Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Burrito is known for his ridiculously adorable shenanigans. And today was no different. (There are some blurry action shots that I just couldn’t leave out).
Despite the blur of Burrito, I love his huge play face you can just make out under the veil. At this point, he jumped down to begin a raucous game of tug o’ war with the scarf. This guy.
Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by the chimps’ good friend, Meg Lunnum! Meg has been a long-time supporter of the chimpanzees and their sanctuary home and she shared this message about today:
“Today is my birthday and my birthday wish is for the chimpanzees to have new roommates. I understand this is a real possibility and I am so excited.”
Meg, thank you so much for thinking of the chimpanzees today and always! We have such an exciting year ahead as we begin to move forward with our plans for expanding the sanctuary and the chimps’ family. How very special it is to have you as part of our sanctuary family as we watch the chimps’ lives grow in so many wonderful ways. Thank you so much for recognizing and honoring them, and all animals, as the amazing individuals they are. All of us here at the sanctuary send you Happy Birthday hoots!! We’re so glad you are in the world!
Your pal, Queen Neggie:
It’s one of my favorite things to write the blog and have the opportunity to share the lives’ of the chimps with all of you. That said, there are just days when one has the words, but no photos, or vice versa. Today, for the life of me, I could not get a single photo as the chimpanzees have spent the majority of their day in the loft of the chimp house where it’s warm, grooming one another and napping.
I asked boss lady, Jamie, if she would please write the blog for me to which she responded by throwing a nut at my head. I took that as a “No.” At this point Foxie perhaps took pity on me and came into the smaller front rooms along the human hallway to play and she and I decided to take some “selfies.” Chimpanzees are self-aware and have the ability to recognize themselves and others in mirrors and photos. Many of the chimps enjoy seeing photos of themselves after we take them, or being able to see themselves on the camera as with an iPhone. Foxie particularly seems to enjoy this form of enrichment. So as I held the phone at a safe distance so she could see herself, I snapped the photos as she gestured. (While it’s not safe for the chimps to have a phone, or for us to have them touch it as we hold it, we have been fortunate to have supporters generously donate iPads that the chimps’ can safely interact with through the caging and they do enjoy this occasionally).
So here’s today’s blog, “by Foxie.” (Apologies for the quality, but we were laughing a lot!):
In this last photo, you can see Foxie is doing a “lip-flip” which I wrote about last week with Annie.
I probably could never quite explain how ecstatic we all were to wake up to sunshine and beautiful clear blue skies this morning. We couldn’t wait to start shoveling the chimps’ walkway on Young’s Hill and fluff it up with fresh, dry straw so that they could enjoy their morning outside.
As we prepped the walkway the chimpanzees were so excited, intermittently watching us and playing and laughing with one another inside.
Once I opened the door to the hill I couldn’t believe my eyes when who but Negra was leading the group outside! You can just see her head peeking out from in front of Missy at the head of the line. Then we have Annie, Foxie and Jamie bringing up the rear with one of her new snow shovels (Burrito was the one person who opted to stay inside and eat snow from the raceway door, but he’s been enjoying a day of Burrito-style antics with his caregivers):
I put a straw path up to one of the swinging tires, always a favorite spot to check for ice treats. Jody headed straight for it and quickly made her way back to the greenhouse with her prize. The trick was getting around boss lady, Jamie, with her treat undetected.
But the boss had work to do so Jody was able to sneak by.
Missy:
Annie enjoying her solitude:
But she was so happy when her best friend, Missy, arrived and greeted her with a kiss and a hug:
Foxie rubs her toes together when she’s happy and content and if you look close you can see she seemed to be pretty pleased to be enjoying the morning outside with her troll:
Jamie was in her element this morning as she proudly surveyed her snow covered kingdom:
Foxie and troll headed back inside after stopping to collect snow on the way:
Annie was the last to head inside, but had to stop briefly to readjust her huge mouthful of snow:
Jamie still had a little work to do:
Negra didn’t stay out long, but she made it quite away out to collect snow and then returned to her favorite sunny spot inside the greenhouse to enjoy it, along with Jody.
It’s been a good day at the sanctuary! The chimpanzees have spent a lot of time outside enjoying some warmer temperatures and even more time at the top of the toasty greenhouse grooming and napping. Blue skies and sunshine have worked wonders and been a welcome respite from our crazy winter for all the primates here today.
Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Michael Horton in honor of his sister, Shelly Horton, on her birthday! Michael shared this wonderful message about today:
“My sister is the biggest chimpanzee fan in the world. In lieu of pursuing a career in Primatology, which is something she always wanted and still wants, she chose to become a teacher so 10-year-olds across our community will always be aware of the plight of the chimpanzee.”
In having the good fortune of getting to know Shelly as one of our incredible supporters, it’s been so wonderful to learn of her long-time love and respect for chimpanzees. Through her dedication and passion to help bring awareness to the issues chimpanzees face, she helps inspire her daughter and students so that they might feel empowered to make a difference in the world around them. What an incredible gift to give, not only for the chimpanzees, but for a young generation that the future of chimpanzees will depend upon.
Michael, thank you so much for celebrating Shelly by making the chimps’ lives better! We appreciate all that you and your family do for them and are thrilled to honor Shelly here today!
Shelly, thank you for all the support you, Lainey, and your students have shown the chimpanzees, we so appreciate all that you do! Never underestimate the ripple effect your compassion will have in the world. All of the primates here at CSNW wish you the best birthday yet surrounded by all that makes your heart happy!! And to start your day off, we’re sharing photos of people in your life who I know do just that:
Shelly’s adorable daughter, Lainey, with her impressive stuffed primate collection, begun by her mom:
We recently shared copies of “A Chimpanzee Tale” by Karen Young with Shelly’s amazing 5th grade students in Texas. They made the chimpanzees a beautifully detailed Christmas tree and birthday cards for Burrito in celebration of his recent 33rd birthday! We so appreciate the care and interest these children show for the chimpanzees and are thrilled to see them making a difference in the chimps’ lives as they learn about the amazing beings we share the earth with.
And of course, Shelly’s handsome pal, Burrito:
Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by an anonymous supporter on his wife’s birthday in honor of “Best Buddies.” To our anonymous supporters, thank you so much! This is such a lovely sponsorship and in celebrating your best buddy, you honor the chimpanzees and those they hold dear, making it possible for them to experience life as they deserve. And we are immensely grateful for that. All of us here at the sanctuary wish you both a day of joy, comfort and love as you celebrate! And Happy Birthday!
Best buddies come in many forms and are not exclusive to human relationships. Whether on the go, at rest, or even having a disagreement, Annie and Missy are never far from one another’s side:
Annie is like that naturally beautiful girl who takes everyone’s breath away, but has no idea how pretty she is. You know the ones, they are all the more special because they are so dear and down to earth and the first ones to pull a face or make others smile. Annie isn’t always keen on having her photo taken, though she has become much more comfortable with it over the years (much like she is with things in general) and she will often engage by making playful gestures during her photo shoots. Half way down this series of photos of the lovely Annie you will notice a seemingly mischievous look in her eye and then…bam, she does a “lip flip”!
Chimpanzees are extremely expressive in vocalization, body posture and facial expressions, all of which they use to communicate with each other. A lip flip is a facial expression chimpanzees sometimes exhibit and will often appear in times of stress or anxiety, but will just as often appear for reasons more associated with individual stereotypical behavior (a repetitive behavior brought on by captivity) and for seemingly no apparent reason. Foxie does this frequently and while it’s sometimes during times of stress, it’s more often when she’s just sitting quietly and hanging out. Annie used to flip her lip often when she felt anxious, such as when there was an argument going on in the group. We don’t see her do it very much anymore, and while we can’t know what she was thinking today, given how relaxed and playful she was being she seemed to just be practicing her repertoire of faces. And every one of them a beaut!
