Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Diana

Gettin’ the Party Started

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Biddin‘ and Lovin’ has begun for our Summer Biddin’ online-only auction! There’s only four days for this quick and fun fundraiser that will provide money to care for the chimpanzees, so don’t delay!

We have one Producer and a few Directors for our Summer Lovin’ Party – thank you! We’re currently searching for Executive Producers and a lot more production help. Learn more in the video below and here.

 

Here are the top three Biddin’ items so far. Click through to get the details and place a bid:

One Week Stay at Kauai Beach Resort

Kauai Beach Resort

Thanks to donors Robert and Alisha Palmer

 

Chimpanzee Photo Quilt

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by Lisa Dieumegard

 

Missy and Annie

Giclee print on canvas

Missy and Annie print

by Margaret H. Parkinson

 

There are so many other great items to check out right now. Foxie inspired quite a bit of art for this auction.

Surprisingly, there are no bids on the Backstage Pass to the Sanctuary yet, but we know you’re just holding out.

Negra - Backstage Pass photo

 

Please help spread the word about Summer’ Biddin’ and Lovin‘ by sharing with your friends via email and social media, bid high and bid often, and help us throw a spectacular end-of-summer party!

Summer Biddin' banner

 

Chimpanzee Photography Experience & Online Auction Opening Soon

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I mentioned the other day that some 2013 HOOT! auction bidders had cashed in their photography experience at the sanctuary that they won at the gala.

Right now, we are gearing up for our Summer Biddin’ online auction. While we don’t have a photography session, we do have a really amazing and unique experience to bid on: a Backstage Pass to the Sanctuary!

Bidding for all items opens Thursday morning, and items are still being added, but you can and should (right now) check out how you can help us throw a spectacular Summer Lovin’ Party for the chimpanzees and get some perks for yourself in the process.

Back to Saturday. Martha and Susie were the first winning bidders for the photography session. They had a great time at the sanctuary learning some new photography skills from photographers Karen Ducey and Dean Rutz. They set up photography camp on the observation deck and learned the ropes of the professional equipment that Karen and Dean generously loaned.

Martha and Susie taking aim

Martha and Susie practicing

Martha and Susie happy

And they got some really amazing photos!! Below are just a few.

Annie:

Annie on young's hill

Foxie:

Foxie pull up

Foxie on platform

 

And birthday-girl Missy, looking like her athletic self:

Missy on fire hose

 

Not only was it Missy’s birthday on the day they visited, it was also Martha’s! Karen was kind enough to bring a birthday cake, which of course we adorned with some CSNW style:

Martha's bday cake

 

Martha and Susie also took a walk with J.B. around the hill with Jamie of course following on the inside of the fence. Ellie the elk was hanging around the property and joined them too:

Ellie, J.B., Martha, Susie

 

You just never know what adventures await at the sanctuary, especially on a party day, which is why you should get ready to bid on the unique Backstage Pass experience and help us throw a great end-of-summer party! You don’t have to wait until Thursday to make your Summer Lovin’ party donation – do it today!

Missy Chimpanzee’s 39th Birthday

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Today was Missy-centered. The theme was tomatoes, slinky toys, tomatoes, socks, tomatoes, cattails, tomatoes, socks, and kongs with peanuts in them – all favs of Missy.

At our HOOT! gala in May, one of the more interesting items we auctioned off during the live auction was a photography session at the sanctuary with professional photographers Dean Rutz and Karen Ducey. There were two lucky winning bidders, and one of the winners cashed in their session this morning – we can’t wait to share a few of their photos with you!

In the meantime, here are some that the staff took today of the birthday girl, a flashback to one of my favorite videos of Missy, and a few photos of the other chimpanzees enjoying Missy’s birthday.

Missy spent the day, as usual, in action and elusive to the camera.

In the photo below, Missy is climbing one of the tallest structures on the hill during the breakfast forage, which included a lot of – you guessed it – tomatoes!

Missy climbing

 

Here she is at the top with a mouthful:

Missy behind post

 

Later, we handed out cattails. Missy decided to take hers inside:

MIssy biting cattail

 

Missy escaping the watchful eye of the camera, climbing to the bridge in the playroom to enjoy her cattail:

Missy climbing stairs

 

Missy in a nest playing with a slinky on the catwalk of the playroom:

Missy with a slinky

 

MIssy removing a kong from a sock:

Missy sit window kong sock

Missy sit window with kong

 

We put the kongs in socks for the nighttime enrichment in homage to Missy’s own invention, and one of my favorite videos of Missy, taken in 2010 (see below):

 

The other chimpanzees also had a great time with all of the birthday festivities today.

Jamie explored some new enrichment in the greenhouse:

Jamie with recorder

 

Jamie cleaning some plastic glasses with a sock:

Jamie with glasses

 

Negra foraged on the hill for breakfast:

Negra forage on the hill

Negra with a strawberry

Negra with chow

 

And Annie, proudly, got the tomato piñata during the playroom forage:

Annie with pinata

 

I posted a little video on Facebook of Missy playing what looks a lot like a thumb war with Negra while they lay next to each other on the catwalk. All in all, it was a pretty great 39th birthday for one of the most athletic, full-of-life chimpanzee people that I’ve ever met. We love you, Missy!

Missy's birthday portrait

Negra, troll dolls, and overcoming anxiety

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If you read J.B.’s blog post yesterday, you know that we’ve had quite an interesting development at the sanctuary. Negra, who normally ignores enrichment, has taken a shine to troll dolls, which up until now have been Foxie’s “thing.”

An unrelated fact that you may have noticed if you’ve been with us for a while is that Negra is not as often pictured participating in forages on Young’s Hill as the other chimpanzees. Sometimes Negra decides not to join the group on the hill for forages. We are not entirely sure why this is, and we are trying to figure it out right now (more on that later).

The new development today is that Negra took a troll doll with her to forage on the hill!

It certainly seems that Foxie is able to get comfort from her dolls that she carries everywhere – a kind of security blanket, and perhaps Negra is experiencing something similar with the dolls now.

This is a not-very-good photo of Negra, with the troll doll in her right hand as she is walking back to the greenhouse with a mouthful of lettuce:

Negra holding troll on young's hill

 

Here is Negra passing Foxie (her inspiration?). I like the way that chimpanzees, even when there is lots of room (like 2 acres), will go out of their way to have physical contact:

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I was excited to get this photo – you can see Negra’s hand around the troll and Foxie’s around a Dora as they walk in opposite directions:

hands holding dolls

 

One of the many things that I love about Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest is that all staff caregivers meet twice a month to talk about the chimpanzees and raise concerns or even just share stories. One of our recent topics has been Negra’s reluctance to participate in forages. For a while, every time that Negra did not forage with the group, we would give her a meal in the greenhouse or inside the building. But then it seemed that she wasn’t even considering going onto the hill, perhaps because she knew she would get her own private picnic. She does sometimes show anxiety about going on the hill, and we don’t want to cause her to miss lunch if she is responding out of genuine fear.

However, we do want to encourage all of the chimps to experience everything that the sanctuary has to offer, to get exercise, and to work on overcoming situations that might cause a little bit of anxiety. So, a few weeks ago we decided to try not giving Negra a private meal if she didn’t at least make a move to participate in the forage. This may be providing her the encouragement that she needed to join the group in foraging.

Negra eating lettuce

At our last meeting we decided to start recording the different factors that may be influencing Negra to choose whether or not to participate in forages on the hill. But now we might just have to add one – whether or not she has a troll doll with her!

Tomatoes from the Garden

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Included among the vegetables currently ripening in the chimpanzees’ garden (thanks to volunteer Denice), are many cherry tomatoes:

Tomatoe plant in garden

 

This has not escaped the notice of one Missy Chimpanzee. The chimpanzees have a great view of the garden from all of the windows of the playroom. While many of the windows are bullet-proof glass, we do have some that have window caging over them, which allows us to open the window on the other side of the window cage for air flow. It also allows the chimps to climb on the caging. Here is Missy clinging to the window caging, gazing at the tomato plants:

Missy hanging on window caging

 

Missy may be of the opinion that the windows open so that we can give her those tomatoes she has her eye on, and that’s fine with us – it’s fun and satisfying to be able to give the chimpanzees exactly what they are asking for. Today, volunteer caregiver Connie and staff member Debbie served Missy some tomatoes.

Connie giving Missy a tomato

 

Jamie joined in on the spontaneous treat:

Debbie serving Missy and Jamie tomatoes

 

I can not emphasize enough how much Missy loves tomatoes:

Debbie serve Missy tomatoMissy being served a tomato

Chimpanzee Nest Slumber Party

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A few days ago we discovered the remains of a slumber party in the loft of the playroom (see photo below):

slumber party nest

While it’s great to get photos of the chimpanzees doing things, it’s also fun to come across the evidence of their activities when we safely enter the area where they were.

The slumber party remains inspired me to take a look for some other nest photos, and below are a few favorites. But first a photo of Jody from a few weeks ago creating yet another nest masterpiece. I love the way Jody rolls the blankets to make a tight nest:

Jody nesting

 

Here’s another photo of some sort of slumber party action:

large nests together

 

This nest was found in Negra’s winter spot in the loft, so it might be hers, though it looks a bit neat for her style, so I’m going to guess it was a Missy construction. I like the unusually high sides:

nest in Negra's winter spot

 

What is happening here? Another multi-nest, or the start of a single enormous bed?

messy nest

 

I’m a fan of hay and straw incorporated into nests, like this day-nest found on top of the platform in the greenhouse:

nest with hay

 

and then there’s the nests that have toys and other favorite things included:

toyful nest

 

This one’s from just the other day. If you’re familiar with the chimps, I give you only one guess as to who made this bed:

boot nest

Burrito and Negra

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We often talk about Annie and Missy’s friendship, Foxie’s ability to get her friend Jamie to relax, and Burrito’s reliance on Foxie for reassurance when times are tense and their goofy play sessions when times are relaxed.

There are several close relationships among the chimpanzees. One that we haven’t talked about much is that between Burrito, the youngest chimpanzee, and Negra, the oldest.

Negra seems to give Burrito respect as the one male of the troop, perhaps more respect than some of the other ladies show him (ahem, Jamie).

Burrito and Negra often go to each when there’s something exciting going on, like setting up for a party, and they are frequent grooming partners too.

Today, as you can see from the photos below, they spent several minutes grooming one another after Negra was a bit concerned over a noise she heard.

Negra made a “pout face” as a reaction to the noise (which was a bird calling). This looks similar to when chimpanzees trumpet their lips to pant-hoot, but a pout face is used during times of concern, distress, or frustration:

Negra hoot face

 

Then Negra approached Burrito to be groomed, which can be a form of asking for reassurance:

Burrito Negra look at camera

Burrito groom Negra

Burrito groom Negra profile

Burrito groom Negra 2

 

Later, she reciprocated the grooming:

Negra groom Burrito

Burrito and Negra groom each other

Negra groom Burrito 2

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Living in a social group of others who understand their wants and needs is one of the most important aspects of sanctuary life for the chimpanzees, and we understand that they need to turn to one another, not to us humans, for their deepest and most important relationships.