Despite being the youngest of the ‘Escape Artists’, Chiffon has an aura of peace and wisdom about him. He seems to prefer sitting high up in the hanging swings designed and installed by Chimfunshi volunteers. He always seems happy to watch other go about their business instead of getting in their mischief. Similar to Milla, has a particular love for puzzles.
Curious about everything ‘Escape Artist’ Chiffon sees a puzzle in everything he encounters — the perfect character for a true ‘Escape Artist’.
While I was volunteering at Chimfunshi I was told a story about another volunteer that had given him a PVC pipe full of straw, with tasty seeds hidden within. Chiffon spent the rest of the afternoon slowly removing each strand of straw slowly and carefully, picking the seeds out one by one. Instead of destruction, tearing the tube apart in a mad dash to gobble up the contents, as is the tendency of so many other chimps, Chiffon prefers a slow and meticulous approach to the puzzle.
One day we presented Chiffon with a set of metal nuts threaded onto a bolt. He slowly unscrewed each nut and placed them diligently on the log next to him. With that kind of attention to details, no wonder he is an ‘Escape Artist’!
Despite all the attention he and the others get from Chimfunshi volunteers like me, and care from the keeper staff, I just kept thinking what Chiffon truly needs is a open and natural forest full of puzzles to solve. A place to be wild.
— Lucia Shindell
Photo ©Lucia Shindell
