Yes we are in Spain… yes we typically have a lot of sun and normally tend to suffer from hot instead of cold weather… but still we get some cold days here as well.
The temperatures dropped drastically since December which means that they can enjoy the big outsides less hours every day and there are even some very cold or rainy days which prevent the chimps from going out at all. One might think that this makes it difficult for the care-givers to get the chimps inside earlier but actually it’s the other way around. Some chimps refuse to go outside in the morning when they think it´s not warm enough, but once outside, as soon as the sun goes down, they are already waiting in front of the tunnels to be let in again before the Head keeper even announces to open the doors to the warm and cozy insides.
Tom is one of these animals. As he doesn´t feel quite part of the family group just yet he tends to take much longer to go outside and on occasions even decides to stay in all day. This makes association work quite difficult as we would like them to spend as much time as possible all together so they can get to know each other better.