Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Anna

Keeping the fridge full!

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Did you know that an easy way to support the chimpanzees’ health and happiness is to help us keep their fridge stocked? The chimps require a constant supply of fresh and diverse produce to keep them full and enriched! We get an amazing weekly donation of fresh fruit and veggies courtesy of Darwin’s Natural Pet Products and we supplement the delivery by purchasing additional food from our local grocery store. If you would like to help fill the chimp’s fridge, check out our Amazon Wish List and you can easily send us a Safeway gift card by clicking the available link on our list!

Many happy food grunts to our supporters from Negra, Missy, Jody, Jamie, Foxie, Annie and Burrito!

Lazy Play

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These warm summer days have generally been keeping the chimps in reclined positions. Jody and Foxie were calmly grooming and relaxing before lunch, but suddenly Foxie’s toes went rogue and started a mini-play session.

Summer Negra

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It might be just our imaginations, but we think we’ve seen a subtly more energetic Negra this summer! It seems like she’s spent more time outdoors, been more playful and shown more interest in different enrichment items recently. Don’t get me wrong, she still enjoys an extra amount of down time, but we are always thrilled to see the Queen of the sanctuary up and about!

Eagle eyes

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There are moments in every caregiver’s life when a chimpanzee is wildly gesturing for something that they want, but we simple minded humans just can’t decipher their communication.
This afternoon Jamie spotted something on the ground that she needed me to give her.

After several minutes of frustrated gesturing. I spotted this single tiny black currant that had fallen on the ground at breakfast.

All is well.

Bonus!
Annie has chosen to make the switch from yellow to orange.

The portrait studio recently received an extreme makeover (more on that tomorrow). Look for portraits to feature a lovely grey backdrop from now on. Here’s Jody:

Not worth the risk

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Missy and Jamie have tightrope walking skills that are unparalleled by any of the other chimps at the sanctuary.

Some of the other chimps will use the horizontally stretched fire hose, but usually more like this:
(Annie)

Today Burrito tried his hand at the tightrope:

But immediately thought better of it:

His preference seems to be a more solidly built platform:

The Fun Police

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Jamie has some pretty simple rules for training her caregivers: If you want to interact with a chimpanzee, it’s got to be with her. Burrito and level 3 caregiver-in-training Chad, were enjoying a nice game of tug-o-war with a plastic tube when she saw them disobeying her law. The Boss is always right, so Chad immediately complied with her order to desist with the funny business. Instead of silly games, it was time for some serious grooming.

Tattoos are a popular thing to examine during grooming sessions: