You’ve probably seen a video just like this in the past if you’ve been following the blog for a bit, but playing with Burrito never gets old. Head nod along as you watch the video above!
Bonus photo of Mave:
animal protection
Today’s Forecast: Rayne
So there wasn’t any rain in today’s forecast, though I think everyone would appreciate some in the state, but there is Rayne!
There are so many aspects about Rayne that remind us of Honey B. The stare she gives you. Her confidence in knowing what she wants and likes. And catch her at the right angle and you would be fooled on who is who. Let’s not forget they are biological sisters.
Though Rayne and her group have been here over a month and they have shown us a great deal of their personalities, we really are still finding new things out about them. One thing we are learning about Rayne, she seems to love food puzzles. Just like Honey B.
As Anthony has mentioned before, Rayne and Friends are a little bit more destructive than we had anticipated when it comes to their enrichment. So we have been slowly been introducing them to new things, one-by-one. Boomer Balls have been the latest.
Speaking of new things, we recently found one Burrito seems to absolutely love now: KONG Zoo! A gigantic Kong!
With Burrito still recovering from his recent incident, we decided to give him two of his favorite new thing he was introduced to before the incident. When he has these, he can be found dragging them along with him, throwing them up in the air, rolling them along, and bouncing on them like a hopper ball.
Here are some of the photos I took when he first got a hold of the gigantoids before the incident:
Jamie also seemed to really like them when they were first introduced.
As posted yesterday, the introduction process between Rayne and her group, and Mave and hers has begun. And please bear with us through this process as they can make for a long day. As mentioned in yesterday’s post, we will most likely just be sharing some highlights of the process. We try to get photos and video if we can, but it’s important to give them the space they need to try to form a relationship without our interference or distraction.
The highlight for today was Mave met Rayne today.
They spent a lot of time grooming one another and reassuring each other when the neighbors were rowdy. Similar to yesterday’s meeting with Terry, Rayne didn’t seem to want to leave Mave, and Mave didn’t seem to want to leave Rayne when we thought they were ready to move on, so we gave them some more time until we knew they were ready. Overall it was a very positive meeting between the two.
Mave also met Cy today as well. Cy spent a lot of time grooming Mave and trying to get her to play with him. Just as with Terry, Mave was a tad hesitant to play with the big guy at first, though she did. But her preference was grooming, which Cy obliged. Overall a positive meeting between them as well.
After their meeting, Cy went back to perusing through his magazines.
It was an eventful day for all, so I hope you all have a great night!
Some bonus photos:
Nothing’s Wrong
Burrito was trying to convince us in earnest today that we was completely fine and ready to get back into the mix of things, despite his very recent ordeal.
Dr. Erin gave the okay for him to spend some quiet time with Jody, who was eager to check out his recovery digs and see if there were any uneaten treats lying around. They greeted each other with enthusiasm, did their own thing for a while, groomed a bit, and then had a tickle session.
No one bounces back like Burrito. He is a man with more than seven lives. A being whose love of life will not be quashed or tarnished. Every adversity he faces, he comes back with more energy. He is the inspiration we all need. I don’t know why he is the way he is, but aren’t we all so lucky to know him.
Be sure to catch tomorrow’s blog post about Foxie’s 45th birthday celebration!
So Many Personalities
This chimp house is so full of distinct personalities. I mean the building was brimming with personalities before, but, wow, now everywhere you turn there’s someone with their own unique wants and needs and quirks. And that’s just the humans! Just kidding – I am referring to the chimpanzees.
The two photos of Dora below were part of a series I quickly snapped yesterday. J.B. included one of them in his blog post yesterday.
Mr. Willy B got some solid Courtyard time today:
Of course there were some onlookers (Jamie, below):
Once Jamie noticed me noticing her, she pointed out the grapes that were right in front of where she was sitting in the original greenhouse:
Indeed, the grapes seem to be thriving in the hot weather and there are a LOT of very under-ripe grapes. I wasn’t able to convince Jamie, or Missy, who noticed me noticing Jamie noticing the grape vines, that they were a few weeks away from being good to eat.
As I was closing up, Foxie tossed me a strawberry shortcake doll from the loft in her playroom. This is a common occurrence as the lead caregiver of the day is doing the checklist and about to lock up; suddenly a doll lands right in front of you. Then Foxie puts her hand out, while laying down, in a gesture that indicates that she will gladly take the doll back if you toss it back up to her. In reality, she doesn’t even have her hand positioned in a way that she could catch the doll, even if my poor attempts at tossing it the six feet above were remotely on target. Eventually, she sits up and puts both hands out, or (like tonight), I find a scarf to tie around the doll, so there is a better chance that she could catch a bit of the scarf and pull the doll into the mesh.
On the other side of the building, when I climbed up to the Mezzanine, I was greeted by Cy. He had made a very nice-looking nest in the corner and was paging through a magazine. Meanwhile, Gordo was pacing the second floor of the playroom trying to get a glimpse at Mave, who might rank above his interest in food at the moment.
So many personalities and interesting observations for us caregivers to discuss and for us to share with you.
Speaking of sharing, I know some of you noticed that we had tried a new comment system yesterday for the blog called ReplyBox. There was a glitch in getting all of the old comments over, and we are waiting to hear back from the software’s support team. I’m hoping that they will fix it and we can use that moving forward. It has the requested features of allowing for emojis and for editing comments and the privacy standards seem a bit better than some other options out there. It will require people to either create a login via ReplyBox or sign in with Google or Twitter. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try to find something else! Thank you for your patience.
The Elusive Gordo – A Contrast in Characters
Jamie is a chimpanzee who does not hide anything. She’s not shy. This was evident even the first time we met her at Buckshire before her group of seven came to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
She doesn’t hold back when she has an opinion about something. She can be challenging (she’s the only chimpanzee at the sanctuary who throws feces, for example), but we all appreciate that she is not only able to express herself, but feels quite comfortable letting the humans know if she wants something or is displeased with us. When she likes something she REALLY likes it, and it’s a joy finding those things (like boot books), and being able to enrich her life in very specific-to-her ways.
Here’s a photo I took of the boss today:
Gordo, on the other hand, has been very aloof so far.
He arrived just one month ago from Wildlife Waystation, and we are still getting to know him and the other five in his group. We were told that he takes some time to warm up to new people, and so far he’s definitely the least interactive with the caregivers.
The other two males in his group, Terry and Cy, are usually front and center and wanting to play chase. Upon seeing the caregivers, Lucky will present her belly for rubs, Dora likes gentle games where she touches the back of our hands with her outstretched fingers, and Rayne is showing herself to be a fun-loving friend.
Gordo is very interested in food, so when serving meals has been the main opportunity to interact with him. He will take food from us without hesitation, but it’s normally a very one-way transactional interaction.
I feel no shame in admitting that I have been on a mission to win over Gordo. I make eye contact with him (eye contact with chimps is a good thing, though that’s not the case with some other primate species) and attempt to instigate games of chase whenever I can. Most captive chimpanzees, particularly males, really like to play chase.
Often, Gordo is against a wall in one of the new playrooms or in a doorway, observing at a distance. The photo below isn’t very good, but it shows Gordo in one of his spots with one leg crossed over the other – this, along with the full splay, is a classic Gordo pose.
I’ve noticed that he’s also been hanging out in the corner of the far greenhouse. Whenever I pass by, I stop to talk to him for a bit. Often I don’t get much of a response.
I was beginning to wonder if I was perhaps coming on too strong, when, last Saturday, Gordo did grant me a game of chase. It was wonderful. And brief.
Today, Kelsi and I were being goofy with the whole group, and Gordo joined in the fun! I don’t know if you can tell how elated Kelsi was in these photos, but let’s just say she’ll be riding this high for awhile.
When he was done playing with Kelsi, I caught his eye and went out to the greenhouse hallway. To my great surprise, he walked towards me. On purpose! And I didn’t have food!
It was a great moment to kick off my weekend.
Thank you, Gordito.
Jody wadging a cattail
This video (above) reminded me of someone eating a corn dog at a ball game, though I don’t really go to ball games and I have no idea if they still have corn dogs.
In any case, Jody definitely was enjoying her cattail wadge while keeping an eye on the neighbors today.
For more on wadging, check out this blog post from Anna from a few years ago or this one, also from Anna, with some photos of Jody wadging pineapple skin.
Today is the first day of sending out the blog to both the old and the new lists of subscribers. If you are new to the blog, welcome!!
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Happy Saturday, everyone!
Glorious Greenhouses
I have to really hand it to J.B. for his greenhouse design and Gary from Sage Mechanical for putting it all together plus adding some special touches.
These new greenhouses are truly a chimp’s dream.
Yesterday was the first day that I was cleaning in one of the new playrooms with the new group of six chimpanzees on the other side of the windows in a greenhouse. I snapped some quick photos on my phone through the window to give you a sense of the chimpanzees’ perspective.
That view! 
All of the new six like to take advantage of the vertical space and can often be found up high on the benches at the edges of the greenhouse. There are some great spots to observe the neighbors.
Cy even took a minute away from his magazines to watch Willy B in the Courtyard today:
At Wildlife Waystation, the indoor space for the chimpanzees was much smaller than at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, and they spent most of their time in their concrete-floored, chain-link fenced space. We were all pleasantly surprised that they walked on the grass in their new greenhouse habitats right away. The grass is an experiment for us in these new spaces, one that so far is working well.
Though there are many differences, the greenhouses are probably most similar to what they are used to at Wildlife Waystation. During the day, there is usually at least one chimpanzee out there, and sometimes all six of them are in one greenhouse or another. During their first week they were in the greenhouses well after we had closed up for the night.
Last night around 7:30, I was outside wandering around. The sanctuary property was full of activity. There was a doe grazing in the pasture near Young’s Hill. The bovine family had gotten up from their daytime shady spot and they too were spending the cooler evening hours grazing. Ground squirrels and the occasional marmot were scurrying about, always in a hurry. The cliff swallows that have taken over the eaves of the new addition to the chimp house were soaring and dropping and diving, undoubtedly getting their dinner of insects.
As I approached the chimp building, however, there wasn’t even the hint of anyone stirring. I walked around the outside of the fence behind the new greenhouses and did not see a soul.
It made me feel disappointed for a fleeting moment, because it’s nice to see the chimps among the bamboo and logs and grass, with the sky as the backdrop, but then I smiled. Sometimes I even have to remind myself that it’s not about what I want or what I think they should be doing; it’s about giving them choices and letting them figure out what they want.
I pictured all six of them–Cy, Lucky, Gordo, Terry, Rayne, and Dora–sleeping soundly in their nests made of blankets and paper, in the special spot they chose for themselves, indoors in the new playrooms, perhaps with a newfound sense of safety and security.
