If you “like” us on Facebook, you probably know, yesterday we had some technical difficulties with our website, so I was unable to get the video of yesterday’s lunch forage out to you– until now! The chimps had such an exciting day with lots of yummy treats. The weather was perfect and the food matched the holiday to the T. For lunch, they had corn on the cob (a favorite among everyone), whole raw onions (another favorite, believe it or not), cherries, and (of course) watermelon! The outdoor area was decorated in red, white, and blue, and the afternoon was spent lounging, grooming, and sleeping. Then, that evening, we gave the chimps Field Roast vegan dogs from volunteer Jeani (which resulted in squeaks, squeaks, and more squeaks) and more corn on the cob! Debbie set up a rose and tea forage in the playroom while I served dinner. When we left, they were back to lounging and seemed very content with the day.
Archives for July 2011
Happy Birthday to Jessica Martinson!
Today’s sponsor-a-day is from Alexis Takasumi in celebration of Jessica Martinson’s Birthday! Jessica does a ton for CSNW! She is not only a chimp house volunteer and serves on the auction committee, but she is also our Board President. She is a very inspirational person with a ton of experience working with animals, including chimpanzees, in a variety of different settings. In her professional life, she is the manager of the Continuing Medical Education department of Swedish, a non-profit health care organization in Seattle. Alexis is one of Jessica’s former employees at Swedish. This is what she had to say:
“I am transitioning into a new position at Swedish and will no longer be working for Jessica in the CME Department. Before I left, I wanted to do something to thank her for being the best boss that I have ever worked for. She has been like a mentor to me and I am really going to miss being a part of her team.”
So not only is she inspirational in the chimp world, but she’s an inspirational boss, too! Happy Birthday, Jessica! Thank you so much for all you do for the Cle Elum Seven!
Hail to the Queen
None of the following photos are by any stretch of the means “award winning”, but they represent a very special moment I just had with Negra. I was sitting outside on the new concrete footings for the soon-to-be tunnel to Young’s Hill (!!) and hanging out with Burrito. We were alternating between grooming, tickling, kissing my hand, and playing this game we often play where he leans to one side and bites the cage and I reach towards him like I’m going to touch him and he moves to the other side, laughing hysterically. Although for Burrito, it was a very mellow moment. Negra was laying beside us in her typical corner of the outdoor area with a bright pink blanket completely over her. She heard us starting to get louder with our “fake out” game and sat up, threw the blanket off of her and walked over towards Burrito to greet him. She sat next to him for a little while, but since our playful games had fizzled, Mr. B eventually walked away. Negra then walked back over to her pink blanket and put it over her head. I said “Oh Neg, you look so beautiful!” and asked her if I could take her picture. She gave me a slight headnod of reassurance, so I took the following photos. She seemed pretty content that the focus was now on her. Unfortunately I was too close to get a photo without bars, but I think with a face like Negra’s, they are pretty easy to forget about.
Annie
Overgrooming
You may have noticed in photos and videos over the last year or so that Jamie has resumed overgrooming her belly. In the lab, she picked all of the hair out from her chest down to her waist on her right side. She stopped as soon as she arrived at the sanctuary. We were delighted, of course, and as her caregivers we patted ourselves on the back for a job well done.
Then, last summer, she began to pick at her belly again. It coincided with a brief illness, and while she recovered from the illness quickly, the overgrooming persisted.
It’s possible that the discomfort of the illness played a role in reviving an old habit, but it may have just been a coincidence. Perhaps the novelty of sanctuary had worn off and she was seeking more stimulation. Or maybe it was stress. Or anxiety. The staff and volunteers created new enrichment programs to try to keep her occupied, but the overgrooming continued.
Overgrooming is a fact of life in captivity. Not all chimps will do it, but for some it is a lifelong habit (in a recent study, overgrooming was found to be one of the most widespread abnormal behaviors in zoo chimpanzees). Normally, we wouldn’t be too concerned, because habits by definition are persistent and do not always reflect an individual’s current state. Both Annie and Jody overgroom their arms, but both were stolen from their families, raised without a mother, imprisoned in tiny cages for decades, and subjected to medical experiments. With a history like that, I would be surprised if someone didn’t have a lifetime of behavioral issues.
But trauma is only one part of the problem – captivity itself is the other. Chimpanzees are incredibly smart, and they evolved to live in dynamic environments and in complex social systems. Even the best zoos and sanctuaries are dull and predictable in comparison. Captivity also restricts a chimpanzee’s ability to make her own choices. We often take this ability for granted, but it is extremely important to our well-being – similar to the way we don’t appreciate the air we breathe until we are without it. I imagine that for a person like Jamie, captivity must literally feel suffocating at times.
Jamie’s behavior is only unusual in that she did stop, only to resume two years later. What changed? We may never know.
Just to be clear, Jamie is fine. She is healthy and doing all of the same things that she has always done. But we want to be as open as we can about life at the sanctuary, and that includes all of the difficulties and frustrations of caregiving as well as the positive, uplifting stories.