Enjoy a video of a type of voluntary enrichment some of the chimpanzees like!
Archives for September 2022
Willy B in the Recovery Room
As Grace blogged about yesterday, Willy B took a trip to the clinic yesterday to get some stitches in his right nostril. He has recovered pretty quickly from the anesthesia but will still need to spend a few days apart from his group in order to let his injury heal.
Today he got a visit from his friends through the window between the front rooms and the Lupine Playroom. They were thrilled to get a good look at him and make sure he was doing well.
Gordo and Mave doing an inspection:
The busyness of daily care and planning for Hoot! continues here at the sanctuary so please forgive this short little update!
Today is for Patti Sims!
Elodie Hagberg sponsored a day to honor her friend Patti Sims on her birthday today.
Most people honored on sponsor-a-day posts are somewhat unknown to us, but that’s not the case with Patti.
Patti has contributed to the hope, love, and home at sanctuary over the last several years as a very hardworking volunteer, doing everything from scrubbing the floors to serving on the HOOT! events committee. We are so grateful for all of her work helping the chimpanzees in many different ways, even through the pandemic. We are so pleased to be able to honor her, thanks to Elodie!
If I can get organized, Patti will be spending part of her birthday helping me get packed for tomorrow’s in-person HOOT! event!
I know Patti would want me to remind you all to get your bids in before the online portion of the auction ends TODAY (Thursday) at 7pm PT / 10pm ET. Throw a few more dollars towards your bids or donations in honor of Patti today, and check out the in-person items to place an absentee bid now.
Thoughts From a Busy Day
Today has been a bit of a day here at CSNW.
We woke up to messages from J.B. and Diana that there had been a kerfuffle between the members of Cy’s group in the early hours of the morning. Although Willy B required a trip to the vet clinic, everyone is doing OK. Willy acquired an injury to his right nostril and had to have a few stitches from Dr. Erin. He was a rock-star during the procedure and is recovering well. A special thank you to Mekenzie, CRNA, for stepping in to assist Dr. Erin and Sofia with his procedure!
Dr. Erin Zamzow (right), Mekenzie (center), Sofia (right), and Willy B (on the table).
Dr. Erin giving Willy B his stitches:
Sofia charting a dental exam:
Displaying, fighting, and resulting wounds are a common part of chimpanzee society. While it is hard to watch at times for us humans, and sometimes the displays are so loud that we have to cover our ears, it often is a lot of screaming and, thankfully, direct physical contact occurs less often. It does happen, though, and another key aspect of chimpanzee society is post-conflict reconciliation. This includes reassurance behaviors, grooming, and play. We were relieved to see a lot of this, especially between the guys, and there has been a lot of reassurance between the other eight chimps in Cy’s group throughout the day today. On the other side of the chimp house, Jamie’s group has spent a lot of today watching the construction on Young’s Hill. I briefly interrupted a grooming session between Jamie, Burrito, Jody, and Foxie before Jamie told me in no short order to go away.
Everyone is well.
There was a lot going on today, but all the stress related to something I’d been thinking about for a few days… Not about unexpected trips to the vet clinic, so stick with me. The other day we had our virtual tour of the sanctuary for VIP ticket holders to HOOT! and one of our supporters asked Diana and I what we find to be the most rewarding aspect of working at the sanctuary. I fumbled out some vague answer (I’m not good at speaking on the spot) and Diana answered about how rewarding it is to see all the people who are brought together by the sanctuary and, also, how rewarding it is to see the chimps form relationships with each other and choose to spend time together. This has stayed with me for a few days.
Sanctuary is a unique concept that often seems better defined by an emotion, rather than a written definition. I’m not biased at all, but CSNW embodies this emotion in every way. Working here is a combination of the heavy feeling of knowing that the chimps we care for do not belong in captivity, but we are also so lucky to have the opportunity to know them and to get to form deep connections with them. It’s watching individuals in Jamie’s group play, groom, and be goofy. It’s watching the newly integrated group of 9 form relationships with each other that they might not otherwise have had the opportunity to form. It’s giving them choice, connections, and a lifelong home.
There are so many connections that have been formed because of the chimps here at the sanctuary. Not only have we connected with supporters all over the globe, that we otherwise would never have known, but it has also brought myself and all of my fellow coworkers here to the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. Most all of us have left the places that we called home and our family members to move here and it has created a truly special space where we are all each others family. And days like today, that are more chaotic than most, this comfort keeps my anxiety at bay.
So, if I were to better answer the question posed earlier this week, I would say that the most rewarding thing about working here is the connections. Connections with coworkers, supporters, and (last but certainly not least) the chimps.
We already owe the chimps so much, but this should also be added to the list.
Also, don’t forget that our signature fundraiser HOOT! is coming up this Friday, September 16th! The online auction is live and you can place your bids now! Our annual fundraiser contributes a large portion of the funds that allow us to provide sustainable sanctuary and lifelong care for all of our residents. Click here for more and to help us reach our fundraising goal!
Bonus Photo
Honey B, chillin:
Don’t Be Suspicious… Don’t Be Suspicious
New foods for chimpanzees can either make them excited, or suspicious. Today, the chimpanzees were introduced to mangosteens. I know that some of you know about Annie’s allergy to mangoes. Don’t let the name of these super fruits confuse you. They are not related to mangoes. They are more closely related to things like starfruit and lychee, though they are really in their own class. The taste has been described as a combination of strawberries, peaches, pineapples, bananas, pomegranates, and lychees, among other things. Again, they really are in a class of their own and hard to describe.
Mangosteens are indigenous to Southeast Asia. Found in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, it is known as the “Queen of Fruits.” Besides being extremely tasty, there are also many health benefits to mangosteens. They are packed with antioxidants, anti-inflammatory properties, support blood sugar control, and some studies have found they may also help promote weight loss.
Overall, everyone in Foxie’s group loved them! Cy’s group, on the other hand, had mixed feelings. Some didn’t even bother to try them. Those who did try them, however, seemed to love them!
Bonus photo of Cy watching me as I was cleaning their mezzanine yesterday:
Also, don’t forget to check out the online auction items! You can begin to bid on the items you want now! And for those who are attending in person, you can start thinking about which items you are going to bid on! I’m quite partial, and biased, on this beautiful painting of Mave!
Graze Anatomy
Before I dive into today’s blog, I have an exciting update to share: The HOOT! 2022 online auction started today!
You can visit the online-only page to decide which amazing items to bid on. Tickets are still available for the live event which will be held on Friday, Sept. 16 at The Foundry by Herban Feast in Seattle! You can learn more about the event by clicking here and buy tickets here.
We caregivers also enjoy viewing (and occasionally bidding on) items that commemorate our favorite sanctuary residents. Although there are some great chimpanzee-themed items, I must admit that I am quite partial to the plush Cuddle Clone of the Jersey cow, Meredith.
As many of you already know, the pastures that surround the sanctuary’s Chimp House provide a home to four rescued cattle: Betsy, Honey, Meredith and Nutmeg. This little herd helps the sanctuary by consuming vegetation that could potentially fuel wildfires. In turn, we give them food, water, shelter, enrichment, veterinary care, and everything else they need to thrive. Caring for these creatures is often quite different from the work we do with chimpanzees, so I’m taking a moment to share some interesting trivia about the sanctuary’s lovable, living lawnmowers.
- Domestic cattle (Bos taurus) are often called bovines because they belong to the subfamily Bovinae. This group also includes bison, buffalo, yaks, and other species of wild cattle. Sheep, goats and antelope are their closest living relatives and belong in the same family: Bovidae.
- The ancestor of all living cattle is the extinct aurochs (B. primigenius). Aurochs once ranged across Eurasia and North Africa and were commonly depicted in prehistoric art (e.g. the Lascaux cave painting shown below). People across the Roman Empire commonly used them in bullfights, but they likely went extinct due to deforestation, over-hunting, and competition with domestic cattle. The last known aurochs cow lived in Poland and died in 1627.
- Jersey cattle are specifically adapted to life on Jersey, one of the United Kingdom’s Channel Islands. The island’s human inhabitants carefully bred these cattle to yield milk with a high percentage of butterfat, and even prohibited the importation of foreign cattle in order to maintain this quality.
- Jerseys are not the most popular dairy breed in North America. That title belongs to the black-and-white Holstein-Friesian, which are larger and produce more milk per cow.
- Newborn cattle are called calves (e.g. newborn Nutmeg with mother Betsy, shown in the Farm Sanctuary photograph above). Immature females are called heifers and are only considered cows after birthing their first calf. Calves gestate for nine months and typically remain dependent on their mother’s milk for ten months before naturally weaning.
- Ranchers often castrate male calves so they don’t develop into adult bulls, which are difficult to house and manage. Young castrated males are called steers until they eventually mature into fully-grown oxen. Historically, humans utilized oxen as draught animals for pulling plows and carts. Even though they are a relatively small cattle breed (females are usually around 800 pounds), Jersey bulls and oxen can grow up to 1,800 pounds.
- The glands on cattle noses make distinct patterns that are as unique as human fingerprints.
- Cattle horns and hooves are bony structures encased in sheaths of keratin, the same protein that makes up human nails and hair. Hooves generally grow ⅕ -¼ of an inch each month. The hooves of domestic cattle must be trimmed periodically to prevent a variety of health issues (below).
- The common safety practice of horn removal is called polling. The remaining knob is called a poll and any subsequent horn growths are called scurs.
- Cattle and other ruminants have a complex, multi-chambered stomach that specializes in breaking down fibrous plant matter. They do not have four stomachs. The chambers are called the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum (diagram below) . The rumen alone can hold up to 25 gallons of plant material. Each chamber contains a unique microbiome that is critical for proper digestion and overall health.
- Cattle regurgitate chunks of semi-digested food called cud. They chew these again before re-ingesting them. This process is called “rumination” or “chewing the cud.” They chew in a conspicuous circular motion, grinding the forage against a leathery dental pad that they develop in place of upper incisors
- Bovines are quite intelligent and have excellent long-term memories. Experiments show that cattle can discern between individual humans and learn to avoid humans who treat them roughly and trust humans who treat them kindly.
- Cattle herds are complex societies that regularly split up and reunite (fission-fusion behavior). When not managed by humans, cattle form matriarchal hierarchies where bulls only associate for competition and breeding.
- Domestic cattle can run up to 17 miles per hour (for short distances).
- Cattle develop friendships with familiar individuals and reinforce their social bonds through grooming. Their preferred method of grooming is to lick each other with their raspy prehensile tongues (which also help them to grab food).
- The USDA estimates the current global population of domestic cattle to be over one billion head (individuals), up 13.2 million from the previous year. These populations contribute significantly to anthropogenic climate change. The methane released from cattle ranches accounts for around 14% of global emissions.
- Red meat consumption peaked in 1976 and has fallen dramatically since, but the average American still consumes around 57.2 pounds of beef each year. Ranching remains a key industry in the communities near the sanctuary (below). Recently, the availability of plant-based meat substitutes, the rising costs of beef production, and the recent drought in the American West may all be contributing to this decline.
Now you’re all prepared to absolutely slay a Jeopardy category on the subject of bovines. You’re welcome.
Don’t forget to check out the HOOT! page to get your bovine collectibles and contribute to their sanctuary home!
The end of an eventful weekend!
We have had so much to celebrate this weekend!
Yesterday, Annie turned 48 years old AND our awesome caregiver, Kelsi, got married!
The chimp house has been full of play sessions, laughter, special treats, and relaxation. Check out today’s video to catch moments from our eventful weekend!
*Bonus* photos I have been saving from my phone:
Dora (L) and Honey B (R) meet the skeleton for the first time:
Gordo meeting the skeleton with a mouthful of water:
Foxie:
Gordo holding his carrot with his foot:
Gordo smelling said carrot:
Negra’s nest:
Disclaimer: others may have contributed to the building of this nest. However, Negra claimed it!
Have a great week!