A recent visitor to the sanctuary wore a pair of boots that really caught Jamie’s eye, so you can imagine how excited we all were when those very boots were included in a care package that arrived earlier this week. As is Jamie’s preference, we started by modeling them and she was instantly enamored. Did she remember them? I would bet money on it. She seems to have a photographic memory when it comes to boots.
Playful Missy and Visitors from Ngamba Island
It’s been a busy week at the sanctuary! Contractors are finishing the human areas of the Phase 1 expansion now that a back ordered fixture is finally in and Missy, as you can see in the video above, is keeping us busy playing very competitive games of tug-o-war.
We were also fortunate to host two guests from Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda. Ngamba is home to 49 orphaned chimpanzees and through their NGO, the Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust, they also do incredible work protecting wild chimpanzees through both field conservation and community education. Irene and Joseph have been visiting various primate sanctuaries while in the United States and they were able to spend the past week volunteering with us.
While here, they were also kind enough to share inspiring stories of their work with the students and faculty of the Primate Behavior and Ecology program at Central Washington University.
If you don’t already, I’d encourage you to follow Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary on Facebook and support their efforts to protect chimpanzees. Many thanks, Irene and Joseph, from all of us at CSNW (especially Jody)!
Burrito and his after dinner enrichment
The chimps are presented with different food puzzles each night before they settle down and make their nests. Volunteers placed peanuts and spoonfuls of peanut butter in cups and screwed them together in stacks. Burrito carefully unscrewed the cups from each other to find the treats but found it much easier to use his large, powerful canine teeth to rip off the lids – reminding us that an effective solution to a problem often looks different from a chimpanzee’s perspective.
A new start for Ellie
Ellie is off to start a new life.
Seven years ago, we were graced with this most unusual visitor. As we sat with a small group of supporters in the sanctuary’s old barn, an elk walked in, took an apple off the table, and proceeded to chew everyone’s hair. We were stunned.
We didn’t know it at the time, but this elk had been orphaned shortly after birth and raised at a neighboring ranch. As she matured, she began to wander farther and farther from the ranch until she stumbled upon our sanctuary.
Not knowing her history, we named her Ellie. We would later find out that she had been named Buttons by those who raised her.
Ellie is a wild animal in that she is not a member of a domesticated species, but behaviorally she is as far from a wild elk as could be. To call her tame would be an understatement. She would stare at us through the window as we sat in the house. We had to change a doorknob after repeatedly finding her in the garage in the middle of the night eating dog food out of the can. We fenced off our back yard to keep her from taking food off of the picnic table and fenced off the front yard to keep her from antagonizing our dogs. She was so close to figuring out how to open the sliding door to the office. It was a never-ending battle – nothing was safe from Ellie and no place was secure.
Despite the challenges of living with an elk, she became a part of our sanctuary family. She was a fixture at the chimp house and seemed to enjoy watching the chimps frolic on Young’s Hill. Sometimes she would even join the chimps on perimeter walks. And she loved visitors more than anything. For Ellie, every UPS delivery or propane tank fill-up was a social occasion. We discouraged contact with Ellie to reduce her comfort around humans but no-contact policies with elk only work if the elk are in on the deal. Try telling a pushy 400-lb elk to keep her distance and you will realize that she is the one who makes the rules.
Throughout the years we agonized over what could be done for Ellie. As interesting as it was for us to have her around, this was no life for an elk. We wished that she would have been placed with a licensed wildlife rehabilitator from the start but that opportunity had passed. Early on we had hoped that she would voluntarily join a passing elk herd but she showed no interest in other elk. We looked into placing her at a wildlife park with no success. We feared her catching the attention of the Department of Fish and Wildlife because they had a policy of euthanizing deer and elk that had become habituated to humans. Given the limited options available, it seemed that letting Ellie be Ellie was the best and perhaps only possible course. This was the only life she knew, and somehow it seemed to work for her. Then again, what do we know about elk?
Unfortunately, over the last couple of winters Ellie began crossing the river to a small neighborhood on the opposite ridge. She was welcomed there, but more people and more homes meant more attention and more opportunities to get into trouble. Apparently, Fish & Wildlife was notified and felt they had to do something to protect her and the local residents, so last week they darted Ellie and relocated her to an area 30 miles south where there is an elk feeding station and a herd of 700 elk. We don’t know if she will find a place in a herd but we have no choice at this point but to be hopeful.
Many people in our county are outraged that Ellie was taken away. I honestly don’t know what the right answer is. She was loved and celebrated by this community but she was also intimidating at times and potentially dangerous. She is an elk that should be living with a herd but she is also a unique individual that declined opportunities to do so in the past. In many ways her experience is a lot like that of the chimps. Biologically an elk, raised by humans, but not of either tribe.
Much of this county will be following Ellie’s saga closely and the Department of Fish & Wildlife has promised to evaluate how well she has acclimated to her new environment later this year. We can only hope that she succeeds. Godspeed, Ellie – you will be missed.
Searching for Bald Eagles
The sanctuary is fortunate to receive regular visits from bald eagles throughout the winter and spring. While there are a few year-round pairs in our area, many are just looking for a break and a bite to eat as they migrate north. We often find them perched atop the pine and fir trees lining the front of the property, overlooking the Yakima River. It’s the perfect fishing spot.
While they do like to fish, bald eagles are also scavengers and you are most apt to hear them when they are scavenging larger animals like deer. Have you ever heard a bald eagle’s call? Before living here, I had assumed that they would sound every bit as majestic as they appear. Quite the opposite, in fact. They sound like a bunch of seagulls sitting around and laughing at each other’s jokes.
This morning, a couple of bald eagles were somewhere in the woods just above Young’s Hill, their calls echoing off the ridge behind the sanctuary. This is about the best chimpanzee enrichment you could ask for. The chimps weren’t scared, but they were intent on finding the source of that incessant laughter.
Jamie often walks the perimeter of Young’s Hill with her caregivers, but today the chimps also went on several patrols of their own.
By afternoon, we still hadn’t caught sight of an eagle. The day is not over yet.
Grooming Party
In the afternoon, the chimps can often be found gathered together in grooming parties. At CSNW, these parties usually take place on elevated platforms or, as you can see here, in a corner of the playroom loft. Though grooming partners change from day to day and even minute to minute, over time you can observe stable patterns of affiliation – what we would rightly call friendships. Grooming can also be viewed as a form of currency to be used strategically – I do a favor for you by grooming you, and at some point you can pay me back by sharing food, being less aggressive toward me, etc.
Based on research conducted by former CWU student and CSNW intern Jake Funkhouser, we know that Jamie and Negra are the least likely to be involved in these grooming sessions. Negra’s lack of interest in grooming shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that she is less social overall than the others. But Jamie? Shouldn’t the boss get groomed the most?
It may have something to do with the fact that Jamie directs much of her grooming behavior towards the staff and volunteers, which is not unusual in chimps raised by humans. But we can’t discount the face of Jamie that led us to think of her as the boss in the first place – she is a bit of a bully. And it may just be that while aggressiveness will win you an extra piece of fruit now and then, it won’t win you a lot of friends.
The heart of the social network, as Jake discovered, was Jody. She had strong affiliative relationships with the other chimps and was most often the recipient of grooming. As you can see in this video, Burrito and Foxie are engaged in reciprocal grooming, but Annie is happy to groom Jody without receiving anything in return (well, at least not at this time). This is quite the privilege.
Knowing this changes how we see the group, and it will inform the way we approach integrating other chimps. There’s certainly a lot going on in these quiet moments.
Chewing Gum
The chimps at CSNW love chewing gum and each has their own style. Negra likes to stretch hers out as far as she can.
