Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for June 2012

Food grunts and breathy pants

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One of the things that I like about the GoPro camera is that you can hear some of the sounds that the chimps are making when they are way out on the hill. In this video, you can hear food grunts from Jamie and Jody and of course a couple of Burrito’s famous food squeaks.

You can also hear Foxie’s breathy panting as she reassures Burrito. Chimps will often reassure one another with vocalizations like this, as well as through touch and embrace, when the potential for conflict exists. If there is a limited resource, like nuts and seeds spread on the ground on Young’s Hill, the chimps will sometimes try to make nice before a conflict erupts over who stole food from whom, in an effort to prevent this kind of conflict. Normally, the chimp receiving the reassurance would provide some sort of acknowledgement, but that’s not Burrito’s style – he prefers to close his eyes and pretend that uncomfortable situations don’t exist.

Blanket fort play

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The enrichment at the sanctuary changes daily, and we try to come up with different things to entertain the chimpanzees. As I was picking up trolls that had clearly been bitten into (some were ripped almost in half!) I was thinking that there must have been some sort of troll forage. Jackie confirmed that they did indeed have frozen watermelon in troll dolls as a forage the day before. I started wondering what the average person must think when they hear that caregivers fill troll dolls with frozen watermelon as a fun project. It must sound so strange! But the chimpanzees really love stuff like that, and we try to take advantage of the kind of enrichment we have (and we have TONS of trolls since they are a Foxie favorite) and make it even more enriching.

Today we set up a blanket fort—we tied blankets together and made a really low ceiling for the chimps to walk under. It was sort of like the day we draped some blankets over the barrels, but this was bigger and more spread out. And it was enriching for the chimps, so I think we succeeded in our goal!

The blanket fort lasted a pretty long time, however I just saw Jody taking it down in order to nest with the blankets. She seemed pretty content with all the blankets she managed to collect since they were tied together.

Toning it down a notch

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Missy probably has more energy than anyone I know, especially when she’s playing. But it’s fascinating to watch her play with Negra. Negra doesn’t play too often and is usually pretty subdued about it when she does, so watching Missy tone it down a notch in order to get to play with the Queen is really pretty special.

Bipedal Annie

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Following the video yesterday, here are some shots from this morning of Annie walking bipedally. She does this a lot on Young’s Hill. It’s obviously not the primary way of locomotion for chimpanzees, although we do see it here and there. There are a bunch of theories about why bipedal locomotion evolved – maybe based on the need to look over the tall grasses as our ancestors became less arboreal, maybe the need to carry food or babies, or, the new theory JB shared with me this morning as we were watching the chimps forage on the hill – the “this just feels icky on my hands” theory. I’ll have to look that one up, but I think it might be the one that fits Annie best?!

 

Burrito is still good ol’ Burrito!

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Mr. B is almost always playful, but he really has been over-the-top playful lately! This video is definitely a good laugh, but my personal favorite part is the cackling you hear coming from the videographer (who shall remain nameless) when Burrito and I are playing tug-o-war.

Anniversary Wishes & Board Match

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As the newest member of the team and working from home in Seattle, I don’t have the day to day interaction with the chimpanzees that the caregivers do. However, I’ve been working at the Sanctuary this week, so I had the opportunity to hang out with the chimpanzees for quite some time and got to partake in the anniversary and birthday parties this week.

Happy Birthday Negra! That was the chant heard round the chimp house on Wednesday as we celebrated her birthday. Here’s a photo of Negra from one of the celebrations the chimpanzees enjoyed. One of Negra’s favorite things are her night bags – and so we gave the chimpanzees special ones today during the day and in the photo you can see Negra running to come get hers.

Negra running for her special night bag

As you probably know, for our four year anniversary we are raising funds to build Negra a cabin on Young’s Hill and I wanted to tell you about some exciting news! The Board and Staff of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest will match the next $4,000 in donations – of any amount! Yes, that’s right. Your gift will be doubled by the leadership of the sanctuary. You can support the campaign by clicking here. All donations of any amount are welcome – and all will be matched until we reach $4,000 in donations. And remember, for donations of $100 or more, you can have your name listed on Negra’s cabin and your $100 donation will be doubled!

If you’ve already supported the campaign with a donation, thank you. Thank you for your support of Negra – and the other chimpanzees at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. Because of you she can enjoy her favorite baked foods, peanuts and lettuce in a peaceful and safe setting with the other chimpanzees that have come to be her family. And soon, she will have a comfortable and secure place to enjoy the views from Young’s Hill. Thank you!