Archives for May 2021

A friendly reminder from summer

May 31, 2021 by Katelyn

Summer made a visit to the sanctuary today, just to remind us of it’s impending arrival in a few weeks! Whew! It was a beautiful day! (We just haven’t quite caught up with such temps yet 😉 ). With the exception of California Girl, Mave, who has spent the ENTIRE day soaking up the warmth outside in the chute, most of the other chimpanzees chose to spend the majority of their day inside where it was a bit cooler, munching on ice cube treats and relaxing by the fans.

This morning we saw the cattle enjoying their summer pasture while it was still relatively cool. Here’s Betsy:

Meredith, Honey and Nutmeg, just around the corner:

When Chad returned from doing cattle care later in the afternoon I was marveling that they were all lying in the hot sun. Chad clarified that only Nutmeg and Honey were sunbathing and Betsy and Meredith were down standing in the creek! Good choice, ladies, good choice.

The doors and windows to the chimp house were flung wide today, with birdsong burbling through like a brook and the occasional, hoped for breeze. Annie is in the background, waiting for her ice snack:

Annie crunching her ice cubes and looking cute, because she’s beautiful Annie:

Willy B nesting in the breeze:

Jamie and her boot, taking in the summer-like weather:

Annie on snake patrol:

Missy was eating ice in her greenhouse nest hoping for a breeze:

We don’t tend to get much work up to our warmer weather in this part of the state. It goes from cold to hot pretty quickly, so even when it’s not *that* hot yet, it sure feels like it when it was much cooler a mere day or so ago. We had a lunch forage on Young’s Hill for the seven, but it heated up a little faster than we anticipated and some of the chimpanzees opted to make a quick run out and back. Jody in particular wanted lunch served inside near the fans today, though she did go grab a few items from the hill to enjoy in the greenhouse afterward:

The one person who was completely undeterred by the heat today? This guy, Burrito! It might have been hot with all of us moving in slow motion, but that’s no excuse for not playing. (And notice those greenhouse panels are off! Woot! It’s officially the summer season!):

However, he had no problem falling fast asleep in his nest this evening. Sweet dreams, Bubbie…:

And on the Burrito note, we’d like to send special thanks to Jenara Miller who sponsored today in honor of Carrie Miller, wishing her “Happy Birthday!” Carrie is a long-time chimpanzee pal (to Burrito) and bovine buddy (to Honey Cow). Yay, Carrie!! We hope it was the best one yet! We so appreciate all that you help make possible for all the special beings who call the sanctuary their home.

Sunday Leftovers

May 30, 2021 by Anthony

Today, I decided to share some “leftover” photographs of Mave’s birthday celebration that didn’t make it into earlier posts!

On Thursday, we threw a bash to commemorate Mave’s 32nd trip around the sun. The party- planned to perfection by Chad, the sanctuary’s Enrichment Coordinator- featured whole coconuts, giant banana leaves, pineapple bowls, and massive heads of iceberg lettuce. Anna posted and amazing video from the event on Thursday, and Diana shared another fun clip on Saturday of Honey B enjoying the sandbox well after the party!

Now, here are some still images to complement their media coverage of the festivities. Enjoy!

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Mave immediately grabbed a coconut and ran away to devour it in peace.

Then, Mave also annihilated an entire pineapple stuffed with iceberg lettuce.

Honey B preferred to drink her coconut by the pool.

(Sadly, I didn’t get any good photos of Willy B because he was running around scarfing down all the lettuce and stomping on coconuts.)

On the other side of the building, the neighboring group of chimps had an equally amazing birthday bash in honor of Mave. Since they can hear and see each other, it would be unfair to leave them out of the fun, and they seemed to appreciate all the same appetizers, entrées, and desserts.

Jody, forager extraordinaire, swiftly grabbed a coconut and then went back out for peppers afterward.

Annie found a coconut and loudly slurped all the liquid from inside. The sound was kind of gross, to be honest, but it was funny that we could hear it from 100 feet away.

Missy went after the lettuce, but had to acknowledge Jamie before she could run away and eat it all in privacy.

Negra’s strategy was to chase everyone else and beg them for food. It works sometimes.

Foxie “flew under the radar” during this forage. She was barely visible as she ate iceberg lettuce atop a distant platform.

After displacing Missy from her perch on the Treat Rock, Jamie harvested a bunch of coconuts, iceberg and peppers. Even though she paused to sip on a coconut, she had a hard time carrying it all back into the Greenhouse.

Burrito’s manner of transporting lettuce and coconuts made us all chuckle. At one point, he gave up trying to hold it all and just kicked his coconut downhill towards the Greenhouse.

Thank you to everyone who sponsors chimps, donates items, follows and engages with our online media and supports the sanctuary! Once again, you facilitated another memorable birthday party for Mave and her companions.

Honey B and the Sandbox

May 29, 2021 by Diana

As you can see, I “caught” Honey B in the sandbaox when I turned the corner. I love how many different things she tries with the sand.

For you blog readers, who are invested in the sanctuary on a deeper level than those who might just see a video we post on social media once in a while, I’m curious to hear your reaction to the statement I included within the video.

We are always discussing how to put sanctuary life into context and attempting to avoid inadvertently sending the wrong message about “cute” chimpanzees that might elicit the desire to own primates as pets. I refer you to this post by Anthony from over a year ago.

We’re really glad this issue is coming up more and more in our field, and I’m sure we will be reconsidering things we’ve posted in the past and doing more of these explanations within our posts, like we do on Instagram now too. Let us know your thoughts!

I hope you all were able to take the time to dig into something new today too, like Honey B.

If you haven’t already, check out the beginning of our online auction and don’t forget to tune in to the virtual Queen’s Brunch event in just a couple of weeks on June 13th!

The Many Uses of Fire Hose

May 28, 2021 by J.B.

Nicolas Santos, an 8th grade student at St. Luke School, recently collected fire hose for the chimpanzees. Nicolas’ parents, Erica (a former CSNW board member) and Enjay (a former CSNW volunteer), gathered up the family to help deliver it to the sanctuary.

The response to his project was so overwhelming that they had to rent a U-Haul trailer.

Already, Chad and I have began to hang some of it up in the new greenhouses, which are just weeks away from completion.

By the way – we’re very grateful to the donors who purchased the safety harness and lifeline from our wish list. Look at the view from up top! Just don’t look down.

As Nicolas mentioned in his flyer, chimpanzees use fire hose in a number of different ways.

They walk across it:

They climb across it:

They sit on it:

They swing on it:

They lounge on it:

They…do whatever this is:

Occasionally, they even wear it:

Thanks, Nicolas, for helping us enrich the chimps’ home! Honey B, Mave, Willy B, and the “Lucky Six” are going to love it.

Mave’s Birthday Party!

May 27, 2021 by Anna

Chad (our enrichment coordinator) planned Mave a special Hawaiian themed birthday party featuring pineapple bowls, banana leaves, a sand table and young coconuts! As you’ll see in the video, the coconuts in particular were a huge hit! Happy 32nd birthday to the delightful Mave!