Foxie and Jamie continue to enjoy each other’s company.
Animal Welfare
Enrichment Puzzle
Recently, I saw a video from a study of chimpanzee cognition in which chimps were presented with a peanut inside a clear tube that was mounted to the outside of their enclosure. Within a short amount of time, the chimp began filling the tube with water so that the nut would float to the top. Genius! So, yesterday I decided to see how these guys would handle the problem and zip-tied a couple of nut-filled bottles to the outside of the caging. Clearly, my method of attaching the bottles wasn’t quite as elaborate as the one used in the study, since the chimps could just turn them over, but it did keep them busy and entertained for quite some time!
Primate Awareness Week
This week at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, the recently formed student group called PAN (Primate Awareness Network) is hosting Primate Awareness Week. They have a variety of speakers from the primate community speaking about issues in conservation and captivity, including CSNW’s own Sarah Baeckler and JB Mulcahy. Sarah will be discussing her experiences working undercover at a Hollywood entertainment training facility and JB will tell the story of the Cle Elum Seven. If you are in the area, you should check it out!
Banana updated again!
We’ve had lots of new donations over the last few days! We’re getting close to our initial goal, so I updated the banana again this morning.
Only $783 to go to reach the $30,000 mark. This means $15,783 to reach our ultimate goal and three new chimp-proof, sun-letting-in, clear-view, picture windows!
42 days to go…
My personal thanks to everyone who donated in honor of my birthday on Facebook and otherwise. And thanks for all of our regular donors and creative supporters who have gotten us this far.
Foxie and Jamie’s epic play session
When Foxie first came to the sanctuary, she was pretty shy. It was clear she did not want any of the toys, blankets and other objects that we gave the chimpanzees every day. Then, she adopted a troll doll, which we named Trixie.
That’s when the troll soap opera began. At first, Foxie was very protective of her dolls and did not want anyone else to touch them. She’s come a long way.
In the video below, she is teasing Jamie with a game of keep-away. Foxie still has her limits, though, when it comes to her prized possessions. And perhaps Jamie has softened up a bit when it comes to Foxie and her dolls.
It’s a longer video than normal, but it will make a bad day good and a good day better, so take a break for a few minutes and watch it.
Today in memory of Tom Chimpanzee
Today at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, we remember Tom Chimpanzee, who lived at the Fauna Foundation sanctuary in Quebec for the last several years of his life. Tom died in December of last year. We remember him today because May 1st was his celebrated birthday at Fauna. Please read more about him from our December 18th blog post. We will never forget you, Tommy.
See what’s coming up on the Sponsor-a-Day calendar and dedicate a day in memory of a loved one.
Annie’s waist warmer
Last Saturday, while playing with Missy, Annie put a bright pink fleece head warmer around her neck and wore it like that for 2 days. On Monday, her “neck warmer” became a “waist warmer”. It is now day 5 of waist warming! Pretty fashion-forward!
