At Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, Missy has merited the nickname “Dr. Missy.” We call her this because she is a particularly diligent groomer, spending hours attending to her group mates. If someone has sustained an injury, she focuses on that member with all her carefully well-honed skills. For the average day, Dr. Missy is always prepared to perform a gentle grooming examination.
Unseen 2016 moments
Chimps are strong!
This afternoon, as I watched Jamie easily climb and brachiate from one Young’s Hill structure to another, I was reminded of the amazing physical strength of a chimpanzee. There is some debate among the scientific community on exactly how much stronger chimps are compared to humans, but there is no doubt that they ARE in fact significantly stronger than us. This simple moment of leisure for Jamie is a good illustration of just why caregivers never enter the enclosures with the incredibly muscular, agile, and sometimes volatile Cle Elum 7.
Balancing out all that holiday excitement
There is really only one right way to spend the day after your second Christmas party in a row.
Let Negra be your guide:
Lunch with Missy
Meals at the sanctuary, as you might expect, are pretty exciting events. There is usually a fair amount of jostling, and banging going on (especially by the boisterous Burrito chimpanzee), and of course, boss Jamie is always on hand to make sure caregivers (and sometimes the other chimpanzees) remember their place at the bottom of the hierarchy. Missy in particular, seems to prefer to escape the commotion of meals. While many of the other chimps will wait and eat expectantly in front of their server, Missy often whisks her portions away to a quiet nest so she can enjoy them in privacy.
Grooming the Queen
Chimp to chimp grooming is so much more than just a way to clean up. Sure, there are hygienic reasons to groom, but perhaps more importantly, grooming is a way of strengthening social bonds between group members. As Negra and Jody demonstrate, it takes a fair amount of trust to let someone get so up close and personal with your eyes.
For the love of a challenge
Jamie is an avid tool user. If something falls on the ground outside her enclosure and she knows that it’s within a tool’s reach, she is on it with a vengeance. Today, a couple slippery tomatoes fell during lunch service and she made it her mission to retrieve them as a bonus snack.