It’s been so exciting to watch the chimps enjoy the greenhouse these past few days. Today was completely overcast, with temperatures in the upper 30’s for most of the day. Even so, it’s about 60 degrees in the greenhouse, and the chimps have been out there all day.
Even Negra has abandoned her usual spot on the play room catwalk to make nests outside. This is more than we could have hoped for.
In fact, the greenhouse has created a new problem for us. As I write this, at 5:30, I am waiting for Jamie to come back inside so I can close the door for the night (the greenhouse does get cold at night). But she doesn’t seem to care how late I have to stay 🙂 What a good problem to have!
I’m happy dancin’ for the chimps. 🙂
I don’t know why, but before this site had a lot of info about each of the chimps, Negra just became my favorite. Favorite maybe is too strong because i love them all, but Negra just tugs at something special in my heart. It’s so thrilling that she is enjoying the new greenhouse.
Thank you for everything you do for the precious 7.
Choice, choice, choice…that is what separates sanctuary from the rest of captivity.
I was wondering what the temperature difference was, thank you. Negra looked nice-and-toasty and comfortable in her nest, enjoying her night bag of goodies. J.B., what time did Miss J finally come inside for the night?
They are all so special and unique, but there is something that sets Negra apart, I agree, Pat. I’ve never met her, but her photos are haunting – they take my breath away. She seems like an old soul, and I love that about her. Is it mean that I hope you work late all week, J.B.? 🙂
Being a volunteer at CSNW I have met Negra and, Felicity, you are right. She always seems like an old soul to me too. She seems comfortable in her own skin. She is the oldest of the group so had more years of horror than the others. Plus she was captured in Africa which means her mother was probably killed so the humans could grab Negra. The horrors she has been through are unbelieveable. It is so wonderful to see her basking in the sun now. She loves the sun so much. It is heartbreaking to remember she did not see the sun for decades.
The pictures of Negra make me cry for joy knowing she finally has a little bit of heaven right here on earth. Felicity, if it is mean I believe JB will have to put up with many of us having the same wish! Sorry JB but you gotta do what you gotta do! Thanks for the beautiful photos.
I have to put my two cents in about Negra also. She does seem like an old soul. I also think it’s because she endured so much after watching her mother die. I love seeing her enjoying the sun and her favorite night bags. I also love helping change the barred windows to chimp proof glass because Negra enjoys looking out and she has seen enough bars in her lifetime. Most of all, I love the fact that the chimps now have choices after so many years of research with no choices at all. J.B., at least you have great company when you have to stay late!
As a volunteer A CSNW I know it’s politically incorrect to “have a favorite” but from the very beginning there was just something about Negra that pulled at my heart strings. All the CE 7 are special in their own way but Negra just did it for me, I can’t really explain it, maybe it how she tries to stay out of the way when Burrito is running around displaying or when Jamie beats the drum and displays or how she loves a blanket over her when she is resting or how slow she moves or maybe her food grunts when sandwiches are served (or any baked goods, she loves baked goods) or how she will clap to get your attention or to let you know she is ready for more food to be served to her or how she loves to have her caregivers dance for her or how after breakfast is served she crawls up on the benches with a blanket, or how she loves to lay in front of a window when the sun is coming through or how in the early morning she is so sleepy and not really wanting to get up for the day or how she will play touch and tickle with Missy or how she will threat bark at you when you serve chow to her, or how she will sometimes (not often) try to poke you when serving a meal, or when you say good morning she will extend her lips to give you a kiss (that’s the best……… Nergra kisses) or how after dinner is served she will request a night bag………………
Wow…I am so appreciative of all your entries today, as I am sure many others are, as well. I just wrote Diana saying how all the caregivers do such an amazing job of allowing people to get to know and understand the CE 7, even if it’s just electronically. With each description you all write, it transforms Negra from 2-D to 3-D for me. Thank you. You know, something I kept thinking about today as I was reading entry after entry is that these chimps have probably never had anyone analyze and appreciate anything about them other than their ticket sales or liver counts until they came to CSNW. Here we are savoring every facet and intricacy of all that makes Negra…well, Negra. I am so happy that this chimp family is appreciated and clearly cherished by so many. Every day you all take care of these guys, and give them love, dignity and a routine to count on (whether they CHOOSE to participate in that routine, or not) 🙂 you help them trust again and find themselves, even if it’s a few decades late, and even if they aren’t in the wilds of Africa. On a side note, I am not familiar with the term “threat bark”?
Denice, thanks for all the information, fantastic and it’s greatly appreciated. I know the first picture of Negra isn’t a chimp smile, but the corners of her mouth turned up ever so slightly, looks like a soft smile. You know Negra touched my soul when I saw the 07-25-2008 video of her tummy rub and the expression on her face, at the end of the video.
I love reading the personal experiences of the CSNW volunteers, like Denice’s, if other volunteers had the time to write more of their experiences, in the CHIMP SANCTUARY SUPPORTER website, that would be wonderful.
Felicity, when I was at Chimp Eden some of the chimps barked when another chimp came too close or they thought a human was too close to the fence.Cozy has a very distinctive bark. It’s a somewhat high pitched and short sound that pretty much says “back off” although Cozy often did it for attention. It was so fascinating to hear their vocalizations from soft grunts of respect to the alpha to alarm calls when they detected danger. Their communication is complex and I watched many conversations with various vocalizations. Of course the temper tantrums of the youngsters were the loudest…LOL.
Jamie came inside shortly after I wrote this post.
Felicity – As Theresa states, a threat bark is a short, throaty vocalization that communicates a threat to the recipient, and it is often accompanied by direct eye contact. It can be extremely intimidating! Chimpanzee vocalizations are often grouped into things like pants, grunts, barks, hoots, and screams, with subtle differences within each of these categories resulting in different meanings. I don’t know if the threat bark is listed here, but I would encourage you to check out the Discover Chimpanzees website (http://www.discoverchimpanzees.org/behaviors/top.php) if you are interested in learning more about chimpanzee communication.
There is also a site with recordings of the different vocalizations of chimps from the Kabale Forest in Uganda. The link is http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~mnkylab/media/chimpcalls.html. There is a good example of a pant-bark there.
I was at the sanctuary doing my stint yesterday and on the drive over the mountains I was marvelling at the beautiful scenery and thinking how lucky I am to be living in the Pacific Northwest and not only that how lucky to be able to spend time with these 7 chimpanzees. I was rewarded by being greeted by Jamie. What an honour to be welcomed into her domain, especially when I am only there once a month. I always have my favourite chimp of the day when I am there, but yesterday it was shared between Jamie and Foxie, Jamie for being pleased to see me and Foxie because she refused to be intimidated into handing over her night bag to Jamie. I just read on the Save the Chimps site that her daughter Angie was ‘allowed to stay with her mom for 2 days after her birth and was then removed to the nursery’ and that made me cry for Foxie.
thanks everybody for sharing your observations, experiences & thoughts (gives us better insights and understanding for those of us that are far away) and for the links too.. so good to see a blog posting featuring Negra, I agree she’s a special soul (they all are!) I wonder if Jamie the ringleader has ever directly intimidated or hassled Negra in any way for anything!? or if Jamie generally leaves her be!? I’m so glad that the greenhouse is such a success.
Dee – Negra does have a special status in the group. The Cle Elum Seven seem to follow the British system of government, with Jamie serving as Prime Minister and Negra acting as the Queen. When push comes to shove, Negra doesn’t actually hold much power, but she does command a certain amount of respect from everyone in the group.
Jamie seems to direct her attention at those individuals that could be a threat to her status (mostly Jody and Burrito, and the humans since we inherently have a certain amount of control over the chimps). Since Negra doesn’t display any indication of wanting to be dominant, Jamie has no reason to hassle her.
Do I see for the future of the greenhouse the chance for the chimps to come and go as they please without being locked inside for the evening? Is that even possible or is it too dangerous for them?
Hi Sara – Yes, but at this point temperatures are still getting down to freezing at night, and the greenhouse only heats up when the sun is up. So even if we left it open to them, they would nest inside where its warmer. But soon we should start to have warmer evenings so we’ll see how warm it stays in the greenhouse overnight.
By the way, we installed a remote thermometer in the greenhouse so we can keep and eye on the temperature out there from the kitchen. Right now it is a comfortable 70 degrees with 67% humidity. Not bad considering it’s still winter! In fact, it explains why some staff members like to hang out in there on their days off 🙂
tanx J.B. – great analogy, very interesting.. I like how she (Negra) positions herself among this group.. a very wise & smart individual to say the least