Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Diana

Roses and Ice Cream

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Dora’s birthday yesterday started off strong with mangoes for breakfast. Krissy’s blog video yesterday included the mango feast, with Dora getting the most out of her mango pit.

There were other components to the day to enjoy, captured in these photos by staff:

Avocado and coconut ice cream, adorned with flowers and blueberries:

 

It’s clear that Cy thoroughly enjoyed the ice cream:

 

 

Sabrina and Kelsi brought flowers from their gardens:

 

It’s unclear what happened to the pool of flowers between the photo above of George and the one below of Terry, but it appears someone had a flower feast:

 

Meanwhile, in Ellensburg, yesterday was also the Pride Parade! Like last year, the sanctuary shared a float with CWU’s Primate Awareness Network (PAN):

Patti and Benny:

Volunteers and staff feasted on picnic food made by supporter Ozzie Slim. It was a food and love-filled day for all! 🏳️‍🌈

Born in Africa

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We’ve all been thinking a lot about Negra lately. You too, I know. Her ups and downs with her health and mobility have mostly been gentle waves. Some days, some moments, better than others. Dr. Erin created a new daily welfare assessment form that can capture more subtle and nuanced changes with plenty of room for writing down observations. On this assessment, the staff that day make note of her mobility, which remains her primary concern, as well as continence, gastrointestinal monitoring including periodic sampling for any signs of internal bleeding (so much of care comes down to poop, doesn’t it?), appetite and eating, what we offer for hydrating foods, social interactions with both humans and other chimpanzees, respiratory rate, and any other observations of the day. She’s still socializing with at least one, and more often two or three friends a day, climbing to the top of her beloved greenhouse structure, and occasionally weighing in on the drama from the other group in her classic “you kids quiet down over there” manner. She’s still our Queen Negra.

We’ve rigged up a portable watering spigot so she can access water while lounging on the deck of the greenhouse, and it’s become a popular device for all of the chimps.

Something I’ve been contemplating lately is what Negra remembers of her past. Not of the trauma she experienced in the lab–having her children taken away, being isolated, and living in a basement holding facility–but of her very early years. What were her very first memories?

We don’t know how old she was when she was captured in Africa. It’s not even possible for me to fathom that actually happened, to be honest. Perhaps it’s because I’ve always lived so far from that world of wildlife trafficking, knowing some of the results of the exploitative process, sheltered from the process itself. When Negra was captured, whether that was in 1973 as our records indicate, or as early as 1969 as other records seem to show, it was not an uncommon occurrence. There was a demand for chimpanzees for the space program in the United States and a supply of wild chimpanzees living across the world to fill that demand.

However old she was, Negra was born a wild chimpanzee. Did she know her mother? Her siblings? Did she spend enough time in her native land to learn about the best plants to harvest and where to find the ripest figs? Did she learn to nest high in the trees by watching her family make their beds? Did she learn how to fish for ants or termites?

That last question is what I was wondering while I watched her expertly use a chopstick to extract peanut butter from a PVC tube. It’s not the same, yet the elements are all there.

Was she thinking of Africa?

 

Thanks goes to Katelyn and Erin for the photos in this post. The feature image, taken by Katelyn, is Negra enjoying some chives and roses while lounging in the greenhouse.

Hello Friend. Perhaps You’d Like to Share Your Tomatoes?

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I love watching subtle communication between chimpanzees and the social roles on display.

Missy is a socially savvy chimpanzee, and this video shows that. Though Negra is not physically dominant, particularly now that she is less mobile, she remains the Queen, and Missy is keenly aware and respectful of the social rules of her group. 

This exchange reminded me of an instance, many years ago, when Missy was eating corn on the cob. Negra reached out her hand and grimaced towards Missy, and Missy calmly put the ear of corn in Negra’s hand.  I think I put photos of it on the blog. I did a quick search and didn’t find the post. I’ve got a pair of brand-new Burrito socks as a prize for the first person who finds the post. It would probably be from 2008 or 2009.

Why HOOT!?

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If you are on our physical mailing list, you should have received a Save the Date announcement for HOOT! 2026 in the last week or so.

All the information contained in the postcard about this exciting event is below. But first, I thought I’d talk about the name HOOT!

For those who may not know, chimpanzees make a vocalization called a pant-hoot, often when they are excited. With lips trumpeted, they vocalize on both the inhale and the exhale, building to a crescendo that ends in a scream. It’s really their signature vocalization, and pant-hoots tend to be contagious. Here’s a throwback video from 2011 with a montage of pant-hoots from Negra, Jamie, and Foxie.

That’s why our signature event has the name HOOT! and why Co-Director J.B. traditionally kicks things off by leading a pant-hoot at the beginning of the event.

So, start practicing now!

It contained this basic information:

HOOT! is coming to you on Friday, October 2, 2026 and we want you there whether you’re joining in person in Seattle or tuning in from your living room.

Get full event details, purchase tickets, and RSVP now here: hoot2026.afrogs.org

 

Join us in one of two ways:

TOGETHER AT BLOCK 41

115 Bell St, Seattle, WA

Doors open at 5PM | Program begins at 6:30PM

Tickets required to attend. hoot2026.afrogs.org

 

TOGETHER ONLINE

Broadcast begins at 6:30PM Pacific

Free to RSVP and tune in from home. hoot2026.afrogs.org

 

Whether you’re joining us in person or tuning in from home, HOOT! is your invitation to celebrate the community that keeps Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest thriving.

Let’s HOOT! together!

 

WE WANT YOUR INPUT!

This year, YOU get to help choose which chimpanzee will be featured on the sweater for the raffle drawing. Vote here: bit.ly/csnwpoll

 

Big thanks to Kathleen Corby for designing the logo and materials for HOOT! once again this year! Pant-hoots to Kathleen!

The design came from a photo of George that I took that was not a technically good photo at all.

But it turned into a great design! I just love George’s profile while pant-hooting. I think it captures his excitement and the promise of things to come at the event. I hope you all can join us!

George’s Hair

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A few people have commented asking questions about George’s lack of hair in places, particularly on his lower arms. This is due to a combination of over-grooming himself and others in his new group enthusiastically grooming him.

Because George came from West Coast Game Park Safari, a roadside zoo that was open to anyone who paid the entrance fee, we do have some photos of him when he was younger. Some of them were found on the internet and some were sent to us by caring people when they found out that George had been moved to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. These older photos show varying states of hair loss in the same pattern. This indicates that he over-groomed himself starting at a very young age. Here are a few photos:

He had this same patterned hair loss when he arrived at the sanctuary, though it wasn’t as pronounced.

Now in his group of seven, all six other chimpanzees also groom him, and some of them like to pluck hair when grooming others. We’ve written before about grooming being a crucial aspect of chimpanzee social behavior. Chimpanzees especially love to groom scabs, which are much more visible on bare patches of skin.

George has a particular ingrained habit of self-grooming his shoulder with his opposite arm crossed over his chest. He’s doing this in almost every video that I’ve seen of George at the roadside zoo. He still does that here, but not as often as he did when he first arrived. You may have noticed there was a small sore on George’s shoulder from the video on Friday of his 1-year arrival anniversary party. That little wound has healed multiple times, only for the scab to be groomed off and the sore opened up again. It’s a very minor wound, but we are keeping an eye on it, just as his chimpanzee friends are.

Over-grooming / hair plucking can be a sign of anxiety, discomfort, or boredom, and it can also be a self-soothing behavior that developed during a particular period in life and persists as a habit throughout a chimpanzee’s life, well after the original stressor that prompted the behavior is gone.

Annie has a similar over-grooming pattern on her forearms, which is more pronounced some times than others.

Research has found that hair plucking is a very common behavior in captive primates. This study, for example, found that hair plucking was observed in 75% of the primates within the study group. This is part of the reason we don’t feel that chimpanzees belong in captivity. It’s impossible to give them an environment will all the opportunities to live as they evolved to as a species, even in the most enriched captive setting.

Thank you for asking about George’s bare arms. I hope this helps provide an explanation. We’re certainly interested to see if he will still be over-grooming or be over-groomed by others a year from now. Hopefully we will see him reciprocate grooming with his chimpanzee friends in the near future – that’s still something he hasn’t done!