Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
In today’s blog, we caregivers wish to express some heartfelt appreciation on behalf of the sanctuary residents. Our good friend Jenara Miller sponsored today, May 31, in honor of Carrie Miller’s birthday. Carrie is a dedicated and generous supporter of the sanctuary and we’re excited to celebrate their birthday here on the blog!
To accompany our best wishes, we’ve included some new photos of their beloved chimpanzee pals (below).
This may seem redundant since Diana had posted a video only a couple of weeks ago of Dora and Honey B playing, but I had to share this play session between the two from yesterday. It just makes me happy knowing that these two are now back together after being separated years ago. It’s almost like they are trying to make up for lost time.
Since this is a semi-repeat, here are some bonus photos!
Honey B up close and personal:
Terry grooming Dora:
Meredith enjoying the green grass of their new pasture:
Happy Sunday, everyone! Here at the sanctuary, it is cloudy and in the low 50’s (before adding in the *aggressive* wind that hits every spring). This means that it has been the perfect day for some much needed R&R… and the chimps have been vibing. Us humans have been enjoying it too – the last few weeks have been so busy, with the integration of the 9 and Negra’s procedure, that we have all been operating under some level of stress.
Today, though, both humans and chimps seem content to go through the day calmly and intentionally. We have been checking things off our daily tasks while the chimps enjoy time together or with the staff. It has been so nice to walk through the chimp house and hear breathy laughter coming from some of the chimps playing or teeth clacking from some serious grooming sessions (looking at you, Willy B). It seems that we all needed some R&R and we are more than happy to soak it in!
Lucky taking a moment for herself in the Oakwood Greenhouse this afternoon. Her brother, Cy, was nearby and they seemed to just be enjoying each others company.
Willy B (read: Chaos Coordinator) about to catch some shut eye after lunch in the Front Rooms.
Terry enjoying a quiet moment in the Oakwood Greenhouse after breakfast. That floof is something else!
Cy watching Terry as Terry watched me take pictures of him (Terry)… make sense?
Burrito taking a nap in-between play sessions.
Annie enjoying the quiet in the warmth of the greenhouse.
Negra is still healing up great and enjoying her mini-staycation, complete with movies on demand, food puzzles, and dancing caregivers.
BONUS PHOTO: Dora from the other day- not in rest or relaxation mode- but in full play mode. The photo from my phone is a bit grainy, but I thought the moment between her and the slinky was too great not to share.
Hope you are able to have some rest and relaxation today, too!
(And knock on wood… I don’t want to jinx the quiet chimp house. 🙂 )
Before I get to the brief content of this blog post, I have a question for you, or, rather I have a request for your questions.
Several months ago, I recorded a conversation with Jen Feuerstein about integrating groups of chimpanzees with one another. Before that conversation, I invited blog readers to submit your questions for Jen. Then I made that recording available for a small donation.
I am going to be talking with Jen again in just a few days so that I can follow up with her now that she helped us make the final leap in putting the two groups of chimpanzees together. The group of nine has been together for just over a month, so the timing seems right.
Once again, I am inviting you to submit your questions about the integration process and now also post-integration considerations, worries, and expectations.
Your questions can be general to captive chimpanzees or specific to the integration that we just did. My thought is to add the follow-up conversation to the original video and make the whole thing more widely available for anyone who is interested in watching it (perhaps with a donation suggestion but available for free).
Let me know what you think, and write your questions in the comments to this blog post or send them to me by email at [email protected]. Thank you!!
On to today’s musings:
We’ve written about nightbags before. They are the post-dinner packaged treat that we give the chimpanzees. I’ve never met a chimp who didn’t like them.
It’s more than just the food at this point, though.
It’s the ritual.
The crinkling of the paper as your caregiver twists the bag to hand it to you though the mesh.
The cracking open of the bag (however you might choose to get into the contents of your bag – some break the twisted bag in half, others carefully unroll it, open the bag, and reach in).
The immediate gratification of staying right where you are to partake or taking your bag and going to your favorite spot, away from everyone else.
The spreading out on a surface, then sorting with your fingers or lips, or just shaking the contents and pouring the seeds, peanuts, popcorn, and dried fruit right into your mouth (your individual method has been honed to your personal preference over the years).
The finding someone else’s nightbag spot and picking through the leftovers to see if there are any surprise shells with seeds still contained.
All of it is so satisfying.
Just ask Annie:
Or Foxie:
Today, Mave celebrated her 33rd birthday! We’re so grateful to both Paulette Wrisley and Kenneth Reiter for sponsoring this day her her honor (in addition to Melissa Reed, whose sponsor post came earlier in the day).
One of the challenges of keeping the peace in a new group is to make things exciting for them, but not too exciting. Forages have a way of bringing out the competitive spirit in some chimps, if you know what I mean (see: B., William). So the key today was to ensure that Mave got some of her favorite foods without causing any unnecessary drama. And it was a success! We kept the forage fairly low-key and then made sure that everyone got at least one coconut and one mango. Honey B brought home the award for best coconut cracker, while Willy B had to watch some of the other chimps smash theirs open before figuring it out.
While Mave loved the food, her real present was the one thing money can’t buy, which she already received just recently – Dora! It seems that Mave has always wanted a Dora of her own, and now she has one. For her own birthday, Dora may want to ask for some personal space 🙂
Happy Birthday to an amazing chimpanzee.
Thank you so much to Melissa Marcus for sponsoring a day of sanctuary in memory of her mother, Arlen Bishop!
“In memory of my beloved mother, who loved all animals and taught me to love all of them, too.”
Melissa, it means so much that you chose to share your mother and her memory with all of us and the chimpanzees, thank you! What an incredible legacy she gave you. We’re sending you all the good thoughts today and hope you feel some of the comfort and joy you’ve helped bring to the chimps.
Beautiful, adventurous, endearing Annie:
Annie and her beloved bestie, Missy:
We’re so fortunate to have multiple days of sanctuary being sponsored today by friends of the chimpanzees!
To start things off we are celebrating the Marvelous Miss Mave and her 33rd birthday! Many thanks to Melissa Reed for honoring Mave and helping to bring even more hope, joy and possibility to her and her friends’ lives. We really appreciate you thinking of Mave, Melissa!
“Every time I look over at my calendar this month, that beautiful gal is looking right back at me! Happiest of Birthdays!”
Mave (along with Honey B and Willy B) have called Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest home for close to three years now and if you’ve followed the blog during that time you’ve most likely seen us waxing poetic and singing her praises every chance we get. Mave seems to be our resident social butterfly when most needed and we’re endlessly in awe of, and grateful for, her peace-keeping skills and kind and loving heart toward her fellow chimps. She is such a special person and we’re so honored to get to celebrate her!
Happy Birthday, Mave! We love you so!
Of course, be sure to tune in later today to join in her celebration and another sponsor a day in her honor!
