Good Heavens, it's 2007 !

Photos by Steuart Dewar, Jane Dewar and Kelly Maneyapanda (except as indicated)
Note: almost all photographs are thumbnails that you can click to bring up a larger version!

by Jane Dewar, 03 January 2007

The holiday season came and went before I realized what happened. Both gorillas enjoyed the mild weather and having time outside in their habitat, including on Christmas Eve. Someone is still monitoring Oliver when he has access and soon we’ll install cameras where we can watch both gorillas when they’re outside. Joe is a creature of habit and you can almost predict where he’ll be at any given time. Joe loves to sun bathe and sit on the grass, even on days I wear a jacket (in the 50’s), since the sun warms Silverback Ridge up nicely.
 

Jane's new t-shirt featuring Oliver.		 Oliver is the total opposite of Joe in almost every way, so we never know what he’ll do, although we're getting to know him and with time, we'll be able to predict his behavior more accurately too. Oliver and I have become fast friends, so much so that Kelly got me a gift of a t-shirt echoing my oft-heard comment about how enamored I am with him (see the photo on the left).  We had been using volunteers to take observations when Oliver was given habitat access, but he spent most of the time inside his villa, and we soon realized he didn’t like strangers or people up on the observation deck, where volunteers can safely observe without supervision.  So I’ve been spending a lot of time sitting on ground level in the safety porch, which is limited to Animal Care staff only, just to see if Oliver would spend more time outside.


Jane in the safety porch while Oliver makes sure all's ok.

Sure enough, Oliver started to spend almost all his time outside, in what was soon named “Jane’s Spot” which is next to the safety porch on the concrete apron by the wall. Oliver builds his nest here, either on the concrete apron near the mesh where I’m sitting, or, on cooler days, just off and onto the grass, which is in the sun.  As Oliver dozes inches from me with just the steel mesh dividing us and I realize this is my dream come true, sometimes I have to pinch myself, to make sure I’m not just dreaming. Oliver sometimes reaches underneath the cage, hoping for some food to drop into his hand (the two right photos show Oliver and me during my safety porch observations and his big hand trying to reach under the mesh).


Oliver's hand reaching as far as it can under the mesh.

GH Volunteer and her gift to the gorillas.		 Both boys had their own Holiday celebrations this year – the first year we’ve had to create holidays for two gorillas, which was a fun challenge.  We had our GH holiday party on Friday December 22, 2006 and invited our volunteers, as well as staff and colleagues. One volunteer, Judy Barry, made the most amazing Christmas tree for the gorillas (that's Judy and her art work on the left) complete with all edible ornaments of fruit and veggies.  Since Joe is notoriously gentle, we decided he’d get that tree.  On Christmas Eve, our vets and their families came to see the gorillas, so we decided to give Joe the tree when they were here to share in the festivities. Usually when we have visitors to Joe, we have them walk into the villa in a line, as Joe inspects them all. For some reason, Joe knew there were about 10 people outside, but didn’t want to come into the villa when we started to bring the visitors inside – perhaps since he was suspicious, since we’d closed off the C cage, where his tree and other treats were waiting for him.

Demolition Joe!


Joe inspects the tree he's just destroyed, to find all sorts of goodies.

 When everyone was seated in front of the C cage and after Joe refused to come into the D cage on his own volition, we opened the C cage doors, to entice him inside.  Joe peered in and saw the tree and boxes and the visitors and immediately suspected something was up that wasn’t good.  He was wrong, of course, but he didn’t know that until a little later.  After assessing the situation, Joe charged in and ran straight for the tree and smashed it to smithereens, as fruit went flying everywhere and we all sat with our jaws on the floor, totally stunned that "gentle Joe" had reacted like a real gorilla for a change!  He soon settled down and realized the tree was indeed the source of a lot of his favorites (Pete and I had added some celery, green beans and mini bananas, plus an ornament “angel” to Judy’s original tree). And he found the boxes and other treats and enjoyed the visitors, including a nice time spent outside in the habitat.  I went over to let out Oliver, so our guests could see him from the roof of Silverback Villa, since Oliver is still not happy with strangers.  The visitors could see Oliver and Joe outside on Christmas Eve day, which was quite a wonderful sight to behold.


Joe noshes on his goodies while watching his visitors.


Joe's Christmas Tree, modified.

Oliver enters his Holiday Cage and goes straight for the glove.


Oliver says: "Yeah, it's my tree and I knocked it over ... so what?"

 

"Monk" Oliver and his security blanket.

 Since Pete had prepared Joe’s holiday, Kelly created Oliver’s holiday when she returned to work on Tuesday December 26, 2006.  Kelly had cut down an 8 foot pine tree (we have a gazillion growing in an area near the fence which we need to clear) and somehow managed to get it into Oliver’s E cage.  I had a huge box of towels my sister sent, as well as new blankets, nuts, fruit and other goodies to add.  Just like on his birthday, Oliver was next door watching us throw goodies all around and was rumbling and purring his delight the entire time. 

NO LOVE OF GLOVES:  A couple weeks earlier a black driving glove fell out of my pocket and before I noticed it, Oliver had grabbed it from the ground of the safety porch and ripped it to shreds. The intensity of his behavior surprised me, so I showed him the other glove and he kept reaching under the mesh "asking" me for it, but I refused to give it to him.  I decided to put mini bananas the remaining glove with his holiday treats and he watched me fill the glove and toss it into the middle of the Christmas tree, where a gazillion other treats were waiting for him.  Look at the video of Oliver getting access to his holiday treats and you'll see he goes straight for the glove, ripping it to shreds, but getting a little side-tracked when he realized it contained some of his favorite treats. We're looking into it, but have anecdotal reports that Oliver is definitely afraid of gloves of any/all kinds, which is odd.  We may never know why gloves trigger this reaction, but now I make sure I leave my gloves out of my jacket pockets, which Oliver "asks" to inspect visually, to be sure there are no gloves there.  Maybe like a child who thinks there are "monsters" under their bed if a night light isn't left on, Oliver is afraid of gloves. But he loves his blankets (see photo left, of "Monk Oliver" looking for treats outside), which seem to serve not only as comfy nesting materials, but a security blanket as well.

We fully expected Oliver to charge in and knock over the huge tree right away (like Joe had done with his mini tree), but instead Oliver came in and dispatched of the glove (later shoving it to me thru the mesh for me to get rid of, which I did), before methodically going through every box and tube to find all the goodies. Once his tummy was full, Oliver decided it was time to show off, and he ran by and smacked the huge tree, sending goodies flying and making a great racket, that he couldn’t hear, poor boy (he’s deaf).
 


Oliver wears a goofy grin, as he finds treats from Harry's (the bag) and Merciers (the box on the right in the tree).


Oliver looking for more goodies.

This is the furthest Oliver has ventured down the steep hill away from Emma Villa. Kelly had put boxes with popcorn, and Oliver went down to get them, but quickly returned to the villa with his loot, instead of exploring more.
     
   
Oliver outside in his habitat, where we try to lure him to explore further away from the villa, by putting treats in boxes and blankets or sheets for him to retrieve, as in this sequence of photos.
THANK YOU!  Our friends at Harry’s Farmer’s Market in Marietta, Georgia donated fruits and vegetables for both gorillas’ celebrations.  And one of our volunteers, Ann Hunter, who works at the local Merciers Apple House in Blue Ridge, Georgia, had several large bags of Oliver’s favorite apples donated (he kindly shares them with Joe, who loves them too), so a big purr and rumble to Harry’s Farmers Market and Mercier Orchards! 

Group Building construction is underway, but it's a slow and on-going process.

 2007 promises to be yet another year of construction and hoping we can finish the two remaining villas (Pitchou and Bonz) in order to be able to accept more gorillas on our waiting list. Our huge group building is also due for its steel work to be started in the next month or so, and we are just about to finish lining out the interior of this huge 7,000 square foot building, which has to be completed before the steelwork arrives.

The steelwork for the outside cages at Bonz and Pitchou villas is finally starting to get fabricated too. It's been a long wait to get progress going on these final steps but we have to do everything right, and hopefully the end of 2007 will see some substantial progress!

HAPPY NEW YEAR to Everyone!