Chimps fight a lot, and occasionally they get wounded. Serious injuries are treated under the direction of a veterinarian, but we leave the smaller stuff to Missy.
Happy 4th!
Volunteers Patti, Lynn, and Andrew put together a great feast for the chimps’ 4th of July celebration. It all started with a lunch forage on the hill. Then for dinner, they had corn, potato salad, watermelon, and Field Roast veggie dogs in the greenhouse. Throw in a couple of pinatas and some inappropriately dressed troll dolls and you’ve got a real 4th of July party! You should have heard the food squeaking and screaming as we were setting up the forage in the greenhouse.
Burrito:
Jody:
Missy:
Annie:
Foxie and her new trolls:
Negra:
Jamie:
On Patrol
Some people think that we should judge an animal’s quality of life by whether or not their basic needs are being met. Do they have food, water, heat, medical care, etc.? But if we applied these criteria to ourselves, prison wouldn’t be much of a deterrent – we’d all be knocking on the gate trying to get in. Obviously, we humans are willing to deal with some amount of risk and stress in life in exchange for things like freedom, autonomy, and self-determination. And I think that chimpanzees, if they were given the choice, would do the same.
Wild chimpanzees have jobs to do. They must take care of their young, travel great distances in search of food, and defend their territory from rival communities. Captivity gives chimps everything they need to survive, but robs them of purpose.
Well, not entirely. Every once and a while, we catch a glimpse of it here. When the chimps patrol Young’s Hill, they change – their faces, their postures, everything. It’s possible that I’m just projecting my own feelings here, but they seem so much more alive when they are at work like that.
Life may be nasty, brutish, and short for some wild chimpanzees, but I’d give anything for these chimps to have had a chance at it.
Happy Birthday, Negra!
The Queen of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest turns 41 today, and as you might have guessed, we threw a party – an English tea party, to be precise. Volunteers Patti and Steph even cut the crusts off the sandwiches. Negra enjoyed a forage on the hill this morning before the weather turned bad, and then she was treated to a greenhouse full of extra straw and blankets for nesting. The menu for today contained all of Negra’s favorites: bread, lettuce, nuts, avocado, and sweet potato, among many others. She even got night bags at every meal.
We do a lot of celebrating around here, but nothing means as much to us as Negra’s birthday, and no one deserves to be spoiled more than her. She is, after all, the Queen.
Happy Birthday, Neggie.
Wadging
Whenever I try to describe wadging, I end up making it sound too clinical: Chimpanzees wadge in order to extract nutrients from fibrous foods. This is true in the sense that humans eat food in order to extract nutrients, but but it doesn’t get at the enjoyment that we feel when we eat.
I’m pretty sure that chimps get that same feeling when they wadge. One of the most mysterious aspects of it (to me anyway, maybe there’s a good explanation) is that they seem compelled to keep checking on the wadge. They hold it out on the tip of their lips for a visual inspection. They take it out and hold in their hand. They work on rolling it into the perfect ball. I don’t know what makes a wadge good or bad from a chimp’s perspective, but it seems like they are constantly evaluating them.
Young’s Hill is too dry for growing cattails, but we collect them from a nearby pond and give them to the chimps. Cattails are great for wadging, as Burrito demonstrates here:
The Wildfire Sprinkler System
It’s hard to believe, but it’s already fire season here in Central Washington. The Taylor Bridge Fire, which threatened the sanctuary two years ago, was a vivid reminder that no matter how prepared you think you are for an emergency, there’s always more you can do. That’s why we’re so excited to be testing out our new emergency wildfire sprinkler system.
The system was made possible by a grant from the ASPCA and the donation of a pump by the good folks at PumpBiz. Because power is unreliable during wildfires, the pump runs on propane and draws water from a spring fed pond on the sanctuary property. Dozens of sprinklers, mounted to the posts of our security fence, drench everything within 40 feet of the chimp house.
The Taylor Bridge Fire was a very emotional experience for everyone involved, and I can’t tell you how good it feels to see this sprinkler system in action. Our thanks go out to the ASPCA and PumpBiz, as well as Keith and Nick, who did all the hard work.
Meanwhile, while we’re running around preparing for emergencies, the chimps are relaxing and enjoying the sunshine on Young’s Hill.
Foxie with a piece of grapefruit:
Jody with many pieces of grapefruit:
Foxie, Missy, and Annie:
Jamie scouting for food in the grass:
Jamie admiring the bamboo, Foxie admiring Dora:
Jamie trying to find a way in to the termite mound:
Burrito, toy in hand:
Missy foraging for wild plants on Young’s Hill:
Foxie’s Secret Language
Some forms of chimp communication are universal. Chimps the world over food grunt, make play faces, and pant-hoot. While there are variations to all of these behaviors based on culture and geography, they are all part of a common chimp language.
But chimps also develop communicative behaviors all their own. My favorite example is Foxie. When Foxie adopted her first troll doll, she was extremely protective of it and became visibly upset when “Trixie,” as we named her, wound up in the hands of someone else. But over time, she began to trust us with her dolls, and at that point she actually started to use her troll dolls as a way to signify that it was time to socialize with her. While I really have no idea what is going on in Foxie’s mind, I like to think of it like this: She knows that we would never take her doll away from her, so when she hands one to us, she knows we have to stick around. You have my troll, so until I ask for it back, you’re all mine. At least that’s my guess as to how it started. Now we don’t even question it – it’s just how things work around here.
When we come to work in the morning, Foxie passes us a troll to say hello and starts to do her playful acrobatics. And when we are locking up for the night, she often drops a troll on our heads from the loft, as a way of saying: Just five more minutes, then you can go. When she’s done with us, she asks for it back and she goes on with her day.
And it’s not just humans on the receiving end. When Foxie wants to play with Jamie, she will run up, stomp her feet, and hand a troll directly to her.
Jamie knows that this is an invitation to a playful game of keep-away. Some of the best play bouts between Foxie and Jamie, like this one from earlier in the week, involve a troll doll (you’ll see that Jamie has it tucked into her pelvic pocket).
But sometimes Foxie goes from playful to genuinely concerned about her doll, and at that point Jamie knows to give it back immediately. No one likes to see Foxie upset.
Who knew that a weird fad toy from the 60’s (sorry, Foxie) would become such an important part of a chimpanzee’s life?
