Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Diana

An unusual day

by

Today we messed with the chimpanzees’ routine. There is a tall structure in the greenhouse that needed some repair, so the chimpanzees weren’t able to get outside until J.B. and volunteer Chad finished their fix-it job.

All morning, Burrito alternated between his Tasmanian devil self and his adorable playful self.

Lest you think the change in routine or lack of outdoor access caused his Tasmanian devil self to appear, allow me to elaborate to explain that on pretty much any given day, Burrito alternates between these two extremes.

I only got a picture of the later, but you might be able to see a twinkle of mischief in those eyes.

Don’t let him fool you.

When the greenhouse (and the raceway that leads to the large outdoor habitat) was ready to be occupied by chimpanzees again, we decided to take advantage of the unusually warm weather and provide the chimps with a dinner forage outside. We spread and hid whole tomatoes, pieces of watermelon, and mini sweet peppers all over the enclosure.

Much to our delight, Queen Negra was as eager as everyone else to get outside.

Negra is not one to choose to exert much energy, but apparently the whole tomatoes were worth stretching to get:

Jamie utilized the coolest anatomical feature that separates chimpanzees from humans – opposable toes – to carry a tomato as she continued her foraging:

Jody demonstrated the large capacity of her lips by carrying three peppers stacked on top of one another other:

And now the chimpanzees are back inside, quiet as ever while making their blanket nests, to take a restful sleep and wake up tomorrow to another day of sanctuary life.

Another New Start for Ellie/Buttons the Elk & Cautiously Adventurous Foxie

by

You may have read J.B.’s post last month about our neighborhood elk and her new chance to live a life in the wild. Well, to no one’s great surprise, she did not take to the wild life.

Yesterday, Ellie the elk was moved to Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle where, after a quarantine period, she will be introduced to two females and a male elk (with two more females to join soon from Northwest Trek). There were several stories about the move in the local press, because Ellie (better known as Buttons) is quite the celebrity. I thought the story in the Yakima Herald contained the most information.

It’s never a happy day when a wild animal is put into captivity, but she was clearly not adapting to the truly wild life. In an ideal world, Ellie wouldn’t have faced that choice so late in life, but she did. She was at the mercy of those who are tasked with handling wildlife – in this case, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. In many situations with a habituated wild adult animal, the animal is put down. Scott McCorquodale of WDFW, however, went out of his way to find a different solution for Ellie.

We are happy that the zoo agreed to make a home for her where she will have another chance to be with her own kind and where her many human friends can keep tabs on her. Wouldn’t it be great if more zoos were able to provide homes for animals like Ellie?

We are REALLY hoping it works out for her, and we remain available to help if she’s not able to integrate with the elk at the zoo. There’s a small celebration for Ellie/Buttons on March 27th for anyone who’s local. Here’s the Facebook page about the event.

Below is a video from 2014 of Jamie and Ellie:

In chimpanzee-specific news, the chimps, as I suspect many humans in the area, were outside this morning enjoying what genuinely felt like spring!

To set the scene, when I opened the door to give the chimpanzees access to Young’s Hill, Missy raced outside with Annie, Foxie, Jody and Burrito following her (Jamie and Negra remained in the greenhouse finishing their breakfast). All five of them walked the full path around the perimeter, which was clear of snow thanks to J.B. plowing a few weeks ago.

Ten or fifteen minutes later, I spotted Foxie and Burrito coming down the other side and saw that Foxie was thinking about veering off the path well-traveled onto the hard-packed snow.

She checked in with Burrito, but he was not interested in this adventure and continued on.

Foxie is known to be simultaneously adventurous and cautious, so she wasn’t about to just nonchalantly stroll onto the icy snow. She needed to test it out by first punching it and then putting just some of her weight on it.

When she was satisfied that it could hold her full body weight, she took a couple of tentative steps:

Jody, in the meantime, was watching all of this from below. Jody, being the manager/den mother of the group, seemed a little concerned. I’m not sure if it was because Foxie was the last one still up the hill or if Jody thought Foxie’s steps onto the snow were ill conceived.

In any case, Jody went up to collect Foxie, and Foxie obliged by following her back down the hill – on the proper path.

The Intensity of Being a Chimpanzee

by

This afternoon, the chimp house was the epitome of peacefulness.

If you had walked in the door at 3:00, you would have had to strain to hear the soft lip-smacking and gentle raspberry sounds that accompanied their grooming.

If you had climbed the ladder to get a view of the chimpanzees in a fluid huddle in the loft, you might have marveled at what a close-knit and affectionate group they are.

This peaceful scene erased the ear-piercing screams and general mayhem that constitute chimpanzee quarreling that had occurred throughout the morning.

But that’s the nature of chimpanzees.

One minute they seem intensely angry at each other and the next they are engaged in the most intimate grooming session.

 

Clean Up Crew + Enrichment for Nutmeg

by

Today, well after the other chimpanzees had moved on to other post-lunch activities (specifically nesting, napping, and grooming), I “caught” Annie going through the front rooms and collecting uneaten Brussels sprouts, then taking her found food to the playroom to enjoy.

Just a few minutes later, I saw Foxie do the same thing, but this time with avocado peels (in the first photo below, see Foxie’s signature happy toes and small orange-haired troll doll stationed nearby):

Foxie was working diligently to get every last bit of avocado flesh. The chimpanzees have enjoyed an abundance of avocados lately, thanks to donations of Charlie’s Produce via Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, and that has suited Foxie just fine.

As a bonus, for those who are wondering what the bovines have been up to, here’s a video I took yesterday!

Negra Time

by

Negra isn’t featured on the blog as much as some of the other chimpanzees because she’s often not part of “the action” at the chimp house (unless it’s spring and she’s outside eating grass – we can’t wait for those days!).

Negra seems to prefer solo quiet time. She also spends a lot of her time high up where it’s not as easy to get good photos and video.

And she operates on her own schedule. While the rest of the group might eagerly line up by the raceway in the morning to get the first pick of the snow, Negra instead chooses to go back to bed.

But then, an hour or so later, we’ll see her with some snow of her own – maybe she ventured out and retrieved it herself, or many she convinced one of her friends to hand over some of their haul (she can be very convincing). Either way, she doesn’t miss out on what each day has to offer, she’s just on Negra Time.

After the Storm

by

The days after a snowstorm (or series of snowstorms) are so wonderful, aren’t they? It’s like reawakening to a changed world.

J.B., with the help of volunteer Jonathan, made some pathways in the snow for the chimpanzees today. The chimps watched the work being done for them from the greenhouse. When everything was ready for them, they went outside to stretch their legs a bit, take in the landscape, and get some snow to snack on.

Burrito following Annie:

Jody:

Jody and Missy:

Foxie:

You may have already guessed that Negra wasn’t with the first expedition of the morning, but instead stayed inside until afternoon:

Jamie, meanwhile, was preoccupied with a couple of magazines. In fact, she’s more preoccupied with photos of boots than with boots themselves lately.

She did take the time to go outside to grab a big chuck of snow after lunch before returning to a magazine:

Snowpocalypse 2019

by

As the state of Washington braces for more snow, the chimpanzees spent the day thoroughly enjoying the first day of Snowpocalypse / Snowmageddon / Snowzilla WA 2019.

We really just got a few inches here, which is pretty normal this time of year. Anna did do a pretty good job of hyping the drama of the storm with her snow and ice sculpture for the chimps:

Missy did her best to carefully remove an icicle so she could abscond with it to the loft:

Jody decided to eat hers in situ:

Foxie kept a close eye on the snow as she consumed it (as is her way):

Jamie received a bonus treat today! After reading Anna’s post from the other day, donors must have immediately started gathering things to send, because we have already received some special Jamie enrichment.

We thought Snowmaggedon was a good time to give Jamie a donated folio full of interesting things.

She carefully pulled out and sorted through each item. When she came across a piece of paper that had photos of boots, she put it aside. After closely examining each card and envelope, she picked up the paper with the boot photos and went upstairs with some leftover lunch for some private Jamie-time. This chimpanzee knows what she likes: