Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Elizabeth

Happy Birthday, Missy!

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It’s hard to believe that youthful, exuberant, energizer-bunny Missy is turning 40 today. She might be in the running for World’s Most Sprightly 40 Year Old Chimpanzee. Missy makes us smile everyday with her enthusiasm for life, her legs that never stop running, and her complete devotion to her chimp family. Today, we celebrate her.

Volunteer caregiver Patti put together an 80s-themed party for Missy’s big day. Naturally this included leg warmers, socks, and sweatbands in neon colors (including a few for caregivers to wear), and homemade Rubik’s Cube pinatas. We firmly believe a party is not a party without streamers, so we decked out the greenhouse with those too. Fruit smoothie “shots” in Dixie cups, apples, plums, tomatoes (Missy’s favorite), and primate chow rounded out the celebration.

Missy:

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Negra:

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Annie:

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Jody:

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Jamie:

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Foxie:

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Burrito:

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For Missy, no day is complete without some serious adventure, so we scattered a lunch forage on Young’s Hill. And adventure she did:

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To everyone who contributed to Missy’s party, sponsored today, or just sent happy thoughts to the birthday girl, thank you!

Making Up

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Burrito depends on Foxie quite a bit. Despite the fact that Foxie’s about half his size, she’s his friend, his security blanket, and his most loyal protector. She’s always there when he needs a hug.

But everyone behaves a little unkindly to their friends from time to time. Yesterday, during a dominance display, Burrito thumped Foxie on the back as he charged past her. This isn’t unusual behavior for Burrito, or for any chimpanzee in the midst of a display. Still, it’s probably not fun to be the recipient of the thumping, especially when it comes from your good friend.

Luckily, chimps are experts at reconciliation. A little grooming is all it usually takes to make amends.

Bouncing Back

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Burrito’s been through a lot lately. In early June, he fractured a canine. The injury itself didn’t seem to phase him, but in order to prevent future pain and infection, we needed to extract the tooth. In late June, we performed an exam to do some blood work, check on his heart condition, and assess how he would do under prolonged anesthesia. And in late July, we performed the extraction.

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Before he came to the sanctuary from the research lab in 2008, Burrito was sedated for procedures pretty frequently. The routine nature of these “knockdowns” probably didn’t diminish the fear associated with them. Until Burrito’s tooth ordeal, we’ve been incredibly lucky that none of the chimps here have required medical intervention beyond a dose of antibiotics here or there.

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When you care for former lab chimpanzees, you hope that they know they’re safe now, and that they trust the difference between their current home and their former ones. We’ve spent the last seven years working to gain these chimps’ trust, and one nagging fear is that something will happen to lose you the trust you’ve earned.

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Regardless of the fact that Burrito was surrounded by friends who love him and who want the best for him, it’s likely that the two procedures he had to undergo recently brought back some scary memories from his past life. And regardless of the fact that we’ve seen firsthand how incredibly resilient and forgiving chimps can be, it’s still hard not to fear that you’re going to push things too far and damage the relationships you’ve built.

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But we shouldn’t have worried. Burrito has bounced back to his sweet, goofy, mischievous, happy self. His love for the simple things in life – a ripe avocado, a good grooming session, a long and loud bout of chase with a human friend – is as strong as ever. May we all strive to be as irrepressible as this guy.

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Positive Reinforcement Training

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A few months ago, we began a positive reinforcement training (PRT) program with the chimpanzees. (Read JB’s thorough description in this blog post.) Our ultimate goal with this program is to give the chimps the opportunity to participate in their own medical care, and to make it a positive experience for them. By teaching them to present certain body parts for inspection, for example, we will be better able to check on and treat wounds.

We started by teaching the chimps to touch a “target.” A target can be just about any object – we use PVC pipes with colored tape on the end. When a chimp touches the target, the caregiver who’s working with them presses a clicker (click = “good job”) and then rewards the chimp with a small piece of fruit or other treat. Once a chimp has learned this “targeting” behavior, we move on to asking for different body parts. The routine is the same – when a chimp presents the body part we’ve asked for, they hear a click and get a treat.

When we started this program in April, we invited Gail Laule from Active Environments to spend several days at the sanctuary training the staff on these positive reinforcement techniques. This week, Gail has returned to check up on our progress. Here are some photos from today’s sessions.

Jamie presenting her shoulder to Diana:

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Jody opening her mouth while working with me (Elizabeth):

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Annie presenting her back (Anna and Negra are on the right):

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Negra “targeting” with Anna:

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Negra presenting her shoulder:

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Participation in this program is totally optional. The great thing about PRT, though, is that the chimps want to participate. It’s a win-win. It’s enriching for them (and for their bellies!) and the cooperative behaviors they learn are going to improve their lives by allowing us to give them the best care possible.

Jody adopts a friend for the day

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Jamie and Foxie are well known for their longtime obsessions with boots and troll dolls, respectively. But occasionally one of the other chimps will develop a fleeting infatuation with a particular piece of enrichment.

Today, Jody has not let this Dora the Explorer doll out of her sight. She was carrying it when I greeted her first thing this morning:

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And she still had it when she came in from a lunch forage on Young’s Hill.

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At one point, she accidentally left Dora in the front rooms when she went out to the greenhouse, and when she realized, she ran back inside to rescue her. This afternoon she settled down with Dora to watch the happenings on Young’s Hill.

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