Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Archives for March 2024

Champion Among Apes

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The fact that the apes exist and that we can study them is extremely important and makes us reflect on ourselves and our human nature. In that sense alone, you need to protect the apes.”

We join the primatology world in mourning the loss of researcher Frans de Waal. Frans was one of the bigger names in primatology. His studies on cognition, emotions, empathy, intelligence, (this list goes on) are widely regarded as some of the most important studies contributed to the study of primates, particularity those relating to chimpanzees and bonobos.

Though in his early years most of his studies we focused on captive lab settings, he started to champion for non-lab studies and conservation efforts. In fact, he has been associated with many sanctuaries either as a member of board of directors or as consultant on behavior and welfare.

Frans was the author of many books on the topic of intelligence and empathy. Some of those aren’t all centered around primates but go through a whole spectrum of species. I could list all the books I recommend to read, but it would be a just a majority of his works. I will though say if you haven’t read his most influential book “Chimpanzee Politics,” that would be the best place to start. “Chimpanzee Politics” is the book that actually set me down the path to where I am now. At the time, I was well down the rabbit hole of majoring in political science and only a minor in anthropology, one of the many umbrellas the field of primatology falls under, which I was unaware of at the time. That book allowed me to realize I could marry up my political science and anthropology studies together.

“Chimpanzee Politics” was so influential to me, I was able to get Frans to sign my copy when he was passing through Seattle and giving a talk about animal emotions in conjunction with the release of his book “Mama’s Last Hug,” which I also recommend. “Mama’s Last Hug,” was written after the viral video of Mama recognized one of her oldest researchers, Jan van Hooff, visited her as she was in her final days. Not only can you read all about Mama in the book, but you can also read about her in “Chimpanzee Politics.” She plays a HUGE role in that monumental book.

The world of primatology has taken two big hits recently. Other than Frans, influential researcher Christophe Boesch passed away in January. Christophe also contributed a lot to the field with his research on social cognition, tool use, and cooperation of the chimpanzees in the Taï National Forest of Côte d’Ivoire.

With that, I will leave you all with links to Frans’ TED Talks about “morality” and “alpha males.” The are both really great.

To not leave everybody totally down, here are some happy photos!

Rayne

Rayne put her breakfast pears in a cup from yesterday’s celebration to avoid walking with totally full hands.
Look at that happy face! Rayne’s play session with Honey B this morning was just like this photo; a blur of fur and laughs.

Cy

Cy watching the traffic go by on the nearby highway from Ryan’s Lookout.

Lucky

Check out those peanut butter lips from her afternoon Kong!

Gordo

On his way back in from today’s lunch forage on The Bray.

Mave

Waiting for caregivers to give her and her family access back to the Marmot Mountain Playroom after cleaning.

Mora

These next few photo are terrible, but also too good not to share.

Grooming each other while laying down.
Who knows what warranted this hug? These two seem to find ANY reason to hug.

Cy and Lucky

It’s actually a little difficult to get photos of these two siblings together.
So it was nice to capture a few when they were both on Ryan’s Lookout during today’s lunch forage.

Another day in celebration of Cy!

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Our many thanks to Gaynell Schenck for not only sponsoring a special day of sanctuary in celebration of Cy for his birthday (which we celebrated on March 12th), but also for her gracious understanding when this writer fumbled and missed posting it!

“I would like to sponsor March 12th to celebrate Cy’s birthday. He is a kind, calm, confident leader of his troop, taking care of everyone, especially Willy B. I love to watch him reading his magazines until he is called upon to take care of something for someone. What a guy, that’s Cy”

Cy is really an incredible individual and his presence and amazing heart are a gift to his chimpanzee and human family every day. Thank you, Gaynell, for also seeing Cy for how special he is and for giving us another day to celebrate him.

Willy B and Cy:

Celebrate St. Paddy’s Day with CSNW!

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Happy St. Paddy’s Day, everyone!

Today, we hit the jackpot (literally). It feels like early summer outside, without the wildly frigid wind that we get in the springtime, which made it the perfect day for both groups to have outdoor forages! We celebrated with forages of green Gatorade with a raspberry garnish, corn, fingerling potatoes, beets, and cabbage. The chimps have been in a great mood most of the day, with lots of grooming and playing, and it feels like a breath of fresh air after we’ve all been cooped up inside for the winter. As much as I prefer the cold or rainy days over the heat that comes with the summer months, it does good things for the soul to see the chimps enjoying the sunshine and blue skies.

Photos From The Day:

Annie, lucking out in today’s forage and snagging four pieces of corn

Burrito, enjoying his corn in the sunshine

Sweet, dear Cy relaxing in the afternoon

Foxie, watching the party prep

Jamie, enjoying a purple fingerling potato!

Brave Lucky, out on the Bray

Lasting Impressions

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One of our blog followers inquired about whether any of our team members sport chimpanzee-inspired tattoos. Indeed, we do! Our tattoos vary widely in design, from minimalist line sketches of chimps to intricate portraits, as well as impressions of a chimp’s footprint or symbols that evoke memories of a particular chimpanzee.

Featured below, you’ll find a collection of chimpanzee-themed tattoos that our staff have adorned themselves with, each with its own unique backstory and significance.

 

A boot for Jamie :

“The boot represents Jamie’s affinity for cowboy boots and the time I get to spend with her walking around the hill. Some of my favorite memories with her are going for walks. The tattoo also is for my dad who passed away and he loved western movies.” – Caregiver Kelsi

Annie (Grace):

“It’s funny that I love chimp feet because I loathe human feet” – Caregiver Grace

Jamie’s footprint (Grace):

Jody’s footprint (Grace):

Terry’s footprint (Grace):

 

Angelo (Chimp Haven):

“Angelo came from a lab all by himself, no group of chimps or even one friend was with him when he arrived to sanctuary. He was quickly introduced to a fairly large, stable group of 14 chimps and he really flourished. He found friends and worked his way up to be very close to the alpha, Hugo.

I always loved watching how how politically savvy this loner from the lab was when he was interacting with such a large group. He always seemed to know how to keep himself out of trouble and how to alleviate tension. I had the privilege of being his primary trainer for most of his time at Chimp Haven and he always got a big grin on his face when he knew I had come just for him. He would lead me to a secluded area of the habitat where he knew no one would find us and try to steal his snacks.

Angelo was not only one of the most intelligent chimpanzees I have ever encountered but also one of the most beautiful. As time went on, the group expanded to include 21 members. It was during this period of growth that Angelo’s health began to show signs of deterioration and he unfortunately passed away at the beginning of 2020.” – Caregiver Sabrina

Angelo:

Bubbles (Center for Great Apes)

Knuckles (Center for Great Apes):

Pansy (Chimp Haven):

“Pansy was one of the first chimps I met when I started working with chimpanzees at Chimp Haven. She had been moved from the lab only a month or two before I started and in that short amount of time she became notorious for her relentless poop throwing. When she came to Chimp Haven and for the first year or so of her residing at Chimp Haven, Pansy lived in a group of nine girls and she was clearly the one in charge of this girl gang.

This group of girls was the one I learned to shift around their enclosure for cleaning and each day, first thing in the morning, Pansy was ready for me. As soon as I would start to shut doors to close the group out of an area Pansy would come, she would seem to appear out of thin air, and she would fast ball poop at me. I’m not sure if she aimed for my throat or she was just lucky but she took my breath away daily. The negative behavior of poop throwing never made me walk away or give up on my shifting. This continued on for several months until one day she came up and stared me down with poop in hand.

In the end, we seemed to come to a truce this day and instead of the usual throat punch, she threw the poop softly on my boot. The truce did not extend to any other caregivers and we soon came to realize that Pansy always seemed to have fecal ammo…because she would store a piece on her back, near her shoulder that she could grab at a moments notice. We called it her shoulder holster.

Through Pansy, I learned the virtues of patience and resolve in the care of chimpanzees who have retired from laboratory life. Each arrives bearing unique histories and the scars of past traumas. In the sanctuary, our number one duty is to demonstrate to the chimps that they have the ability to make choices, and to assure them that we, their caregivers, are dedicated allies in their journey.

Unfortunately, Pansy passed in 2019 but she’s always with me still.” – Caregiver Sabrina

Pansy:

Whiskey (Chimp Haven):

“I have a portrait of Whiskey, my very best friend. Whiskey was a wonderful, sassy, smart, and opinionated chimpanzee. He quickly stole my heart with his bigger than life personality, his silly side, his quiet breathy laughter, and by choosing me as one of the few humans he allowed in his circle. He made me laugh every day with his antics, whether it was throwing a scarf over his shoulder while he was on the move, playing chase with those stompiest of stompy flat feet of his, or panting at me and staring sweetly into my eyes after just having been excessively (and perfectly, in my opinion) sassy to one of his other caregivers. His best friend was Donovan, the alpha of his group who he came to sanctuary with. Whiskey sadly passed away in April of 2020. I miss him dearly, and am grateful to have a reminder of him always with me, as well as an excuse to talk about him whenever people ask about my tattoo.” – Caregiver Ellen

 

 

Training with Gordo

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One of my favorite parts of this job, besides building and maintaining relationships with my chimpanzee friends, is getting to participate in our Positive Reinforcement Training Program. Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT) means we use rewards (food, praise, play, etc) to reinforce and encourage desirable behavior. We do this to provide the chimps and cattle with the ability to participate in their own care, and make necessary tasks (such as preparing for a sedation or even serving of meals) as stress free as possible for everyone involved.

Recently we were discussing the need for Gordo to have a routine physical exam to get a better understanding of his current heart health and health overall. This posed a bit of a daunting task as our goal before completing the exam is to have him comfortable with being separated from his group, and participating in training with a focus on injection training. At the time of the discussion, Gordo had only trained a handful of times and generally did not show interest in participating when we asked him to. Here comes the fun part…making a plan to achieve this goal, tweaking the plan as we encounter obstacles, and most importantly – making the whole experience positive and enjoyable for Gordo and strengthening our relationship along the way!

You may be wondering, why does he need to be comfortable being separated from his group? In order to safely sedate and then remove a sleeping Gordo for his exam, he needs to be alone. This is both for his safety so he is not vulnerable to others as he falls asleep, and for our safety as we then have to enter his room once he is asleep to take him to the clinic for his exam. Through PRT, we can work to make being separated from the group a positive experience (for example, being by himself means he gets a jackpot reward of several of his favorite things) which will help him feel less stressed as we prepare for his exam. Without training him for separation, it would likely cause much more stress for him when being separated as there would not be an existing positive experiences under these circumstances. We also have the goal to focus on injection training so that when the time comes, he will hopefully present his arm or leg for his injection to begin the sedation process. This is less stressful and easier to accomplish than having to use a small dart gun to administer the sedatives.

The first step was to write a shaping plan – a step by step guide for how we hoped to accomplish these goals. Jenna wrote a plan, and we were quick to get to work on it! Only one problem, Gordo was not as eager as we were to start the training. Most of his group is incredibly interested in training, so we had to have two trainers – one to occupy everyone else, and one to train with Gordo. We quickly altered our plan to train with him during meal time, when he often separates himself from the group naturally and comes up readily to receive his meal. We use a frisbee with hooks on the back of it to show him where we would like him to stay during the session (this is called a station marker), and he got the hang of this quickly! He comes up to his station marker, and to my surprise and excitement, he was very interested in training within just one training session!

Gordo stationing (in a box he pulled up to sit in, of course!)

We use both verbal and visual cues to communicate what we are asking of the chimps. For example, if I were to ask Gordo to present his left hand, I would hold up my right hand (mirror image) with my fingers pointed towards him and say “hand.” I would expect him to put his left hand up, sticking all of his fingers (except his thumb…that would be hard to accomplish since it is so small!) through the caging towards me. Gordo was quick to recognize that we were having a training session during the meal, and he started offering up several different behaviors he had learned during his time at Wildlife Waystation and seemed eager to participate. This may sound simple, but for a chimp who just a few weeks before was not interested in coming up to train, this was a big breakthrough and very exciting! As often is the case when working with chimps, we needed to be creative in order to find what worked best for Gordo. We are continuing to work with him on stationing (staying in one place) while doors are being operated, and have been focusing on his arms and legs during training sessions as these are ideal locations for injections. He is doing very well presenting both of his feet, his hands, and his right arm and leg so far! So long as he continues to do well, we will start progressing in his injection training (the next step is simply bringing a capped needle along to our sessions for him to observe), and asking him to move to different locations to station to be sure he understands that the same concept applies in a variety of situations.

Gordo presents his foot

Gordo touches his station marker

Gordo presents his leg and allows for a gentle touch with a chopstick!

PRT is such an amazing tool to have as caregivers. It helps us build stronger relationships of trust and cooperation with those in our care, and also allows them to actively participate in their own care. Through PRT you can get many important diagnostic values that may even prevent a need for sedation and can allow you to monitor existing conditions more regularly. It is incredibly rewarding to make progress in PRT with any trainee, but especially someone like Gordo who was not always interested or motivated to participate in PRT, and who this training can so greatly benefit him by decreasing his stress around a necessary procedure! Go Gordo, go!!!

Is that you Spring?

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Today is the kickoff to what looks like a BEAUTIFUL weekend of sun and warm temps. As the schools head to spring break, the chimps head right into consistently cozy warm greenhouses and even more outdoor adventure time!

Here’s Annie in full Greenhouse Lounge Mode:

Burrito outside on Young’s Hill. Check out those first sprigs of green grass!

Jamie on patrol:

Lucky and Honey B spending some quality grooming time together:

Lovely Rayne and a new bonobo book she needed to check out:

Prehensile lips make turning pages easier:

A closeup of Terry:

Willy B keeping an eye on the outdoor activities from a playroom window (I love how distinct his shoulder swoops are):

We all can’t wait to welcome spring!

Wish List Wednesday!

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Today is Wish List Wednesday! We want to give a continuous thank you to everyone who donates to us. The wish list is a great way to directly donate to the chimps. It has everything from fun party items, like our upcoming Easter party, to our day to day cleaning items.

We noticed yesterday as we put books and magazines out for Cy’s birthday, that we are dangerously low on Lucy books! Lucy the bonobo seems to be a big hit for not only Jamie, but for Rayne and Lucky too!

Rayne holding two Lucy books in her pelvic pocket:

Jamie holding her favorite Lucy book in her pelvic pocket:

Bonus!

Honey B with one of her favorite enrichment items, paper!!