Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Elizabeth

Missy

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I don’t think a day has gone by since I started working at CSNW in 2008 that I haven’t found myself completely charmed by Missy. She is full of contradictions – small but mighty, serious and goofy, independent and socially adept. Physically, she is petite and a little stocky with not much in the way of a neck. She has moments of extreme stillness and moments of explosive movement, and not much in between. When she’s still, she’s very still.

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But when she’s ready to move, she goes from 0 to 60 in no time. Missy does not believe in warm-ups.

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Missy has a stellar sense of humor and a twinkle in her eye. She often looks just a second away from bursting into laughter or a raucous game of chase. I don’t know how all of that energy and spirit and humor survived thirty years in tiny laboratory cages. When I watch her sprint up and down Young’s Hill at lightning speed, I’m so happy that she finally has the space to be herself.

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Digging

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After lunch this afternoon, Debbie and I hung out for awhile in the greenhouse with the chimpanzees. Jamie seemed restless. She went into the building for a moment and returned to the greenhouse with a hand shovel and proceeded to dig. Annie, who is always a big fan of digging, couldn’t resist joining her.

Foxie and Dora

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It’s very rare to see Foxie without at least one doll keeping her company. In fact, when new volunteers are first learning to tell the chimpanzees apart, they can always tell Foxie by the troll doll or Dora the Explorer she’s carrying. She carried this Dora doll in her mouth for much of the afternoon.

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Communication

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We often refer to one of the chimpanzees “asking” us for something – Jamie frequently asks us for a cowgirl boot, Foxie for a troll doll, etc.  Luckily for us, the absence of speech does not always impede communication.  The chimps have a wide array of behaviors they use to get our attention: foot stomps, head slaps, claps, raspberry sounds, and head nods, to name a few.  Jamie is a stomper, while Foxie and Missy usually employ a vigorous head nod when they want something. 

In this video, taken right after the chimps were given access to the freshly cleaned playroom, Foxie spies an unclaimed Brazil nut.  She’s hesitant to grab it since boss Jamie is sitting nearby, so she makes sure to “ask” Jamie’s permission first.

Breakfast al fresco

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We posted this morning that supporter Vicky Miller sponsored today for the chimpanzees.  To celebrate Vicky’s day, and to take advantage of today’s beautiful sunny weather, we set up a breakfast forage in the greenhouse.  Meals at CSNW are served in one of two ways: a caregiver can serve food to one chimp at a time through the fencing (like this), or we can scatter a food forage in the chimps’ enclosure.  The chimps really love forages, and we love them too because we’re always looking for ways to encourage the chimps to express species-specific behavior (basically, letting the chimps do what chimps do naturally).  This morning’s forage consisted of some favorites: fresh pineapple and pears, peanuts, and fruit smoothie in Dixie cups.

Missy:

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Jamie:

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Foxie:

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Thanks again to Vicky for making this day special!

In Memory of Ned and Noreen O’Flaherty

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Joan O’Flaherty has sponsored today in memory of her parents, Ned and Noreen.  Ned and Noreen were two years apart in age, but they were both born on March 1.  They had a great love for animals, conservation, and the environment, and Joan thinks they would have been big fans of CSNW and the Cle Elum Seven.  Thank you, Joan!

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