Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for April 2017

Easter 2017 Part II

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The day after the big celebration the chimpanzees have been napping, resting and eating light, recovering from yesterday’s all day party! As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, here are a few photos from the first Young’s Hill forage of the year (aka Easter Party #2):

Annie picking carrots we “buried” for the chimps to harvest:

Jody and Negra (Negra was ALL over the place! It was her day 🙂 ):

Jody finds a quiet spot to enjoy her spoils:

Missy scored on corn:

Foxie and Dora on the hunt for Easter eggs filled with nuts and berries:

Boss lady, Jamie, thrilled with her beloved leeks:

And a bonus video of Easter shenanigans from the breakfast forage:

Today is for Nicole Moore!

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This day of sanctuary was sponsored by Caralene Fleming and Hanna Moore in honor of Nicole Moore! We are always touched by the circle of love that surrounds the chimpanzees and all the ways in which they are made even more special and included in the celebrations of those who love them.

Hanna shared this lovely message for Nicole’s special day: “For Nicole’s birthday she wanted to sponsor a day for her best buddies. She checks in on the chimps every day and they always bring a smile to her face. She cares so much for animals and people and a few years ago these chimps were the latest to steal her heart. She is so excited to get to come visit this summer and hopes that her pals have a great day on her birthday.”

Caralene and Hanna, thank you so much for generously sponsoring today for Nicole and the chimps! And Nicole, thank you for sharing your love of the chimps and for all you bring to their lives. All of us here at CSNW hope you have a beautiful, happy birthday!

Beautiful Jamie:

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Happy Easter!

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Party! Forage! Easter egg hunt! Rest! Repeat! This has been a beautiful and peaceful Easter Sunday here at the chimp house, but that said, it’s also been a day of non-stop celebration and relaxation for the chimps. Their day started off with a breakfast forage in the greenhouse consisting of Easter baskets filled with Easter grass (lettuce), strawberries, blackberries, clementines and watermelon. They also had Easter egg hunt #1 and gift bags filled with pistachios:

And this has been Queen Negra’s day! She’s been the first to show up at all three parties today and had been all over the place! She was so excited as we set up breakfast in the greenhouse as she watched from the playroom window:

And she found one of everything and the perfect spot to sit and enjoy it all:

Burrito enjoying his basket in classic Burrito style…

…head first:

Foxie enjoyed her basket and was smitten with her new Dora doll:

Jamie was all over the place and at one point we saw her climbing up to the top of the greenhouse carrying at least three Easter baskets, but we managed to catch her briefly:

Missy found a gift bag:

The chimps also had some wonderful handmade pinatas from a good friend of theirs and we’ve been giving them a few for special occasions. Burrito was completely in love with this one and carried it EVERYWHERE for the entire morning:

As the breakfast party wound down, Annie contemplated building a nest right in the middle of it all:

And so she did:

Jody managed to get to the top of the greenhouse where Jamie had left her stash of Easter baskets so was out of sight of the camera for the breakfast party, but believe me, she had a good time!

The chimps spent the rest of the morning racing around Young’s Hill and resting up for their Easter lunch forage and Easter egg hunt #2 on Young’s Hill. The weather was perfect chimp weather in the 50’s and it’s the first forage on the hill this year which was pretty exciting for us all! We’ll have photos of the rest of the celebration tomorrow!

But in the meantime, we’ll leave you with party #3 and the chimps’ Easter dinner. They enjoyed roasted Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, onions, and red peppers topped with a smidgen of avocado and accompanied by a 2017 wild berry tea:

Burrito was okay with party #3:

Here he is looking for evening enrichment (tonight it was peanuts in Boomer Balls, wrapped in scarves):

And Missy:

However you celebrate Easter, or whether or not you choose to, we hope you all enjoyed a day as beautiful, peaceful and joyful as you all have made possible for the chimps. We are so full of gratitude to each of you for filling their days with hope, love and excitement.

Pine Cones with Peanut Butter

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One of the challenges that we have at our particular sanctuary is that we have one individual who tends to claim highly-prized food items that are meant for everyone.

Pine cones with peanut butter, one of our evening enrichment items, are are a good example.

We make extra before spreading them around in an attempt to ensure that everyone can get at least one. Sometimes the other chimpanzees choose to leave them in favor of other food if they are part of a dinner forage, like they were last night. No matter what, though, Jamie tends to end up with more than her share…

 

Jamie hoarding pine cones

 

She does really, really appreciate them, though:

pine cone contemplation

Jamie lips to pine cone

Jamie eating a pine cone

Jamie eating pine cone 2

The pant-hoot vs the pant-grunt, as demonstrated by Burrito and Jody

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Sometimes it takes a little bit of play-by-play commentary to understand chimpanzee behavior..

In this video you can see Burrito displaying and pant-hooting. A chimpanzee displays when they want to look tough and intimidating to others. You will notice Burrito’s hair is erect (making him look fluffy) and he stands bipedal to make himself appear larger. A pant-hoot is a low and breathy call that rises into a louder scream-like call, and it often accompanies a display.

This particular display happened shortly after a small fight between the chimpanzees had just ended. As a fight winds down, the chimps tend to separate and let off the last little bit of “steam” they built up during the fight.

After Burrito’s display, you will see Jody approaching him and doing a lot of submissive behavior. You can see she stays low in a crouch and bobs up and down when approaching him. You can also hear her try to placate his building display with deep rapid pant-grunts. I think J.B. mentioned a while ago, but but this kind of submissive behavior isn’t necessarily a sign that Jody deeply respects Burrito, but more that she wants to avoid getting smacked during his charging display.