Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Jackie

Jamie’s choice

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We’ve mentioned it 1000 times I’m sure but Jamie is one of the most intelligent people we know. I cannot even begin to imagine how difficult and frustrating it must be for her to be stuck behind bars. Captivity would be difficult for anyone, but Jamie has a tendency to get very bored, antsy, and even demanding sometimes – especially during the cold, cabin-fever months. It’s completely understandable (check out this fantastic post from Diana from a couple of years ago reflecting on Jamie’s personality, both prior to CSNW and after her arrival here). We caregivers are completely dedicated to provide a stimulating environment for her and all of the Cle Elum Seven. Each day we do all that we can to give them interesting things to do and exciting enrichment they love, which in Jamie’s case always includes boots.

Jamie has a huge boot collection:
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But nothing gets her more excited than a new (to her) pair of boots. Who can blame her? Don’t we all get excited when we get a new pair of shoes? But, she tends to ‘love them to death’, so to speak, so they often don’t last very long. We’ve had to throw several pairs away lately and I noticed yesterday that our supply is dwindling. It occurred to me that this might be the perfect time to seek some help from you Jamie-lovers. Maybe you got a new pair of boots for Christmas and have an older pair you would like to get rid of? Or maybe you’ve been finding yourself at thrift stores lately trying to catch good deals and just hadn’t thought to be on the lookout for Jamie’s favorite thing? We certainly don’t want anyone to spend a ton of money on boots (see statement above about ‘loving them to death’) but if you happen to have an old pair or come across one, you really would make Jamie’s day.

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Burrito is the big 3-0!

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How do you celebrate food-loving Burrito’s birthday? A day in which the entire focus is on FOOD, of course! This morning we set up a huge forage in the playroom – coconuts, blackberries, pineapple chunks, nuts and seeds, and a pool of snow with blueberry juice drizzled over the top of it. The coconut elicited some of the loudest food squeaks I’ve ever heard and the chimps are still munching on the snow, taking breaks only for the occasional brain freeze. Volunteer Stephanie outdid herself yet again and brought several food-shaped pinatas and tons of decorations, both for the party and for the humans (naturally, we humans have been wearing glittery “happy birthday” hats, sunglasses and tiaras all day). I’m not so sure the chimps are too impressed with the human decor, but they were definitely impressed with the pinatas!

True to form, Jamie was first to go after them:

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Annie used her foot to keep her ice cream cone-shaped pinata balanced:
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Dick and Robbi Brown brought some pretty epic new enrichment, which definitely added to the excitement! Foxie loved a new troll doll:
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Naturally, Burrito checked all the bags for food
web burrito go through gift bag birthday party pr IMG_1723some interest in a ukulele a while back and actually played it for a while, so Dick and Robbi (and several other folks) are always on the lookout for another one when they shop at Goodwill or other thrift stores. She was the first to pull the new one out of a gift bag and strummed it a couple of times. But I guess playing a ukulele is more of a thing you do in your spare time because after a few “notes” she went right back to the forage. Missy didn’t play it, but she was curious to see if we maybe hid some food inside (does it seem like everything had to do with food today??).

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And speaking of food- the coconuts were definitely the focus this morning! And Burrito couldn’t have been happier!

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And the party didn’t end there. Aside from the usual meals, we’ve been serving surprise snacks periodically throughout the day. About 30 minutes ago, we handed out a small handful of blueberries and Elizabeth is now serving gum. Thanks so much to Dick, Robbi, Stephanie, and to everyone that made Mr. B’s day so special! Way to go Team Burrito!!

A good ol’ fashion head bonk

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Missy has been a complete goofball today. Every time I make eye contact with her, she darts off and starts laughing – suggesting she wants me to chase her. I’ve seen her playing with almost everyone today – so if you’ve got some energy and you’re feeling playful and extremely goofy, I know who you need to call! Ok, so maybe you can’t actually play with her, but you can donate to her team. After weeks of being in the lead, she is now in LAST place! And if my little spill doesn’t convince you, check out this adorable scene I caught between her and Negra this morning:

Playing it cool

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A couple of weeks ago, Diana wrote a blog post about Jamie’s complex personality – sometimes bossy, sometimes playful, sometimes (well, usually) mischievous, but always cool. For example, she probably has the coolest head nod of any chimp I’ve ever met. In terms of chimpanzee behaviors, a head nod means pretty much exactly what it sounds like – approval. Jamie’s head nod is often almost like a chin tip you’d see between bros, almost like what you would do if you were to say, ‘sup. But that’s not all that surprising, because Jamie is pretty much cool at everything she does. I would expect no less from the boss.

Here’s another example of Jamie “playing it cool”. The other day I spotted her in a comfy nest, surrounded by boots and troll dolls – classic CSNW.

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Then, she noticed a Dora the Explorer doll nearby and very slowly, very casually pulled it over to her nest.

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She seemed pretty happy to have Dora with her, but certainly didn’t want anyone to know she purposely pulled a doll into her nest. In her eyes, it would be way cooler if it just “happened” to be there.

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Negra in the snow

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Just 3 days ago, Debbie mentioned how we haven’t really had that much snow this year. She even said “I don’t want to jinx it”. Well, it’s been snowing almost constantly since Friday, so I think we can consider it jinxed! The humans may not be 100% excited about it, but the chimps are! Even Negra has been spending time on the hill eating snow.

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Playing in the sunshine

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It’s been another cold, yet sunny day today and a few minutes ago, six out of seven chimps were out roaming on the hill (can you guess who was inside?). As I rounded the corner of the greenhouse to see what was happening out there, I saw Missy just standing in the bamboo with a big playface:

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Annie came running out of the raceway towards her, full speed ahead!

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Her playful charge was pretty anti-climatic at first…
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But it wasn’t very long before Missy engaged Annie, and a wild foot grabbing, tickling, and laughing chase game ensued.
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Sometimes, play is serious business.

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All we want for Christmas is…

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Can you believe it’s already December?! The holidays are fast approaching and supporters are always asking us what we need or want. This year, we came up with a pretty comprehensive list and added a ton of stuff to our Amazon Wishlist. There are a variety of things on there, both for the chimps and for the humans, including our biggest need: a new external hard drive. Ours is apparently no longer backing up our data, which is scary when you think about how many amazing photos and videos we have on this computer! Four years of memories! So, we would love a new hard drive that will protect all of those awesome images, like this one of Ms. Foxie:

If you peruse the wishlist, you’ll see we’ve added everything from cleaning gloves to new plastic chairs for the chimps (they love to sit on the chairs during meal times). I also found a few new food puzzles (like this one) that I added to the list. As you may already know, Jamie is the smartest person on the planet. She loves a challenge, so finding projects to keep her busy and enriched is my daily goal, and a lot of times (because she is so much smarter than me) my daily challenge. But I think I’ve found a few things to help occupy her (and everyone’s) mind. Check them out!

You’ll probably notice that some of the goodies on the list are more “fun” than others, but we added a lot of things that are key parts of our daily routine – pens for example. But actually the pens are not just on there for human use. With Jamie’s love of drawing, we are always in short supply of pens. So having extra pens around the chimp house will enrich both the chimps’ and the humans’ lives. It’s a win-win for everyone!

So, check out our wishlist and feel free to email me at [email protected] if you have any questions or other ideas of things we might need. Thanks so much!