Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
We had our hands full this afternoon with the virtual tour for the Chimps in Need Campaign, but Anna somehow managed to snap a few photos of the Seven enjoying their Love a Chimpanzee Day celebration.
Don’t forget – you can help us welcome six more chimpanzees to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest this year by donating on Monica and Diana’s GiveBig fundraising page or the sanctuary’s main GiveBig page.
Missy:
Jody (with banana leaves):
Annie:
Negra:
Burrito:
Foxie:
Jamie:
In the greenhouse, there’s a small bench with a digital scale inside.
When a chimp sits on the scale, we can look up at the display panel and record their weight. This is important for overall health management as well as for dosing medications.
While the bench might seem to the chimps to be like any other bench, it is not. It is serious business.
The scale is a bonafide medical device. One does not play games with medical devices.
The most important thing to remember is that the entire body must be kept on the platform for accurate weight measurement.
Never stand on the scale.
Remain still during the entire process.
Do not, under any circumstances, taunt the scale operator.
Remain upright at all times! I can’t believe I even have to say that.
OK, I get it. You think this is funny.
Are we finished?
Right, then. As I was saying, this is a serious medical device.
Negra was kind enough to let me take photos of her while she thought about lunch, got impatient about lunch, shouted at the kitchen staff about lunch, became overwhelmed at the sight of lunch, turned giddy in anticipation of eating lunch, and – at long last – ate lunch. It was a harrowing 2 minutes and 45 seconds.
A side note: I thought this would be a good opportunity to educate our readership about the somewhat arcane primatological term bed shoulder, which is a trait exhibited by a small number of apes that roll out of bed just before meals. Often accompanied by bed head unless cranial pelage is lacking.
Annie had a big day today. When her walking partners scattered in different directions halfway through their trek around the hill, she found herself alone at the bottom of the Twister. Rather than turn around to head home, she decided to head to the top of the tallest structure on the highest point of Young’s Hill. Yes, she’s climbed it before, but getting back down seems to have induced a certain amount of panic in the past. This time, she was as cool as a cucumber.
OK, climbing down is still a bit daunting.
But she’s got it under control.
On the other side, Willy B was engaged in courageous act of a different kind – more modest in scale (and about 22 feet closer to the ground) but no less heroic. For some chimps, just going outside requires a level of bravery that most of us could only aspire to.
This got me thinking about when the Cle Elum Seven first set foot on Young’s Hill back in 2011, and how Annie couldn’t have done it without help from her best friend, Missy. It’s inspiring to see how brave and independent she’s become and I have no doubt that Willy B will one day be following in Annie’s footsteps.
This morning, I was sweeping paper and other garbage into a pile in the playroom when Jamie started gesturing towards to me. It’s typical of her to ask for drinks from the hose while we clean but we hadn’t pulled the hose out yet. I soon realized that she was gesturing towards the pile of garbage, and upon closer inspection I saw that I had swept up some torn out and crumpled pages from one of her boot books. She wasn’t done with those yet! I picked them up and she ran excitedly to the day nest she had made in the corner of one of the front rooms. As I handed the pages to her, she emitted a low moan and stuffed them into her pelvic pocket.
Later, while scrubbing the floors, Diana pointed towards Jamie in the front rooms and suggested that I come take a look. She had filled a bucket with water from the lixit fountain, dumped her primate chow into the water, and was stirring the concoction with a plastic tube. She then used to tube to sip the chow water from the bucket and emitted a low moan each time she popped a soaked chow biscuit into her mouth.
She’s definitely her own person. So it should have come as no surprise when Diana caught Jamie taking carrot-peeling matters into her own hands the other day.
It took Honey B a few attempts to find the right strategy for this puzzle but she got there. The most clever – but ultimately unsuccessful – strategy was to hand everything through the food chute to a human. “Humans are good at this stuff,” she seemed to be saying. Either that or “You put it in here, you get it out!” But she didn’t need our help after all.
Annie, Missy, and Jody passed the early part of the afternoon in the greenhouse, grooming quietly.
Annie gently passed her fingers through Jody’s hair as Jody basked in the attention.
Suddenly, there was a scream. Nothing for the girls to worry about, as it came from the other group. But they were compelled to see what was going on. Off to the hill they ran.
Having two chimp families on site means having twice the drama.
But other people’s drama is far different than our own. As social primates, both humans and chimps enjoy other people’s business a little too much. The girls gathered by the fence to catch a glimpse of the action.
To the dismay of our spectators, most of the neighbor’s drama is mild and short-lived, such as when Willy B gets a little too rambunctious or when Mave overreacts to his occasionally boorish antics. And this time, the drama was over quickly. Nevertheless, Jamie decided a patrol was in order.
Her crew followed her up the fence line and around the hill.
While Jamie forged ahead, Missy and Annie maintained an easier pace to accommodate Foxie, who is slowed by arthritis.
Upon their return, all was quiet.
The gang resumed their normal activities – lounging, grooming, napping.
And waited for the next exciting twist in the neighbor’s ongoing saga.
