Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Keri

The ordinary is extraordinary

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Throughout the course of any given day here at CSNW, the chimpanzees are either eating, resting, playing, displaying, grooming, exploring, climbing, running, foraging, napping, inspecting enrichment, interacting with one another and/or human caregivers and a host of other activities. So, it’s always great when we are able to capture clear photos and video clips of them engaged in the myriad of activities listed above to share with blog followers. And it’s pretty special when we are able to capture any of the chimps doing something unexpected.

But sometimes it’s the ordinary things in the day that are extraordinary. The fact that these chimps are able to run, laugh, play, rest, explore and simply just be is what I consider to be pretty extraordinary (given their prior lives in biomedical research and in the entertainment industry). So, here are a few “ordinary” moments from today that I wanted to share with you.

Annie just being beautiful as she rested on the catwalk this morning.
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I love this photo of Jamie running out of the Playroom on her way to Young’s Hill.
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Missy often grooms herself with some sort of “tool” and today she brought it with her (in her mouth) when she went out onto Young’s Hill.
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Burrito’s pursed lips while eating snow.
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Jody gathered snow to go with her alfalfa cubes.
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Expect the unexpected

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I’ve come to expect certain behaviors from each of the chimpanzees as I’ve gotten to know them throughout the years. For instance, if I see a chimp running, I would expect it to be Missy. She’s the one most likely to be seen running at full speed for no other reason than to run. And at any given moment of the day I would expect to see Negra nestled in a large blanket nest with one draped over her body and head, as that seems to be her favorite thing to do.

So, when I saw movement in the Greenhouse this afternoon, I expected to see Annie or Jamie, perhaps even Missy or Burrito. But no, I was so pleasantly surprised. It was Negra sitting in the raceway (the area that leads from the Greenhouse to their 2 acre outdoor enclosure). The absolute last chimp I would expect to see sitting in the raceway on this overcast, drizzly day would be Negra, but there she was!

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I walked over to where she was and she gestured toward the snow at my feet. I picked up a few chunks and served them to her.
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Afterwards she headed back into the warmth of the Playroom. Here she is sitting on the bridge eating alfalfa cubes.
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I love seeing the unexpected!

What happened today?

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This morning while we were cleaning the Playroom I noticed that the chimps were pretty quiet in the Front Rooms so I went to check on what they were up to. Annie and Missy were on the ledge in room 2 grooming one another, while Burrito sat quietly nearby. Unfortunately, none of the photos I took of Annie and Missy turned out, but the one of Burrito I think is pretty cute.

Burrito
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Negra was on the ledge in room 3 in one of her blanket nests.
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Foxie and Jody were on the ledge in room 4. Jody was just out of camera view, so I couldn’t get any clear photos, but Foxie wasn’t camera shy as she showed me her dora doll.
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I kept walking back and forth looking for Jamie, figuring she must have been in the Greenhouse or on Young’s Hill gathering snow. I kept looking, but couldn’t find her until Katelyn said she was in room 2. I looked again and realized why I missed her. I initially thought it was a pile of blankets, but upon closer inspection, I could see her eyes and top of her head peaking out from her nest.

This photo was actually taken from the Playroom looking back into room 2.
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After we finished cleaning the Playroom, we set out blankets, various sized boxes filled with enrichment items (boots, dolls, paper, brushes, socks, wooden blocks and tools) and filled their new blue bucket with snow. We also put out lettuce as a forage food.

Missy trying to open one of the boxes.
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Sometimes you just have to put your whole body into it when two hands just doesn’t cut it.
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Foxie took some time to inspect (and lick) the box that one of our new office computers came in (thanks again to Diana Petri for purchasing the computers from our Amazon Wishlist).
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Jamie’s first mission was to gather lettuce before checking out any of the boxes or eating any snow.
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Annie sat and ate snow that she took out of the blue bucket.
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And Jody did her best at staying out of camera view by gathering the lettuce we had put out as a forage and heading up to the loft to make a blanket nest in front of one of the windows that overlooks the neighbors farm.

A look of contentment in their eyes

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Often times I catch myself gazing at these chimpanzees, wondering what they are thinking. It’s easy for me (and maybe for most people) to attribute my own human feelings of awe and wonder as I watch them explore Young’s Hill (their 2 acre outdoor enclosure) or sit quietly looking out the windows from the catwalk in the Playroom. It seems that there is a sense of excitement and enjoyment when they are playing with one another and a curiosity as they inspect new enrichment items.

Looking at the pictures below, I can’t help but think that there is a sense of contentment in their eyes.

Jamie
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Negra
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Burrito
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Jody
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Foxie
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Missy
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Annie
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More winter treats

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Winter is in full swing here at the sanctuary. And by full swing, I mean there is easily over a foot of snow on the ground, icicles are hanging from the roof and the snow continues to fall as I sit here writing this blog post. Luckily, winter brings about treats that these chimps sure do seem to enjoy!

Can you guess what Annie is up to in the next photo?

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How about now? Hint: take a close look in her mouth…
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Did you guess right?
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The next picture is a little blurry, but I think you can see how pilo erect (hair standing on end) that Burrito was when foraging for the snow and icicles.
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Foxie took her cup of snow up to the loft to eat.

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Jamie sat next to her cup of snow and icicles.
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Lots of enrichment to choose from

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Here at the sanctuary, mother nature seems to be making up for the lack of snow the past few years with an abundance over the past few days. This seasonal abundance provides great enrichment for the chimpanzees, who often venture out onto Young’s Hill (the chimps’ outdoor enclosure) to search for the snowy treats. But sometimes on days like today, it snows too hard for them to venture out to gather it themselves, so staff and volunteers bring it in to them.

Today, volunteer caregivers Patti and Stephanie discussed how best to present the snow to the chimps. After figuring out that the snow was not the best for making a snowman, they decided on making little snowballs with raisins inside of them. While they were doing that, staff member Elizabeth filled various containers and a new enrichment barrel with the newly fallen snow.

After cleaning, we brought the snowballs, containers and giant barrel inside and put them out in the Playroom (one of the chimps’ indoor enclosures). There were also large boxes full of paper as part of today’s “Lots of Paper” enrichment theme. We also put out lettuce as a forage item. Before giving the chimps access to the Playroom, we put bets on which of the items the chimps would go for first. Three out of the four of us here today voted that snowballs would be first, followed by the boxes of paper. Which one do you think the chimps went for first?

Jamie
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Well, we forgot to factor in the lettuce forage and that is what all of the chimps went for first, so we all lost the bet I guess. How did you do?

Jamie and Missy did peak into the barrel of snow, then the boxes of paper, but then went right back to foraging for lettuce.

Missy
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After all the lettuce was eaten, Jamie settled down to do some more thorough investigating of the boxes and barrel of snow.

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Much to my surprise, the snowballs were last!

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While Jamie was busy with the barrel and boxes, Jody sat on the bridge and ate snow from one of the containers.

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After all of the lettuce was finished, Annie, Burrito and Foxie stayed in the loft eating snow from containers but were out of sight and Negra relaxed under a blanket nest.