Boy Meets Girl – Entry #7

Missed the earlier entries? Start here.

Eight chimps are happily living in a mixed group now– Lindsey, Roxy, Kyrstin, Tabby, Luke, Kirk, Armond, and Greg! Our next goal was to get Rocko added in. The chimps had other ideas.

Rocko was not sure about coming into the mix. All five of the remaining males were interested in what was happening on the other side of the door so we tried to distract them.  We were only successful at getting Maverick and Justin to leave the group, and while those two patrolled the outdoor habitat, we again tried to see if Rocko would enter the introduction space by himself. He would not.

We decided to adapt to the whims of the chimps and Rusty indicated that he would love to come in. Everyone appeared to be pretty calm when they saw Rusty in the other room and we opened the doors pretty quickly.

Krystin immediately rushed over to him…and Rusty immediately ran in the other direction. The girls mis-understood that as “let’s play tag!” Kyrstin and Roxy followed him around tugging at his feet. After a little while of this, Rusty sat down and started sticking his tongue out at Kyrstin, which greatly entertained her.

Only a few more chimps to go. Okay, actually 10 more chimps to go! Rocko, Maverick, Justin, and Neal from the boy’s side and Anna, Arielle, Mandy, Moonie, Kassie, and Rosemary from the girl’s side.

I’m expecting the most trouble from Anna. She was resistant to even moving in with the males, but she did so well during howdies. And then there is shy-guy Neal. But what about Rosemary? She still won’t go out into the habitat and likes her bedroom nesting space to be just so. Will she be able to share and adapt to a room filled with unruly boys?

The current mixed group is doing so well though, I have high hopes the other half will fold in nicely. And quickly. The true test will come when we get them all together for group food services, going outside, and, hopefully, coming back inside for bedtime!

The next few days are going to be intense! Time to stop writing in my diary and get some rest!