Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Jackie

Jamie, the artiste

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Generally speaking, for what ever reason, the chimps here don’t seem too interested in drawing or painting. However, every once in a while, Jamie will draw with a pen or crayon. So, I was pleasantly surprised today when I found the following mask (that was all white yesterday) in the Playroom during cleaning. I can only assume it was Jamie’s masterpiece because I saw her drawing with a brown crayon yesterday, and she is the most likely of the group to draw. I would say when she puts her mind to it (or feels like it), Jamie is quite the artiste.

The artist herself, lounging in the greenhouse:

Happy Halloween!

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From new boots to pomegranates; from pears, apples, and green onions, to grapes, oranges, and pineapple coconut juice; from pinatas to new troll dolls; yesterday may have been the most exciting party at CSNW to date. The food squeaks lasted for at least 30 minutes! It was quite a day!

In addition to the video, I thought I would post a couple of my personal favorite pictures from the party– but FYI, they aren’t the ones saved for $33 donations in honor of Jamie’s day! Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

A spooky Mr. Burrito:

Nest grunts

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Recently there was a discussion on our Facebook page about Nest Grunts. When the chimps are getting settled into their nests at night they will often make a hoohuhhoohuh sound which is called a nest grunt. Chimps in the wild will often make these vocalizations to check in with each other before bedtime. We’ve been trying to catch the vocalization on tape for the blog for some time now, and we were finally successful! It’s definitely one of my favorite times of the night.

In the comfort of your own home

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It may be sunny and beautiful right now, but this morning was very chilly and gray. It was definitely one of those mornings where all you want to do is curl up on the couch with your favorite blanket and watch a movie. So, it was no surprise when Missy decided to skip breakfast and stayed in her giant nest in the playroom. I certainly don’t blame her, but that meant cleaning the playroom was slightly delayed. Being behind in our routine did not stop the chimps from being adorably distracting. Jamie was looking quite bored, so I poured a little bit of (non-toxic) soapy water on the floor in one of the front rooms and gave her a couple of brushes. She cleaned a very large portion of the room and worked on it for nearly an hour (am I losing job security?). As if that wasn’t cute enough, Burrito spent some quality time with blankets today, which is something that we just don’t see from him very often.

The first blanket I saw him “cuddling” with is one that has a skull and crossbones on it 🙂

Then, Missy distracted him with a playful game of chase. He later returned to the same spot with a different blanket:

And then it got chilly, so he moved into the front rooms. I would say it was a very good morning to curl up with a blanket!