Young’s Hill goes through a true transformation each year. It’s always a delight to watch one season fade into the next.
❄️Winter❄️
🌱Spring🌱
🌞Summer🌞
🍂Autumn🍂
Late summer forage
It seems like the entire Pacific Northwest has been blanketed with smoke this week. There are no fires in the immediate area, but nevertheless, winds have been blowing the smoke our direction. Luckily, the chimpanzees’ playroom is a nice cool, well-ventilated escape from the outdoors. We’ve also been boosting the chimps’ immune systems with respiratory tea and other natural supplements as per our veterinarian’s (Dr. Zamzow) recommendations.
This morning it was relatively clear and cool at the sanctuary- perfect foraging weather! In addition to the usual breakfast fruit and primate chow, we added some cattails that grow wild in our pond at the sanctuary and scattered them around Young’s Hill. The chimps ate the fruit immediately and spent the rest of their morning leisurely wadging the cattail fiber.
Negra:
Burrito:
Jody:
Checking out the construction process
Many of our supporters have asked how the chimps feel about the construction that is happening at the sanctuary this summer. In general, they have been pretty calm and curious. While the chimps have a view of a lot of the action, they can’t always see all the changes that are happening. They did get a good look at the construction process today when we opened the barn doors to do some work in that area.
Here are Foxie and Jody watching from the greenhouse windows (please excuse the sub-par quality phone pictures):
This is their view (also you get to see a dirty playroom):
Jamie and caregiver bonding time
There is nothing quite like sitting down with your chimpanzee friend for a long afternoon grooming session. Jamie loves to groom her caregivers through the caging using a carefully selected tool, but seems to equally enjoy a relaxing moment where her caregivers return the kindness.
Early morning excitement
The chimpanzees’ open-top outdoor enclosure always changes a bit overnight. We do a daily morning check to make sure nothing has dramatically changed (like a broken fence wire) or a stray animal who can’t quite find their way out, but there are inevitably little changes that occur each day. This morning the sanctuary was cool and calm. The chimpanzees were eager to eat their breakfast that was being served in the greenhouse. Then through all the peace, came a noisy rustle in the brush above Young’s Hill. Having already done my perimeter check of the fence line, I knew that our neighbor’s horses were grazing the top pastures and consequently making a bit of commotion. The chimps needed to see the cause of the disturbance for themselves, so upon receiving access to their outdoor enclosure, all of them (minus Negra) raced up the hill to investigate.
Missy had no time to finish her watermelon, so she took it to go:
Jody led the charge to the top of the hill:
After determining that the all that noise wasn’t actually a threat, the chimpanzees relaxed and decided to head back in and resume their meal service.
On her way back to the greenhouse, Jody discovered a real threat:
I couldn’t see what she was looking at, but she hustled away immediately after this photo was taken:
A quick zoom in on the previous photo, shows a swarm of wasps. No Jodys were harmed in the making of this photo!
Foxie’s Birthday Celebration!
Can you believe that Foxie has celebrated 11 birthdays in her sanctuary? Here’s to many many more! Thanks to everyone that helped make the day a special one!
Sanctuary nesting
In free-living situations, chimpanzees build night nests in the forest canopy. They make these platform-like nests out of branches and leaves. At the sanctuary, most of the chimps build nests out of the fresh clean blankets that caregivers set out for them each morning after we finish scrubbing and squeegeeing their enclosures. Our trusty washing machine works overtime all day, everyday, as we wash the previous day’s 70 dirty blankets! Since there is no threat from a predator at the sanctuary, the chimpanzees can choose wherever they like (high or low) to build their nests. Interestingly enough, I’ve never seen the chimps nest out on Young’s Hill, so they must feel (understandably) that the added security of the covered enclosures is better suited for lounging in bed. In addition to blankets, the Cle Elum 7 will also incorporate other enrichment items such as toys or natural fibers like hay and grass. The other night I watched Negra eating some cattails in the center of her evening bed. After getting her fill, she tucked them for safe keeping into the folds of her nest. Midnight snack perhaps?
On scorching hot days like today, the chimps find cool places to nest in the shady indoor areas. Here’s Jamie beating the heat in a fresh nest she chose to build on the playroom floor:
