Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Burrito

“Diane and Syd Marcus are awesome” Party

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Diane and Syd Marcus sent us some fabulous goodies for Jody’s Birthday Party, but unfortunately we didn’t get them until after the big day. As a compromise, today we held a “Diane and Syd are awesome” Party. Let me explain:

Diane and Syd frequently send the chimps goodies and each time there is one hand-picked and individually wrapped thing for each chimp, along with a note to whom it belongs to. Among the gifts this time– a stuffed animal for Jody, a popper toy for Burrito, a silky scarf for Annie, a toolbox for Jamie, socks and a beaded necklace for Missy, a troll doll for Foxie, and both Foxie and Negra got something extra special– several months ago, Diane and Syd sent a monogrammed Winnie the Pooh blanket for Negra. It was adorable and Negra actually seems to like it! This time, Diane and Syd had a king sized blanket monogrammed for her! They also sent a small monogrammed blanket for Foxie. Here’s their note to Foxie:

Darling Foxie,
We were overjoyed to see you reaching for blankets. You are not only a troll collectrice extraordinaire, but also a nest maker par excellence. And a beautiful peacekeeper. What a girl!!

We chose this blanket because it is a girlie girl blanket- which is what you are. Red and pink are your colors. Snuggle with it when you wish– you can do a few lovely flips.

Of course, we have also enclosed something else. No present to you would be complete without one.

You are a very special and lovely girl.

We are so fortunate to have such lovely supporters like Diane and Syd Marcus who light up the chimps’ day. The party was excellent, as always!

First, a video:

Negra was super happy about the rice cakes Diane and Syd sent:

They also sent some blueberry tea, which was a big hit. Here’s Missy enjoying a glass:

Jody checking out the beaded necklaces:

Jamie and her tools:

A super relaxed, post-party Burrito:

Thanks so much to Diane and Syd for the lovely gifts, and for all of you who send such wonderful enrichment for the chimps!

Jody’s Birthday Spa Day

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A lot of good people came together to pull off an awesome birthday/mother’s day bash for our Jody Chimpanzee! As always, two of the best chimp shoppers I know, Dick and Robbi Brown, brought gift bags full of new toys and decorations, long-time supporter Tamela sent us a donation to make sure the chimps had lots of yummy food, and volunteers Katelyn and Stephanie topped everything off with their awesome party ideas and additions!

Last week, I did some brainstorming with Katelyn and Stephanie, and we decided to make the day a “Spa Day”. Jody loves to lounge- we even recently caught her doing some serious lounging in the sandbox. She spends a lot of her time making very elaborate nests of 25 blankets or more and dives in them face first with a loud “ahh” sound (you may have heard us call this her dinosaur noise). Katelyn and Stephanie brought all the right ingredients for a spa day, including super-soft robes, magazines, slippers, eye pillows, plastic wine glasses, two big fluffy pillows and blankets. As if that isn’t enough, my new favorite florist, Terra Bella Flowers, an organic florist in Seattle, donated some food-grade quality roses for the chimps’ party. It was a girly, girly day! (sorry, you’re outnumbered, Mr. B!)

The following is a short video of some clips from the party, but see the photos below for the good stuff!

Annie going through a gift bag from Dick and Robbi Brown:

Burrito enjoying his mini bok choy

Foxie sending her mama love to her new troll baby:

Jody LOVED the banana blossoms! I had never heard of them before, but she was thrilled!

Terra Bella Flowers made Jody’s day with the roses they donated! She sat here with me the whole time I passed them out. I was even letting her pick out the ones she wanted out of the bunch. She is the birthday girl and all!

Negra enjoying her Terra Bella Rose:

Katelyn and Stephanie also bought a couple of pillows, which Jody spent some quality time with (once all the food and flowers were gone, of course!)

Thanks so much to volunteers Katelyn, Stephanie, and Grace; Dick and Robbi; Tamela; and Terra Bella Florist for making Jody’s day so special! Happy Mama’s Day to all the mama’s out there!

Conflict and Reassurance

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Foxie and Burrito are very good friends. But even best friends fight from time to time.

This morning, as we were preparing to serve breakfast, Burrito launched into a display in the outdoor area. He had been on edge all morning and his display was probably a little more aggressive than usual. I couldn’t see what happened, but in an instant there was a lot of screaming and Burrito was tearing back into the playroom with Foxie hot on his heels. A few seconds later, the girls had him cornered, and Foxie tackled him from behind.

When chimps fight, everything happens so quickly that it’s difficult to make out what exactly happened. But after the fight had ended, Burrito was left with a cut above his eye, a cut on his back, and a huge bruise to his ego.

The rest of the day was uneventful but tense, as Burrito’s conflict with Foxie and the other girls still had not been resolved. Chimps seek out reassurance, often immediately after a fight, but Burrito and Foxie had not yet made up. So later in the afternoon, Burrito launched into a brief display and then dove into Foxie’s arms. They hugged momentarily and then spent 15 minutes quietly grooming one another. Burrito found the reassurance he was looking for.

 

Gum

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Enrichment comes in many shapes and sizes. We give the chimps gum from time to time, because not only is it good for the chimps’ teeth (we try to stick to Spry Brand gum, which has Xylitol in it- a natural sweetener that is also good for your teeth), but it gives them something interesting to do. Some of the chimps choose to just swallow their gum right away, but others like to chew and even play with their gum.

Burrito:

Missy, “stretching out” her enrichment:

Posing for Monica on Love a Chimpanzee Day

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I happen to know that Monica, who sponsored today in honor of the chimpanzees and her cat Ozzie, is a big Duran Duran fan. So, in addition to the party we threw for the chimps full of gorgeous and delicious food, we printed out a few photos that we thought Monica might appreciate. I didn’t expect Burrito to pose so perfectly and had to share this one right away. Happy Love a Chimpanzee Day, Monica!

Burrito loves Duran Duran

The chimps’ stuff

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We leave out a lot of toys, blankets and other stuff for the chimps each day, and they pick what they want out of it. It’s interesting to me that there are such individual variations in what the chimps’ choose to hold on to for the day, or sometimes just a moment. I often think of the years and years before they came to the sanctuary when they had nothing.

Here’s Annie staking claim to a couple of clean blankets:

Annie's blankets

and enjoying her spoils:

annie lying on blankets in greenhouse

Jody with a new piece of enrichment – woven and coiled jute from new Canadian friends:

jody with jute

Burrito usually chooses things he can put in his mouth:

burrito toy in mouth in the greenhouse

Burrito toy in mouth upside

and here’s Negra lying in her nest of blankets – Jody’s not the only chimpanzee who does the yoga “happy baby” pose:

Negra happy baby pose