Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Chimp ID: Cy

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Today’s blog is all about how to ID our lovable friend, Cy! Out of all the chimpanzees I have worked with over the years, I have never met a chimp like Cy. Each chimp I have met has amazing and different qualities about them, but Cy is kind to his very core. Even when he is displaying, he has a play face, he just never seems mad.

Cy is a big guy with an even bigger heart!

Cy has the kindest eyes.

Cy has a prominent white beard. From the front he has very dark features, but from behind his hair is more grayish white. We joke that he reminds us of a gorilla from behind!

Cy is an good leader. He knows how to navigate social situations extremely well. He can recognize when to let things go and when to make a point.

Cy is a bibliophile

Cy resembles his sister Lucky quiet a bit!

Cy is the type of guy to become your instant friend. He will want you to play chase, sit while he tickles the back of your hand, or just hangout with him while he reads.

Cy is also stubborn! He and Lucky are often hold outs, like their half sister Honey B!

The Bees Knees

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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.

Three More Sleeps

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This month has flown by! Can you believe there are only three days left until the chimps celebrate Christmas? The caregiver elves are working really hard to get everything ready for the highly anticipated day! Today Anna and Chad built Jamie and Honey B’s workbenches! Lucky’s group has not yet experienced a CSNW Christmas and we look forward to them opening the amazing presents everyone has donated! Every year we express our gratitude to you all for your generous donations and kind words and this year is no different! As the presents roll in, I am always in awe of how much support you all give to us! So thank you!

And as a thank you I thought I would share a little photo shoot with the ever so kind and beautiful Lucky!

And because it is the season of giving we have a few bonus photos ;).

Jamie savoring her icicle!

Gordo playing with one of his favorite enrichment items (a box!) and eating one of his favorite foods!

Snow Diggity

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With just over a week to go before the winter solstice, our valley is already in the midst of this year’s first big snowstorm.

The accumulating slush doesn’t seem to be bothering the chimps too much, though. On one side of the building, Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy and Negra have been scarfing down handfuls of delicious wet snow. (It must be nice to have one of your favorite foods literally falling from the sky).

On the other side, Cy, Dora, Gordo, Honey B, Lucky, Mave, Rayne, Terry and Willy B are also enjoying cozy naps, working on food puzzles, and spending quality time with their respective group members, but they’re still “warming up” to the concept of eating snow. Fortunately, their taste for this Pacific Northwest delicacy is slowly developing; Gordo and Rayne already seem to relish the frozen treat!

Chad took this photo of Gordo inhaling a snowball this morning:

Of all the chimps who live in the new wing, only Honey B has bravely utilized the newly-enclosed greenhouses today. When I unlocked the Chimp House this morning, she was out there to meet me for a game of chase. There’s nothing like a bout of “the zoomies” to keep your caregivers sharp on slushy winter mornings!

The Unlikely Meetup

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This week is an intro week and I spent a lot of the day trying to get Dora alone so she could spend time with Honey B’s group. However, Dora is really hard to get alone. To make Dora a little more comfortable we decided to try to do a quad with all girls. Rayne kindly stayed with Dora and I think Willy B had a good laugh when I thought I could get just the girls. With all my best efforts Willy B decided he could not be left out. So today’s meet up was Honey B, Willy B, Rayne, and Dora. This intro made us all a little nervous, Willy B isn’t always the best at giving the girls the reassurance they might need and Dora is still a wild card for us. We had decided that we would just stick to the mesh unless there were a lot of positive behaviors at the mesh. Well, right off the bat they were breathy panting, grooming, reassuring each other, giving kisses, and playing through the mesh. We had to open the door, so we held our breath and we let them in together. Overall, it went really well! Near the end Dora and Willy B had a miscommunication, which led us to separating them. As you will see in the video Willy B was having a blast with Rayne and Dora! What you all might not know is that Willy B and Dora have met a few times and they were non-eventual, but today Willy B really learned how Dora wanted to play! At first he was overwhelming her, so he backed off and waited for her to come to him. To see how far Dora and Willy B have come is really spectacular. Though it didn’t end on the highest note there was a lot to take away from this intro!

Also Rayne is the best at introductions! She is so good at making the other chimps feel at ease, she gives reassurance when needed, and distracts others by instigating play instead of screaming when they are nervous. She is one of a kind.

Their Side of the Mountain

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The mosaic landscape in which the sanctuary exists is truly breathtaking.

Even so, it’s difficult to assess the value that such a backdrop provides to four cattle and sixteen chimps who reside here.

For their part, the bovines appear most excited about their environment when it is carpeted with fresh green grass. They’re not particularly expressive otherwise.

As for the chimps, it’s evident that they at least take the time to observe their immediate and distant surroundings. The degree to which they value the aesthetic quality of their environment and the effect that this has on their wellbeing are much less clear. Given that chimpanzee cognition is a lot like ours, I find it logical to assume that they appreciate a good view. Sometimes, it even seems like they go outside just to soak up the weather and enjoy the panoramic perspectives of the surrounding hills.

This older photo by J.B. shows Foxie having one of those moments.

It’s not surprising that the chimps spend so much time exploring their own backyard. These chimpanzees live on some prime real estate.

The sanctuary occupies a grassy patch of land on the western flank of Lookout Mountain (which is not to be confused with any of the the state’s eight other landforms with the same name). Behind the sanctuary’s upper boundary, there is a network of dirt roads that wind their way up the slope to a few private cabins. Last week, I decided to “take the long way home,” pushing my old SUV up the ridge to get an eagle’s view of the sanctuary. As always, the view from up there was incredible.

From the side of the mountain, one can get a sweeping vista of the rust-colored hills and wooded rangeland of the Teanaway River valley to the north, the growing mountain towns of Cle Elum and Roslyn to the northwest, and the rushing waters of the Yakima River and its basalt canyon to the southwest. This entire patchwork is nestled below the mighty peaks of the Central Cascades.

Even with all these features visible from our backyard, the sanctuary itself might still be the strangest artifact on the landscape. It’s not too conspicuous; From a plane, it might be mistaken for a ranch or even some sort of outdoor sports complex. (I’ve joked that Young’s Hill could also double as an interesting paintball course.) From the ridge, however, it’s clear that the wooden climbing platforms and electrified fences are designed for another purpose entirely. If you didn’t already know the sanctuary was here and had never been to a similar facility, you’d probably never guess that sixteen chimps lived in one of the barn-like structures situated at the mouth of the canyon.

She’ll Let You Know

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This video is a perfect example of how Jamie gestures to let you know what she wants. If you couldn’t tell Jamie was a bit busy managing the humans today, as per usual. I love Jamie because she isn’t afraid to let you know what she wants. She obviously has no problem telling us what boots she wants us to wear, what books to give her, which piece of pepper she wants, or get the gator now! Most of Jamie’s communication is through gestures like pointing or slight head nods. In the video you can see I had picked out a boot in hopes that it was the one she had in mind. Sometimes we get lucky on the first try, other times you have to keep trying them on. She usually has a favorite pair that we try first! If she doesn’t like the boot, book, or whatever it is Jamie wants she will keep pointing until we get the right one. Occasionally she likes the boot, but wants a different person to put it on! It’s the best feeling when you have been trying to figure out what Jamie wants and then all of the sudden you get the combo! It’s a total rush because all we want to do is please her! Finding out what Jamie wants is just a small way to make her life better and we are happy to do it.

It’s December 1st which means we will start slowly adding Christmas items to the wish list, so keep your eyes peeled!

Foxie with Dora the Explorer: