Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Animal Welfare

Enrichment ideas wanted

by

We know a lot of the people who regularly read this blog also support other great ape sanctuaries and zoos. And we know you all really enjoy seeing the Cle Elum Seven enriched, so we are seeking your ideas, perhaps things you’ve seen at other facilities, for what we have been calling “enhanced enrichment” – enrichment that creates a challenge and encourages exercise and/or tool use. Jackie put together a great video yesterday (see at end of post) that shows a few of the things that we do already.

Below is a photo of our enrichment calendar. We have themes for our regular enrichment (toys and such put out after cleaning in the morning) and projects for enhanced enrichment (usually set up in the evenings after dinner). The scheduled enhanced enrichment all began with a desire to consistently keep smart Jamie from getting bored. As you’ll see from the video, all of the chimpanzees can appreciate a challenge. Free-living chimpanzees spend hours each day traveling, looking for and acquiring food, so presenting food puzzles is a good way to keep those innate parts of their brains exercised.

enrichment calendar

A wintry perk

by

Like many humans, chimpanzees generally prefer warmer temperatures. For that reason, winter is not much fun for the Cle Elum Seven, but there is one big consolation: they are treated to an all-you-can-eat snow buffet.

Thanksgiving Party!

by

It was an exciting morning here at CSNW! We did a lunch forage with pomegranates, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, avocados, cabbage, and bananas, and volunteer Jeani found some Brussels sprout stalks- what a treat! Right now, volunteer CJ is preparing cranberry sauce, green onions, and eggplant for the chimps dinner. I can’t wait to hear the squeaks over the cranberry sauce!

Here’s Annie with her Brussels sprout stalk:

Pomegranates are ALWAYS a hit, so we put out whole ones. Guaranteed food squeaks!

Jamie, mid-squeak:

Jody:

Since hiding the food in boots was such a hit on Jamie’s Birthday, we filled boots (and socks, and hats, and troll dolls, and various other containers) with food. Yum! It seemed to get everyone in the spirit.

Jamie:

Jody:

Burrito:

Burrito with a bottle filled with cauliflower:

We all have so many things to be thankful for, and we are all so grateful for all of you supporters! We truly could not do this without you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Greetings

by

Chimpanzee culture is very political. In order to rise to the top of the hierarchy, or to stay on the good side of those at the top, a chimpanzee must know who to rub elbows with (so to speak) and when, and to what degree.

One of the ways a subordinate chimpanzee can show respect to a more dominant chimpanzee is by offering an elaborate greeting. These greetings occur when the two individuals meet after being apart from each other for some time. Most greetings involve some sort of vocalization (a breathy pant or a pant grunt, as you’ll see in the video) on the part of the subordinate chimpanzee. Generally, the louder the vocalization, the more tense the subordinate chimp feels.

Many of the chimp-to-chimp greetings here at CSNW are directed toward Burrito. Although he is not the most dominant chimpanzee here — he doesn’t quite have the skills, probably because he lacked a proper male chimpanzee role model growing up — his displays are pretty effective at intimidating the girls, so they try their best to appease him whenever they can. You might notice in the video that Burrito often turns his back or squeezes his eyes shut when he’s bring greeted. As much as he tries to show the girls who’s boss, the truth is he’s pretty nervous in social situations. Failing to graciously receive the other chimps’ greetings is probably one of the things holding him back from the dominant status he seems to desire.