Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Ellen Brady-McGaughey

Another Day, Another Food Puzzle

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As I have taken on more responsibilities as a part of the CSNW team after my initial training, I have taken on the role of Enrichment Coordinator from Chad as he moves into a new position within the team. I started out by working to add new food puzzles to our existing enrichment, which has been especially rewarding as we get to watch the chimps’ problem-solve new puzzles and have even greater variety in their daily lives! I recently finished making “fishing buckets” for the chimps, which is a 5-gallon bucket with several holes cut into the sides and chain covered in firehose attached to the bucket to allow it to hang from the caging. We can put a variety of goodies in the bottom of the bucket which allows for even more variation in their daily food puzzles (things like applesauce, mashed potatoes, etc.) then hang the bucket from the outside of the caging. The chimps then must use tools (often a bamboo stick) to maneuver the goodies out of the bucket and into their mouths.

In today’s video, you can see Lucky’s group trying out these new food puzzles for the first time. Lucky herself was particularly careful and precise when using her bamboo stick tool, and seemed to enjoy these puzzles a lot as she continued to work on them throughout the afternoon, and even came back to them after dinner.

Enjoy a bonus photo series of Annie brushing her teeth with a giant toothbrush!

Gordo, the PRT Superstar!

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Gordo has a routine physical exam in his future, as he has not yet had a physical exam in his time at CSNW and it doing so will allow us to have a better understanding of both his heart health and overall health. Because Gordo has not experienced an exam here before, we have made it a priority to prepare him as best as possible using Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT) so that his stress throughout the process can be as minimal as possible. In order for his exam to occur, he will first have to be separated from his group, and then sedated to allow for him to be safely removed from his room and evaluated by Dr. Erin and a team of other professionals that she will assemble. When we last checked in on Gordo’s training progress in March, he had been doing well presenting different parts of his body when asked, and was learning to come to his station marker.

Gordo being perfectly Gordo!

I am happy to report that Gordo has exceeded all of our expectations and progressed rather quickly through his training for allowing an injection (to allow for him to be sedated for his exam), as well as for being separated from his group! We started by simply asking him to participate in PRT in whatever way he felt most comfortable, which ended up being during meal times where the rest of the group was otherwise occupied and he was already used to coming up to us for his meals. We placed a station marker (which for us is a frisbee with a handle on one side and 2 hooks on the other so it can hang on the caging) on the caging wherever he chose to come up for his meal, and rewarded him for staying there throughout the meal, as well as for touching it when asked. Throughout the meal we would also ask him to present other body parts, especially focusing on his arms and legs as these would be ideal locations for him to eventually receive an injection. We also practice “target” regularly, where he is asked to touch the end of a pvc tube, as this can also be a good way to communicate with him when we want him to move somewhere else (by holding the target at the goal location and asking him to move to it by saying “target”). We use a clicker to communicate to him when he has done something correctly, and follow the click up with a reinforcer of some kind (his favorites are peanuts and fruit). Once Gordo seemed to have a good understanding of stationing, we started to ask him to station in different places to be sure he knew the same rules applied with his station in various locations. He caught on to this quickly, and we were soon able to start asking him to move from his usual mealtime spot in the Oakwood Greenhouse (or the chute/the Bray, depending on the day!) to the front rooms, where we will eventually ask him to separate from his group to allow his exam to take place.

During these daily training sessions, he has progressed from presenting his arms and legs while at his station, to letting his trainer poke him gently with a chopstick, then a capped needle, then blunt needle, and after many sessions together (and as of this week!), a real needle. He has allowed the “injection site” to be cleaned with an alcohol wipe, which can be quite an unusual experience when you don’t know what to expect. He has also allowed Dr. Erin to come along for some of our sessions, and has allowed for her to poke him with a blunt needle as well which is a very big deal as seeing your veterinarian with a needle in hand can be a very scary thing! We did, on the first session where Dr. Erin held the needle, first show him Dr. Erin poking me with the blunt needle so that he knew there was nothing to be scared of. He did seem anxious initially, but calmed down and allowed her to touch him gently with the blunt needle, then quickly inspected his leg after the brief touch, and finally slurped down his beloved surprise smoothie (a jackpot for a job VERY well done!). This has been such a rewarding process to see him succeed at every little step, and to see his confidence grow, seemingly both in doing PRT as well as in his group in general.

Gordo relaxed, eating his lunch at his station marker. You can see in the back left corner of the photo that the shift door to this room is closed, as he is being briefly separated from his group as part of his training to lessen his stress when he must be isolated for his upcoming physical exam. This was the first time we closed the door!

A lovely bonus of training with Gordo multiple times a day has been getting to spend extra quality time with him and getting to watch him savor his favorite foods. He is such a fun and unique person to get to know, and I am thankful for this extra time and trust-building we have been able to have together.

Gordo enjoys some green onions during breakfast

Our next steps will be to continue training together as often as we can, mostly working with a blunt needle for the injection training portion, and only intermittently using a real needle as we do not want to poke him often with a real needle. Dr. Erin will continue to come along when she can and practice injection training with Gordo as well. We will continue to practice separating him from the group in the front rooms for several minutes at a time a couple times a week during meals, so that when the time comes for him to be separated for his exam, he will hopefully feel less stressed than if we had not practiced and trained for this. I am so proud of all that Gordo has accomplished in his training already, and hope that all of his hard work pays off when the time comes for his exam! He really is a superstar of PRT (and of our hearts!).

Training with Rayne

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Someone recently asked for an update on Rayne’s forehead, and here it is! As many of you who follow the blog already know, Rayne has a chronically dry forehead. It is a distinguishing feature that makes her easy to identify within her group, but can also be itchy and we assume somewhat uncomfortable for her. Because of this, Jenna wrote a plan (awhile ago) to apply lotion to Rayne’s forehead in an attempt to moisturize it and help with the dryness.

Rayne with a magazine and box of enrichment items

The update is that Rayne is a genius and has been allowing us to regularly lotion her forehead, using a paintbrush! She is especially helpful during these sessions as once we paint some of the lotion onto her head, she quickly rubs it in. Rayne’s favorite part of these sessions seems to be the juice she gets as a reward, and she especially loves getting to finish off what is left of it by the end of our session as a jackpot for a job well done. Immediately following these sessions, her forehead appears shiny and well-moisturized, making her look almost like a completely different chimp. We will be continuing to apply lotion to her forehead regularly using a paintbrush, and may try using different lotions to see if they provide more lasting effects.

Rayne’s forehead after lotion application

Enjoy some bonus photos from a forage with Jamie’s group today. The weather has been beautiful today, and both humans and chimps are enjoying it.

Foxie and her doll

Jamie with as many mini peppers as she could carry. This looks very similar to a different photo of Jamie we posted recently…Jamie loves her mini peppers!

Missy in motion

A Special Game of Tug

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One of the most special parts of my job as a caregiver is being able to build relationships with the chimpanzees. This can be a slow process, with most of the first steps being them testing you and seeing how you react to things they do. Sometimes these things are not so pleasant for you, like poking at items you are serving, spitting at you, jumping at the caging to try to startle you, or even throwing poop. But all of that is so worth it for the friendships to come. It is incredibly rewarding when they start to let their walls down with you, and you start to get to see the chimpanzee person behind the tough exterior they first put up.

When I was first starting as a caregiver here, I admittedly struggled with “being the new guy” with the chimps more than I had expected. I had worked with many chimps as a caregiver at Chimp Haven, and had helped to welcome in many new residents to the sanctuary over my years there so working through those initial steps of relationship building was not new to me, and the hazing by the chimps was to be expected. But a big difference, which I quickly noticed, was that I was greatly missing my reliable, constant friendships that I had built over years of working with specific chimpanzee friends. I could always count on having a grooming session with Keeli, Maxi’s excitement when I showed up to train with her, and a good game of chase with Hamlet, but now I was working to build new friendships without those old ones to lean on, and remind me of all that is to come.

But thankfully, the weeks and now months have passed by quickly, and while I do still miss my old friends, I remain very excited for all of the new relationships I have and continue to build with my friends here. There is something extra special (as I mentioned in a previous blog post), about being able to have safe ways to touch and be touched by the chimpanzees that has allowed for an even greater level of trust and friendship that I have not been able to experience before.

I don’t want to spoil anything in the video for you, so you’ll have to go there to see who I got to share a few extra special moments with recently! I’m so grateful to be here, and to be able to build friendships with these very special chimpanzee people.

Bonus photos from the day:

Honey B resting in Riverview

Jamie flipping through an extra large magazine sent by a donor – it was a HUGE hit!!

Negra napping in her nest after a busy morning

Friday Festivities

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I am usually lead caregiver on Fridays, and part-time caregiver Krissy and I have come to love celebrating Fridays, or Fri-YAYs as we call them. It is a lovely reminder each week of how lucky we are to be here, and to celebrate the little moments we get to share in each day with the chimps. Today was no exception, and we celebrated with some gatorade pools for the chimps, as well as a forage on Young’s Hill at lunch.

The weather was perfect today, with the sun shining and a slight breeze. The chimps were all in a great mood, and there was lots of chimp laughter that could be heard throughout the chimp house.

Enjoy today’s video from our Fri-YAY celebrations, and some bonus photos included below. I hope you all have enjoyed just as lovely of a day as we have!

 

Negra at the gatorade pool

Jamie at the gatorade pool

Handsome Cy relaxing

Training with Gordo

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One of my favorite parts of this job, besides building and maintaining relationships with my chimpanzee friends, is getting to participate in our Positive Reinforcement Training Program. Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT) means we use rewards (food, praise, play, etc) to reinforce and encourage desirable behavior. We do this to provide the chimps and cattle with the ability to participate in their own care, and make necessary tasks (such as preparing for a sedation or even serving of meals) as stress free as possible for everyone involved.

Recently we were discussing the need for Gordo to have a routine physical exam to get a better understanding of his current heart health and health overall. This posed a bit of a daunting task as our goal before completing the exam is to have him comfortable with being separated from his group, and participating in training with a focus on injection training. At the time of the discussion, Gordo had only trained a handful of times and generally did not show interest in participating when we asked him to. Here comes the fun part…making a plan to achieve this goal, tweaking the plan as we encounter obstacles, and most importantly – making the whole experience positive and enjoyable for Gordo and strengthening our relationship along the way!

You may be wondering, why does he need to be comfortable being separated from his group? In order to safely sedate and then remove a sleeping Gordo for his exam, he needs to be alone. This is both for his safety so he is not vulnerable to others as he falls asleep, and for our safety as we then have to enter his room once he is asleep to take him to the clinic for his exam. Through PRT, we can work to make being separated from the group a positive experience (for example, being by himself means he gets a jackpot reward of several of his favorite things) which will help him feel less stressed as we prepare for his exam. Without training him for separation, it would likely cause much more stress for him when being separated as there would not be an existing positive experiences under these circumstances. We also have the goal to focus on injection training so that when the time comes, he will hopefully present his arm or leg for his injection to begin the sedation process. This is less stressful and easier to accomplish than having to use a small dart gun to administer the sedatives.

The first step was to write a shaping plan – a step by step guide for how we hoped to accomplish these goals. Jenna wrote a plan, and we were quick to get to work on it! Only one problem, Gordo was not as eager as we were to start the training. Most of his group is incredibly interested in training, so we had to have two trainers – one to occupy everyone else, and one to train with Gordo. We quickly altered our plan to train with him during meal time, when he often separates himself from the group naturally and comes up readily to receive his meal. We use a frisbee with hooks on the back of it to show him where we would like him to stay during the session (this is called a station marker), and he got the hang of this quickly! He comes up to his station marker, and to my surprise and excitement, he was very interested in training within just one training session!

Gordo stationing (in a box he pulled up to sit in, of course!)

We use both verbal and visual cues to communicate what we are asking of the chimps. For example, if I were to ask Gordo to present his left hand, I would hold up my right hand (mirror image) with my fingers pointed towards him and say “hand.” I would expect him to put his left hand up, sticking all of his fingers (except his thumb…that would be hard to accomplish since it is so small!) through the caging towards me. Gordo was quick to recognize that we were having a training session during the meal, and he started offering up several different behaviors he had learned during his time at Wildlife Waystation and seemed eager to participate. This may sound simple, but for a chimp who just a few weeks before was not interested in coming up to train, this was a big breakthrough and very exciting! As often is the case when working with chimps, we needed to be creative in order to find what worked best for Gordo. We are continuing to work with him on stationing (staying in one place) while doors are being operated, and have been focusing on his arms and legs during training sessions as these are ideal locations for injections. He is doing very well presenting both of his feet, his hands, and his right arm and leg so far! So long as he continues to do well, we will start progressing in his injection training (the next step is simply bringing a capped needle along to our sessions for him to observe), and asking him to move to different locations to station to be sure he understands that the same concept applies in a variety of situations.

Gordo presents his foot

Gordo touches his station marker

Gordo presents his leg and allows for a gentle touch with a chopstick!

PRT is such an amazing tool to have as caregivers. It helps us build stronger relationships of trust and cooperation with those in our care, and also allows them to actively participate in their own care. Through PRT you can get many important diagnostic values that may even prevent a need for sedation and can allow you to monitor existing conditions more regularly. It is incredibly rewarding to make progress in PRT with any trainee, but especially someone like Gordo who was not always interested or motivated to participate in PRT, and who this training can so greatly benefit him by decreasing his stress around a necessary procedure! Go Gordo, go!!!

International Women’s Day

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Today is International Women’s Day, so it seems only appropriate to recognize and celebrate some of the influential women in our field, and in our lives. If you missed Tuesday’s post by Amanda focused on women in primatology, go check it out!

I think it is safe to say that Dr. Jane Goodall is an inspiration to all of us who love and care for chimpanzees. For most of us, our love of the species and individuals is shown in the daily care we provide to them, our friendships built with them, and heard about extensively by our families and friends. But Dr. Goodall has shared her love and passion far beyond the boundaries of her inner circle. She has made a tremendous impact by inspiring both current and future advocates, caregivers, veterinary technicians, and veterinarians of chimpanzees through sharing their stories and the importance of preserving their place on our planet. Beyond that, she is a symbol of success in science for young girls and women everywhere to look up to and aspire to. Her passion for chimpanzees and conservation work has spanned decades, and she continues to travel and advocate for chimpanzees and the importance of conservation to this day (she will be speaking in Seattle later this month!). I was fortunate enough to meet Dr. Goodall briefly when she visited Chimp Haven several years ago. We had the opportunity to listen to stories she shared about meeting chimpanzees living in laboratories and seeing the conditions they had experienced, and then getting to witness the lives they had in sanctuary after many years of work to get them there. It was a wonderful day getting to introduce our chimpanzee friends to Dr. Goodall, if only we could explain to them how cool of a person they were getting to see! All that to say, we admire and celebrate you, Dr. Goodall, and are so thankful for everything you have done and continue to do for chimpanzees and our planet.

Caregiver Ellen talking with Dr. Jane Goodall during a visit to Chimp Haven. My colorful shoes were painted by chimp friends!

Here at CSNW, we have many wonderful women to celebrate today…both chimpanzee and human! If you missed our Be Mine series in February, visit the links for each of our female chimp friends here: Mave, Dora, Rayne, Lucky, Honey B, Jamie, Foxie, Missy, Annie, and Negra, as well as our friend we have lost but whose memory we will always celebrate and remember, Jody.

Male chimps, at least in my experience, are usually easier to get to know and more willing to let you in. Take Terry, Cy, and Burrito for example. These lovely gentleman so readily accept you into their circle, and welcome you. My very first day getting to interact with the chimps, Chad took me to learn about appropriate interactions with Terry and he was so gentle and patient with someone who was (mostly) a stranger to him. He gently groomed the back of my hand, and let me rub him with my knuckle. The ladies, however, are often much more difficult to build friendships with. They have to test you first, making sure you are worthy of their time and friendship. This makes it all the more rewarding when they let you in though. One of the best moments I had recently was with Negra, who J.B. recently (and very accurately and lovingly) described as “a grumpy old lady.” I got to the sanctuary and was turning on lights and making my morning rounds of greeting the chimps. Neggie peeked up from her nest to look at me, and when I told her “Good morning, Neggie!” she quickly got up and made her way over to greet me. She offered me a kiss, and we sat and panted at each other for several seconds as she gave me a kiss on the back of my hand. Next she reached towards me, as if she wanted to groom the back of my hand. In my past experiences with Negra, this usually was not a well-intended gesture, so I was unsure if I should allow her to touch the back of my hand. I showed her my knuckle, politely asking if I could knuckle rub her arm, and she turned to press her arm against the mesh and sat with me for a few moments, letting me gently touch her arm with my knuckle while looking into my eyes. This moment was pure magic for me. Does this mean Negra will always be sweet to me from here on out? No. But it means she let me in, even if just for a few moments, and felt comfortable to allow me to spend that time with her. There’s just something special about those female friendships.

A kiss from Negra

Negra

Happy International Women’s Day to women everywhere! I’m including a shout out to my mom here, because I would not be the person I am today without her example of following her passions and the love, respect, and belief she has had in me at every step of my life. May you all be surrounded with such strong and influential women in your lives, and continue to change the world in ways big and small every single day! Together we can create a brighter future for generations of women to come, both human and chimpanzee.