Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Our many thanks to a amazing friend of the chimpanzees, Jamie Reagin, for sponsoring this wonderful day of sanctuary in honor of her father, Stanley Friedman, on his 94th birthday!
“Happy Birthday! Love, Jamie”
We’re so honored that you’re choosing to celebrate such a special day with the chimpanzees, and all of us! Have a really amazing day!
Burrito:
Rayne:
Jamie and Burrito:
Cy:
Missy:
And now for another installment of…Ask Jamie.
Nutmeg will always be remembered for his (usually) gentle and innocent nature. I hope you enjoy today’s remembrance video in advance of his birthday.
If you’ve been with us for some time, you may recall (or allow me to remind you) of the blog post Boyish Charm I wrote about the endearing qualities that Nutmeg seemed to share with Burrito as well as our big-headed-and-hearted dog Wilson, who has also since passed away.
I still don’t know what precisely it is about their “enchanting youthful demeanor” that fills me with such love, but I am eternally grateful for having experienced Nutmeg’s presence and big doughy personality, and to have been able to be with him on his last day last spring.
I hope you will eat an apple for Nutmeg tomorrow.
Honey B and Terry have been living together, just the two of them, for a few weeks now. As you can see, they are making the most of it. Check out those play faces!
I must admit, the quality of these videos is not great. But, I had to share! I mean, those faces! Gah!
Click here to see for yourself!
In most groups of chimpanzees that I’ve met, there is usually at least one chimpanzee that is that “easy” chimpanzee for caregivers to get to know. There’s no need to work to earn trust or go through countless days of hazing, or even take some time to know each other. They’re just immediately your friend, from day one, no questions asked. It’s refreshing! Terry is that guy at CSNW.
Terry is a great “starter” chimp. When new volunteers take their first tour at the sanctuary, Terry and Cy (also a nice guy) are immediately available to make people feel right at home by hanging out with them through the windows of the mechanical room. If you so much as set foot through the doors near his enclosure, Terry is there, blowing raspberries to get your attention and luring you into a friendly game of chase and/or shoe tickle. When we are training Level 3 caregivers to interact safely with the chimps using protected contact, Terry is ready and willing to teach them all he knows. It’s a simple pleasure getting to know the open book that is Terry Chimpanzee.
If you think of chimp friendships like high school cliques – some are obvious showstoppers, while others fly under the radar. Mave and Dora? They’re the best friends everyone knows about. Missy and Annie? They’re obviously BFFs who can’t get enough of each other. But there’s this quieter duo that’s my personal favorite to watch: Rayne and Lucky.
We don’t see them take part in exuberant play or spending copious amounts of time grooming each other but when it’s quiet and things are winding down you’ll find these two napping together during the day, exchanging unwanted food items between each other at meals and building nests side by side at night.
I already shared these photos for Rayne’s birthday, but they are worth re-posting:
Rayne & Lucky foraging together
Lucky & Rayne napping together today while caregivers were cleaning their rooms:
Rayne and Dora are due for an exam in 2025 so we have started to focus on their injection training during Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT). Both of the girls have their “arm” behavior down already (despite what Dora showed in the video) so they already are comfortable presenting for a practice injection. However, we will need to continue working on hold times with both of them so they don’t pull away as soon as the needle touches their skin.
As you will see in today’s video, Dora was not interested in participating today. She was interested in the reinforcements I brought (some juice and craisins), but didn’t want to present much for the behaviors I was asking for. We want her to want to participate – so it’s totally okay! We will continue training with her so she has plenty of opportunities to practice.
