Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Anna

Drowsy Thursday

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Yesterday we concluded the first round of one on one introductions so today we took another break from all the afternoon action. We have a flexible plan for slowly moving forward with introductions, focusing on who needs more time together in one on one situations and who can meet together in slightly larger two on two intros.  As we’ve hopefully expressed before, intros are exciting but stressful for the chimps as well as the caregivers. It was nice to take a moment to breath and think about other projects that need to be worked on around here.

For Dora, Rayne and Negra, napping was at the top of their to do list this afternoon.  Just try not to be too jealous as you look at these photos.

Dora:

Negra:

Rayne’s descent into snoozeville :

 

I spy, an I.D. challenge

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We took a timeout from intros today and enjoyed a relatively ordinary day at the sanctuary. This afternoon I went to take some photos of Cy’s group who were mostly all posted up in the higher levels of Greenhouse 2. I took a few photos of them hanging out on the platforms:

Cy in a serious moment 
Rayne on the top platform
Terry finishing up his lunch (eggplant)

Then I spotted a mysterious dark silhouette through the caging…. This chimpanzee spy was posted at the bottom of Young’s Hill and was ogling the greenhouse residents…I snapped a photo that I’m about to show you. Can you identify this person, just from a blurry outline? I’ll post the answer to my pop quiz at the bottom of this blog.

Guess who?

Bonus photos! While you think about the answer to my ID test.

Dora foot and hands!

Mave!

Ok! Drumroll please…… The spy’s identity is:

Annie!

 

 

 

Special spots

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This afternoon I found Jody relaxing in one of her favorite summer spots, the bottom platform of Greenhouse 1. I have seen her in this pose (with her arm up on the next platform above) more than I can count.

Jody loves to use the upper deck of the greenhouse as her personal table. We’ve captured the moment many times throughout the years:

Just as you probably have a preferred side of my couch or a designated spot at the dinner table, the chimps all seem to have favorite places they spend their time.  Their preferences change with weather, season and time of day.

Honey B in one of her commonly found spots in the chute.
Negra in her usual Greenhouse nest.
Upside down Jamie on her barrel. The best spot to casually monitor the humans from Playroom 1.
Gordo has already decided he enjoys the doorways that go out to the greenhouses.

Peaceful moments with new friends

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To protect all the chimps’ health, the sanctuary staff have been continuing to switch off with who spends their mornings working with the newcomers in quarantine.  Each day we share notes on any novel behaviors we witness so we can all get a better picture of our new friends. It’s been a delight hearing updates from coworkers as the shyer chimps start to come out of their shells and we learn more about their individual personalities.

Yesterday was my chance to clean and serve in the quarantine area. I grabbed a camera after the chimps’ lunch and took advantage of a peaceful moment in the new greenhouses.

Gordo

 

Gordo foraging for pumpkin seeds
Lucky
Rayne is a fan of onions!
It’s hard to get any photos without Terry in them. This guy is all charisma.