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Annie
Undercover Annie
Annie is by nature a sweet and shy soul. Probably due in part to her personality, she is also lowest in the social hierarchy of her chimpanzee family. But don’t think this means that she can’t hold her own when she feels strongly enough about something or doesn’t find a way to get what she wants. We’ve even witnessed her stand face to face with Jamie during arguments! And the backing of her best friend, Missy, will often give her additional courage when needed.
At the same time Annie does a great job at her role of being a subordinate chimpanzee. For example, when taking food she cautiously looks around to make sure it’s OK with everyone else (this usually means Jamie and Missy). This is completely normal behavior in chimpanzee society and there is typically more political savvy exercised than physical force. And while by nature she is less interested in interacting with the humans and prefers the company of her chimpanzee friends, if she wants to interact with us she finds a way to do so without getting into trouble.
When I went in to greet the chimpanzees this morning, much to my delight, Annie ran over to say good morning to me. But then she turned her back to me, looked around, and quickly turned her head to the side to offer me a quick kiss on the back of my hand. Then she looked around again to make sure the coast was clear and reached out to tickle my hand. And off she ran to start the rest of her day. These moments with Annie are such a treat. It makes my heart smile to see her becoming more courageous and comfortable in her own skin. She may be quiet but she’s sly!
Send in the troops
Chimpanzees naturally are very territorial. This is something universal for both wild and captive chimpanzees. When we see territorial displays in the Cle Elum Seven, it’s really wonderful because it means that they are not only exhibiting what we call species-typical behavior, but it also means that they see this is their home and it is worth protecting.
In the wild, individuals within a group will split off from the main group and go on a patrol to check the boundaries of their territory. They move silently through the forest to make sure there are no intruders. In most cases, these patrols are exclusively males. Watch this video from the Jane Goodall Institute to learn about male patrols:
Burrito is the only male at CSNW, so we don’t see a lot of the typical social organization of chimpanzees groups that we learn about in school. In captivity, the same rules don’t apply, especially when the group is comprised of an unusually large percentage of females compared to males. It’s one reason why in the wild, males are always the dominant figures within a group, but in captivity many times females are dominant (which is the case at CSNW with our boss lady, Jamie). So even though we see natural territorial behaviors from all of the Cle Elum Seven, we don’t really see patrols.
Today however, we saw a troop of chimps band together and defend their territory against the neighbor elk, who decided to pay us another visit today.
You’ll never believe who was leading the gang.
OK, maybe you will. It was Burrito. In the wild this would seem obvious—dominant male chimps would definitely be front and center in a patrol. But Burrito is not a typical male chimp. He never had older males to learn from and was never in a typical social group. After being in the lab for over 20 years, it’s really not surprising that he never developed the same way wild male chimps do. So this is why it was especially exciting to not only see the chimps on a patrol this morning, but for Burrito to be in the lead. The chimps continue to surprise us as they develop into their sanctuary life.
First, Jody started to follow Burrito (with a cattail in tow of course!)
Jamie joined in, followed by Annie, and eventually Foxie as well:
Thank you, Redfin!
Today the chimpanzees enjoyed a party sponsored by Felicity Wood and Redfin! The chimpanzees enjoyed lots of new enrichment to include a giant Lego castle and a fabulous red and white themed food forage. While the chimps are always up for a party, Jamie in particular seemed to enjoy today and much to our delight she found countless projects to engage in throughout the afternoon. And if you aren’t already aware, finding something to enrich Jamie is no small feat.
Here Debbie realizes her dream of adult size Legos as Jamie helps her with the directions to building the castle:
The finished result of Jamie and Debbie’s hard work and two amazing house pinatas:
Here’s Jamie investigating the castle:
Annie checking out a giant red crayon:
Jody as her beautiful self:
Jamie enjoying a cranberry raspberry “cocktail”:
Annie investigating a new bowling set:
Thank you so much for your time and effort in giving the chimpanzees a fun and interesting day, Redfin!
Smile!
A couple weeks ago, Debbie posted about the difference between chimpanzee fear grimaces and chimpanzee smiles. This afternoon, Missy and Annie decided to demonstrate the many things that might elicit a smile, otherwise known as a play face.
For example, you might smile if your friend leaped out of the grass and tried to wrestle you to the ground.
Or, you might smile if you were the one doing the leaping.
You might smile if your friend was tickling your toes.
And you might smile if you tickled her right back.
You might smile if your friend chased you across a fire hose bridge.
You might also smile if you were the one doing the chasing. Especially if you went too fast…
…fell off…
…hung upside down…
…and kept right on chasing.
You might even walk away smiling after a move like that.
Sky above, earth below
Outside of the entrance to the chimp house we keep one of the protocol cages that the chimpanzees lived in, in a windowless basement, during their decades being used in biomedical research. We must pass it each day as we unlock the door. It provides an opportunity for people who visit the sanctuary to envision to some degree what the chimpanzees’ lives consisted of before coming here. And it helps me remember every day why I’m here. It’s heartbreaking, of course, to look at. Imagine having spent every day of your life for over three decades living inside this (minus the scenery):
You never see the sky or green grass, you never feel the sun or the breeze, and for the most part you are unaware that anything exists outside of this view:
I spent several minutes today sitting inside this cage. I couldn’t stand up to my full height. It was hard to balance on the floor made of bars. And there is only a small, cold metal bench to sit on. The chimpanzees would not have had blankets to build nests with and no enrichment to engage their intelligent and active minds. I thought of my seven dear friends having lived every day this way in so much fear, uncertainty, boredom, and at many times, pain. You can imagine the wave of heartfelt sorrow and anger I felt for all they have endured. And what so many still do.
And then I looked out to the view of Young’s Hill from the cage:
Earlier today I told Jamie we would walk around Young’s Hill to her heart’s content. And boy did we. Around and around, up one side and turning to retrace our steps back down the other way. I lost count of how many times we went around. And for the first time that I’ve experienced, Burrito joined us in our patrol of the perimeter the entire way! Foxie and Dora, and even Jody came along for part of the way, while Annie and Missy chased each other up and down the hill. (It was cold today and Negra chose to stay in the comfort of her warm, cozy nest). Finally, after several laps around Young’s Hill, I suddenly lost sight of Jamie and had to go looking for her. This was a first! I eventually found her back in the front rooms, waiting for me to give her the cowgirl boot (which I had of course been wearing). I guess she had indeed walked to her heart’s content.
Imagine what it must feel like to these seven chimpanzee people to be able to see the sky above and feel the earth below, unobstructed.
Burrito:
And to MOVE for the sheer joy of moving like Missy:
Several days ago Jamie gifted me with an amazing moment. During a walk around the hill she had me wait while she foraged and climbed over every inch of the structures. At one point she suddenly climbed up a post, stood bipedally on the very top with her arms hanging at her sides and threw her head back as she stared up at the sky for several seconds. A simple, yet profound moment. Then she turned and looked at me, climbed down and raced me all the way back to the greenhouse with a huge play face. I am immeasurably grateful that the chimpanzees have the chance to call a sanctuary home. And I remember all those languishing in cages and labs who are still in need of their sanctuary.
Though that moment with Jamie will forever be burned into my mind, I unfortunately didn’t get a photo. But this is one of my favorites and I think it speaks volumes all the same.
Young’s Hill party forage
I mentioned earlier on the blog that today is the second anniversary of the opening of Young’s Hill. Watch the video of their first day out here and check out the previous post for some photos of the chimps on that very emotional and moving day!
Today we wanted to celebrate the anniversary in the best way we know how for chimps—a big food forage! The chimps usually are served their meals (so we know that everyone is getting appropriate portions) but a few times a week we do put out a forage for them to do what chimps would do in the wild. In order to scatter the food around and make the forages last for awhile, we usually cut up the food into small chunks so it takes some time for them to find everything.
This time, we not only included a fruit salad of some chopped peaches, raspberries, and grapes, as well as baby carrots and green onions—but we also included WHOLE apples and tomatoes. The chimps were so excited as we headed out to spread the food around! Mixing things up like that keeps the chimps super enriched and happy.
Everyone really loved all the whole apples and tomatoes! Jody was the first to get a hand (and mouth) full!
Jamie collected at least four apples:
Annie:
Burrito searching for goodies:
And then taking a quick rest:
Foxie:
Missy:
Thank you so much to everyone who helped with Young’s Hill, and to everyone who has helped the Cle Elum Seven along this amazing and considerable journey!
