chimp

Groomin’ on a Sunday Afternoon

March 3, 2012 by Diana

Okay, it’s not really Sunday, but I couldn’t help myself with the title.

We’ve talked about how important grooming is within chimpanzee society before (see this blog post from 2010 and this one from last year and you might as well check out this one about conflict and reassurance).

My favorite grooming to watch between chimps is when it’s a lazy afternoon and everything is calm and quiet. One chimpanzee will approach another chimp who is lying down or just sitting and chilling and start casually grooming them. The chimps often do their lazy grooming on the top of the climbing structure in the greenhouse. Often there are multiple partners grooming separately and sometimes they’ll move to a new partner or create a group of three or more chimps all grooming each other.

Below are some pics of Foxie grooming Burrito.

Foxie separates the hair on Burrito’s back with her fingers:

Foxie using her prehensile lips to groom Burrito (see this video with some other prehensile lip action):

Foxie becoming distracted from her grooming by the troll doll in her hand:

Pure Joy

February 25, 2012 by Diana

I’ve been referring to the weather we’re having in Cle Elum as bi-polar. One minute it’s sunny and the next minute there’s a blizzard. Yesterday we caught an unexpected break – the forecast called for snow flurries, but it was a pretty mild day. As you saw from the video yesterday, Missy took full advantage of the spring-like weather and was, well… spring-like.

In addition to all of that video, J.B. also managed to get some photos of Missy and Annie playing on the hill. I probably don’t need to say this, but it is still such an amazing thrill for us at the sanctuary to watch the chimps on the hill. Each time they go out, they seem even more relaxed. Playing is now a regular occurrence, but it’s still all so new and exciting. Watching Missy with a play face wrestle with Annie makes me indescribably happy.

Missy looks like she’s going to do a pro-wrestling move on Annie:

Annie returns with a play bite to Missy’s brow ridge:

Annie tries to give Missy the slip:

Missy grabs Annie’s fingertips:

Later, Missy was sitting by herself behind a post on the hill:

Here’s a close-up of the photo above. That’s a happy chimp face:

Slinky Entertainment

February 19, 2012 by Jackie

Last week’s spiderweb had some pretty amazing details that may not have been captured by the video. There were lots of little bugs (bees, caterpillars, butterflies) caught in the web, along with troll dolls, stuffed animals, beaded necklaces, and plastic Slinkies. The Slinkies ended up being a nice touch, because when Foxie would shake the web, they bounced all over the place, which may be why they got so much attention that day. At one point, I caught Jamie stringing some of the ribbon through the coils (much like she was “sewing”) and later, Missy took one up stairs and played with it for a while. I like how she almost looks proud of her creation in the video below.

The slinkies were sent by our friend from Oregon, Leslie Sodaro, who sends us some of the most amazing things for the chimps! From hilarious stuffed animals (some of my recent favorites being Spock, Alf, Richard Nixon, and Betty Boop) to crazy dolls that Foxie flips for (literally!), when we get a package from Leslie, we know we are in for a treat! Thanks for always keeping the chimps (and humans!) so enriched, Leslie!

Here are a couple more of Leslie’s finds:

Burrito with the blue fish:

Foxie and the wrestler:

What is natural?

February 18, 2012 by Diana

If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you know that we strive to post photos and videos of the chimps’ daily lives – everyday. We made a decision even before the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees arrived that we wanted people to get to know who they were and what Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest is all about. We share every area of the sanctuary, even if there’s paint peeling in the shot (it’s so hard to get paint to stick when you clean as often as we do!). We want to let people in, and we want them to fall in love with Missy, Jamie, Negra, Burrito, Jody, Annie and Foxie as we have.

Working in a sanctuary and doing all of this sharing leads to some interesting questions about what “natural behavior” is for chimpanzees. It’s not the easiest question. Captivity itself is not “natural” for chimpanzees. We firmly believe that chimpanzees don’t belong in captivity. We’d love to see the day when sanctuaries like ours are obsolete because there are no more chimpanzees in laboratories, entertainment or in private homes – no more chimpanzees that need rescuing. In the meantime, we care for seven chimpanzees who have come from very unnatural and impoverished lives. They all have unique personalities shaped by their genetic makeup combined with their unusual and tragic past experiences.

The daily lives of the Cle Elum Seven are pretty different than what they would experience in their native habitat in Africa. All of the staff members have studied primatology, and we understand this. We use our knowledge of chimpanzee behavior to provide the chimps with what they need: a social group, room to roam, nesting material, enrichment to keep their minds occupied, choices, vertical space, the opportunity to exercise, a diet full of variety but focused on fresh fruits and vegetables, food forages to mimic what chimpanzees spend most of their time in the wild doing – looking for food, a routine so they know what to expect, and celebrations plus anything else we can think of to make each day unique.

I do worry sometimes that people might come across a photo like the one below that I took earlier today and not understand all of what I wrote above. I worry that, taken out of context, what we share might give people the wrong idea about chimpanzees and what Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest is all about. I’d love your thoughts on this issue.

Below is a very unnatural chimpanzee scene, unless it’s from a chimpanzee sanctuary in the NW of the United States in February, in which case it’s pretty normal.

Jamie licking peanut butter off of a pair of clown glasses while Jody and Foxie enjoy snow from a kiddie pool:

Napping

February 11, 2012 by Diana

Negra is the queen of many things, including getting cozy. Here she is snuggled up on one of the benches high up in a front room.

She actually got around quite a bit today – mostly moving from one napping place to another. In this photo Negra is in front of a window on the catwalk of the playroom – one of her favorite spots. I got up on a ladder to take the photo:

Jamie used the afternoon to siesta in the greenhouse. I climbed a ladder to get the photo below too. In their natural habitats, chimpanzees almost always sleep in the trees high off the ground. Most chimpanzees in captivity also prefer to be up high when they sleep.

I love the bits of lighter skin on Jamie’s eyelids in this photo:

Boot love

February 5, 2012 by Jackie

Jamie has an intense love for boots, especially new ones. She’s been carrying around the boots Candy sent since the minute she got them (a week ago today). I think she enjoys having lots of boots, but to her, there is nothing quite like a new pair of boots. Her other boots, even her favorites, get pushed aside when a new pair comes along. I guess that’s probably true for me too.

In the following photo, Jamie’s actually just yawning, but I love how it looks like she’s wearing a huge playface!

Flowers, Strawberries and PiÃ±atas, Oh My

February 4, 2012 by Diana

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so you must be thinking about flowers, strawberries and… piñatas, right?

If these aren’t the things that come to your mind, you’d better check out our special Valentine’s Gift Store. You can give your human loved ones the unique gift of having these gifts given to the chimps in their honor (plus personalized fence posts, beads for Burrito or a Chimpanzee Pal subscription). It’s the gift that gives twice! Just do it soon so we have time to give your Valentine a handwritten card about the donation in their honor.

As inspiration, here’s some photos of the chimps with flowers, strawberries and piñatas.