Today all three groups got food puzzles as daytime enrichment. The puzzles were Kongs filled with oats and mashed bananas and they were a hit to say the least.
Annie
Cy
Rayne
Willy B
BONUS: Mave looking good and relaxed in the green house
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
by Chad de Bree
We all know that Gordo has an affinity for his boxes. He loves to sit in them, use them as a table, even last night as I served him dinner, I watched him carefully put every slice of food delicately into his box.
Yesterday, we put in a new type of box into Gordo’s group’s enclosures. It is a wider, flatter box, which we thought Gordo would love. Much to our surprised, we haven’t seen him utilize it and keep to his usual. Rayne and Terry have taken turns sitting or nesting in it.
Dora, however, has found this box to suite all her needs.
First, it was the perfect place to lounge around.
It also made a great area to eat dinner.
As well to enjoy her evening enrichment: ice eggs.
When I arrived this morning, she had converted her box into a fort with the simple addition of another box.
Update:
I just walked back there and Cy has decided this would make his perfect reading nook.
by Kelsi
As we have discussed many times, Cy is an avid reader. With some kind donations of Shutterfly gift-cards we finally made Cy his book! The pages were filled with Mave’s group, Jamie’s group, the cattle, and of course lots of spreads of Willy B. Cy is constantly flipping through magazines and we have never seen him so startled that he jumps, but when he saw the pictures of the cattle he jumped out of his skin! The first time he even made me jump! Eventually, Rayne took care of it for him and ripped the book up. She is a true friend! Since Cy’s new book didn’t work out, we are running dangerously low on magazines. Cy has been dying to get his hands on some People magazines! If anyone has clean magazines they could spare, we (Cy) would greatly appreciate it!
by Chad de Bree
Taking care of chimpanzees is more than cleaning enclosures and serving them meals. There’s a lot more that goes into it. We also ensure the chimpanzees are well mentally. This is usually through the form of enrichment. Enrichment is a way to provide mental stimulation and promote natural behaviors. In layman’s terms, enrichment is a way to try to curb boredom. When animals become bored, some abnormal or stressed-related behaviors can start to develop.
Here, we try very hard to keep all 16 residents enriched to the best of our abilities. But what does that look like? Traditionally in the animal care field, enrichment comes in a few staple categories:
Cognitive enrichment is the form of enrichment you have seen here many times. These are the food puzzles the chimpanzees get throughout the day. These are the toys some interact with. This is a way for the chimpanzees problem solve and give them a level of control of their environment. With the food puzzles, its a way to problem solve a situation in order to achieve the reward.
Physical Habitat is the how the enclosure is set up. Not only should an enclosure probably look visible appealing for the chimpanzees, but it should be functional as well. Young’s Hill has a plethora of structures the chimpanzees can climb, swing, and sit on to look out on to the surrounding areas. In the indoor enclosures, firehose is a great addition to their physical habitat.
In the two new playrooms and greenhouses currently occupied by Willy B’s group and Cy’s group, there are two artificial trees the chimpanzees can climb up and relax on their platforms.
Social enrichment is the relationship the chimpanzees have with others, chimpanzees and humans. It can be enriching to interact with a chimpanzee from another group, even if it is just through the window.
As you know, we have been in the process of integrating Cy and Willy B’s group into one. Though these times can be stressful, seeing some of the chimpanzees come together and form bonds is the most heartwarming feeling a caregiver can get.
Food can be exciting and enriching, but food on it’s own is just something you eat to satisfy an empty belly. What can make food more enriching is introducing new foods or presenting it in new ways. We are continuously trying to find new foods to introduce to the chimpanzees. We also try to present the food in different ways. Besides hand serving we also set up forages. Typically when the weather is nice, we set up forages on Young’s Hill. This promotes a chimpanzee’s natural behavior to move around and search for their food.
Another type of forage presented in an exciting way is the parties we throw.
Sensory enrichment includes those which allow the chimpanzees to utilize their sense of touch, smell, auditory, and vision. We try to provide them with novel ways to utilize these senses.
As some know, Willy B loves screen time. This is one way we provide him with both a visual and auditory enrichment.
Is everything we do a hit? No. Is what is good for one group good for the other? No. Do we continuously try to find ways to ensure every chimpanzee is enriched based on their personal preference and likes? Absolutely! Though this can be a very challenging task to cater enrichment for 16 very different personalities and likes, it is absolutely worth it. It is part of the job I personally love.
Here are some bonus photos I took of Rayne today:
And Dora!
by Kelsi
The thing about Honey B is that she really is the bees knees. I admire Honey B’s spontaneous nature, her silly demeanor, and when she sets her mind on something she won’t let anything get in the way. Honey B decided that yesterday front room 7 did not need to be cleaned. She was kind of right as it really just had toys and a lot of paper, just the way she likes it. However, today I really wanted to clean it for not just Honey B, but for Mave and Willy B too. It didn’t look promising at first, but eventually she shifted over for us.
Honey B in front room 7, just the way she likes it:
After all the front rooms were cleaned we handed Honey B and Mave extra rolls of wrapping paper from their Christmas party!
Mave was very pleased about this!
I will leave you with one last Honey Bees photos.
by Chad de Bree
The Pacific Northwest is experiencing a cold snap this week. Today the high is 18ºF with a low of 5ºF tonight. With temperatures such as these, the chimpanzees have sought refuge in the upstairs areas of their respective playrooms where it is nice and warm. They are all napping as I write this.
With days like today, it can be difficult to get photos of the chimpanzees. The upstairs areas are notoriously difficult (read pretty much impossible) to take photos of. I was able to get a few opportunistically throughout the afternoon, mostly during lunch when they all came down.
Holiday preparations continue as caregiver elves now take on the challenge of wrapping at record pace all the toys that were so nicely donated by our amazing supporters. For the chimps today is just a normal day. Willy B, Honey B and Mave got some hanging puzzles as enrichment this morning to encourage foraging behaviors. Willy B was all about it!
Here’s two sequences of Willy B getting going nuts about nuts!
Sequence #1
Goal achieved
Sequence #2
Goal achieved
Willy B about to catch an almond as it falls
Mave was also very excited about nuts
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