Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Annie

Take two: Lucky and Willy B

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Introductions continue at the Chimp House! Lucky and Willy B met each other for the first time on August 21st with nothing but positive interactions and a good old grooming session. With the plan of continuing introductions to better solidify their future relationships, they got to interact one on one today as well. We can’t force outcomes when it comes to introductions, and sometimes one on ones are uneventful. Today, Willy B and Lucky had a short but sweet interaction. Willy B displayed multiple times during the beginning of the introduction while Lucky just stared at him like “dude, are you ok?” from the comfort of the blanket covered platform. When Sir William stopped displaying, Lucky came down, giving Willy B a chance to get closer and initiate some grooming. Willy B groomed Lucky in such an intense way that his loud lip smacking had him drooling for a quick second. Even though Lucky was completely on board to get groomed by Willy B for what seemed like a very long 5min, she went back up to the platform and the two did not engage further. While it might seem like not much happened during this re-intro, every positive interaction gets us closer to uniting the two groups and having them form their own interpersonal relationships within the new group.

Willy B grooming Lucky during their intro today

Bonus 1: The cattle watching me during this mornings perimeter walk

Bonus 2: Annie laying down in the green house

Play is good for the soul

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Make sure your volume is up for this video! There’s lots of chimp laughter and breathy pants to go around. Nothing like watching chimps in a good play session! Today there was lots of play happening among The Lucky Six. Any time I would walk by their group this morning there would be different chimps playing. This video highlights Cy and Dora playing, but I also saw Dora playing with Lucky then Rayne, and Gordo playing with Rayne! This warms my heart because recently we have been finding The Lucky Six playing with each other a lot more. Happy chimps = happy caregivers.

 

Enjoy some bonus photos from today!

Annie waiting for Missy so they can explore Young’s Hill.

Sweet Lucky.

The handsome Cy.

Dora and Rayne playing.

Rayne’s play face!

 

 

New Chimps New Routine

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New chimps also means a new routine. We are definitely trying to work out some kinks. Shifting can be hard when chimps don’t want to leave a room. Sometimes it means the humans clean until later in the day or if the chimps decide not to leave we can’t clean. Eventually, Dora’s group and Mave’s group will get into a new routine of shifting, but that probably won’t be this week ;). Today was no different, but we did get to clean Playroom 3, which feels like a win. So you might hear us say it was a busy day or today was crazy. What it really means is us humans are a little tired, but we got most of their areas clean. Also, have we mentioned how great our sixteen chimps are! I still can’t believe there are sixteen chimpanzees that get to call this place home! I couldn’t get photos of everyone today, but I was fortunate to get a few and have some kind caregivers share some of their photos with me.

Annie this morning looking over at the neighbors. I mean you have to keep an eye on the new guys, right?

This photo I captured last week and just wanted to share because it’s Burrito! How lucky are we to have this guy in our lives.

Little Miss Foxie exploring through the tall grass.

The ever so mischievous Honey B!

Jody also had to go spy on the neighbors this morning.

While cleaning Playroom 3 we found a grooming train! The Green House has so much vertical space, it really is amazing. In this photo you can see Gordo grooming Lucky and Lucky grooming Terry. Dora has a nice little nest on the other platform and if you look below, Rayne foraging for cherry tomatoes.

Look at this Mave!

After Rayne was done foraging in the Green House, she came up to say hi.

I can not get over how handsome Willy B is. No wonder Dora gets excited to see him.

Shut Up and Blog

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Today was pretty busy day for the humans, but the chimps made sure to fit in some fun. Of course, Burrito played with everyone! Jamie had a lovely day napping in a extravagant nest full of book pages and boots. I loved watching her sort through her big bag of enrichment too.  Honey B and Mave had a blast unrolling around in the raffle tickets! Cy flipped through magazines. I wasn’t able to capture much from Lucky’s group, but they were busy inspecting one of the security camera JB just set-up.

Today’s blog was going to be my favorite type of blog, a smorgasbord of photos! But, throughout the day I was able to get some fun video clips of some of the chimps. So why not do it all! It made me start thinking. What are all of our blog followers’ favorite kinds of blogs? Do you like blogs that are interactive like games or educational? Do you like blogs with lots of content or are you like, enough already I want to see the photos. Maybe you’re more into the videos where you can see the chimps and get more familiar with the building. Personally, I love photos with descriptions! Whatever you are into, I will stop talking so you can enjoy these photos!

Annie and Jody:

Honey B with her raffle tickets:

Jamie looking through her giant enrichment bag:

And a series of photos of Jamie nesting:

Mave unrolling her raffle tickets:

Queen Negra and Missy:

  

 

Zero Kernels Given

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Lunch is known to be a more relaxing meal to serve. Breakfast is always exciting because it’s fruit, everyone loves fruit! Dinner is the last meal served before the end of the day and night bags are always on the mind! Today’s lunch was eventful for all three groups of chimps. It seemed Dora and Annie were yelling towards each other and everyone had something to say about it, well everyone but Negra. Negra couldn’t have cared less. The interactions weren’t bad, just loud. But Negra’s only concern was eating lunch.

I thought I might share this photo of sweet little Honey B.

Happenings of the Day

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When I was opening up the chimp house this morning I found Negra still resting in the Greenhouse. She knows how to make a comfy looking nest!

Annie exploring Young’s Hill in the morning.

Missy close behind Annie.

Jody watching the others on the hill.

After her walk around Young’s Hill Missy was eating breakfast with style.

Foxie cooling off in the front rooms.

After lunch Missy went around and picked up all of the leftover cucumber pieces.

I was attempting to get get some photos in the afternoon and Burrito just wanted to play. So I stopped taking photos to get a little workout in.

It is very hard to catch this guy being still! He was resting after many play sessions with Chad. It didn’t last for long! By the time I was uploading this photo he was ready to play again.

 

Honey B was making such a good nest of blankets, troll dolls, her scooter, and some scarves that I was trying to get a photo of it. I got the Honey B stare instead 🙂

I worked with The Lucky Six a couple of times last week and here are some of the photos I was able to get. I am really enjoying getting to see their personalities more as the continue to open up with us! I didn’t work with them today, but as I was performing safety checks Terry was in my line of vision from a distance ready to play!

Gordo right before a game of chase started.

Dora and her sweet face.

Cy is definitely going to steal some hearts around here!

 

Grabbing Toes

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We are still in the midst of the heat wave. Thankfully, today is not in the hundreds, still hot, but there is a nice breeze going. With warm weather means lazy play sessions, even Burrito has slowed down just a touch. Today, while Sofia and I were finishing up cleaning the playroom we found Annie laying on the cool floor while Missy’s toes dangled down below. Annie was grabbing Missy’s toes, fingers, and giving her little pokes while Missy sat above her on a barrel. It was a lazy game for Annie and Missy, but it was all they could muster. When these two really play it might start out slow, but eventually it ends with them laughing, wrestling, and running around grabbing toes. As you will see in these photos we are all preserving our energy. Don’t worry though chimps and humans have had lots of fluids and Gatorade not to mention lots of fans and misters going too!

As I drove up the driveway to the chimp house this morning Happy Club popped into my mind. Some of you blog followers are familiar with it, but if you read Diana’s blog a while back. What jogged my memory was seeing 4 or the 6 new chimps watching me pull up the driveway. All of them in the greenhouse enjoying the warm summer breeze. It brought a smile to my face. So, I thought I would share a few happy things over the last week.

  1. Well, first of all I am so happy to have the Lucky 6 home! The fact that they are settling in so well also makes me overjoyed.
  2. Terry and Cy are absolute hams! I am truly smitten.
  3. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of being in Rayne’s company. I was cleaning GH3 and she was in GH2. I sat with her for a while. She is very sweet.
  4. Missy dangling her foot in front of Annie as a taunt to play.
  5. Last week Negra requested that J.B., Diana, Anna, and I all dance for her. We immediately did as we were told. It makes me smile because that is what sanctuary is supposed to be, right? Negra tells us what she wants and then we do it :).
  6. Dora. Just seeing Dora makes me happy.

Burrito staying cool in his castle.

Gordo cooling off in his favorite spot.

Rayne popping in to say hi.

Honey B hanging out in her favorite spot, the chute.

Jamie melting into her nest.

This heat hasn’t slowed Terry down!