Anthony

Their Side of the Mountain

December 6, 2021 by Anthony

The mosaic landscape in which the sanctuary exists is truly breathtaking.

Even so, it’s difficult to assess the value that such a backdrop provides to four cattle and sixteen chimps who reside here.

For their part, the bovines appear most excited about their environment when it is carpeted with fresh green grass. They’re not particularly expressive otherwise.

As for the chimps, it’s evident that they at least take the time to observe their immediate and distant surroundings. The degree to which they value the aesthetic quality of their environment and the effect that this has on their wellbeing are much less clear. Given that chimpanzee cognition is a lot like ours, I find it logical to assume that they appreciate a good view. Sometimes, it even seems like they go outside just to soak up the weather and enjoy the panoramic perspectives of the surrounding hills.

This older photo by J.B. shows Foxie having one of those moments.

It’s not surprising that the chimps spend so much time exploring their own backyard. These chimpanzees live on some prime real estate.

The sanctuary occupies a grassy patch of land on the western flank of Lookout Mountain (which is not to be confused with any of the the state’s eight other landforms with the same name). Behind the sanctuary’s upper boundary, there is a network of dirt roads that wind their way up the slope to a few private cabins. Last week, I decided to “take the long way home,” pushing my old SUV up the ridge to get an eagle’s view of the sanctuary. As always, the view from up there was incredible.

From the side of the mountain, one can get a sweeping vista of the rust-colored hills and wooded rangeland of the Teanaway River valley to the north, the growing mountain towns of Cle Elum and Roslyn to the northwest, and the rushing waters of the Yakima River and its basalt canyon to the southwest. This entire patchwork is nestled below the mighty peaks of the Central Cascades.

Even with all these features visible from our backyard, the sanctuary itself might still be the strangest artifact on the landscape. It’s not too conspicuous; From a plane, it might be mistaken for a ranch or even some sort of outdoor sports complex. (I’ve joked that Young’s Hill could also double as an interesting paintball course.) From the ridge, however, it’s clear that the wooden climbing platforms and electrified fences are designed for another purpose entirely. If you didn’t already know the sanctuary was here and had never been to a similar facility, you’d probably never guess that sixteen chimps lived in one of the barn-like structures situated at the mouth of the canyon.

The Nifty Fifty

November 29, 2021 by Anthony

I’m sure all of you are familiar with the Lucky Six by now, but do you know the Nifty Fifty?

Before I get any further ahead, I need to clarify something. Y’all may be disappointed, but we don’t currently have any plans to rescue a group of fifty chimpanzees. (Not anytime soon, at least.) The colloquial term “Nifty Fifty” refers to something a little less exciting.

The Nifty Fifty is a type of camera lens.

More specifically, photographers refer to 50mm prime (fixed) lenses as “nifty fifties” because they’re relatively inexpensive, versatile, lightweight and sharp (id est, nifty).

By sacrificing the mechanical components required to zoom in on a subject, prime lenses can be built with a larger aperture* (usually f/1.4 or 1.8) while retaining their relatively affordable price and compact size. This trade-off is particularly beneficial in poorly-lit conditions, but it also creates a shallow depth of field that can produce a bokeh effect (an aesthetically-pleasing background blur that makes the subject stand out). Given all these qualities, the 50mm prime is a staple of event, travel, studio, and street photographers. It’s not bad for shooting landscapes, either!

*For those of you who may be new to this topic, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO/sensitivity are the three main variables that photographers adjust to get the desired exposure. The aperture setting is the camera’s equivalent to the dilation of your eye’s pupil; when the aperture is opened wide, more light reaches the sensor at any given shutter speed or sensitivity, resulting in a brighter image.

Normally, the first lenses we caregivers reach for in the morning are the heavier telephotos that let us zoom in on the chimpanzees from afar. These lenses are particularly useful when the chimps are lounging on the upper decks of the greenhouse enclosures or foraging outside in Young’s Hill. They’re not quite as effective indoors, however, since they have comparatively small apertures that limit the passage of light to the sensor.

Last week, the weather was foggy, chilly and wet, and the sanctuary’s primate residents chose to spend more time lounging and socializing in the heated indoor areas. With the chimps hanging out in close proximity and limited sunlight coming in through the windows and overhead skylights, I decided to use the 50mm “nifty fifty” lens to get some portraits for the blog. Fortunately, some of the chimps let me photograph them while they perused their daily enrichment and made blanket nests in the cozy front rooms.

When we’re holding the camera lens (or smartphone) flush against the caging, it’s easy to forget that there’s steel mesh between us. For some perspective on this, I recommend revisiting one of Diana’s posts from long ago: Caging is OK.

Safely shooting through the caging is one of the most difficult aspects of photographing chimps. One benefit of the wide aperture on the aforementioned Nifty Fifty is that it can blur out a barrier even when sections of it are obstructing the image. Sometimes, this effect even creates a halo-like frame around a chimpanzee’s face. In my opinion, it’s a cool way of highlighting each chimps’ unique expressions while subtly reminding you that the barriers are there. In these photos of Jody and Annie, you can see the caging but it’s not drawing your attention like it would if it was sharply in focus.

One slow afternoon, I sat with half-sisters Lucky and Rayne for a few minutes and let them each observe their reflections in the camera lens. They were both enthralled by the shiny iridescence of the optical pieces, the bizarre motion of my fingertips around the camera’s other controls, and the absurd positions I put myself in to get the compositions I wanted. Their inquisitive stares led to some striking “eye contact” with the lens, and I was pleased with how each series captured pieces of their quirky personalities.

Lucky was the first to approach and spent the whole session looking down at me with skepticism. Typical.

Rayne was munching on a paper wadge when we started, but she eventually spit it out so she could examine her own teeth in the reflection.

Finally, here are a couple more shots I took with the 50mm this past week. Thanks for scrolling down this far!

The view looking northwest towards Cle Elum

Honey B’s “Blue Steel”

November 22, 2021 by Anthony

“Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good looking?” — Derek Zoolander

Here’s a serious portrait of Honey B sitting in one of the front rooms. I hope it brightens all of your respective Mondays!

The Buddy System

November 16, 2021 by Anthony

As an atmospheric river flows over the Pacific Northwest and hammers the Cascades with wind, rain and snow, our sheltered valley has experienced an odd mix of beautiful and horrible weather this week. That hasn’t stopped one group of chimps from making use of their expansive outdoor habitat: Young’s Hill.

“The Hill” was completed in 2011 and serves as the primary outdoor enclosure for the original group of seven chimps. Over the years, J.B. et al. have furnished the habitat with groves of bamboo, a network of firehose vines, elevated wooden platforms, hanging tire swings and hammocks, and even an artificial termite mound. Since the enclosure contains an open pasture without any large trees, the crew has also added numerous pine logs for the chimps to climb on. While we monitor the larger structures for safety and stability, there’s not much we can do about the untreated timber decomposing at a natural rate. These need to be replaced every few years.

When we let the chimps have access to Young’s Hill yesterday morning, we were already aware that one of the logs (which had been sunk vertically into the ground) had blown over and was leaning on some firehose vines. Assessing the situation from afar, we agreed it still looked safe enough for the chimps to go on their morning patrol while we coordinated with J.B. to get it repaired.

After caregiver Chad did his routine race around the boundary with Burrito, Jamie demanded that someone accompany her on another patrol of the perimeter fence. I put the telephoto zoom lens on the camera and trudged up the hill while wearing her preferred Xtratuf boots. Burrito soon joined us, sprinting and laughing, and effectively replaced me as Jamie’s walking buddy.

I was resigned to finishing the patrol as the “third wheel” when I noticed Missy sitting on the aforementioned wonky post. Missy is an intrepid adventurer when outdoors, and she didn’t seem to care that the log was tilted askew and wobbled quite a bit. In fact, she seemed to even find the new perch to be comfortable.

As I continued to trek around the perimeter of the enclosure, I saw Missy again from a different perspective. This time, I could see that she also had “brought” a buddy with her: Annie. The two were sitting like gargoyles on adjacent structures, partially hidden in the maze of pine trunks and bamboo.

I saw the dark silhouette of another chimpanzee in the periphery of my vision, and turned the camera lens towards Foxie as she climbed up onto a closer platform.

Foxie seems to enjoy moments of solitude in the outdoors, but I remembered that she probably considers her dolls to be her adventure companions. Perhaps she doesn’t think of herself as being alone even though no other chimps are close by. Either way, it wasn’t long before Foxie also had a chimpanzee buddy: Jody. Together, they surveyed the valley and seemed most intrigued by a distant plume of smoke swirling upward from a prescribed burn.

Foxie and Jody resumed their journey as a duo, making their way through the tall grass to one of their favorite installations: the Lookout Tower. Foxie preferred to sit on the highest deck with her doll while Jody ventured out on the Shaky Bridge towards Carlene’s Tower.

After the chimps went back inside, Chad closed off the Hill and we did safety checks to unlock the enclosure for maintenance. J.B. was ready to go with a buddy of his own: a brand new Kubota L4060 tractor.

There are certain pieces of equipment that the sanctuary cannot do without, and a functioning tractor is one. J.B. has been planning to upgrade the sanctuary’s tractor for years and excitedly worked out the financing. With all of the maintenance and renovations to be done in the upcoming months, the time was right to welcome a new Kubota to the family.

To quote J.B. directly, “You can tell everyone that, second to my wedding day, the day the tractor arrived was the happiest day of my life.”

Importantly, the new tractor has a closed cab which will save us from freezing our eyeballs off while driving it in the winter. I’m excited that it came with cup holders so I can sip on cold brew while I plow the driveway in the winter, and J.B. personally added a Bluetooth music player so he can blast Van Halen (probably) while he moves things around with the forks.

Someday in the near future, even Young’s Hill will get a “buddy.” In addition to expanding the Young’s Hill perimeter to include more adjacent pasture and parts of the nearby woodland, we plan to build a second outdoor enclosure called The Bray. The new tractor will be invaluable as we tear down and build entire sections of electrified fence, plant more trees and bamboo, and furnish the two areas with new enrichment structures. (You can all read about our past, present and future plans for the facility in this blog post: The King of the Courtyard and His Growing Kingdom.)

Hopefully, the new layout will make things even better for the chimpanzees who call this place “home.”

So Fresh, So Clean

November 8, 2021 by Anthony

Today has been another busy day at the sanctuary, so I’m going to forego my usual style in favor of something simple and brief.

I took some photographs with my phone today in order to show you all what it takes to keep everything clean, organized, and functioning around here. Our care staff has to complete many tasks each day, in addition to special projects and weekly chores, and these images show some of those.

One ongoing project has been the weatherization of the new greenhouses. J.B. has been working around the clock (with some help from special project volunteer Adam) to get the panels secured to the outside of these massive outdoor enclosures. The results are already remarkable! The panels will keep the area warm by radiating sunlight inward and shielding the chimps from the winds of winter, so we’re getting them done just in time.

Meanwhile, inside the building, the rest of the team was busy preparing meals, enrichment and meds; shifting and performing safety checks; cleaning all the enclosures; washing heaps of dirty blankets, dishes and chimp toys; and processing a produce delivery that arrived this morning.

It may look like a chaotic mess throughout the day, but things are looking ship-shape right now as I’m closing up the building for the evening.

We occasionally remind people that caregiving for chimps isn’t all fun and games, but sometimes it takes a chimp-less blog post to sell that concept.

Have a great week, everyone!

October 32nd

November 1, 2021 by Anthony

So, about last night…

Jamieween isn’t officially over until the chimps say it is. Even though it’s now officially November 1st, they’re still enjoying themselves like its just another day of October.

For those of you who missed the original post or want to refresh your memory, I will simply link to yesterday’s blog entry by Sam: Jamieween 2021!

Today, we spent the morning cleaning up the disastrous mess that inevitably follows a house party of that caliber. It’s hard to describe the mess that sixteen chimps create when their caregivers prime their enclosures with a lavish excess of enrichment materials, but perhaps the following snapshots will allow you to imagine the scene: Pumpkin guts splattered on the walls, pistachio and peanut shells in heaps on the floor, a half-eaten Jack-O-Lantern, raffle tickets blowing around like tumbleweeds, and shiny new books about bonobos and mummies lovingly tucked into a blanket nest.

Enrichment Coordinator Chad helped me to collect some photos of the aftermath.

Happy October 32nd, everyone!!! Thanks for helping us make this Jamieween an exciting day (or series of days) for all the chimps!

Fall Things Considered

October 27, 2021 by Anthony

Today’s itinerary is, per usual, quite full.

Our staff is staying busy with ongoing social integrations between the two former Waystation groups, regular cleaning and organizing in the Chimp House, and special projects around the sanctuary.

In place of a wordy update, I’m just going to upload some photos I’ve taken of the sanctuary residents basking in the warm autumn colors (and crisp October breezes).