Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Animal Welfare

Sense of Humor in Chimpanzees

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Someone recently donated two cardboard forts for the chimpanzees. Mave and Willy B had a really good time playing in and destroying theirs yesterday, while the group of seven left theirs intact to see another day. It’s hard to tell in the photo below, but these are big forts – big enough for a chimpanzee to fit inside.

This morning as we were just opening up the chimp house, Foxie was in the room with the fort, just walking past it. We both did a double-take when we heard some rustling and what sounded like knocking coming from inside. I’m not much of a morning person, so I wasn’t 100% sure of what I heard. But then out popped Burrito!

It reminded me of two things: First, this is my kind of humor. I remember years ago I hid inside a brand new garbage can to surprise a friend. I think it was a lot funnier to me than my friend. Second, also years ago, I did my masters thesis on play initiation in chimpanzees, specifically five chimpanzees who were living at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute at Central Washington University (the two chimpanzees who are still living from that group, Tatu and Loulis, now live at the Fauna Foundation in Quebec).

Gathering data for my thesis was a joy because I spent hours watching videotapes (yes, actual videotapes – I told you it was years ago) of chimpanzees playing. From what I recall, most of the instances of play initiation were between friends Moja and Tatu, and I remember more than one instance of Tatu hiding behind a wall and then jumping out at Moja when she walked past, with a raucous game of chase ensuing.

We witness the chimpanzees initiate play all of the time here at the sanctuary, and often the initiator is Burrito. He’s a very funny and fun-loving guy with his human and chimpanzee friends.

Even when he’s spending time alone, he seems to amuse himself. While we were cleaning the playroom, I looked into the greenhouse and saw Burrito sitting in a box eating breakfast leftovers. He had pulled his scooter up next to him.

Without a doubt, humor has gotten me through some otherwise tough times and made good times even better. Maybe joke-telling or sharing humorous thoughts is the human equivalent of initiating play. I think that’s how I will think of it now.

Valentine’s Thank You Video

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Enjoy your day tomorrow!

As the video above expresses, everyone here is incredibly grateful and honored that you choose to spend your time on this blog and thinking about the chimpanzees and bovines at the sanctuary.

I received an unexpected call today about a Valentine’s Day gift that I will be sharing tomorrow to e-news subscribers!

In the meantime, the news from the day is that Burrito has a new favorite toy. Another gift from Trees for Tigers! Below are a couple of photos and I posted a short video clip on our Instagram account.

Let’s All Go To The Movies

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As staff training still continues, we didn’t want to leave the chimpanzees without much to do while we continue to progress our PRT program. So today we decided to throw them something fun. Today was “Let’s Go To The Movies Day.” We put out some ticket rolls and bags of popcorn to munch on.

Negra was really into the little bags of popcorn. She grabbed several bags all to herself.

Though Jamie grabbed several bags herself initially, something else caught her eye.

The Ticket Rolls!

Ticket rolls have been becoming a favorite with both groups. Honey B, Mave, and Willy B were given some earlier last year and almost became and instant hit. The Group of Seven were also given some during Christmas. If you look closely, you could see some. After Christmas, we there were several nests found with tickets, and some that seemed they were made entirely out of tickets. When the ticket rolls were spotted, Jamie immediately went to work to unroll them.

Honey B loved her bags of popcorn and grabbed as many as she could.

Willy B also wanted some.

Mave decided not to participate in today’s activities. But here are some photos of her eating lunch on her makeshift table from Sunday.

Photographs of the Day

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Saturday is the end of the week for some of the staff, while others return from their weekend on Sunday. I’m in the latter group.

As the person responsible for the blog on Sundays (the beginning of my work week), I often gravitate towards whatever topics have been touched on in the previous day’s blog. It isn’t always intentional, but I do notice that it naturally happens more often than not. Hopefully, all of you blog followers don’t mind getting two related posts in just as many days.

Yesterday, Diana shared “Video Clips of the Day“, a fantastic blog entry that consisted of a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Therefore, of course, I’m giving you all “Photographs of the Day”, which is essentially the same concept but with still images instead of filmed content.

Just like the clips in yesterday’s video, the pictures aren’t all from today. However, you may be assured to know that some of these photos are from this dreary winter day, while the rest are quite recent. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this evening’s post and have a great week!

 

The view of the Yakima River and train tracks near the sanctuary:

 

Icicles hanging from the Chimp House roof:

 

Willy B looking down at the snow, then looking at me as if I have the magical power to make it instantly go away:

 

Honey B supervising the construction of her new playrooms:

 

Mave using the same windows to groom her toes:

 

Jamie strolling on the Hill (sorry about the bad focus!):

 

The view from the sanctuary driveway:

 

3/4 of the Moo Crew:

 

Nutmeg:

 

Meredith:

 

Betsy:

 

Honey (apparently also known as “Honey Buns”):

 

Lunch in the cattle barn:

 

Burrito:

 

A closeup of Burrito’s toes:

 

Burrito’s plush monkey friend (featured in yesterday’s video) being incrementally dragged into the chimp enclosure through a food chute and then leisurely disemboweled by seven VERY enriched chimpanzees:

 

Barn Kitty’s tracks in the snow (black-and-white version):

Second Lunch

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What’s better than lunch? SECOND LUNCH.

On Friday, J.B.’s blog post featured a video of seven chimpanzees being served lunch in the Greenhouse. Today, we decided to record lunch on the other side of the building where Honey B, Mave and Willy B reside.

As J.B. explained, the seven chimps in the original group have a specific way of doing things. The newer residents are quite different; among those three, each individual has their own characteristic style and pace.

Honey B gingerly sorts through her food, eating each piece very slowly. She often saves some pieces for last by piling them up between her feet.

Mave is wary of the others and mostly keeps to herself while she scarfs down her food.

Willy B practically inhales his food, making it disappear like some sort of magic trick. When it’s all gone, he sometimes intimidates others into giving up theirs. To promote tolerance and patience, we space out his portions and reward him with extras for letting the others finish their meals in peace. Usually, this special reward is an apple. Teaching him to cooperate using positive reinforcement is less disruptive than separating him from the group. To date, it seems to be working well for Willy and his companions.

This afternoon, I served lunch to the three chimps in the Mezzanine (as you can see in the video). We completed the Mezzanine in August of 2019 and it is currently their largest indoor enclosure. Soon, the three sanctuary inhabitants will be able to access the new playrooms (which are more than twice as big) and, eventually, their own outdoor greenhouse enclosure!

Ice Escapades

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Today was another unseasonably warm January day! The morning frost shrank away in the face of the formidable sun, and the chimpanzees went exploring.

Missy was all over the hill – running, climbing, frolicking, and looking for icy treats.

There are a few hanging tires on the hill that Missy knows harbor special gifts. In the summer, the tires sometimes have wasps nests, which she, Jamie, and Jody will carefully (though not without risk) harvest to eat the larvae. In the winter, when the wasps are long gone, fallen rain collects in the bottom of the tires and freezes.

It’s not always easy removing the frozen block of ice. Today, as I watched, Missy tried a couple of different positions to get the right leverage in order to remove the ice in one of the tires.

Still was not successful, she went back inside the greenhouse, passing Jody, who was stand as sentry watching the other chimpanzees on the hill.

Jody suddenly got up and started walking up the hill with no small amount of determination. Missy must have been watching Jody from the greenhouse, because she quickly came back outside (with two crayons in her mouth).

She seemed to suspect what Jody was up to, and ran to get ahead of her.

By the time Jody reached the first tire…

Missy had already absconded with the treat and ran up the hill, nature’s bounty in hand.

The Wolf of Walnuts

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Chimpanzees are experts at playing whatever hand nature deals for them.

In this weekend’s case, most of the chimps took advantage of the unusual warm weather by choosing to recreate outdoors. (If you’re wondering, Cle Elum’s average high temperature is 35F for January.) For the seven chimpanzees living on one side of the building, that meant another day of frequent romps around Young’s Hill with caregivers. Burrito, in particular, has been racing around the Hill with a new fervor lately.

Around mid-day, we closed the door separating Burrito’s group from the Hill and let the other three chimps have access to the Courtyard. Currently, Willy B is the only one of the three who ventures beyond the enclosed chute, initially doing so in pursuit of food. We don’t always scatter food out in the Courtyard now that he seems to go outside just for the sake of going outside, but I thought that an impromptu scavenger hunt might make the day a little more interesting for him. I tossed some raw, hard-shelled walnuts and tiny pieces of chewing gum over the fence before opening their door. Willy B immediately began his Courtyard ritual; he loped out onto the raised boardwalk, grabbed an easy walnut, and sat down to survey the landscape.

Surprisingly, Honey B was also extremely interested in the forage and eagerly scanned the Courtyard from the safety of the chute. This is a rare occurrence; both Honey B and Mave usually hang further back in the chute while Willy has the Courtyard to himself. Today, Honey B was almost certainly after the small tablets of sugar-free chewing gum, one of her favorite snacks. She eagerly collected the two pieces of gum that were closest to the doorway and grunted as she popped them into her mouth. Willy, on the other hand, was narrowly focused on the encapsulated legumes. Then, Honey B noticed a hidden walnut that Willy B had missed, just within reach. She slowly extended an arm out into the grassy Courtyard…

… but at that exact moment, Willy happened to turn towards the chute. He coincidentally saw Honey B reaching out from the chute and scolded her with a sharp sputter. Their relationship has been tested lately, so I was eager to see how the two strong-willed individuals would handle this conflict of interests. On Wednesday, Honey B furiously retaliated against Willy for stealing part of her breakfast and even won her food back. Such reversals are uncommon; subordinate chimps tend to respect the dominance hierarchy because compliance is both easier and safer than resisting. In general, maintaining stability is more important that whatever temporary reward is at stake.

As you can see in today’s photos, the two friends still have a few cuts from last week’s scrap but the normal dynamic seems to have returned. This afternoon, Honey B decided to not test Willy’s tolerance over a single walnut. Instead, she retreated, leaving Willy B the undisputed Walnut King.

While Willy was methodically gathering all the walnuts, the chewing gum was still available and unguarded. Honey B, who is still uncomfortable with the idea of leaving the chute, used the available tools to pull the gum closer and then scampered off with her due reward.