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balance

Balance

March 23, 2025 by Diana

You can’t work with chimpanzees and not make comparisons to humans. Being around our closest living genetic cousins makes you ponder what we brought to the future with us from our common ancestors and where our species each went boldly, perhaps haphazardly, in different directions. These are questions that academics spend their entire careers attempting to answer, mainly out of the (let’s face it) selfish yet universal desire to understand life’s biggest and most enigmatic questions of “who are we”? and “why are we the way we are?”

I went to a yoga class on Saturday (shout out to Wild Rose Yoga in Cle Elum). The instructor encouraged us to think about the spring equinox and its related elements.

The Earth remains at a jaunty 23.5 (give a degree or two) tilt as she orbits around her life-force of the sun. On the two days of the equinox, one in spring and one in fall, as the Earth is making her annual slow circular stroll, the sun crosses the celestial equator, shining directly overhead at the Earth’s equator and spreading light to both the north and south pole at the same time. Even those of us in upper and lower latitudes experience a 24-hour cycle with equal parts daylight and night. The next day, this alignment changes ever so slightly, lengthening or shortening the day depending on which hemisphere is closest to the sun.

Today while I was cleaning, I was thinking about the equinox, balance, and our modern-day human tendency to strive for an idealized existence that is in perfect equanimity. I don’t think I’ve seen evidence that the chimpanzees strive for the same thing. They fight, they lose a finger, they groom, they sleep, they wake up, they eat, they try to get our attention to play, like Burrito is doing right now.

—

insert commercial break here: While I was writing this, I could hear Burrito blowing raspberries in the playroom, so I went to say hello. He immediately engaged me in a game of chase which led to Burrito traveling around his outdoor habitat with me attempting to navigate the mud in my indoor shoes in order to orbit around him as he ran.

—

I had physical therapy a few years ago. I took a couple of things away from that experience. Some helpful exercises to do and a new-to-me explanation of  proper running technique. The PT shared with me that running (for bipedal humans, anyway), when done in a form that is least harmful to your body, is actually a series of controlled falls. It’s allowing your feet to catch yourself, over and over again, as you fall forward.

Maybe it’s because chimpanzees are not bipedal that they are more in true balance.

Maybe they instinctively know that perpetual balance is not possible, and life would be pretty boring if it was. Or maybe they just exist, one step at a time, whether those steps are steady or not.

Let’s follow in their footsteps and not expect or frustratingly strive to reach a permanent state of balance. We can notice and appreciate those rare moments, like the equinox, when it happens. Then we can let them go and get back to just keeping ourselves and each other from falling, or at least picking each other up when we inevitably do meet the ground in an unplanned and less than gentle way.

Filed Under: Burrito, Sanctuary Tagged With: balance, slackline, tightrope

Balancing act

February 17, 2017 by J.B.

Each time we build a new play structure on Young’s Hill, we connect it to nearby structures using fire hose. This allows the chimps to move from place to place without touching the ground, a feature that is particularly handy when that ground is covered in snow. We also shovel pathways for them, but hey, tightrope walking is way more fun.

Their balance is incredible, aided in part by those opposable big toes.

And when they lose their balance, they can always fall back on their superhuman strength.

 

Filed Under: Annie, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, Young's Hill Tagged With: balance, chimpanzee, fire hose, locomotion, northwest, rescue, Sanctuary, snow, tightrope, travel

When She’s Not Constantly Moving….

October 30, 2016 by Keri

When one’s mission in life is to stay in motion, to go from point A to point B, running as fast as one can, climbing everything in sight, exploring new structures and tightrope walking (well, in this case it’s fire hose walking), it can be hard to get good closeup pictures. Do you know which chimpanzee I am describing? I’ll give you a hint, she was one of the chimps featured in yesterday’s blog.

web_missy_closeup_face_look_to_side_gh_kh_img_4491-copy

web_missy_closeup_face_look_to_side_gh_kh_img_4494-copy

web_missy_closeup_face_look_to_side_gh_kh_img_4496-copy

web_missy_closeup_face_look_up_gh_kh_img_4493-copy

web_missy_profile_closeup_face_gh_kh_img_6492-copy

web_annie_groom_missy_leg_bottom_platform_gh_kh_img_6498-copy

If you guessed Missy, then you are right!!

Be sure to stay tuned for the Jamieween celebration (Jamie’s birthday and Halloween combined) happening tomorrow!

Filed Under: Missy, Young's Hill Tagged With: balance, climb, closeup, fire hose, Missy, run, young's hill

A new game

November 14, 2009 by J.B.

Missy and Annie are playful in the morning, sometimes chasing each other all over the playroom before we even turn the lights on. Lately, they have been playing a new game: chasing each other while balancing on the catwalk railing. I finally caught them in the act the other day. Good thing they have opposable toes….

Filed Under: Annie, Missy, Play Tagged With: Annie, balance, chase, chimpanzee, Missy, northwest, rescue, Sanctuary

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Cle Elum, WA 98922
[email protected]
509-699-0728
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EIN: 68-0552915

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