Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

Kelsi

Winter is Here to Stay

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Today was a quiet snowy day at the chimp house. The humans were busy shoveling snow and cleaning, while the chimps ate snow and napped in their cozy nest! Everyone was so content grooming or napping that it was hard to capture photos of them. So please enjoy these photos of some cozy chimps I was able to capture. Speaking of cozy, today is the last day of our Comfort & Joy auction! The auction will be wrapping up at 6 pm PT so make sure to check on your bids or bid one last person out! We will be starting to slowly add Christmas gifts for the chimps on our wish-list soon, so be on the look out!

We got a little bit of snow last night and this morning…

Burrito sat still long enough to snap these photos:


The ever so handsome Cy:

Neggie’s silhouette eating snow:

Negra can’t wait for all of her new blankets from the Comfort & Joy auction!

Jamie getting a little shut eye:

Jamie nesting, Neggie style (blanket over head):

Mave in the middle of a big grooming party in the green house:

Burrito’s Sense of Humor

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Burrito is a funny guy! He is always making us laugh, but from time to time his group doesn’t always think he is so funny. For example, in this video Burrito may or may not have gotten a little too wild for Foxie’s taste!

As you can see, Burrito is having so much fun playing with the giant stuffed bear. Make sure to check out the Comfort & Joy auction! There are a lot of great Squishmallows I know Burrito would love!

Please enjoy this silly video and some bonus photos!

The rare close up of Missy:

Beautiful Negra:

Jamie eating snow:

A series of Foxie photos:

 

What’s in Your Pocket?

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I wanted to share a cute quick story from yesterday and today, which fits perfectly with our Comfort & Joy, the Quid Pro Throw online auction theme! Yesterday, we noticed at all points of the day Annie was carrying one particular blanket in her pelvic pocket all day. I was on the other side of the building cleaning most of the day, but at any point I saw Annie, she had this blanket in her pocket. I was finally able to snap a few pictures at the end of the evening. I asked Chad, who was lead in Annie’s side and he said he observed her with it a lot too! When Annie came to lunch today she had a new blanket in her pelvic pocket that she then proceeded to carry around for the day. I can only assume that the blankets Annie carried around seemed to bring her some sort of comfort, but we can never really say for sure.

The auction is going on now! You can bid on items for the chimps or yourself. Don’t miss out on all the fun, but don’t out bid me ;)!

Annie enjoying her evening popsicle with her blanket in tote:

Annie at lunch today eating avocado and holding a blanket in her pelvic pocket:

 

Five Simple Rules to Becoming Mora

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The thing about Dora is that everyone loves her! If you had told us that she would be the popular girl, I think we all would have been shocked. But it’s hard work being popular, we don’t know how Dora does it. She doesn’t seem to get a lot of alone time, but Dora also doesn’t seem to mind all that much. Especially when it comes to Mave. Again, if we were making predictions of friendships going into integrating this group of 9, my money would not have been on Mave and Dora. But that is the thing about chimps, they are always surprising us! And this was one of the best surprise I think we all didn’t know we needed. It has been so sweet to watch Dora and Mave’s friendship blossom. They truly care for one another and enjoy their time together, which is how the power couple of Mora became. However, there are rules to Mora:

1. Groom or spend quality time as often as possible

2. Three can be a crowd, but not all the time.

*** Rules 3 and 5 are very important and can be repeated or enforced multiple times throughout the day!***

3. No, and I repeat no, more than one arms length apart from each other. If Dora or Mave are to far apart, adjustments must be make quickly!

4. Always try a little bit of each others food. Sharing is caring you know!

5. It is important for any relationship to hug or hold hands as much as possible. The more engulfed the hug is the better!

King of the Hill

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While on a walk with Jamie, I observed Burrito and Missy following each other on the logs and then start to wrestling. It made me think about when I was young playing king of the sand dune with my brother. I asked the rest of the staff if they had ever played this game when they where kids, which of course they had! Some of their variations were: king of the mountain, king of the hill, and king of the log! The object of the game was to be the last one standing and then you were pronounced king of the object you were standing on, said log, mattress, or hill and then you have bragging rights for as long as you rein! Today, for Missy and Burrito it seems as though no one holds the title but I see a rematch in their future!

Time has flown by! Can you believe it already been 4 years with our wonderful bovines!

Honey and her gang:

Honey:

Meredith:

Nutmeg and Betsy:

Predictions

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During introductions it was hard tell who Honey B would become friends with. We knew Honey B enjoyed her alone time, but still appreciated the company of her chimp and human friends on her terms. When Honey B first re-met Dora they were both so excited to see each other! However, Terry and Honey B had to put the work into rebuilding a friendship. Recently, Honey B has been hot commodity with her new group. It seems like everyone wants to “mall walk,” groom, play, or just be around her. If we had to predict which chimps would bond with Honey B, Dora and Rayne would really be my only guesses. Lately, we find Honey B and Terry hanging out a lot. We have been seeing some play with her and Cy and even Gordo gets a little quick play session in from time to time.

Words can’t express the feelings I have when watching Honey B build connections with her group. It’s everything they worked so hard for and why a bigger social group is so important for chimps, especially one like Honey B.

Cy grooming Honey B:

Rayne grooming Honey B:

Honey B in the middle of a grooming train:

A series of different Honey B nests:

And one more picture for fun! Can you guess who was wearing this accessory as an anklet?

Look below for the answer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you said Burrito, you would be correct!

 

 

 

 

 

Let Tree-dom Ring

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Well, we have some exciting news! I am not sure if anyone picked up on Anthony or Chad’s very subtle hints, but today Jamie’s group received access back to the new and improved Young’s Hill! For those who might be wondering about Cy’s group, the Bray Hill isn’t quite ready yet.

This afternoon, watching the seven go back out into their outdoor enclosure was a spectacular event to witness! I will share a few highlights of the day and tomorrow JB will have a video with more details to share!

Annie trying out new structures:

Burrito exploring:

Fearless little Foxie:

Missy and Annie inspecting:

Jody:

Jody and Foxie checking out their new structure:

Chad took this photo of Jamie. To me, this photo is the epitome of sanctuary:

Also this photo of Jamie, she looks so happy:

Maybe one of the best highlights of the day is Missy being the first to climb the trees! We humans and probably Jo were all holding our breath, but also so excited to watch Missy agilely climb a tree for the first time EVER!!!

Jody watching Missy climb a tree:

Jody and Annie monitoring Missy closely from the ground:

“Here I sit beneath a tree. Heartbeat calm. Soul hums free.”

– Angie Weiland-Crosby