Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

J.B.

Relationships

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The relationship between captive chimps and their caregivers is endlessly fascinating. Some chimps are very human oriented, and many even prefer the companionship of humans to that of other chimpanzees. Other chimps couldn’t care less about humans – we’re good for providing food and cleaning up, and that’s about it. Usually, it’s the chimps who were raised by humans who prefer humans, and it’s not hard to see why. We make more sense to them.

Take Burrito for example. He was born in a laboratory in New Mexico and, like many lab chimps, he was taken from his mother shortly after birth and reared in a laboratory nursery. At age 3 1/2, he was shipped to Pennsylvania where he lived in a human home as a pet. Six months later he was leased to Jungle Larry’s circus and a year after that, he was back in a lab cage, where he would remain for another 20 years.

He spent most of his life either alone or with humans. I think it’s a miracle that he can get along in a group of other chimpanzees.

Imagine if it was the other way around…if you were raised in a group of chimpanzees and then two or three decades later you were thrust into a group of humans. You might find that your new office mates don’t appreciate your loud dominance displays, or the way you stick your rear end in someone’s face when you are seeking reassurance.

In the 4 1/2 years that Burrito has been at CSNW, he has matured a lot. He is starting to understand the rules of living in a chimpanzee community. He loves to play with some of the other chimpanzees, and he is even starting to understand his role in the hierarchy. But I think that some human oriented chimps like Burrito feel a sense of relief when interacting with us. They understand us better than they do other chimpanzees. And they know that we won’t get upset or retaliate if they break one of the complex rules that govern life in chimpanzee society. Or maybe Burrito just gets sick of his chimpanzee family. Those reality TV shows always take seven people and stick them in an apartment for a year and that always ends badly.

We’re careful not to overstep our bounds with the chimps, however. Ultimately, we want them to rely on each other for support and in a social system as complex as the chimpanzees’, it takes a lot of work to build those relationships. But from the chimps’ perspective, it’s also good to have a positive relationship with the people you rely on. So we consider these little games of chase and tug-o-war just part of the job.

Thanksgiving 2012, Pt. 2

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A few more photos from Thanksgiving day at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest…

Jody enjoyed the sweet potatoes:

Burrito tried to get every last bite of cranberries out of his cup and ended up coloring his face red:

Negra ate her Field Roast Grain Meat in the comfort of a nest:

Speaking of nests, the chimps made some nice ones after their big meal:

Annie was the big winner of the day. She was the only one who noticed that there were nuts and seeds in the decorations, so she quietly gathered them all before anyone else caught on. She also got the Thanksgiving pinata.

You know how can you tell when Foxie is happy with her food? She rubs her toes together.

It’s not hard to tell when Missy is having fun:

Rain

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We’ve had a lot of rain at the sanctuary lately. We certainly need the rain, so I can’t complain, but the chimps are starting to remind me of myself when I was a kid and I couldn’t go out and play.

Today, when Burrito was outside in the rain, he made a face that we often see when the chimpanzees are uncomfortable. It’s close to what we would call a sneer but a sneer is usually seen more in fear or threat contexts. Burrito’s face says something more like “I know it won’t kill me but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Jody makes this face when she’s outside in the cold, and Annie often makes it when she has to walk through tall grass.

Out on the Hill

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A few weeks ago, we captured some footage of Burrito foraging on Young’s Hill with the GoPro camera. The GoPro is great because it shows us the world from the chimps’ perspective, without the bars or fencing in the way. But the best part is the sound that it captures – make sure to turn up your volume so you can hear Burrito’s low moans and food squeaks. This is the sound of a happy man.

You might notice that Burrito seems a bit more relaxed outside than he did earlier this year. He’s a little less pilo erect (hair standing on end) and he seeks reassurance less often. But you’ll still see him doing both – he’s come a long way, but he’s still pretty cautious when he’s on the hill. You’ll see in this video is that he avoids taking the apple that is sitting right in front of the camera. Whole fruits are Jamie’s favorite thing, so he was probably wise to avoid it with her standing close by.

At the end of the video is a short clip from earlier this week that I filmed with my phone. Jamie and Burrito decided to follow us as we walked around the enclosure. This gives you a good idea of what the view looks like from the top of the hill. If you look carefully, you can see the chimp building at the bottom of the hill. Imagine how scary it must be for Burrito to travel so far from the place he feels most comfortable. He seems to feel better if he can tag along with someone else, even if it’s the girl that bosses him around.

Happenings on the Hill

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Earlier this week, Burrito did some more exploring of Young’s Hill with Jody.

Jamie climbed to the top of one of the bouncy bridge posts.

Missy and Jody played chase.

Once Missy picked up the pace, though, Jody couldn’t keep up.

The biggest news of all is that Negra ventured out to check out her cabin yesterday. Luckily Jackie and Debbie captured these photos or I would have had a hard time believing it. She didn’t make it all the way inside the cabin, but it was a big first step for her. You just never know when Negra is going to switch things up and try something new.

We’re not the only ones that get excited when the chimps do something out of their comfort zone – the other chimps get excited too. As Negra sat by the cabin, she was greeted by a parade of her friends who came by to reassure her with hugs and kisses.

Mornings

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Mornings are my favorite time at CSNW. The chimps have had their breakfast and they are all geared up to go out and explore Young’s Hill. Unfortunately it is also the time when we clean the enclosures, so we don’t have much of a chance to sit around and watch them. But it’s amazing how much you can witness in just those first few minutes.

This morning, Foxie took a suitcase full of trolls out to the hill.

She later decided to put the trolls on her back as she walked down the hill, the way a chimp mother would carry her infant. As far as I know, three trolls was a personal record for her.

Missy likes to start the day with some athletic activity, especially this time of year. It’s no secret that January in Cle Elum is not perfect chimp weather, but interestingly enough, the Cle Elum Seven seem to prefer spring and fall to the hot summer months and we are actually seeing them go outdoors more now that the temperatures are in the 60’s.

Today, Missy used the handrail on the shaky bridge as a tightrope. This has become one of her new favorite moves. She’s holding a chow bag in these photos. We still supplement the chimps diet of fresh produce, nuts, seeds, and browse with a small amount of a commercially prepared diet. The manufacturer of the chow that we use recently decided to shrink the bicuits to a quarter of their original size, and now it is too cumbersome to serve them directly to the chimps. So we put them in bags. The chimps actually enjoy this, because they can take their chow out to picnic on the hill more easily. Or walk a tightrope with them.

There was a skirmish in the playroom this morning before breakfast. This is fairly typical, because that is the time of day when Burrito tends to display, and he inevitably gets everyone else so worked up that someone ends up mad a someone else. I didn’t see the conflict between Jody and Missy, but it was clear from their behavior later in the morning that they needed to reconcile.

Jody was coming back down the hill with her leftover lemon from breakfast when she saw Missy on the shaky bridge. (Yes, chimps love raw lemons. Raw onions too. We like to serve the lemons after the onions to freshen up the breath.) Jody immediately became pilo erect (hair standing on end) and approached Missy for reassurance.

The two then touched briefly and then Jody went on her way.

Negra came outside this morning but after a few minutes she decided she’d rather be in the greenhouse under a huge pile of blankets. Negra is not a morning person. She’s not really an afternoon or evening person, either. Really, she would prefer to stay in bed all day if she could. If only the staff would bring her meals to her in bed.

Burrito continues to explore more and more of the hill. He is really getting more comfortable out there. Today he climbed up a structure by himself and sat for a while on the end of a beam, taking it all in.

Here he is sitting on the log bridge, showing off some new scars on his wrist. Chimpanzees, especially male chimpanzees, use the back of their wrists to bang on things when they display, and sometimes to bang on other chimps. This is what primatologists refer to as a “backhand thump.” So many male chimps have thick callouses on the backs of their wrists and often some scabs and scars too.

I didn’t intend for this to be a post about each and every one of the chimps, but now I feel bad leaving Annie and Jamie out. Annie just followed Missy around all morning, as she always does, probably wishing that Missy would just sit still for a minute. But Missy is incapable of sitting still.

And Jamie was kind of a loner this morning. It used to be that Burrito would follow her around the hill. I think she enjoyed that. Not the company so much as getting to be the leader. Now Burrito will follow Jody or even venture off on his own as he did this morning. That left Jamie walking around by herself. But she had fun too. Everyone loves the shaky bridge. Maybe we’ll build some more next summer.