Archives for May 2024

Snapshots Abound

May 24, 2024 by Ellen Brady-McGaughey

I take at least one photo every day I am at the Chimp House. Often, this is in an attempt to capture all those special moments we get to witness and be a part of each day to share with you all, but other times it is just to capture a moment for myself.

This is one of those moments. I couldn’t capture it very well without taking a picture through the window, resulting in a lower quality photo, but I also couldn’t resist capturing this picture of Cy in complete peace, relaxing, feet propped up and big toes crossed, with his head resting on his arm. The definition of relaxed.

It is understandable if you have questions after this one! We tried out this dog toy “croc” for Jamie’s group, and after carrying it around with her for awhile, Jamie threw it back to us. She was asking for something, and in my quest to try to determine what she needed, I thought maybe she wanted me to put on the tiny croc like she does with her boots! This was not the answer, but she did want me to dance around a little bit for her with the tiny croc. What she had really wanted was Foxie’s evening juice cup, which was sitting behind me.

Did you know it is really hard to take a selfie with a cow?! Betsy was being super sweet the other day, licking me and allowing lots of pets and some hugs, so I attempted to take some pictures. But man, her face is so long, it was hard to capture it all!

Today was a day of many pictures around the sanctuary, with the chimps receiving lilacs and overall just enjoying a peaceful, sometimes rainy, day. Here is the day, in photos. I hope you all enjoy.

The day started off with a juice pool with pumpkin and sunflower seeds floating in it. Negra and Annie especially enjoyed these! Negra is pictured above, placing a seed into her mouth.

Annie with her seed remnants.

Later in the morning, the chimps received their lilacs. Negra was first to spot them and first to claim several!

Missy took hers upstairs to enjoy. I loved this series of Missy eating her lilac. It made me laugh how quickly she polished it off!

Two bites later and all the petals were gone!

Jamie was kind enough to stay in the portrait studio and let me take some photos while she ate her lilacs.

Cy’s group was not immediately interested in their lilacs, as they also had a lunch forage to eat! I checked back in later in the day, and the lilacs were disappearing…

Others may have enjoyed the lilacs as well, but Rayne was caught in the act! She really savored the lilac, stopping to smell it as she ate it.

As I was walking around to see who was enjoying the lilacs, I had a really sweet moment with Lucky at one of the windows. I showed her my hand which has a few scratches on it from a project I was working on over my weekend. She inspected it as closely as she could, then gave me a brief kiss. She then allowed me to take a few photos of her.

Now everyone is settling in for the evening after having had dinner, waiting for their last food puzzle of the day. I hope you enjoyed this photo journey!

Say Cheese!

May 23, 2024 by Kelsi

We have a lot in common with the chimps, so this will come as no surprise when I tell you all that some chimps do not not like to have their photos taken. That may sound familiar because I think we all know the people who shine in front of a camera, while so many others loath getting their picture taken. This may also explain why you all see more photos captured of some chimps than others. Cy is very photogenic and never minds a photo shoot. Whereas Missy always seems to disappear when the camera comes out. However, today Missy did not mind letting me take a few portraits while she ate her onions from her forage. Often, when Missy does let us take her picture, she will politely turn away to let us know the portrait session is over. I say this is polite because most chimps try to poke the camera once they have decided the photo session is over, which I can not blame them for!

Please enjoy the Missy and Negra series of portraits and some bonus photos!

Missy portrait series of her eating an onion:

Negra watching her group go out onto Young’s Hill:

Negra at the lunch forage:

And a well deserved nap:

Foxie foraging:

Annie and Foxie foraging together:

Burrito with a handful of forage, watching the neighbors also forage:

Rayne on top of a structure eating her apple out on The Bray:

A blustery day

May 22, 2024 by Anna

Today was one of those brisk days usually reserved for April. That traditional Central Washington spring wind has swept a chill through the sanctuary, leaving some of us in a bit of a gray mood…

You might be able to spot Foxie deciding she’s better off going back inside:

Luckily, there are indoor activities aplenty for the chimpanzees! Like foraging..

Rayne and Gordo eat their lunch forage:

And food puzzles to work on…

Willy B fishes out peanut butter from his dipper tube:

And caregivers to spend time with…

Jamie grooms the hole in my scrub pants that I’m self conscious about.

And Honey B stares directly into my soul.

Fool Me Once…

May 21, 2024 by Chad de Bree

After relishing in a decent streak of sublime weather, that streak came to an end today. With the chilly air and dark clouds over head, I don’t think anyone can blame the chimpanzees for staying indoors all day (albeit the first morning patrol). In fact, not a single person is in an area that offers optimal viewpoints to observe them. They are all tucked in for a nap.

Negra seemed to set the mood of the day early in the morning.

Since I wasn’t able to get many photos today, here are some I captured of Burrito during yesterday’s lunch forage.

*RECORD SCRATCH*

Ok. Never mind. As I was writing the above, I glanced at the security monitor and saw someone move through the outdoor chute onto The Bray.

It was Cy! He was on his way to his new spot.

After watching him up on the new structure, with magazine in hand, it hit me as to what he was doing. It was nice and quiet at the top of the Bray, and away from the ruckus down below. He spent roughly ten minutes seemingly just taking in the view and peace. He decided to leave when he noticed part of his group decided to also head outside.

On his way back, he crossed paths with his sister, Lucky.

Lucky also decided to take a moment to take in the scenery and quiet

As did Terry.

At the bottom of the Bray, on the boardwalk, Willy B was watching Missy’s group. (Gordo and Rayne were out and about too, just hard to get photos of.)

Speaking of the neighbors, when they realized over half of Willy B’s group was out, they decided they too needed to be outside. Well, minus one.

Missy was the first out, and since I didn’t stretch this morning, I didn’t attempt to catch up with her.

Annie, who was right behind Missy at first, took a detour to grab some of the ever-so-popular prickly lettuce growing on Young’s Hill.

Foxie on the other hand, decided she too wanted a fortress of solitude in the form of one of her new structures.

And then there is Burrito. The person who made me stop taking pictures to run around Young’s Hill and play with him. He did seem a bit distracted. That is when I realized he was looking at Lucky. He tried really hard to play it cool and to make it seem like he wasn’t paying attention to her at all.

And I will leave you with this additional photo I took of Burrito during yesterday’s lunch forage. My phone camera was acting funny and captured the photo like this:

There’s just something with the lighting and coloring that made me love this one of him.

A Hill of Beans

May 20, 2024 by J.B.

And just like that, Honey B (aka Beans, to some of us) became an outdoor chimp. This particular clip actually took place over a week ago and she has been out on her hill several times since! For now she is staying close to home (as is Mave) but I bet they’ll be exploring more soon. Your turn, Dora!

Here are a few photos of today’s lunch forage on the Bray.

Rayne:

Cy:

Cy discovering a whole apple:

Pant-hooting with delight!

Terry:

Cy finding an orange on the second tower:

Cy and Terry:

Terry:

Lucky:

Lucky, Rayne, and Cy:

New Things Outside!

May 19, 2024 by Diana

As Sabrina mentioned yesterday, we’ve had a crew of folks out yesterday and part of today making some wonderful enhancements to the outdoor habitats on both sides – Young’s Hill for the original group and The Bray for the group of nine from Wildlife Waystation.

The motivated crew was led by none other than the founder of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, Keith LaChappelle! Huge thanks go to Keith and everyone who accompanied him for all the work they got done!

Enhancements included planting trees along newly-installed irrigation lines, finishing and adding cool fire hose “roofs” to the new climbing platforms, and creating more resting areas. They had the opportunity to see the chimpanzees enjoy the new additions when we set out a forage for both groups.