Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chad de Bree

Dora’s 33rd Birthday!

by

Today we celebrated Dora’s 33rd birthday! When trying to think of a theme for a party that fits each individual, it has been a tad difficult to think of themes for the new group who arrived almost one year ago(!). And since then, the two groups from the former Wildlife Waystation have come together to form a group of nine. Parties can sometimes be a very high arousal situation, which can result in some fierce competition, which in turn can sometimes lead into fights. So as with Mave’s party last month, we wanted to keep it exciting, but not too exciting. And as caregiver Grace just said passing by as I was trying to think of how to explain it to you all, “It was a big party of the tiniest things, for the tiniest person with a big personality.” What that means is we had tiny everything!

On today’s menu was: baby bananas, mini bell peppers, grape tomatoes, brussel sprouts, baby and mini carrots, baby beets, fingerling potatoes, mini cucumbers, and kumquats!

Even the other Tiny and her group were able to celebrate with tiny foods in honor of their neighbor, Dora!

And a huge thank you to Paulette Wrisley for sponsoring Dora’s big day and helping make today’s celebration possible!

Here are some photos from the celebrations!

Gordo foraging during the party:

Mave enjoying a mini cucumber:

Willy B foraging around:

Foxie with a mouthful of mini peppers:

Today’s birthday spread:

The Birthday Girl, Dora!

Dora and a peering Terry:

The birthday girl seemed quite pleased with her party:

Playtime with Honey B:

Happy Birthday, Dora!!!!

[Terrible art work was brought to you by a mysterious person and definitely NOT the enrichment coordinator ;)]

Playtime with Dora and Honey B Part II

by

This may seem redundant since Diana had posted a video only a couple of weeks ago of Dora and Honey B playing, but I had to share this play session between the two from yesterday. It just makes me happy knowing that these two are now back together after being separated years ago. It’s almost like they are trying to make up for lost time.

Since this is a semi-repeat, here are some bonus photos!

Honey B up close and personal:

Terry grooming Dora:

Meredith enjoying the green grass of their new pasture:

Sanctuary’s Sprouting Seeds

by

In their natural habitat, chimpanzees help maintain their ecosystem by helping with the dispersal of seeds. They disperse seeds by either ingesting the fruit or nut and later depositing the seeds elsewhere in their feces, or wadging the seed or nut and leaving it somewhere else in their habitat. Once the chimpanzee leaves the seeds via droppings or wadge, it germinates and a new generation of fruit tree can begin to grow. It is one of the many upon many of reasons protecting wild chimpanzee populations is important. It helps maintain the natural ecosystem.

Seed dispersal can also occur in captivity. Last summer, we had noticed a couple of pumpkin plants growing in the Oakwood Greenhouse. This year is no different. In fact, this years seems like there is more of a variety of plants growing throughout the sanctuary. Some of them can be attributed to the night bags the chimpanzees receive at dinner, while others are a bit more curious. They are sometimes part of the ingredients we use for the chimpanzees’ morning smoothie, and the only way they could have started to grow is by the chimpanzees passing them.

Here are some of the plants growing in the greenhouses (currently):

Pumpkin Plants

In the Riverview Greenhouse.
The biggest one so far is hidden behind bamboo in the Riverview Greenhouse.

Elderberry

Elderberry is sometimes added to the morning smoothies. This seedling is starting to grow in the Riverview Greenhouse.

Blackberry

Blackberries are also sometimes added to the morning smoothies. And this seedling started to grow in an area Jamie’s group is know to defecate.

Sunflower

Notice the pumpkin plant starting to sprout at the root of this sunflower in Burrito’s greenhouse.
In the Oakwood Greenhouse.

It also appears that growing is not exclusive to the greenhouses:

A sunflower sprout growing on one of the artificial leaves in the Marmot Playroom.
And another growing under the door in the Mezzanine.

Though these plants probably won’t grow to their full potential since the chimpanzees will probably root them out at some point, we can only hope they are left untouched and can start growing some fruits/veggies.

Here are some of the seed dispersers today!

Jamie:

Honey B:

Gordo:

Foxie:

Mave and Rayne:

And some photos of our recovering Queen Negra:

Negra has been receiving frequent visits from her group mates all throughout the day. This was during Foxie’s visit.

Negra seems to not mind this set up. She has been staying out of the family politics, been covered in blankets, receiving a lot of attention from the human caregivers…

And yes, Hawaiian rolls!

The Grass is Always Greener

by

As caregivers arrived this morning, the sun was bright and the weather was warm. So one of our first orders of business was to conduct our security checks to let Negra’s group out onto Young’s Hill as soon as possible. As the door that leads to Young’s Hill opened, all seven filtered through, with Negra in the lead.

As I watched Negra sitting in warm sun, seemingly taking it all in, I was amazed at how green the grass was. It’s just one of those things I don’t notice as it’s happening until I see it through the view of the camera lens.

On her way in, Negra found a pine cone that she wanted to bring back to her Greenhouse.

It was at this point I knew a lunch forage was in store today. How could I not let them have a forage on such a beautiful day?

On today’s menu was sweet potatoes, mini bell peppers, carrots, and chow biscuits.

Annie:

Burrito:

Foxie:

Jamie:

Jody:

Missy:

Negra:

Jamie watching Missy tightrope walking across the firehose:

Burrito taking his chance on the firehose:

Have you ever had that feeling you’re being watching?

Oh, it’s just Burrito:

Burrito relaxing and enjoying his lunch in the privacy of the hammock:

As you read about Negra’s group enjoying their lunch forage on Young’s Hill, please don’t forget that construction is well under way to complete the outdoor habitat for the new group of nine! One way you can help us is to donate, and what better way to donate than to help with Monica and Diana’s WA GiveBIG wish? Every little bit helps ensure the construction continues to move along and helps us get closer to letting Cy’s group enjoy a forage on their own hill.

Please Excuse the Interruption

by

To our supportive blog followers and lovers of the sanctuary:

We are always ever so grateful for all the love and support you have given us throughout the years and want to thank you for following along and interacting with us through the blog. As you all know, we have been in the process of integrating Cy’s group and Willy B’s group over the past several months. Our friend and colleague, Jen Feuerstein, will return tomorrow to help us with progressing even further into the integration process this week. During this time, we are going to be extremely busy monitoring the process as the chimpanzees come together and work on their relationships with one another. We will still be posting the daily blog, but please forgive us if at times this week it seems it is abbreviated or posted a little later in the day. We hope you understand. We will be back on a regular schedule soon!

As we prepare for the week ahead, please enjoy these photos from today!

Willy B:

Honey B:

Mave:

Cy:

Lucky:

Gordo:

Dora:

Rayne:

Terry:

Much to Celebrate Today

by

After a week of snowy conditions, there was the break in the weather where it was sunny and warm enough to celebrate today.

When Missy’s group were first given access to Young’s Hill this morning, everybody went out and explored the Hill. In fact, Negra was the first one out, if you can believe it or not! As the chimpanzees scattered across their outdoor enclosure, I saw Missy at the very top on the furthest structure surveying her domain.

Later on in the day, the weather still held out for a forage outside. Today was filled with paper eggs containing nuts, carrots, sweet potatoes, mini bell peppers, and hard boiled eggs for all!

Here is one of the paper eggs as seen in Willy B’s enclosure for reference (of course they celebrated too!):

Initially we caregivers thought Jamie’s group would run out onto the hill, grab what they could, and head back to their greenhouse since a slight, chilly breeze began to pick up. We were wrong! Every single one of them stayed out for quite some time, enjoying their forage.

Jamie:

Jody:

Burrito:

Foxie:

Annie:

Missy:

Negra:

On the other side of the Chimp House, both Willy B’s group and Cy’s group also enjoyed their set up.

Cy:

Terry:

Rayne:

Willy B:

Mave:

Honey B:

For those who celebrate, we wish you a:

Happy Easter!

Chag Pesach sameach!

Ramadan Mubarak!

Siblings and the Sounds of Sanctuary

by

Today is National Siblings Day! A day in which we honor our siblings! So today we are going to celebrate the siblings who who live here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest!

The siblings here are Honey B, Cy, Lucky, and Rayne, as well as Gordo and Dora!

Cy and Lucky share the same mother and father, Sally and Herbie (respectively).

It is almost apparent they are full siblings since they look very identical to each other:

Along with being full siblings, Cy and Lucky are also related to Rayne and Honey B. They all share the same father: Herbie.

Cy, Rayne, and Lucky:

Honey B:

At certain angles and in the right lighting, you can somewhat see the resemblance between them all. As we know, Honey B’s mother is Missy, and Rayne’s mother was named Thelma.

The other half sibling pair who reside here are Gordo and Dora:

Both of them have the same father: Les. Gordo’s mother was named Andrea and Dora’s mother was Stella. Though these two do not share many physical traits, this pair love to play with each other and be around each other.

Gordo:

Dora:

We wish all the siblings out there a Happy Siblings Day!

As a bonus, attached to this blog are sounds from around the sanctuary. These sounds can be heard on any given day. On the days I am not in the Chimp House, I miss them dearly. It’s almost like an autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) to me. That is when a stimuli (sound or visual) triggers the brain to produce low-grade euphoria, or good feeling. It’s why some of us get goosebumps when we hear a particular song that is associated to happy event, or when we see an old photo of good times. To me it’s currently the sounds of the Chimp House.

I hope you enjoy.

And one final bonus photo of Lucky!