Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Occasionally we find the chimps in the most luxurious looking yoga-like poses (Happy Baby Pose is a common one for Negra)! Today I found Annie in this sort of seated Pigeon Pose as she soaked up the sunshine pouring into the playroom. I suspect that she started out by grooming her leg, but then found it reasonably comfortable to maintain the stretch for a while as she took in the view from the catwalk.
After the chimps returned from their morning foray around the hill, Annie climbed to the top of the greenhouse to make a nest and get warm. She immediately started clapping her feet together and making her patented bird noised (whistling through her hands) which if you’re new-ish to the blog is Annie speak for “I am extremely happy and content right now.”
Best friend, Missy, climbed up to join her where they had a sweet grooming session. Missy doesn’t often care to have her photo taken and I admittedly took advantage of the fact that she was held hostage by Annie who was grooming her back to snap a few quick photos with her permission. It didn’t take Missy long to turn her back so I’m happy to have captured a few of her beautiful self. Thanks, Missy!
When chimpanzees groom one another or themselves, they typically make a variety of distinct sounds with their mouths, tongues and teeth to communicate their intentions. We humans do this as well when the chimps invite us to groom with them through the caging. Each chimp has their own style to some degree which can include, lip-smacking, teeth-clacking or blowing raspberries. Annie was utilizing the raspberry technique:
Taking her job very seriously:
Missy said, “A little lower”:
While the mornings in October are beautiful, they sure are cold! However, its still warm in the sun and the chimps don’t seem to mind the brisk mornings. Look at all of them out on Young’s Hill (even Neggie)!
Negra was very eager to go outside with everyone this morning:
And then promptly came back inside to snooze a little bit more, can you tell that lump of blankets is Negra:
Missy was having a blast rippin and chasing her friends onto Young’s Hill:
Jody, Jamie, Foxie, and Annie all scattered onto the Hill:
Foxie:
Annie:
Burrito:
Burrito eventually decided to go inside:
Later in the morning while we were cleaning I saw Jody basking in the sun:
While Jody was relaxing I found Burrito watching Foxie and Missy out on the Hill:
It warms my heart to see everyone enjoying their day and spending quality time together!
This morning everyone wanted to eat chow outside! It was a perfectly brisk morning with warm sunshine, no complaints there.
Jody in her usual spot on Young’s Hill:
Jody was breathy panting with excitement for Missy to come join her:
Jody, Missy, and Foxie heading out:
Foxie:
Annie took her chow out to a log and enjoyed some solitude:
Burrito joining the ladies:
After the Green House was cleaned we put in some new foliage called Lemmon’s willow. The chimps had never tried this before and we were interested to see who would like it. We assumed Jody would, but we actually found almost all the chimps wadging on it at one point in the day, particularly Jody, Annie, Burrito, and Missy!
Jody munching on a Lemmon’s willow branch:
Missy snagging a branch:
Missy took a branch bigger than her inside to snack on:
**BONUS**
Today’s daytime enrichment was firehose knots with nuts and seeds inside. As I was walking around and snapping some photos I found Jamie enjoying what looked like 3 or 4 knots and a troll sock tied around her ankle. She had tied it herself and had been casually strutting around with it. However, once she saw that I noticed the anklet she took it off discreetly (it was very hard to get a picture of this).
Jamie with her troll anklet:
This weekend we host our last two summer visits for our supporters for the year. These small visits feature an educational talk from one of our staff members and a chance to view the chimpanzees as they forage for their lunch on Young’s Hill. Today’s lunch forage featured highly prized whole sweet corn (husk and all!).
Burrito spent most of his time picking up primate chow, but managed to get some corn too:
Foxie enjoyed some corn and a good view from one of the towers:
Jamie:
Negra:
Missy:
Jody made several trips outdoors to get her lunch:
There’s no better time to eat corn on the cob than in September -or at least Annie thinks so. She “won” the forage today by collecting the most corn and scaling the Escher structure for that final piece!
Jody and Missy were having a rousing wrestling match this morning when a third party insisted on being included in the game. Missy is a popular chimp friend to have!
In case you haven’t heard, yesterday’s Giving Day for Apes was nothing short of a success! Check out the above video for a thank you from the Queen herself.
In other news, today after lunch, wadging paper primate chow bags seemed like top priority for Annie, Jody and Foxie. Jody and Annie had to take theirs to go so they could go spy on a big yellow construction vehicle that was backing up to the chimp house. Every day we get to see so much progress on our new building. It’s truly an exhilarating experience to be a part of!
Here’s Foxie and her wadge:
Jody:
And Annie:
My favorite photo is this profile of her. You can really see just how full her bottom lip is!
