Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
While staff and volunteers were cleaning the greenhouse before breakfast this morning, Annie and Missy bided their time with a little wrestling.
And just because, here’s one of my favorite classic Annie and Missy play sessions from about five years ago.
Here’s to another five years of play faces and breathy laughter.
Sometimes I can hardly believe that this dream of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest has really come true, and these seven chimpanzees, on June 13th, are going to celebrate six years of a new life of peace that they never could have dreamed was possible. Dreaming is a beautiful thing.
Foxie:
Annie:
Burrito:
Jody:
Negra:
Missy (I had to look really hard to find a photo of Missy sleeping):
Jamie:
It’s Friend Friday! Okay, well, we may have made that up last week—but it turns out that it actually is a thing! So, we thought we’d keep the trend going and post about some friendships today.
This morning I got a video of rambunctious play between Foxie, Diana, and Burrito. At one point, Burrito turned toward Foxie and they started to play with each other. This is really important for their bonding, and we as caregivers tend to take a step back and let them play on their own. You’ll see in the video that Diana did just that. Later on, Jody joined in too, and started to play tug with Foxie. Foxie looked toward Diana to keep playing with her, but Jody was so insistent that Foxie play with her that Diana encouraged Foxie to direct her attention back to Jody.
This is a little bit longer than the videos I usually post, but the whole thing was so great I had a hard time cutting anything out. Enjoy, and please share on social media with the hashtag #FriendFriday!
Check out this post on One Green Planet we posted today about Negra. It’s truly a wonderful story and we’d love it if you would share it on social media, or just forward the link to your friends!
Here’s some pictures I took today — the weather is absolutely gorgeous so we set up a quick lunch forage for the chimps to enjoy!
Foxie:
Burrito:
Jamie checking out some welding work J.B. was doing down at the caregiver house:
And then she took her pile inside to enjoy and let me snap this nice head shot of her:
Today is a beautiful spring day here at the sanctuary and the chimpanzees have been enjoying a relaxing day in the warm spring breezes. Jamie was ready for a walk around Young’s Hill after lunch and after donning the Jamie-approved cowgirl boot, we set off. Everyone (with the exception of Negra who chose to enjoy the warm spring breeze from her nest in the sun) came out to spend time exploring. But Jamie and I decided to meander, stopping to check things out and wait for each other along the way.
This is not usually the case when walking with Jamie. She has a sense of purpose to everything she does and Jamie, being Jamie, typically determines the course and speed of the walk. She isn’t one to wait around for her caregivers (or the other chimpanzees) and does not appreciate any of us making up the route or getting ahead of her. But this spring day, with so much in bloom, she tolerated a little exploring on both our parts.
Once back inside, I found Jamie nesting in front of the barn doors, surrounded by her magazines and enjoying the warm breeze through the playroom.
She stayed like this for a long time, just gazing outside and enjoying the view into the chimpanzees’ garden. It was a rare treat to see her so relaxed and at peace.
She didn’t even mind the paparazzi.
We hope you are all enjoying equally beautiful and relaxing spring days, wherever you are!
Jody loves to harvest her own plants from Young’s Hill. In addition to a variety of wild plants that grow out there, we have planted several groves of bamboo generously donated by Provitro Biosciences. While Missy appreciates the bamboo for its climbing potential, Jody prefers to break off shoots and eat the leaves.
I snapped the following photos the other day when Jody brought this bamboo inside to enjoy.
And as I was typing this blog post, Jody dragged this giant piece of bamboo in from outside. Let’s hope the bamboo survives Jody’s love.
Everyday I put on clothes that have pockets to hold my keys, cell phone and wallet. When I leave the house, I carry a purse to transport the many “vital” items I might need throughout the day. Most of the time, I do this without thought since it’s such a natural part of my day. While I am grateful for the ease that these modern conveniences provide I can tell you with confidence that they are not strictly necessary. You might think that carrying things around as a chimpanzee could be challenging. The chimpanzees do not have pockets or purses (although they do have access to them provided by the daily enrichment) and yet they manage to carry around the important things just fine. In fact, their ingenuity is often inspiring! There are various solutions to the problem of carrying things when you’re a chimpanzee. Here are just a few.
Of course, hands and arms are always up to the task.
Mouths are often quite useful as well.
Carrying things on your back takes a little practice, but Foxie is a pro.
Options that are particular to chimpanzees are the hip pocket (the area between the thigh and the abdomen) and the ever popular foot grab!
Sometimes, you just have to make it work with whatever you have at hand. Jamie’s problem solving skills often lend themselves to situations like this in interesting ways. For example, she has been seen on more than one occasion to use this table to carry her portion of food from a meal to a more comfortable location were she can enjoy her selection at leisure.
