Summer Treats

For this installment of our "Seasonal Treats" series, we're featuring the delights of summer. It is now the season when we can harvest plums on the institute grounds. The fruits, once green, gradually ripen into a deep red color.

This year's harvest was especially abundant, and we were able to collect bucketfuls of plums!

With their attractive appearance, sweet fragrance, and limited seasonal availability, plums are one of the favorite fruits of the chimpanzees here.

Just as they had done when eating loquats, Pan and Akira slowly enjoyed the plums, savoring each bite little by little.

(To see them eating loquats, please check out "Rainy Season Treats" in the blog diary.)

Some of the harvested plums will be frozen so that the chimpanzees can enjoy them again during the hottest days of midsummer.