Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Jody’s beautiful face is so expressive. Her prominent brow ridge and intense gaze are most noticeable when she enters Young’s Hill for the first time each day. We see the same look of wonderment come over her each morning, day after day, season after season.
Today was sponsored by Erin Yuhas who shared this sweet message about her gift:
“I would love to sponsor this day of sanctuary in honor of my Aunt Jeri Abernathy’s birthday (although it’s actually February 29th!) She knows how much I love my chimps and she doesn’t want me to get her anything for her birthday. I figured the best way to get the best of both worlds is to sponsor a day for her birthday! I wish her a very happy birthday and hope she knows how much she means to, just as much as my chimp friends! Love you Aunt Jeri!”
Erin, thank you so much for celebrating your Aunt Jeri and the chimps! We so appreciate your kind heart and the difference you make in the chimps’ lives.
Jeri, a leap year baby! In which case, Missy would probably suggest you leap about all day long. All of us here hope you have the best birthday yet, however you choose to celebrate! 🙂
Missy:
Earlier this month we put out a special request to our supporters to help us come up with little projects for Jamie to work on. Let me tell you, we had some enthusiastic responses from our donors! She’s received satchels, file folders, folios, cases, specially crafted photos, picture books, colored pencils and much much more! While we can’t always get videos or photos of her enjoying all her new enrichment, we did catch her enjoying her newest journal just this morning.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has helped enrich the boss!
I once learned in a primate behavior class that adult chimps don’t tend to play much unless they’re playing with juveniles. Clearly, nobody gave the Cle Elum Seven the news. These are a few of my favorite play videos:
“Where did Jamie go?” Those are four words you never really want to utter. But if you know where Jamie is, and she thinks you don’t know where she is, then the fun begins.
Jamie loves to build fort-like nests surrounding herself with all manner of things. Her kitchenette, a barrel, a shopping cart, whatever strikes her fancy. And occasionally she builds them with the pretty clear intention of having some privacy and taking a timeout from everyone. Something we can probably all relate to and of course, who doesn’t love a good fort?
After lunch the playroom was particularly quiet and while we assumed everyone was tucked away somewhere napping, I couldn’t see Jamie. Then I just caught a slight motion of blankets being spun into a nest behind this barrel:
In these instances, Jamie seems to take particular satisfaction in our seeming inability to see her. She grows very still as we call for her and occasionally slowly peeks around the corner at us when she thinks we cannot see her. We get it. So we just go along. I mean imagine living with six family members day in and day out, not to mention a variety of humans hanging around all day. Who wouldn’t need some privacy? Hence, the power of the fort.
Sundays are definitely made for slow mornings and lounging. Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest had another nice relaxing snow day, which also meant that the chimps where hard to find. Luckily, I was able to find Negra and Annie though!
We feel the same way Negra:
Annie enjoying some morning snow:
Kim Williams sponsored this day of sanctuary and shared a sweet message about her gift:
“A belated birthday gift to my beloved chimpanzees – especially Negra! XX”
Kim, thank you so much for sharing your own special day with the chimpanzees. What a lovely thing to do. All of us here hope your day was a special as you help make the chimpanzees’ days. And months and years and lives.
Queen Neggie:
