Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for December 2024

The Key to Enrichment Part Deux

by

Last week, I wrote a bit about enrichment and some of the challenges of finding enrichment that is safe and suitable for certain chimpanzees with a proclivity for chewing on all manner of materials.

Today I am expounding on that a bit as a thank you to everyone who gave towards the Media and Enrichment Fund in the Comfort & Joy Auction (I listed everyone below!).

Enrichment is fun – it’s toys, and friends, and structures, and food puzzles, but it’s one of the most serious and important parts of caring for chimpanzees in captivity. Chimpanzees did not evolve to live in captivity. Captivity limits their lives, and chimpanzees need things to do! I am sure that enrichment coordinator Ellen would tell you that coming up with and giving the chimpanzees enrichment is extremely rewarding.

Seeing a chimpanzee interact with and be entertained and engaged by their environment is a uniquely fulfilling experience. Like Cy with his magazines. It’s difficult to imagine him without them, to be honest.

It’s quite obvious when Cy has been enriched with a magazine. He leaves evidence.

Volunteer Sarah C. was commenting about such evidence today while looking at one of the security cameras in the Marmot Mountain Playroom.

Here is the before security camera shot:

During:

After:

Huge thanks to the following donors for giving to the Media and Enrichment Fund in Comfort and Joy to support not just Cy’s magazine habit, but also books for Jamie and enrichment for all of the chimpanzees: Monica, Vicki, Jamie, Shelly, Arlen, Anne, Linda, Diana, Nancy, Julie, Jessica, Jayne, Deborah, Sue, Jackie, Jane, Deborah, Kevin, Jennie, Debbie, Nancy, Ionna, Lisa, Elena, Amy, Susan, Debbie, Martine, Zoe, Marisela, Regina, Cheryl, Linda, and Dora!

I have good news for those donors – the bookmarks celebrating our resident bookworms have arrived, and I’ll be sending them out this week!

I Spy

by

Over the past few months, I’ve noticed an interesting behavior from Willy B. He often sits by a window in one of his front rooms, where he appears to be watching the camera monitor that shows his group’s activities.
At first, I wasn’t completely sure about his intentions. But recently, during a morning conflict within his group, his behavior confirmed my suspicions. When a commotion started, Willy B checked several windows, trying to get a direct view of the situation. After a minute of searching, he settled in his usual spot – right by the window that overlooks the hallway’s camera monitor.
This incident has convinced me that Willy B is deliberately using the cameras to monitor his group throughout the day. He’s found a clever way to keep track of everyone’s activities, even when they’re not directly in his line of sight.
I was able to capture this in a couple short video clips for today’s video in addition to an exciting play session between Gordo and Honey B, which seems to becoming a daily occurrence.

 

I want to give a big thank you to Kathleen C. for her winning bid on the Jamie & Her Boot throw for the chimps and to Tammi F for winning the hooded moose blanket! Jamie’s group received both items today and while we didn’t get any photos of them interacting with these blankets yet we hope to see them in some nests tomorrow morning!

 

Jamie & Her Boot blanket:

Hooded moose blanket from Tammi F:

Don’t forget to check out our wishlist’s with local vendor Jerrols as well as our Amazon wishlist!

 

A Very Merry Forage

by

Today the chimps enjoyed some delicious dried fruits and veggies, thanks to Carol H. who won them in our Comfort and Joy Auction! Thank you, Carol, for bringing joy to the chimpanzees today in the form of a delicious morning forage! We also were able to purchase some dried fruit powders (cherry, tangerine, dragon fruit, and strawberry! So exciting!), which we used to make juice for the chimpanzees. Today, Foxie and friends tried the cherry fruit powder turned into juice, and Foxie was especially excited for this special treat.

I also wanted to share a big thank you to Kathleen C. for her winning bid in the Comfort and Joy Auction for carabiner clips! These are a gift for the humans of the sanctuary, as well as the chimps, and we are so excited to have them. We use carabiner clips every day to hang enrichment puzzles for the chimpanzees and having to search high and low for that last needed clip is never fun. We now have plenty of carabiner clips for our current enrichment needs, and we are so very grateful!

To A Young Zoologist

by

Thank you to Tobin, longtime supporter of the chimpanzees here at CSNW, for sponsoring today’s day of sanctuary in honor of a young zoologist.

“A few months ago, I had the good fortune of speaking to a zoologist named Luke. This scientist described the wildlife sanctuary that he has created and maintains in his grandmother’s yard. His refuge provides room and board and delicious refreshments for worms, ants, beetles, snails, and other migratory creatures. 

Given Luke’s attentiveness to the needs of those who reside at what he refers to as his “bugatory”, I thought that I should sponsor a day of sanctuary for him on December 13th. As of today, Luke has now completed a half dozen orbits around the sun and he is setting off on another year’s-long round trip. While I don’t thing that Luke is so old that he has grown a white beard like Gordo has, he is another year older. 

Luke is also interested in – and friends with- cats, dogs, and cattle. A few years ago, his grandmother introduced him to Burrito and his friends. As I understand it, he would prefer to see some gorillas at the sanctuary. I don’t think that request can be accommodated, but, given how Willy B, Terry, and Gordo can sometimes make themselves look bigger, perhaps they can be substitute gorillas, at least for today.”

Thank you, Tobin, for sponsoring this day of sanctuary. And cheers to you, Luke- for creating your own sanctuary in your grandmother’s backyard!

 

Snug as a Bug

by

Thank you Diana G. for the wearable nesting blanket! The blanket hoodie is so cute, the front is Honey B and the back has a picture of Negra. We thought it was only fitting for Honey B to receive this wonderful hoodie first. Before giving Honey B the hoodie, we showed her that it was more than just a blanket, but that you could wear it too! She seemed pretty excited. Honey B didn’t put it on, but she did nest with it right away.

Gordo playing chase and inspecting the hoodie:

Bonus of little Honey B:

Foxie’s New Dolls!

by

If you know Foxie, then you know of her love for troll dolls! It’s always exciting when she gets new ones and we’re so grateful to Ellen G. for her winning bid in our Comfort and Joy Online Auction on these new dolls for our sweet Foxie! I’m personally obsessed with the fashion style for the one on the right. The spot on hair match with the fuzzy outfit? Classic.

Before putting them out in the greenhouse, Katelyn went to show them to Foxie and Jenna snagged a few photos!

A blurry, but excited, Foxie!

I came back to check on them later and they had disappeared. 🙂

Bonus Photos: This morning, Negra stole the spoon that her meds were given to her on and carried it around with her a little bit. Which made for a fun photo shoot! (Don’t worry- we got the spoon back 🙂 ).