Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
I don’t have a theme, but I have photos! Today was one of those days where I got some photos, but didn’t have a theme to tie them all together.
The seven enjoyed a cool morning on Young’s Hill, especially Burrito!
Burrito:
Jody:
Missy:
Cy, Rayne, and Lucky enjoying an after breakfast rest.
Here is how some of the chimps spent their afternoons.
Mave was enjoying the Greenhouse.
Jamie was keeping a close eye on Katelyn.
Terry was waiting for a game of chase!
Make sure your volume is up for this video! There’s lots of chimp laughter and breathy pants to go around. Nothing like watching chimps in a good play session! Today there was lots of play happening among The Lucky Six. Any time I would walk by their group this morning there would be different chimps playing. This video highlights Cy and Dora playing, but I also saw Dora playing with Lucky then Rayne, and Gordo playing with Rayne! This warms my heart because recently we have been finding The Lucky Six playing with each other a lot more. Happy chimps = happy caregivers.
Enjoy some bonus photos from today!
Annie waiting for Missy so they can explore Young’s Hill.
Sweet Lucky.
The handsome Cy.
Dora and Rayne playing.
Rayne’s play face!
The introductions just keep on coming. Today Cy and Willy B met! I would say it went pretty well. We always let them interact through the mesh before opening any doors between them. Willy B and Cy groomed for awhile at the mesh and had some amazing grooming sounds. They groomed everything from toes to heads to backs to faces. After we opened the door they played a little bit of chase from room to room. They did this on and off and was initiated a lot by Cy’s playful foot stomps. Even though the door was open they still preferred to groom through the mesh at first. Willy B would go over and sit on one side of it and head nod at Cy then Cy would join him in a grooming session. Eventually they felt comfortable enough to groom without mesh between them. They didn’t interact the whole time they were together and during these periods Cy would pull out his magazine to read while Willy tried to see what new potential friends were on the other side of the door.
Click here to see a short video from their grooming session today!
Willy B and Cy grooming.
Here are some bonus photos from today.
Lucky wearing a nice scarf.
Missy grooming Annie.
Today we celebrated Foxie’s 45th Birthday! Happy Birthday Foxie!!!
First, we set up all of her new dolls in the Greenhouse. She spent a lot of time looking at them all and picking out which ones she wanted to interact with first. I loved watching her pick up and look at each one. She would hold on to some of them and others she sat down, but came back to later in the day. After the doll party Foxie’s group enjoyed a watermelon bowl forage on Young’s Hill. The watermelon bowls were filled with lettuce, peaches, kiwi, and some cherries. Everyone was super excited and foraged on the hill trying to find as many as they could. Foxie was on the Hill longer than everyone else and seem to really enjoy eating her watermelon in the cooler weather. The Lucky Six as well as Mave, Honey B, and Willy B enjoyed the same treats, just not in a bowl form. Each time I saw Foxie the rest of the day she was carrying around a different doll.
I would say overall Foxie had a pretty good day. Lots of new dolls, watermelon bowls, and she even got to yell at her neighbors for a little bit.
The watermelon bowls!
Jody headed back into the Greenhouse.
Foxie with her first watermelon bowl and new dolls.
Foxie scooped all of the insides out!
Foxie found a second watermelon bowl!
Missy enjoying her findings.
Negra with her watermelon.
Annie resting while eating her watermelon.
Can’t forget about Burrito! He is still doing well and was pretty excited for some watermelon.
Happy National Sisters Day! We have some sisters here at the sanctuary now. Honey B, Lucky, and Rayne are half sisters and share the same father! As we get to know Rayne and Lucky more and they share their personalities with us, I’m sure we will see more similarities between the three of them. There are already some showing through. Honey B and Rayne have a very similar stare, where you feel like they are looking deep into your soul. Rayne does this a lot when you offer her a new food item. She has to inspect you and the food. Honey B gave me this stare a lot when I first started. Also, Lucky and Honey B seem to both really enjoy grooming our boots. Here are some photos of the three of them. Can you see any similarities in their features?
Here are some close up photos of Honey B. This first one is mine, but I have to give photo credit to Anthony for the other two of Honey B.
Lucky can be a hard one to get photos of. She is either resting up high or right up against the mesh ready to interact with us.
Last, but not least here are some photos of Rayne.
Today was the first day The Lucky Six were out of quarantine! They have been in quarantine since they have arrived and during that time we took turns working with them each day. So it was nice to be able to pop over from time to time today and say hi! You will notice a lot of my photos are of them, as I was taking advantage of this. Sometimes it’s hard to get photos in the first half of the day since we are busy cleaning. This afternoon I spent some time walking around between the three different groups to see what photos I could get. Not only did I get some photos this afternoon, but a relaxing grooming session with Jamie and a play session with Dora!
Sweet Dora drinking from the extra tub of water we set up in their enclosure.
Gordo relaxing in one of their Playrooms.
Rayne was all about finding good resting spots today.
Lucky watching me from above.
Cy flipping through one of his magazines.
Cy taking a little break from looking at his magazines.
Jamie waiting to have a grooming session with my boots.
Foxie and her doll resting in the Greenhouse.
Honey B with her makeshift table and chair.
Even though today is Sunday, it’s my “Monday” and I always look forward to coming back from my weekend and seeing the chimps again. We are so lucky as caregivers to be able to greet and be greeted by these amazing individuals. I love seeing how they all spend their mornings and what we can find them up to.
Some mornings are full of greetings and today was one of those days. Jamie was in a playful mood and wanted to play chase! We ran back and forth a couple times and then it was on to a short game of chase with Burrito. As everyone knows, he is ALWAYS ready to play. Negra was still lounging in her nest in the Greenhouse, but sweet Jody was waiting to greet me. As I moved along, Honey B was ready for a long game of chase! She wanted to play chase from the ground floor up to their Mezzanine. The Mezzanine is located above their front rooms and involves us climbing a ladder to get to the top level. Since I had to take the long route, Honey B would patiently wait until I got to the top and then would run back down.
As I was walking around the outside of building, Terry was excitedly waiting to say hi from a distance. Cy gave me a quick greeting from above, but went back to reading his morning magazine.
Each morning before we let the chimps onto Young’s Hill we walk around outside of the fence line to make sure everything still looks intact. Not only are we greeted by the chimps in the morning, but sometimes the cattle as well! I found them along my walk this morning and here are some photos.
Honey
Betsy
Nutmeg
Meredith
Here are some photos from the rest of the day!
Missy on the hill.
Jamie making sure things are in order.
Burrito making everyone’s heart melt.
Honey B always watching.
Willy B enjoying his night bag.
Willy B with his PVC peanut butter tube.
A photo of Rayne from last week using a box as a foot rest.
Gordo making good use of the same box.
