Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
As I walked around the chimp house today I felt really tired. I kept thinking, how could I feel so sleepy? Then I figured it out! I was looking at these cozy lumps all day ;).
Dreamy Cy:
The handsome Terry:
The ever so wonderful Lucky:
And of course the beautiful Jo in the portrait studio:
April has surprised us with a lot of snow. Personally, I think we paid our dues back in January, but here we are. Negra saw her shadow and decided 2 more weeks of winter and went back into hibernation.
Negra breakfast in the front rooms:
Bonus photos!
Rayne sitting comfortably on firehose:
Cy day dreaming:
Do you all know that bit from Office Space about “The Mondays”?
(Here’s a link for those of you who have never seen the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AB9zPfXqQQ.)
I’ve been thinking of that scene a lot today.
To be clear, I have a neutral opinion on Mondays. For that matter, I don’t hold grudges against any arbitrarily-named days of the week. Still, I can’t help but feel like the chimps have been grappling with a case of “The Mondays” for a few days now. This morning began with more of the chimpanzee drama that J.B. recently described in Friday’s blog post: Grooming. Although everyone seemed to be contributing to the chaos in one way or another, Terry remained at the center of the maelstrom which continued to churn up the social waters throughout the day.
To paraphrase one of J.B.’s passages: chimps simply cannot keep going “full throttle” for long before someone calms down and starts putting the pieces back together again. In today’s case, the chimps eventually stopped screaming long enough to catch their breath. Within minutes, they had begun to groom each other in a collective act of reconciliation that lasted for quite some time. Chimps may have physical altercations more frequently than free-living humans do, but their ability to put that animosity behind them and quickly reach a bipartisan solution makes up for it.
I didn’t manage to record much of the action with a camera, but I did take some photos during the peaceful moments between the storms.
Today is National Burrito day!!! I wanted to shower everyone today with Burrito photos but he had other ideas. I went on two walks around Youngs Hill with Burrito and Jamie before 11AM. Burrito was in from the get-go but Jamie had special requests. She required me to wear one size smaller boots, and also requested that I drive the Gator both times. During those walks Burrito took the opportunity to climb the Twister structure to try and get a better look at the construction happening outside the perimeter of the hill. Once he came back in, he spent most of the day asking caregivers to play chase with him and wanting to play through the mesh while actively running away from the camera. Totally understandable because it has been a beautiful day out, perfect to keep everyone very active and moving.
Burrito eating an avocado during lunch
Burrito climbing the Twister structure during one of our walks around the hill
A play and groom session between Burrito and Caregiver Chad
On the other side of the Chimp House, the chimps in both Honey B’s and Rayne’s group spent most of the day in their green houses enjoying the nice day.
Willy B
Honey B looking as flawless as always
Gordo
Lucky
As you can tell from the title, there is some leeked content. I guess this kind of leekage isn’t so bad ;).
Please enjoy these photos of Cy eating a leek:
Terry really liked his leek too:
Bonus photos!
Cy:
Rayne basking in the warm greenhouse sun:
Willy B staring at himself through the camera:
Honey B is ready for bed, and bids you a goodnight:
It’s going to be a busy Monday here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest- a produce delivery, a facility inspection, some staff training, ongoing construction work, and all the usual chores- so today’s blog post is short and sweet.
Here’s a photo of Foxie enjoying the views from “The Portrait Studio” (Front Room 4), complete with a colorful doll companion.
Although years, days, and seasons are observable phenomena supported by astronomical measurements, the custom of starting our calendar year in early winter seems comparatively arbitrary.
Personally, I tend to feel that western cultures missed a grand opportunity by not using the spring equinox to mark and celebrate another long journey around our star. The logistics of that switch may get a bit messy, but I would support it symbolically… in spirit.
For one thing, spring is accompanied by the start of baseball season. That’s reason enough for me to regard it as a “new year.”
Importantly, it’s also a time of rapid transition around the sanctuary. We caregivers witness the local wildlife emerge from their winter dens (MARMOTS!), the pastures develop a tinge of green, and the chimpanzees venture outside for both recreation and reconnaissance. (Also, there are marmots.) All of these little signs gradually accumulate, day by day, until the landscape is bursting with wildflowers and songbirds and we’ve forgotten all about the winter snowstorms.
In honor of this “new year”/equinox, I’m sharing some recent photos that feel undeniably spring-like. (Did I mention the marmots already?)
