Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for January 2014

All’s right with the world

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Days and days of cold, gray skies and icy, freezing fogs have visited us here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest recently. However, that hasn’t deterred the chimpanzees from enjoying the privilege of Young’s Hill. Today was no exception; once finished with breakfast the chimpanzees ventured out into the frozen landscape to patrol, explore, and relish their freedom. I was lucky enough to capture an action sequence of Jamie climbing to the top of one of the wooden platforms in order to get a good view of her world. I hope you enjoy it!

Jamie approaches the pole to the wooden platform:
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Jamie looks up to survey the pole before climbing:
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Jamie begins her ascent:
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And makes her way up, hand over hand:
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Jamie dismounts and looks down to Missy (still sitting on the ground below):
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Once achieving the platform, Jamie surveys her domain:
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Going Her Own Way

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Annie has been steadily growing in confidence since arriving at the sanctuary. And with her newfound confidence has come an increased independence. There was a time when Annie wouldn’t leave her best friend Missy’s side. Missy was not only friend but security blanket. And while Missy is still no doubt Annie’s favorite person in the world, Annie is spending more and more time in peaceful solitude. It seems Annie’s finally learned to enjoy her own company.

This afternoon when Missy decided it was time for a little exercise on Young’s Hill, Annie followed her out but then went off in her own direction for a lazy stroll.

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After several minutes of sprints on the hill, Missy wore herself out and headed inside to the warm playroom to rest. Annie watched Missy go inside but took her time following. When she did go in a few minutes later, she stopped in the empty greenhouse for a few moments of alone time. (She found a leftover corn cob from lunch to wadge.)

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A little later, Annie headed into the playroom to curl up next to Missy. Despite her growing independence, Annie’s always appreciated the comfort that can be found in a good friend.

Routines

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The routine of each chimp house day that we’ve established with the chimpanzees allows them to know what to expect, and allows us to do the eight+ hours of work efficiently. But it’s not just the humans who have their routines. I’m always delighted to participate or witness a chimpanzee-created routine, like Jody’s morning greeting or Foxie’s after dinner, casual “give and take the troll” game.

Jamie’s routine of walking around Young’s Hill is probably one of the most written about aspects of our chimp-driven activities, but there’s one aspect of the walks that I really love because it seems to give Jamie so much pleasure. She doesn’t always do it, but more often than not, when Jamie takes me on a walk (which is really the way it goes), there’s a spot on the far side of the hill where she will veer away from the perimeter. She’ll walk on the log bridge over there or wander in the bamboo. I usually walk a little further and then wait. When she’s done with her lone exploration, she  comes barreling out, heading directly toward me. She doesn’t do this in an aggressive manner, though it was somewhat intimidating the first time I witnessed this; and I’m glad, for her sake and mine, that she is secure behind two tall electric fences. She just really seems to find it great fun to come out of hiding and run quickly towards her walking companion, and then continue the rest of the way around the perimeter.

I got a few photos of this today. They’re not award-winning images, but hopefully with the story behind them, you’ll have a better sense of what they are about.

Here’s an establishing photo to show what the landscape has looked like around the property for the last week or so. It’s not snow, it’s hoarfrost, the rather pretty cause of our power outage the other day. The cold temperature did not stop Jamie from walking around the hill twice today. These photos are from our second walk

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Here’s Jamie leaving the perimeter:

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and here she is bursting out of hiding:

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jamie running frost background

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Today is for Jack, Sue, and Zach!

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A day of sanctuary was sponsored today all the way from Australia by Kim Williams for Jack and Sue Dignum! Today is Jack and Sue’s grandson, Zach’s, birthday and Kim expressed that they wanted to be able to share this day with Jack and Sue by sponsoring a day for their favorite chimps. Kim expressed that Jack and Sue “are extremely kind and generous and we love them to bits! We hope the chimps have a lovely day!”

Kim, thank you so much for thinking of the chimpanzees today! Jack and Sue do so much to support the sanctuary and we are honored that the chimpanzees are included in such a special day for your family. And from all of the primates here at CSNW, Happy Birthday, Zach!!

Burrito knows a thing or two about parties!

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Stability

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We often mention on the blog the changes that we observe in the chimpanzees and how we’ve seen them grow over the past five and a half years. There’s no doubt that they are still coming into their own, after living the majority of their lives in lab cages and having no control over their choices and no ability to predict what could happen next.

One of the tragic things about captivity is that the chimps are entirely dependent on us caregivers—we provide food, blankets, enrichment, and we shift the doors between their enclosures. For this reason, it is very important to have a routine so that the chimpanzees can have expectations, and can make decisions based on what they know will happen next. This is what is truly the epitome of being in a sanctuary.

Through these choices, we really see the chimpanzees develop their idiosyncratic likes and dislikes, and we see them grow and change over time. Foxie used to only want to play with trolls, and then some time ago she expanded to nurturing Dora dolls (though she still loves trolls). Jamie has a extreme love for boots, but recently it’s been more fashion boots that she prefers over cowgirl boots (her old favorite). Missy loves socks and slinkys, Burrito loves to have wooden toys to bite on, Annie loves to rub water on her face, Jody likes edible flowers and soapy bubbles, and Negra likes peanuts and nesting.

Having choices has allowed the chimps to relax, enjoy the sunshine, friends, good food, and space to run—and that has made them so much healthier and stronger than they ever were in the lab. See for yourself, check out the before and after photos of each of the chimps on their story pages here.

Although we see so many wonderful changes in the chimpanzees due to all the choice they have now, there are some things that never change. I was looking back through some old blog posts from this time in 2008, before the chimpanzees arrived. Diana’s first impressions of the chimps were spot-on and still six years later, they enjoy the same things she predicted they would when they came to CSNW. She talked about Jamie and choices, Negra and nesting, and Missy and Annie’s close friendship and their desire to play, play, play. These are things that the chimpanzees love to do everyday, but unlike in the lab, they are able to fully appreciate and express their preferences.

Today, the enrichment theme was “grooming day.” Jamie had lots of enrichment to choose from. Boots, scarves, emery boards, scrub brushes, trolls, pillows, blankets, paper, and even a toothbrush. Out of all of that, she chose to make a big nest out of a tube of exam table paper. (Thanks, Carol!)

Negra cuddled in a giant nest:

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Missy and Annie:

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And just for fun, Missy’s enrichment item of choice on grooming day:

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I so look forward to the changes that are to come and see how the Cle Elum Seven will continue to flourish in sanctuary , but I know I can still count on some stability in the foundation of what they each love, and will continue to enjoy more and more for the rest of their lives.

No such thing as an easy project in Jamie’s eyes

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Jamie likes projects. If you’ve been following us for awhile, you’ve probably heard us say something along the lines of “she’s always keeping busy.” It’s so true! Her mind is always working out some puzzle, I think even when she’s napping she’s still getting a plan together about what to do when she gets up!

The other day she and I were going through her boots and she pointed toward this high-heeled zippered boot. I took it to the chute where I could give it to her, but she didn’t move. I came back over to where she was and she gestured like she just wanted to groom it. I wore it for her while she picked at it, and then I took it off and let her hold it against the caging and groom at her leisure.

Very quickly she started to unzip it. At any time I could have tried to give it to her through the chute, but I think she preferred to work on it the hard way—through the caging.

Foxie and the power outage

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It was a bit of a weird day at the chimp house today. For the past few days the area has been surrounded in freezing fog and the frost line can be seen just above where the sanctuary sits. The tree line above Young’s Hill is completely covered in hoar frost and it really looks magical. But even though it’s very cold outside, that hasn’t stopped the chimpanzees from venturing onto Young’s Hill for quick trips before returning to the warmth of the chimp house. Before going out this afternoon, I caught Foxie sitting in front of the door to Young’s Hill with her troll, seemingly debating if she felt like braving the cold with the other chimpanzees.

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Foxie and her troll seemed to have a brief consultation over the situation.

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I guess they came to an agreement and then Foxie tossed the troll on her back and off they went.

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Foxie on a platform with the icy tree line behind her.

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Other than the cold temperatures, the freezing fog hasn’t seemed to affect things too much down here. Until today. In the middle of the afternoon we suddenly lost power. This isn’t a common occurrence, and when it does happen, it usually doesn’t last long. Again, until today. It seems the ice had weighed down the power lines. When it became apparent that it might be awhile before our power was restored we ushered the chimpanzees inside and began our emergency protocol to get the generator running and make sure the chimp house stayed warm.

Here’s Jody bringing in her prized chunk of ice she found in one of the tire swings on the hill.

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Of course, the chimpanzees knew something was going on but handled it all with ease. Thankfully the power company arrived quickly and went to work on the problem. Not without the supervision of Foxie (and her troll), who watched from the window, where she kindly allowed me to snap a photo of her beautiful face.

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Perhaps thanks to Foxie and her troll’s supervision, the power company had everything up and running again just in time for dinner. One thing’s for sure, there is never a dull moment at the chimp house.