Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

Archives for April 2019

The Thief

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Boss Jamie is not generally light-hearted. She runs a tight ship and she takes her job seriously. It’s rare to catch her playing with anyone, but when we do, it’s almost always with Foxie, and it’s almost always the same game.

Jamie knows that a surefire way to get Foxie’s attention is to swipe one of her beloved dolls, because Foxie will inevitably join Jamie’s game of keepaway.

Jamie (left, plotting) and Foxie (right, oblivious):

The theft is complete and Jamie makes her getaway.

All the way down to the ground…

Foxie follows, as Jamie knew she would.

Sleeeeepy…

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The toastiest of toasty greenhouses, a full belly, a good friend (annnnnd…a blanket?!?!) equals the sleepiest of sleepy Foxies:

If you’ve been following the chimps’ lives for awhile you’ve probably seen us write about the fact that Foxie is the only one of the chimps who chooses not to nest with any blankets. She’s quite comfortable curling up in her tiny chimp way with her dolls on the heated floor or a sun puddle on a platform. I took all these photos, speaking to her throughout and even resized them for the blog before it suddenly dawned on me that she was sleeping on a blanket! I ran out to the greenhouse to see if maybe it had just appeared that way in the photos, but nope! There was not one, but two blankets curled around her. Not in full nest fashion like most of the other chimps, but decidedly under her. !!!

You may think, “What’s the big deal?” In the grand scheme of things, nothing really, as she’s been perfectly content before. Foxie has appeared happy and at ease nesting as she chooses sans blankets for almost eleven years now. Perhaps her whole life. And while it’s merely emotionally appealing to the humans to think she might be extra comfortable with blankets, she obviously knows herself best. But I’ve observed Foxie choosing to incorporate a few new changes into her days recently.

Foxie has also been known not to like to engage much with enrichment or reach into things, like boxes or bags, even if her beloved dolls are in them. The other night we gave the chimps grab bags for their evening enrichment (brown paper bags filled with toys and treats such as seeds and nuts, peanut butter pinecones, etc) when I heard a flurry of ripping and tearing. Grab bags are coveted by most of the chimps, but especially Jamie. I assumed it was her creating the commotion and when I went to see what all the hullabaloo was about, there stood Foxie, bipedal, tugging with all her might to extract several bags from the food chute and then proceed to go through each one and pull out all the items she wanted. My heart swelled.

Foxie has also demonstrated sudden progress in PRT (Positive Reinforcement Training). PRT allows us to work with the chimpanzees and invite them to participate in their healthcare which ideally makes simpler medical interventions easier and often dramatically reduces their stress when treatment is required. Foxie and I, along with Missy, are partners. We’ve been doing PRT for a few years now and as you may already be guessing from the above, Foxie isn’t really a fan. Of course, it makes perfect sense given her history. But low and behold, with the support and assistance of Missy, and sometimes the other chimps, demonstrating that a little spray here and there isn’t really a bad thing, Foxie is now participating more than she ever has. She’s not always thrilled, but she does it and continues to engage. There are even times that her relief and satisfaction in having participated and coming through “unscathed” seems almost palpable, as if she knows she accomplished something that required a lot of courage and it wasn’t so bad after all.

All these years later since arriving to the sanctuary, the chimps continue to amaze, surprise and delight us with their new found interests and courageous adventures. Even if the chimps try something new and choose never to do it again, their universe and spirits expanded from all the courage it took to try. Reaching into a bag, allowing a blanket to touch you, comfort you, may not seem big in the grand scheme of things. But for Foxie and her family, these seemingly small steps continue to be big ones in their healing. And for me, my heart shoots off silent fireworks, I want to jump and shout from the rooftops, because I’ve had the privilege to witness the bravest of brave souls expand.

Pictures Say it All

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Honestly, today I don’t have a lot of words. The chimps were having a blast on Young’s Hill all day and baking in the warm Green House! The pictures really say it all.

Burrito with a mouth full of grass:


This guy:

Fierce little Foxie:





Foxie trying to get Burrito the play:

Jody (the den mother):


Jamie:

 



Evolving Concern

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Maybe like a lot of people who begin to study primatology, my initial interest was centered around humans and human evolution. I was fascinated with our closest living great ape relatives, partly because of the intriguing stories they helped to tell about our common ancestors.

And then I met some chimpanzees in person.

I became interested in their relationships with one another and how they functioned as a group.

When directly caring for chimpanzees and not just studying them, when facing them one-on-one and looking into their eyes, I then wanted to know who they were as individuals.

What did they care about? What made them happy?

How could I help them live the best possible life? Lives that were so far away and so different from the lives they should have experienced in the wild in equatorial Africa.

How could I share their incredible personalities and complexity with others, so that they too would see them as individuals worthy of concern?

Sometimes this blog seems like a small effort that reaches just a few dedicated readers. But then I learn of new people who follow the lives of the chimpanzees at the sanctuary. I know the blog, with all six of the caregivers at CSNW sharing our own stories and thoughts, reaches some incredible people who have fallen in love with the chimpanzees just as much as I have.

I’m thankful for every one of you who are part of this family.

Jamie’s New Ritual

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Yesterday, Diana and I returned to the sanctuary after a week away. I came up a little early for our afternoon positive reinforcement training session to say hello and was treated to some wonderful greetings by Annie and Negra, who were resting in the playroom. Annie’s was a grand submissive gesture – a series of pant-grunts delivered while bobbing up and down excitedly. Negra’s was gentle and sweet – a long kiss on the back of my hand accompanied by soft breathy pants.

Then Jamie approached. She walked up, slid a book under the caging, and walked away. If it were any other chimpanzee I might been a bit disappointed by her reaction, but I knew exactly what she was saying: No time to talk, let’s walk.

There really is no one else like her.

 

The Sentry

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If you feel like you’re being watched when you arrive at the sanctuary, it’s because you definitely are. No one is more on the alert than Jamie Chimpanzee. She knows when the UPS truck has arrived (long before we hear the doorbell ring). She knows when someone is feeding the cows on the neighboring property, and she definitely knows when we have welders arrive whose boots haven’t been properly inspected by her yet.