Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for March 2015

Thank you, Erin!

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Today’s day of sanctuary for St. Patrick’s Day was sponsored by long time friend of the chimps, Erin McKenna! Such a fun day to sponsor!

If you’ve been a follower of the blog for very long you’ve probably noticed that we never pass up an opportunity to throw the chimpanzees a party. While this is fun for the chimpanzees and humans alike, it’s an important way to enrich the chimpanzees’ lives and provide them with variety and excitement to help alleviate the inevitable bouts of boredom that come with a life in captivity.

Party food forages help encourage the chimps’ natural foraging behaviors, something they would spend the majority of their day doing if they lived in the wild. Chimp safe decorations like paper streamers provide a fun wadging material for another common chimp practice. And who of us doesn’t just get excited when you see new and interesting things or favorite treats to eat?

Erin, thank you so much for thinking of the chimpanzees and enriching their day and their lives with your compassion and generosity! Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

Missy enjoying a past St. Paddy’s day celebration:

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New Boots for Jamie

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Jamie got a new pair of boots today. She has a pretty consistent new-boot ritual that I love watching. After we give her the boots, she walks around and gathers blankets and other materials for a nest. She sets the boots aside momentarily while she gets her nest situated.

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Once everything is in its place, she can devote the necessary time to inspecting the boots closely.

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A Morning of Play

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All of the chimpanzees have been in a playful mood today despite the rain. Shortly after arriving this morning, I spotted Missy and Annie playing chase in the loft and along the catwalk areas of the playroom. I could hear the echos of them foot stomping on the floor and their breathy pants (laughter) as they chased each other back and forth. Then I caught a glimpse of Burrito and Foxie playing chase between the playroom and front room areas. I watched for a bit, while still listening to the echos of foot stomps coming from the loft area. I thought Missy and Annie were still playing chase, but these stomps and laughter weren’t coming from the two of them. Instead, they were coming from Negra and Jody who were also busy playing on the catwalk.

It’s always nice to see Negra in a playful mood. She was also very excited for the kale forage we put in the playroom after cleaning.

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Foxie gazing at Dora

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One thing that has become clear to me during my years of working with chimpanzees: there is often no answer to “why” questions, such as “why is Foxie so enamored with troll and Dora the Explorer dolls?” Or, similarly, “why does Jamie want her caregivers to put on cowboy boots and “join” her on her walks around Young’s Hill?”.

Maybe rarely having access to answers for “why” questions makes the chimpanzees endlessly fascinating. And maybe it also allows us to concentrate on the “what” and the “how” questions, like, “what can we do to enrich Jamie’s life today?” or “how can we make sure that Foxie always has a choice of dolls?”

Today, this was the doll Foxie picked:

Foxie stroke dora

 

The bite test:

Foxei bit dora

 

The gaze test:

Foxie hold Dora

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Foxie hold dora

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foxie looking deeply into dora's eyes

 

and this is Foxie looking at me holding Dora before the three of us started playing chase:

Foxie walking towards Dora

 

Why does Foxie like her caregivers to play chase while holding one of her dolls? I don’t know. But, as more time passes, the better I get at figuring out what makes her particularly giddy when we’re playing these games.

 

Reassurance

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To follow up on Elizabeth’s post yesterday, here’s a good example of Burrito’s other side – the testosterone-filled Tasmanian Devil side that leaves a path of destruction and screaming girls in its wake. This is the side we usually see when we arrive to work in the morning.

As you’ll see in the video, Annie was the victim of one of Burrito’s drive-by displays this morning. Being a chimpanzee is stressful, but they have some pretty good ways of dealing with that stress. Like hugs, for example.

One thing you might notice in the video is that Annie also seeks reassurance from me and I don’t offer it to her. As hard as it may be to resist in these instances, we make a conscious decision to avoid inserting ourselves into their social conflicts. If Annie was startled by a loud noise, we would gladly offer her a touch with the back of a wrist to help comfort her. But when she’s involved in a social conflict, we risk upsetting the delicate balance in the group if we inject ourselves, even if it’s just to offer reassurance. At these times, the chimps aren’t just looking for emotional support – they may also be looking for political allies or even backup for an ensuing retaliatory fight. So we try to limit our involvement to a polite acknowledgement in the hope that they will work things out amongst each other. And they usually do.

Besides, no one can comfort a chimpanzee better than another chimpanzee.

Is Burrito cute?

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This afternoon, volunteer caregiver Sandra was hanging out with Jamie in the greenhouse when she called me over the radio to let me know Burrito was sunbathing, in case I wanted to come out and snap some photos for the blog. As usual, Burrito was unable to lie still for long once he sensed there was a human in the vicinity who might be enticed to play. See the end of this post for an adorable series of photos.

Speaking of the word “adorable,” we try to be careful with how we present the chimpanzees to people who follow the sanctuary. Much of what we share on this blog is happy and lighthearted. We love to share video of a great play session, or photos of the chimpanzees peacefully grooming one another or basking in the sunshine. And these are all things that chimps do. But chimps are also immensely powerful, intelligent, curious, willful, unpredictable, and at times, violent. We never want to give the impression that we view the chimpanzees as babies, or that we view them as harmless.

CSNW is run on a complex system of security protocols and safety rules that are based on the knowledge that chimpanzees are capable of doing great harm in the right (or wrong) circumstances. Volunteers are trained to treat the chimpanzees as equals; to offer them the same respect they offer fellow humans.

Respecting the chimps for who they are means being aware of and appreciating all aspects of their personalities. Jody may poke us one minute and offer us a kiss the next. Jamie may put on an intimidating dominance display, and then come over and gently groom our boots. Just like humans, chimpanzees are complex and multi-faceted.

So when I say that Burrito is adorable, I am not intending to take anything away from the strong, smart, sometimes aggressive adult male chimpanzee that he is. But in addition to those things, he is undeniably cute. I think there’s plenty of room in one person for all sorts of contradictions.

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Endearing Annie

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I don’t think there is anything about Annie that isn’t endearing. She is a beautiful and special chimpanzee woman. I love the way the chimp house is filled with “Annie bird song” throughout the day and just hearing her makes your heart swell because you know she is happy and content.

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I love times like this morning when we have to call her for breakfast because she is sitting on Young’s Hill by herself watching the sun come up over the hill. And it’s a joy to find her in the greenhouse so at peace as she soaks up the sun’s warmth. And I love Annie’s feet! The wonderful way she holds them, crosses them, claps them together when she’s particularly content, or just stretches them out in front of herself.

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I love how much she loves her best friend, Missy, and how much joy, curiosity, and courage she approaches each day of her life with.

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Annie is a gentle soul and even though she is a “chimp’s chimp,” meaning she prefers the company of her chimpanzee friends to that of humans, she only looks at us with kindness in her eyes. It takes a special person to be able to do that after all she has been through. And makes it all the more special when she decides to spend time with us, or run over and offer us the rare gift of a kiss.

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Annie brings so much joy to our lives. But most importantly, we couldn’t be more grateful that she gets to spend the rest of her life choosing how she will spend each day, with whom she will spend it, and being loved for exactly who she is.