head as he lays on the grass and rolls around in a goofy
show of relaxation and contentment).
Note: To play the movie above, you need to use Windows Media Player (WMP) and
may also need to be using a very recent version of WMP as well. You can download
the latest version of WMP from the Microsoft web site:
Click here to go to the Microsoft download page. Only WMP is supported at
this time. The movie clip is about 1½ min. long, and will typically take half a
minute to a minute of buffering before it starts playing. If you are using a
firewall, make sure that your firewall allows WMP to connect to the internet.
Also make sure that your security settings are not preventing WMP from playing
the movie.
The day was going to turn out to be
one of the most exciting and magical ever at Gorilla Haven. By the afternoon,
we were all taking off sweaters and basking in the 81.7 degree temperature of a
fabulous spring day. Joe was enjoying the sunshine and warmth too, which may
not seem that extraordinary, except that for the first time in
over a decade, Joe was able to sit outside on grass and explore his almost 2 acre
portion
of the 8.5 acre habitat. The diagram on the right shows Joe's 4 cages of
Silverback Villa; D is his favorite and it is connected by a small squeeze cage
to C, the second indoor cage. Cages A&B are both outside, overlooking the
8.5 acre habitat of Phase 1.
