Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Ellen Brady-McGaughey

Gals Who Groom

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Grooming is an important part of chimpanzee life. It serves many functions, from forming, building, and maintaining social bonds, to helping ease tensions and facilitating reconciliation following a fight among the group. It is a part of everyday life.

Terry grooms Cy

Cy grooms Rayne’s lips (through the caging, although the door is open!)

As caregivers, we exist within the social sphere of the chimpanzees in our care (as Diana discussed in her blog earlier this week). We each have different relationships with each chimpanzee, which have developed and grown over time. Some chimpanzees are quick to accept new human friends (like Burrito and Terry), while others are less interested in the new person, and more interested in making sure that new person knows where they stand (at the very bottom!).

(I am taking advantage of my momentary mention of Burrito to share this somewhat blurry but very sweet picture of a sleepy Burrito from today!)

Grooming helps us forge and grow relationships with the chimpanzees in our care, and occurs when a chimpanzees invites us to join them for a grooming session. Sometimes this invitation comes in the form of a chimp pressing their back to the caging to be scratched with a tool or rubbed with our knuckle. Other times it may look like Cy poking his finger out of the caging making a raspberry sound, requesting to groom your elbow. One of my personal favorite invitations is when Honey B sticks out her very small thumb to request to groom you. Many grooming sessions have served as mile-markers for me in my personal relationships with different chimpanzees, such as the first time I felt comfortable allowing Honey B to groom the back of my hand, when Rayne initiated a lengthy grooming session with me for the very first time, the first time Lucky genuinely wanted to groom me (without any stabby fingers) or when Jamie first presented me with a chopstick to groom her with. In today’s blog video, I wanted to share a couple such special moments with you all.

And for those keeping up with Willy B’s recent injury and return to his group, check out J.B.’s blog  from yesterday about his reintroduction if you missed it!

Grooming Time with the Cows

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Check out today’s video to join in on a grooming session…with the cows! These lovely ladies often spend time grooming each other, and it is a wonderful moment when they invite us as their caregivers to join in. Meredith, Honey, and Betsy really love the scratching post that J.B. recently installed for them, but when there isn’t a scratching post around, a human with a brush will do just fine!

Betsy licks Caregiver Ellen

…And another one!

And one more, because Betsy is just so cute!

Betsy rests her head in Caregiver Ellen’s hand

Betsy’s tongue is incoming…

Another lick from Betsy! You can see the texture of her tongue here. Being licked by a cow feels a lot like being licked by a giant cat’s tongue!

Left to right Caregiver Ellen, Meredith, Honey, and Betsy

And last but not least, Caregiver Ellen gets a facial courtesy of Betsy Cow!

CSNW Olympics

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The humans of the sanctuary have been very excited about the Olympics, and today we were able to share our excitement with the chimps by tuning in to the Olympics where they could watch too! Cy and Rayne were especially interested in watching this morning’s events. All of this inspired us caregiver’s to compete in our own Olympic sport – competitive nesting! The rules were simple, each nest builder received the same number of blankets to use in building their nest, and each was allowed one novelty item. The item had to be approved for the chimps to use already, but could be anything besides a blanket. Interestingly each contestant chose to use multiple colorful peace sign blankets – a wonderful choice in the spirit of the Olympics! After two high quality nests were made, caregiver Ellen assisted Judges Rayne, Terry, and Honey B in scoring each contestant. There were three categories to score: technique, creativity, and comfort. Kelsi scored high in all 3 categories, getting notable mentions for her inclusion of a knot in her nest design and the overall comfort of the nest with its high walls and a Squishmallow being utilized as her novelty item. Jenna also earned high scores, but lost some points in technique due to her difficulty completing the difficult slinky maneuver. We had a lot of fun in today’s event, and who knows…you all might get to see more events as the week goes on!

 

 

The Many Uses of a Ball

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Burrito is one of the most fun chimpanzees I have ever met and, don’t tell my other chimp friends, but he is absolutely the funniest. One of the most endearing things to me about Burrito is how he can have fun with just about anything. A sock? Perfect for playing tug with the humans. A headband? Get over here Missy, let’s see how far we can pull it! A slinky? Obviously the perfect accessory for the foot or leg. A stuffed animal? The best for tossing around. A bandana? The ideal size for covering your face while playing with your friends. It goes on and on! Burrito is also, to my recollection, the only chimp I have ever heard laugh while playing by himself. I have heard him laughing and gone over to see who he is playing with, only to find him laughing at the silly things he is doing all by himself.

A very silly upside down Burrito

We recently received 3 stuffed knots, which each form a ball shape, as a gift for the chimpanzees from a generous donor. Since they have stuffing, we gave them to Burrito’s group as some of the members of the group of 9 eat stuffing, and therefore can’t have it. We started by giving them one ball, and Burrito had the BEST time with it! He quickly discovered every possible way to play with it. He stretched it out so it could fit over his body, he knocked it around like he was kicking a soccer ball, he put one of the stretched out bands around his foot and pulled it around behind him, he threw it as high as he could into the air and caught it on the way back down, he hugged it tight, and he bounced on it! We gave him the other two toys today, and he has been enjoying them throughout the day, somehow finding even more new ways to have as much fun as possible with them. Check out today’s video to see Burrito with his beloved new toys. Many thanks to the donor that sent them to us!

If you’d like to spread more joy and fun like this among the chimps, the cows, and their caregivers, consider joining us in celebrating summer by helping to empty our three wish lists for Christmas in July!

Happy Birthday Betsy!

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Today is another day of celebration here at the sanctuary as we celebrate Betsy Cow‘s 17th birthday! Betsy celebrated with some freshly picked willow branches and wild roses provided by Dr. Erin to her and her herd. Betsy enjoyed not only eating her freshly picked snacks, but also getting some scratches with the willow branches! Caregiver Krissy also reported that she got the honor of being licked by Betsy for the first time…the first of many if I know Betsy!

Betsy delicately eats her wild rose leaves to avoid the thorns. Look at her fabulous eye lashes!

This one is my favorite, look at her tongue reaching out to snack on some wild rose leaves!

More gentle snacking on the wild roses by Betsy

Gorgeous Betsy enjoying a taste of her willow branches.

Betsy has had a difficult year, as her son and fellow member of her herd, Nutmeg, passed away. Life without Nutmeg was an adjustment for us all, but the loss of his sweet personality and presence has undoubtedly been most felt by those who knew and loved him best – Betsy, Meredith, and Honey.

Nutmeg and Betsy

Thankfully, these lovely bovine ladies continue to have each other to enjoy life with. The summer brings the excitement of moving to different pastures to find and consume all the best grasses (and enjoy the shade on these hot days!). Betsy is looking great out on pasture, enjoying the opportunity to graze all the time. We are so lucky to get to share Betsy’s 17th birthday with her, and to be able to provide love and care to her, Meredith, and Honey every day in addition to the 15 chimpanzees. Happy birthday, Betsy!

Betsy licks Honey

Betsy licks Meredith

If you’d like to continue the celebration for Betsy, Gordo, and friends, please consider helping to empty our three wish lists for Christmas in July! Among the many items on our wish lists are supplies to build new food puzzles for the chimpanzees, which are a long lasting way to enrich the lives of our chimpanzee friends. We provide food puzzles to the chimpanzees every day which provide mental stimulation for them as they work to solve the various puzzles, and offer a fun way to get unique treats they otherwise don’t receive very often (like vanilla pudding or jello – which also can be found on our wish lists!).

We have partnered with Jerrol’s, a family-owned shop that has been in nearby Ellensburg since 1947. See our brand new custom wish list. Jerrol’s will deliver gifts right to our door at the sanctuary!

We also have a brand new Chewy wish list! We will be able to get some supplements and toys for the chimpanzees and cows directly from Chewy now.

We aren’t getting rid of our Amazon wish list entirely just yet, and we’ve added more items to that list too.

Thank you for being Sanctuary Santas and celebrating Christmas in July by helping us stock up on some staples for the cows and chimpanzees and treating the chimpanzees to new and fun food puzzles and toys.

The One About the Cows

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Lounging amid the grassy hills of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, you will find 3 somewhat unexpected animals, given the name of the sanctuary…our hardworking cows! These ladies help to keep the fire load in check by grazing on the grasses around the sanctuary and are valued members of our sanctuary family.

So this blog is about the cows! I was taking care of the cattle a few weeks ago and felt inspired to bring the camera along so that we could share some new photos with you all of these lovely ladies. They are a little bit of everything…sometimes spicy, sometimes sweet, and if you’re Betsy, always at least a little bit mischievous!

Betsy is a “the grass is greener on the other side” kind of gal, who has been known to use her smarts to let herself and her herd graze on grasses beyond their designated pastures by unlatching the gate and seeing themselves out. We adapted quickly, and now have more secure gates with clips that even Betsy can’t open! Our beloved Betsy is a softy too, I always give her hugs while she eats her meal and she doesn’t seem to mind one bit. She also enjoys licking us.

She is very food motivated too…just look at the face she makes when she sees her grain arrive!

Betsy

Honey is the sassiest of the three cows, often giving some intense side-eye if you look like you might be thinking about touching her. She does allow head scratches at times, which is always a special occasion! She enjoys food, with hay pellets being her favorite part of any meal. She is Meredith’s mom, and a good friend to Betsy. She is the lightest in color of the three cows, and a very pretty lady!

Honey

Meredith is right between Betsy and Honey in terms of coloring. She is light brown, but not as light as Honey. We have provided a lot of specialized care for Meredith over the past year as she has dealt with arthritis and had a procedure to provide her with some pain relief, which included a somewhat lengthy recovery time separate from her herd. She is doing well currently, still dealing with her arthritis but able to be with her herd and enjoy the different summer pastures we are able to move them between. She is a sweet lady, who enjoys being brushed and getting scratches, and gets a regular serving of applesauce with her medications which she seems to really enjoy!

Meredith

Meredith

Silly close up of a Betsy nose boop!

Betsy licks Honey

Betsy licks Meredith (there are plenty of Betsy licks to go around!)

A Meeting of the Girls Club

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I was lucky enough to stumble upon a meeting of the Girls Club last week, aka Mora B, aka Mave, Dora, and Honey B. I was walking around the sanctuary to give out some juice before heading to lunch myself when I found these 3 ladies lounging in the shade in the chute. Dora initiated play with me, so I sat down to enjoy the moment. She tapped the back of my hand with her (super cute) toes, let me knuckle rub her arm and back, and then I took my phone out so she could look at herself in my camera. While she was admiring herself, Honey B realized the camera was out and joined the party, which turned into playing with Dora while occasionally still watching themselves on the phone. I hope you enjoy watching all of this play out in today’s video, and be sure to stay until the end for a special guest appearance at Girls Club.