This post is about some changes I’ve noticed since the Cle Elum Seven have arrived at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. I know it’s difficult to see the changes in people when you’re with them everyday. You tend to forget past behaviors and it is as though the person has always been as they are now. It’s a strange phenomenon, really.
So, I’m trying to think back to when the chimpanzees first arrived and I’m realizing just how much things have changed, both on an individual and a group level. Below are a couple of examples.
One thing that stands out is what ‘good behavior’ they were all on – no spitting of water, no banging, no trying to poke when we served them food, no staying out during meal times. I think they may have been in some sort of a trance, or it took a while before they felt that they were ‘at home’ and could test the waters a bit. Now there is quite a bit of spitting of water, especially by Burrito while we’re operating the pneumatic doors, and by Jamie when she’s testing someone new, and even by Jody when she thinks a person has slighted her or when she is following suit along with the other chimps. It’s weird, but I have to say that it is refreshing – not just the getting showered by cool mouth-fulls of water on a hot day, but by the fact that they have declared the sanctuary their home and they feel comfortable enough to show it. Why shouldn’t they spit water on us humans, after all?
And why shouldn’t they make their own decisions rather than follow our routine every day? Chimpanzees are smart. It took them a few days, if that, to figure out our routine of serving meals in the front rooms at specific times and cleaning empty areas when they are closed off. So, when they do not come in for meals, it is clearly now a choice they are making. Sometimes someone would rather skip a meal and lounge in bed (Negra) or have the playroom all to herself (Annie), while other chimps prioritize food over all other activity (Burrito). When the chimps decide to mess with our routine, we merely shift it for the day.
When breakfast is over and the playroom and outside are clean, our normal routine is to close off the front rooms so that we can clean them. My favorite, thus far, blatant messing of our routine occurred about a week after the outdoor area was complete. I had finished serving breakfast and helping to clean the playroom and outside. Keith had put in some extra straw into the outdoor enclosure. I opened a door to let the chimpanzees back out into the playroom and outside, and folks slowly filed out. Jody immediately went outside, grabbed a huge armful of fresh straw, and marched right into room four, making a nest on the bench in front of the windows. We may have thought that straw belonged outside, but that morning she thought differently, and she was clearly not moving. So, I closed off room four as I cleaned the other three front rooms. She watched me clean for a bit, she went up and worked on her straw and blanket bed and rolled around on her back in her nest, and just enjoyed her time in her private suite. When I was done with the other three rooms, she was ready to go back out and left as soon as I opened the door, heading directly outside to make a new nest in the direct sunlight. And I happily cleaned up the straw she had left behind.
Now that we have the outdoor area, we humans are also messing with the normal routine and sometimes serving meals outside through the caging or setting up forages so the chimpanzees can come out and find their own food. It’s good to have variety within a routine, and doing something a little different often creates a lot of excitement. That is another thing I’ve noticed – the level of excitement over novel things has increased greatly. Now, when they see us setting up forages – hiding food under boxes and sprinkling nuts and seeds in the straw, they begin to pant-hoot. In the beginning, when the chimpanzees first arrived, there was an eerie lack of noise – nothing seemed to phase them one way or another. Now they know when something is exciting and they express it in a loud, boisterous, chimpanzee way. If I didn’t need money to pay the rent, I would work for pant-hoots and food grunts in a heartbeat.
The pant-hoot during the raisin long forage (by Jamie?) has been a favorite of mine!
Diana — Thank you for this fabulous post! It’s so helpful to learn about these changes — because it also tells us how the ordeals they’ve been through have affected them. From all that I know about trauma and recovery in animals, giving them freedom of choice — whether it be chimps or elephants — is absolutely key to their recovery.
I was wondering — do any of the chimps have health issues that need treating?
And I’m glad you recognize that you’re in THEIR space now. 🙂
My motto in relation to my non-human animals is “I live to serve.” 🙂
thank you so much Diana for taking the time to share your thoughts & experiences with us – we really dig it ..
how satisfying it is to hear that they’ve declared the sanctuary their home and how they clearly make their own decisions in their time in their own way and how they shake things up from a normal (human) routine .. very interesting to hear your thoughts about the differences from when they first came to now ..
love to hear how they are loud & boisterous and am sooo glad they’re being more themselves (who they are supposed to be) and showing it!
(that water spitting – keeping the humans in line & showin’ who’s boss!)
the native fauna in earshot around the sanctuary must be wondering what the heck is going on over there .. what a gas!
Diana ~ Thank you so much for this wonderful post!! I LOVE hearing your stories about the day to day activities and behaviors of the chimps! It’s fun to hear how they each have their own distinct behaviors & preferences, and how they have changed & improved in just this short time that they have been there! 🙂 You all are so wonderful to do all of the hard work that you do every day….it can’t be easy cleaning up after 7 active chimps & getting spit on every day, etc! You are all amazing!! Thank you again!!
THANKS for this fabulous wordy post! 🙂 I can only imagine how wonderous their new world must seem in their minds, after so many years of confinement and absolute dominance by humans. And I can only imagine that more space, the freedom to make choices for themselves, better nutrition, and the opportunity to form a social group is a HUGE adaptation. I’m sure that they will each handle it in slightly different ways, and that there will be ups and downs along the way.
I look forward to more tales and observations as they come along.
Thanks for all you do!
Amy – thus far none of the chimpanzees have health issues that requires treating. We keep a close eye on any changes that could indicate health problems and record anything unusual. Our hope is that they will remain healthy for many years to come. The reality is that they’ve been through a lot and we will likely see the consequences of years of experimentation eventually. We’re hopeful that the new healthier sanctuary lifestyle that includes exercise and lots of great food will stave off this inevitability.
Being in a loving, nurturing environment in which they can be themselves can have amazing healing properties in and of itself.
THANK YOU for sharing these chimps with us. I can’t get enough of them. I love being able to watch them close up. The nest she made was awesome. I sent a letter to NIH a few weeks ago about the way I felt about using chimpanzees in research. I received a letter from them, somewhere I read/heard that 1 letter represents 10,000 people to them.
The new space will help them get the exercise they need, and all that vitamin D from the sun. I am glad that you are flexible, and let them make choices, and forage, and I could go on and on…….
What a wonderful post Diana! Thank you so much! I am thrilled to hear that the chimps feel like they are at home. They have been through so much that they do deserve the best life has to offer them at the sanctuary. For them to be comfortable enough to make noise, messes, and decide what they want and when is a wonderful sign that they are happy. This is all thanks to the staff and the wonderful lives you have given them. I am so happy they are at last safe!
God bless you all for your efforts and especially for giving them the love they deserve!
Dina , I loved this post from your heart. I will work for panthoots and foodgrunts, I am sick of paying the mortgage, ket me know when and I will walk away from all of this !!!! It is so exciting to read your so caled diary of day to days that you shorten into a blog, thank you so much, this really is exciting to hear waht happens on the other side of cyberspace……..XOXOXOXOXOXOXO TO THE SEVEN & to the staff!!!
I’m glad they are getting used to the new enviroment at csnw. cute that didn’t want to go in side. i’m glad these chimps are getting a better life! hugs and kisses to the chimps
Diana,
Thank you for your vivid details of the chimps lives and how the changes have occurred. It is so rewarding for us to hear your blogs and see the photos. I feel a part of the chimps lives and can picture your descriptions
I love love love the photos and videos, and they may be worth a thousand words, but this post is the best. This was so great to read. Thank you so much for taking the time to write it.
pant-hoots,
-Pat
Pat – I love how you signed out!! “pant-hoots” – that’s so cute!!