Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
We seem to have (temporarily) skipped right over the dreary days that usually accompany early spring and catapulted directly into that warm sunshiny bliss we’ve all been looking forward to. The chimps have welcomed it with open arms.
They all bustled outside as soon as I opened the door to Young’s Hill this morning.
Fair weather Negra made an appearance to soak up a few rays.
Or possibly just to eat that last bit of winter that remains:
Welcome spring, we missed you!
Foxie Chimpanzee, AKA Fox, AKA Tiny
Age: 42
Favorite foods: Fruit smoothie and all things sweet. She’s also been loving our recent shipments of avocados!
BFF: Burrito
Special talents: Keeping the peace in the group, being friends with everyone, impressive spin moves.
Favorite place to nap: curled up directly on that warm heated floor
Favorite activities: Playing with her dolls, grooming with friends and spending quiet time on the towers of Young’s Hill
Favorite food puzzle: Bald Troll dolls with peanut butter heads
When Jamie is in a great mood all day, it’s not hard for her to find a play partner.
While searching around for the perfect way to describe this sparkling morning at the sanctuary, I found this outdated word you sadly can’t find in most dictionaries anymore:
Apricity, noun: The warmth of the sun in winter
Today we celebrate apricity!
We humans sometimes have to rethink the traditional way we look at food when we are considering it for the chimpanzees. The chimps might see something we cut off and compost as more of a snacking challenge.
A great example of this is the pineapple top.
So just because it might seem slightly weird and fibrous to a caregiver, doesn’t mean it’s not delicious to a chimpanzee.
Chimpanzees enjoy alfalfa cubes
And fruit peels
Cattails and corn cobs
Fresh picked weeds
Green grass
Pine needles
And that tough part on the top of a leek.
Jody’s beautiful face is so expressive. Her prominent brow ridge and intense gaze are most noticeable when she enters Young’s Hill for the first time each day. We see the same look of wonderment come over her each morning, day after day, season after season.
Earlier this month we put out a special request to our supporters to help us come up with little projects for Jamie to work on. Let me tell you, we had some enthusiastic responses from our donors! She’s received satchels, file folders, folios, cases, specially crafted photos, picture books, colored pencils and much much more! While we can’t always get videos or photos of her enjoying all her new enrichment, we did catch her enjoying her newest journal just this morning.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has helped enrich the boss!
