Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Kelsi

Socially Savvy

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Rayne is known to be one of our more socially savvy chimps, it’s kind of her superpower. She is exceptionally good at reading what her group members need in the moment. Rayne is particularly good with Willy B, who has been known to be socially awkward. Their friendship has really grown over the years and it is so special to watch. Sometimes when Willy B seems to be getting worked up, Rayne can get him to start playing and make Willy B forget about causing a ruckus! It takes an extremely observant individual to read someone and know when to leave it or when to step in, Rayne is just one of those individuals.

Rayne and Willy B:

Rayne and Honey B:

Rayne and Mave:

Rayne and Lucky:

And the photos of Rayne could go on and on :). Rayne really is one really special chimp and we are sooo lucky to know her!

Wish List Wednesday!

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Today is Wish List Wednesday! We want to give a continuous thank you to everyone who donates to us. The wish list is a great way to directly donate to the chimps. It has everything from fun party items, like our upcoming Easter party, to our day to day cleaning items.

We noticed yesterday as we put books and magazines out for Cy’s birthday, that we are dangerously low on Lucy books! Lucy the bonobo seems to be a big hit for not only Jamie, but for Rayne and Lucky too!

Rayne holding two Lucy books in her pelvic pocket:

Jamie holding her favorite Lucy book in her pelvic pocket:

Bonus!

Honey B with one of her favorite enrichment items, paper!!

Peaceful Moments

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It seems like the tension ebbs and flows with the chimps. Some weeks are calm with little altercations, while other weeks the conflict (whether big or small) seems to be on going, for even weeks at a time. Currently, the last few weeks on both sides have had lots of tensions. It makes us appreciate the quieter, more gentle moments with the chimps. Yesterday, after Terry’s group got some screaming out of the way, it seemed like everyone wanted to groom with each other or a caregiver. Mave was being particularly sweet with me. Honey B decided to join Mave and I and make it a grooming party! Eventually, I disengaged and let them groom with each other. Honey B was making me chuckle because she was being so bossy while grooming Mave, but Mave enjoyed every second of it! I also captured a video of Dora and Mave grooming this morning that was rather sweet.

Please don’t worry- though there is tension, there are still so many moments like these throughout the day.

Bonus photos of Gordo!

 

Wood Wool Forage and More!

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Providing enrichment opportunities for the chimps and watching them enjoy the experience is truly a rewarding part of our job. Today we put out peanut butter frisbees, which is a favorite among Negra’s group. Surprisingly, Jamie shared this food puzzle with everyone including Foxie! After cleaning the playroom we noticed we had a lot of leftover wood wool. We decided to put the wood wool out in the green house and put out seeds in the wood wool for the chimps to search for. Watching them problem solve and find different tactics to engage with their enrichment always motivates us to keep creating more ways to enrich them throughout the day. Overall, making enrichment for chimpanzees is not only fun, but also deeply enriching for both chimpanzees and their caregivers.

Don’t forget to test your knowledge of chimpanzees and other primates!

Burrito tossing the wood wool around:

Negra stepped out onto Young’s Hill today 🙂

Jamie:

Goofy little Foxie:

Foxie grooming Negra in the green house:

The Thing About Honey B

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The thing about Honey B is that she is amazing. Honey B is funny, she is quirky, fierce, mischievous, very opinionated, and not afraid to show you how she feels. My favorite part about Honey B is her humor. She’s never afraid to be herself at any point in time whether she is cracking her caregivers up or secretly getting into something she is not suppose to.

While she recovers we are working hard to keep her brilliant mind occupied, but as you have seen in the video or any of the video of Honey B, she has no problem keeping herself busy!

Ohhh! Wait! Before you go. You can now purchase the winning photo of Burrito, “Hey Girl” canvas, on merchandise website!

Battle of the Toes

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It is hard to find Missy without Annie far behind. If they are not near each other- they are definitely keeping tabs on one another. I often will see Annie scanning the Hill if Missy has gone out on her own, just to make sure she know where she is (just in case). The best is walking in every morning to hear them laughing and playing together. I think we all have that go to friend(s) that we are so incredibly thankful for. And though Missy may be higher in the ranking, Annie seems to be very thankful for her close friendship with Missy, even if she doesn’t get any special favors. I hope you enjoy this sweet video of two besties playing and laughing with each other.

*Honey B update*

Honey B is recovering well and healing in the way we hoped so far!

Bonus photos:

A series of Burrito! They may all look the same, but I swear they are all a little different and it was too hard to choose!

Burrito in the portrait studio:

Annie in the portrait studio:

Jamie nesting:

Indoor Recess

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Brrrrr! It has been cooooold. Luckily, it will start to warm up a little after today, at least in the afternoons. Since it has been so cold and the chimps haven’t been able to go outside, we have been trying to make sure the chimps have a lot of enrichment opportunities such as forages, food puzzles, and of course snow cones. As you will see in the video, Honey B has no problem keeping her friends busy! When watching the video I can’t believe all three of those girls can fit on that leaf, they have such great balance. I hope that you all are staying warm and this video warms your heart like it did ours. Also a special thanks to Grace for lending me the amazing video footage!

We have been using Stur (water liquid enhancer) to help spice up the snow that we put out as enrichment! We are getting a little low on the Stur as well as some other items, check out our Amazon Wish List if you would like to help us stock up. 🙂

Our current situation:

Jamie loved her “snow cone” was dragging the sandbox with her everywhere! Don’t worry we put out smaller snow cone buckets for everyone else:

Jamie snuggled up with her Lucy book in a cozy nest:

Rayne during the lunch forage:

Willy B:

Honey B picking through the forage in the green house:

Gordo with a whole lot of chow:

Mave:

Terry: