July celebrations!

And we love that the start of each month gives us the opportunity to send our heartfelt wishes for the happiest of days for all of you celebrating your own birthdays. Happy July Birthdays, friends! We appreciate your presence in our lives, and especially the lives of all who call the sanctuary home, more than you could know.

After the non-stop festivities of June, we can (almost) catch our breath for a brief moment here at the sanctuary, but that by no means there are no big celebrations to be had.

We’ll start things off with the chimpanzees July 4th celebration. Here’s Negra grabbing one of last year’s watermelon bowls during the forage:

Whispering sweet nothings to her potato. As you do:

Sweet Dora:

Then we’re on to birthdays! It’s Gordo! This handsome man of mystery is going to be 35 on July 19th!

You can often find Gordo off in some quiet corner of his indoor enclosures or greenhouses enjoying his solitude, but taking in everything going on. It makes those times when he invites caregivers to a game of bunny-hoppin’ chase, or when you catch sight of him playing or grooming with this group mates, extra special. Just look at him!:

And seeing him on the Bray lately while both relying on and supporting his friends with so much courage and curiosity has been making our hearts sing. Here he is below with Rayne:

And the very next day, July 20th, we celebrate beautiful Betsy turning 16!

Here she is (r) as she runs with Honey (front) and her son, Nutmeg, on the way to their spring/summer pasture earlier this year:

Betsy (r) and her forever “baby boy”, Nutmeg:

And an additional celebration this month you may be interested in is World Chimpanzee Day on July 14th! It’s the anniversary of the day Dr. Jane Goodall began her research of the wild chimpanzees of Gombe in 1960 and was created to help empower communities worldwide to celebrate, raise awareness and advocate for the protection and future of this incredibly unique and vital species. This year’s theme is “Chimpanzees Take Over the Internet!” with the intent being to flood the internet with positive images of chimpanzees to help everyone become more familiar with the differences between positive and negative content online. (Be sure to check out the website and see which beauty you might recognize under “Caring for Chimpanzees.”).

Here’s amazing Jamie studying one of her great apes books: