Around the sanctuary, Jamie is known for her amazing tool using abilities. With a long tool and flick of her wrist, she can get just about anything she wants that happens to be lying on the other side of the caging. Burrito on the other hand, can be a bit too blustery for such business. However, he might be willing to give tool use a little try, if eating peanut butter is the end goal.
chimp enrichment
Bubbles
Once in awhile we make bubbles for the chimps with a small drop of non-toxic dish soap. They seem to like how the bubbles feel in their mouths.
Introducing the Database of Chimpanzee Enrichment!
The unfortunate reality for all chimpanzees that face captivity (even ones in a high-quality sanctuary) is that captive life can be boring. Chimpanzees are highly intelligent and active primates, and the truth is that no enclosure could possibly replicate the constant changes and choices that free-living situations provide. Another unfortunate reality is chimpanzees that have grown up in captivity cannot be returned safely to the wild where they belong. It is for this reason that sanctuaries exist, to give captive chimpanzees as many choices and enhancements in their lives as possible, while still keeping them safe, so that they can enjoy their lives in peace and comfort.
Caregivers at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest are always working towards improving the quality of physical and psychological stimuli that we have to offer the Cle Elum 7. We provide a variety of environmental enrichment to challenge their bodies and minds and we are always looking for more ideas. Today we wanted to announce our newest foray into the world of enrichment project sharing, the Database of Chimpanzee Enrichment!
Several months ago we started building a database tool for chimpanzee caregivers around the world to be able to browse our enrichment activities. However, simply compiling and sharing our ideas is not the end of the road! Not only will online visitors be able to see and learn about the types of enrichment that CSNW uses, but we also hope to be able to learn from and share the enrichment of other facilities over time. We have a couple of guidelines for submitting enrichment ideas to us so please visit this link if you are interested in contributing.
Everyone should feel free to peruse this database at their leisure, adding comments or questions at the bottom of each enrichment post. Please also share this blog post on social media to help get the word out! Hopefully, this collaborative effort will lead to an open dialogue about enrichment and help enhance and improve the lives of captive chimpanzees everywhere.
So without further adieu, we bring you the Database of Chimpanzee Enrichment!
You can also find it by visiting our website https://chimpsnw.org/ and scrolling over the About Us tab or typing http://enrichment.chimpsnw.org/ into your address bar.
Happy browsing!
Self-Care
We’ve been asked how the chimpanzees keep their nails short. For most of them, it’s the result of normal wear and tear, but Jamie has her own technique.
Intangible expansions
I’d like to say that I no longer think of the decades the chimpanzees spent living as biomedical research subjects in open slat cages the size of a bathroom stall, the last couple of years which were in a windowless basement. But I do. I’d like to forget the images of my friends’ familiar eyes peering out from between the bars that their familiar hands clung to. But I can’t. I wish I couldn’t picture them having spent their days – their years – with no enrichment, nothing to nest with, no room to rip and run and climb, unable to engage in natural chimpanzee behaviors and family relationships, or just be free to be themselves, however that looked. But these thoughts, and most importantly the chimps’ histories, are inversely proportional to the growth and expansion they demonstrate with each passing day, season, and year.
We are fast approaching the anniversary of the chimpanzees’ arrival to their sanctuary home eight years ago, on June 13th. Eight years! And yet every single time I see them foraging on the hill, climbing new structures and taking in unobstructed views, pushing their own comfort levels with such courage, grace and dignity, it takes my breath away. No matter how many times I see all these moments in each of their lives, it never for one second feels less than wondrous and breathtaking.
And this morning, one of now countless particularly beautiful mornings the chimpanzees have had here, was no different. As they foraged for breakfast al fresco on Young’s Hill, as they traversed seemingly every inch of every structure, their hair shining in the sun and blowing in the breeze, moving as a family, each step through the electrifying green grass another step further from their histories, my friends’ familiar eyes cast to the expanse of sky and valley and mountain beyond, I watched, my heart on tiptoe.
Jamie:
Burrito and Jamie:
Burrito:
Foxie and Annie:
Foxie and France Dora:
Annie:
Annie and Missy:
Missy:
Jamie taking in her new viewpoint from the new structure, Twister:
And then moving on to check out the view from Jamie’s Tower:
And not to worry, Jody and Negra were both at the far reaches of Young’s Hill foraging for breakfast with a side of wild greens right along with their family, but unfortunately my photos of those two beautiful ladies didn’t turn out.
A few of Annie’s favorite things
For each of us, every season holds favorite things to look forward to. That one special food, flower, sight, sound or scent that you can only enjoy at a certain time each year.
This spring I’ve watched the chimpanzees anticipating the growth of the wild greens on Young’s Hill and the fruits and vegetables in their garden weeks before anything appeared. For weeks Jody diligently marched to the top of Young’s Hill each day to see if the wild mustard or wild lettuce had begun to grow yet. The second the weather warmed up, Missy began asking us to open the barn doors to their playroom so she could see outside to her beloved garden. And every day she runs to the window next to where we plant her favorite cherry tomatoes each year, checking to see if they’ve magically appeared. This is the first year I’ve noticed the chimps demonstrating such clear anticipation for things to come with the corresponding season. It makes my heart so happy to know that they recognize they have favorite things to look forward to in their sanctuary home throughout the year.
Of course spring in particular offers a variety of favorites for each of the chimpanzees. Annie for example, loves racing across the expanse of Young’s Hill in a mad game of chase and wrestle with her best friend, Missy. But she also increasingly enjoys exploring and foraging on the hill in solitude. Just sitting and taking in the sky, the surrounding fields and watching the birds. Often she will be the only person out on the hill, perfectly content and serene.
And another of Annie’s endearing favorites as the season grows warmer? Toes. Yep, Annie loves to see human toes! The second she spots our feet in sandals she immediately blows raspberries (indicating she wants to see our toes right now!), grabs a tool, and races over to check them out, utterly mesmerized. Around here, the humans are pretty smitten with chimp toes and while I think their toes are a lot cooler than ours, I guess I can see why she might be fascinated by these strange things that probably seem so similar and yet so different to her own.
Footloose and fancy-free
The skies are blue, the sun is shining, and Foxie doesn’t have a care in the world.