Archives for July 2021

So Many Personalities

July 31, 2021 by Diana

This chimp house is so full of distinct personalities. I mean the building was brimming with personalities before, but, wow, now everywhere you turn there’s someone with their own unique wants and needs and quirks. And that’s just the humans! Just kidding – I am referring to the chimpanzees.

The two photos of Dora below were part of a series I quickly snapped yesterday. J.B. included one of them in his blog post yesterday.

Mr. Willy B got some solid Courtyard time today:

Of course there were some onlookers (Jamie, below):

Once Jamie noticed me noticing her, she pointed out the grapes that were right in front of where she was sitting in the original greenhouse:

Indeed, the grapes seem to be thriving in the hot weather and there are a LOT of very under-ripe grapes. I wasn’t able to convince Jamie, or Missy, who noticed me noticing Jamie noticing the grape vines, that they were a few weeks away from being good to eat.

As I was closing up, Foxie tossed me a strawberry shortcake doll from the loft in her playroom. This is a common occurrence as the lead caregiver of the day is doing the checklist and about to lock up; suddenly a doll lands right in front of you. Then Foxie puts her hand out, while laying down, in a gesture that indicates that she will gladly take the doll back if you toss it back up to her. In reality, she doesn’t even have her hand positioned in a way that she could catch the doll, even if my poor attempts at tossing it the six feet above were remotely on target. Eventually, she sits up and puts both hands out, or (like tonight), I find a scarf to tie around the doll, so there is a better chance that she could catch a bit of the scarf and pull the doll into the mesh.

On the other side of the building, when I climbed up to the Mezzanine, I was greeted by Cy. He had made a very nice-looking nest in the corner and was paging through a magazine. Meanwhile, Gordo was pacing the second floor of the playroom trying to get a glimpse at Mave, who might rank above his interest in food at the moment.

So many personalities and interesting observations for us caregivers to discuss and for us to share with you.

Speaking of sharing, I know some of you noticed that we had tried a new comment system yesterday for the blog called ReplyBox. There was a glitch in getting all of the old comments over, and we are waiting to hear back from the software’s support team. I’m hoping that they will fix it and we can use that moving forward. It has the requested features of allowing for emojis and for editing comments and the privacy standards seem a bit better than some other options out there. It will require people to either create a login via ReplyBox or sign in with Google or Twitter. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try to find something else! Thank you for your patience.

It’s Only Natural

July 30, 2021 by J.B.

Things have changed at CSNW.

Many, if not most, male former laboratory chimps are what people in the zoo world refer to as behavioral non-breeders. In short, they were raised in such unnatural ways (e.g., in human homes or in nursery peer groups) that they never learned “normal” sexual behavior. This isn’t to say that they don’t express any sexual behavior at all. Willy B, for example, loves to watch videos of female chimps on our phones – especially Jamie – which puts us in a somewhat uncomfortable position at times. And Diana and I worked with a chimpanzee that was notorious for getting women to bend down towards him so he could look down their shirts. But a large number of them don’t copulate. In fact, none of the groups that I’ve cared for long-term over the past 20+ years has included a male that does.

Until now.

For whatever reason, this wondrous ball of fluff named Terry defied the odds and loves to express his natural behavior on a regular basis with Dora. Which is great. But because sanctuaries don’t allow breeding, it raises the stakes of our contraception program. Terry was vasectomized, but that may need to be checked down the road as they do sometimes fail. Or the females in his group could be put on oral contraceptives as we have done with other groups during intros or for ongoing medical reasons. Stopping in for the chimps’ birth control always delights the folks at the local pharmacy.

Diana’s been on a kick lately trying to add to the genealogical data we already have for chimps in sanctuaries. So many of the chimps we’ve cared for in other sanctuaries are closely related to the chimps we care for now. And often the resemblances are uncanny. This is in part due to the fact that it’s a relatively small population, but it’s also because of how few of the chimps in labs exhibited breeding behavior. Terry, for his part, was born towards the end of large-scale breeding in labs and was released from the lab at a young age so he was never used to produce more chimpanzees for research.

***

I can’t tell you how much I love Cy. He really is a sweet, gentle guy. Tonight we watched the first real conflict among his group since they got to CSNW. Gordo was terribly upset (we don’t know why) and he followed Cy around, screaming incessantly while trying to get others to join him in going after the big man. But Cy, who is a good 30 pounds larger, held back and allowed Gordo to get whatever it was off his chest without engaging further. And no one backed Gordo in his efforts. Eventually some of the others got in a scuffle due to the group’s arousal level but that ended quickly.

This is what so many primatologists try in vain to convey about alpha males – the best alphas don’t rule solely through aggression and intimidation. They settle disputes. They promote cohesion in the group. They are loved and respected. Now we haven’t even gotten to know this group well enough yet to confirm that Cy is in fact the undisputed leader, but he certainly has some of the makings.

***

Honey B isn’t a big fan of change. She’s the nervous type, often retreating to a corner and clutching blankets when she feels the slightest bit stressed (something I remember vividly from our first encounter at her previous home). And with all of the new chimps, new facilities, and changes in enclosure access, I would expect her to have some anxiety. But all in all she has been doing quite well. The other day I played chase with her and she repeated ran across the grass in the greenhouse, which is a big step. And at this point she hasn’t been too much of a bully to her new (and old) friends across the hall. Though there’s still time.

Photo Dump

July 29, 2021 by Sofia Castro-Loza

Finding a theme for each day’s blog tends to really get to us after all the cleaning is done so by 1pm our minds are mostly just scattering to find good content. I don’t know if it’s the increasing heat that is expected to hit triple digits again during the next couple of days, but my brain did not cooperate to give me a magnificent story line for today. Because of this, I took the liberty of introducing photo dumps to the blog. These have been increasing in popularity on different social media forums, where people gather sometimes random or not so random photos, and cluster them into one single post with a caption as simple as “Photo dump” and maybe some random emoji to match the theme…if there is any. Usually, there is no specific sequence of events for these and they end up being a series of good photos that are otherwise using up space in the phone or camera memory and that should not go to waste. From selfies to scenic photos, they can include just about anything. I would love to spam all of you the million selfies I have unashamedly taken over the past months that have yet to see the light of day, but I’m hoping some chimp and bovine photos would suffice.

Jamie’s table for one

Negra’s morning nest

Rayne LOVED the movie tickets enrichment that they got today in the Mezzanine. I later saw her tangled in the tickets while unraveling more, sadly I was not able to capture the moment. But just imagine her laying down covered in movie tickets like a bride-to-be in her bachelorette party with a dress made of toilet paper, or a TP mummy, whatever is easier for you. It was just great.

I later saw Rayne nesting with the remains of the ticket stubs she was tangled in

Sweet sweet Dora during her afternoon resting time

Foxie with her doll looking inside the Green House to see if any friends would come out as well

A Gordito side eye <3

Honey, as beautiful as always

And then we have here a handsome Nutmeg

Rayne Rayne Don’t Go Away

July 28, 2021 by Kelsi

I think many followers often wonder how we identify the chimps. It’s a fair question. Once you know them you will feel silly for ever having a hard time telling them apart. We obviously look at physical features, behavior, and even body language. For instance, when Foxie goes out onto Young’s Hill, even when she is far away I can see it’s her by the way she walks. She is quite stomp-y. I can also identify her by her sexual swelling that we describe as a bow tie at the end, her white beard, her tiny figure, the intensity in her eyes, and a very sassy personality. We can not go off of things like areas they commonly nest or if a particular chimp is holding a doll because we have fake Neggie’s among us and from time to time Jody carries a doll around. But for you viewers you only get photos and videos which can be hard. So I thought in this blog I would help you all identify a new member of ours, Rayne!

Rayne has kind and curious eyes, when you look into them you feel a sense of calm.

Rayne has a longer face and slender body. Rayne also has a white beard. She seems to have bigger ears than the others in her group and has a pronounced brow-ridge. Rayne also has a lack of freckles. Rayne’s forehead is also a little ashy, which we hope to be able to help with :).

Rayne also looks like Tatu. For those who do not know Tatu, she lives at the Fauna Foundation in Quebec Canada. Rayne and Tatu are also sisters! I worked with Tatu for many years and I see a lot of Tatu in Rayne.

Rayne’s sister Tatu knows sign language. Tatu is very articulate when she signs. Rayne’s long fingers remind me of Tatu’s.

I hope this helps everyone identify Rayne a little better!

Hi-Diddly-Ho, Neighborino!

July 27, 2021 by Chad de Bree

As you may have heard, the quarantine period for the Lucky Six has ended. This means we are able to give them access to different areas, while still keeping them separate from Willy B, Honey B, and Mave. So today, we gave Willy B and crew access back to one of the playrooms and greenhouses as well as the front rooms and outdoor chute, while Cy and gang were given the other playroom, greenhouse, and mezzanine. It was filled with a lot of firsts. The two groups met each other closer than they have been able to since being here. It was also the first time Cy and gang were able to check out the upstairs mezzanine.

With this, we know the question will be ask if and when they two groups will be merged. Something like that that takes a lot of careful planning, which we are currently doing. At this time, we do not know an exact date, but when the times comes, you will be sure to know.

Here are some photos from today:

Willy B looking out into one of the Greenhouses through the window.

Cy reading one of his magazines in the Mezzanine!

Mave looking down at her neighbors from the platform in her playroom.

Dora testing out different spots in the Mezzanine!

Block You Like a Hurricane

July 26, 2021 by Anthony

This morning, supporter Kathy Benson swung by to drop off some new enrichment items for the chimpanzees.

Kathy has been giving to the sanctuary since 2008 and avidly follows the daily blog. Over the years, she’s donated enrichment items which were so cool that they made it onto the daily blog. Kathy’s always friendly to the care staff and enthusiastic about helping the sanctuary, so we’re happy to meet her at the gate and accept her gifts on behalf of the chimpanzees!

Today, Kathy’s bag of donated goods contained some new books for Jamie and brand new wooden toys for all the chimps, including some of the same painted blocks that Burrito famously totes around.

Since they’ve proven to be a bit more destructive than the other chimps, we decided to give the toy blocks to the new group of six chimpanzees to see if they would pass their inspection. We weren’t sure how it would go, but it’s safe to say that the blocks were a big hit. So far, they seem durable enough for the chimps living in that wing of the building.

Throughout the late morning and afternoon, the chimps were all seen carrying the little wooden cubes in their hands, mouth and feet. Only Cy seemed completely uninterested in the blocks (in favor of his beloved magazines). The following images (from a couple hours ago) show some of the inquisitive chimps hanging out with these new enrichment items.

Even though the chimpanzees provided me with ample inspiration, I still had to think of a catchy title for the blog post. According to J.B., Chad and I are developing a reputation for egregiously using puns in our titles and captions (even roping Sam and Kelsi into our corny games). As someone who likes to casually “rock the boat” around here from time to time, I’m not about to let a controversy like this just fade away.

Naturally, I spent the afternoon turning the word “block” over in my brain until something came to mind. I kept gravitating towards songs and movies featuring words that rhyme with “block.” The winner, of course, ended up being “Block You Like a Hurricane.” I knew it was perfect when I suggested it to caregiver Sam and she wordlessly walked out of the room.

(For the record, “We Will Block You / We Are the Chimp-ions” was the runner-up.)

Now that you’ve seen the cool new blocks and read the not-so-cool puns, here are some additional portraits that I’ve collected over the last couple weeks. Thanks for your continued attention and support!