Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Jamie’s the Coolest!

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Throughout the day we have moments where we are like, “Jamie is the coolest”. I think I write a blog every year about how much I admire her. She just isn’t afraid to be herself. She says what she wants, does what she wants, and means it whether you like her answer or not! I think we all have to admit that is pretty freakin’ cool. What I love about Jamie is that she has so many layers. She is scary, she can tend to be bossy, but she is also silly and funny. This afternoon as I was trying to find blog material and I found Jamie demanding something very specific. I couldn’t find the exact thing she was looking for until I found her new star cowboy boots. On the other side of the building JB and a helpful volunteer are putting a roof on green house two and three, so she got a bit distracted and went to the window to watch. I went around the building to the window where she was looking out. She let me take these amazing pictures of her and then she ran out onto the Hill very playfully. Her intentions were not to walk but to get a better look at the project going on, Willy B in the chute, and of course to demand me to give her whatever grapes were still left!

This was the lineup for Jamie, including Chad’s cleaning boots that I was sporting for her.

These were the boots she was looking for!

View from the top of the green house. This was the project Jamie was managing from the window.

Jamie, isn’t she amazing!

October 32nd

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So, about last night…

Jamieween isn’t officially over until the chimps say it is. Even though it’s now officially November 1st, they’re still enjoying themselves like its just another day of October.

For those of you who missed the original post or want to refresh your memory, I will simply link to yesterday’s blog entry by Sam: Jamieween 2021!

Today, we spent the morning cleaning up the disastrous mess that inevitably follows a house party of that caliber. It’s hard to describe the mess that sixteen chimps create when their caregivers prime their enclosures with a lavish excess of enrichment materials, but perhaps the following snapshots will allow you to imagine the scene: Pumpkin guts splattered on the walls, pistachio and peanut shells in heaps on the floor, a half-eaten Jack-O-Lantern, raffle tickets blowing around like tumbleweeds, and shiny new books about bonobos and mummies lovingly tucked into a blanket nest.

Enrichment Coordinator Chad helped me to collect some photos of the aftermath.

Happy October 32nd, everyone!!! Thanks for helping us make this Jamieween an exciting day (or series of days) for all the chimps!

Fall Things Considered

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Today’s itinerary is, per usual, quite full.

Our staff is staying busy with ongoing social integrations between the two former Waystation groups, regular cleaning and organizing in the Chimp House, and special projects around the sanctuary.

In place of a wordy update, I’m just going to upload some photos I’ve taken of the sanctuary residents basking in the warm autumn colors (and crisp October breezes).

Annie and Jody return to the building after foraging in Young’s Hill
Nutmeg
Meredith
Honey
Betsy
Meredith’s nose
Honey
Betsy
Meredith
Betsy
A free-ranging blacktail fawn taking shelter in a wooded section of the property
Barn Kitty (a feral cat who hangs out around the sanctuary’s barn)
A rainbow over one of the property’s old farm buildings

The Holdouts and Foot Boxes

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On any given day you can bet that we are cleaning around Cy and Lucky. These two are known holdouts and when they decide to stay somewhere they settle in for the long haul. Pretty much if they decided to stay in the front rooms you have no luck in cleaning the front rooms. Though this may throw a wrench in our schedule, they are great company!

Cy reading his magazine in front room 6 while we clean front room 5 and the chute.

Lucky taking a little snooze next to Cy.

Today we also put a “Foot Box” in front room 5 just like on the other side of the building. The purpose of the foot box is so that the chimps can present a hand or foot and we can get a x-ray. Obviously the foot box is new and it has to go through a rigorous inspection process by the chimps. I would say it passes their inspection standards as you will see in the video above.

Rayne and Gordo looking in.

Terry taking a little peek!

Bonus!

Missy, Jody, and Burrito have a very nice grooming session.

Missy and Annie grooming themselves.

Burrito and the Giant Kong

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Giant kongs are a newer food puzzle and Burrito loves them. We have found him bouncing on the enormous kongs, throwing the kongs, and dragging them behind him. Finally, we have some videos as proof. Though this video doesn’t have any sound, I actually was laughing out loud, usually I can suppress it! However, Burrito can come up with some of the most ridiculously fun games and this was definitely one for the books. If you needed a laugh, something to warm you from the inside out, or just something totally pure of joy this is the video from you today. Burrito is down right funny and we all need a friend like Burrito.

We also did some introductions today. With no surprise Cy and Willy B volunteered, but we were able to get a Gordo to join us, which was a surprise! And of course little miss Honey B popped in too. It took a long time for everyone to settle down at the mesh, eventually things settled and the door was able to be opened, everyone did well! Though, Gordo and Willy B might need some time alone, because Willy B and Cy have a bromance that no one can come between.

Also Jamieween is right around the corner. We just added some new boots for Jamie’s Birthday on the wish-list!

Micro/Macro

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Photographing chimpanzees is challenging.

To help us create images worthy of sharing with our followers, the sanctuary has a small collection of donated cameras and lenses (some of which were items on our Amazon Wish List). Unlike those versatile zoom and prime lenses, macro lenses are specialized for close-up photography and are currently absent from our regular kit. In order to play around with one at work and in the field, I personally rented a compatible one from an online retailer and brought it to the sanctuary for a couple days.

Macro lenses are functionally unique because they can zoom in on things close to the lens, yielding a final image that is literally larger than life. This practice is generally known as “macro-photography” and gives the associated lenses their descriptive name. (Perplexingly, “micro” and “macro” lenses are the same thing; Nikon uses the former prefix for their lenses while Canon and Sony employ the latter).

A macro image of Lucky’s fingernails
A close-up of Lucky’s face, focused on her left eye. The scale is larger than 1:1, making this a true “macro” image.

If this is a topic that piques your interest, I highly recommend going to Instagram’s feed for the popular hashtag: #macrophotography. Some of the most common subjects include insects, eyes, flowers, mushrooms, water droplets, and food items.

Conveniently, most macro lenses also take sharp portraits of larger subjects (even though many of these are technically not “macro” images).

I have included some of the portraits I opportunistically captured of the chimps with the borrowed macro lens. I hope you all enjoy them!

Cy
Dora
Gordo
Lucky
Rayne
Terry
Willy B
Cy
Dora
Lucky
Terry’s fingers holding a chopstick
Lucky

What A Day Pt. II

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Today was another day! Yesterday, Cy, Lucky, Willy B, and Honey B met all together and even had a sleepover together. Overall, the sleepover went well. So today we decide to let Rayne and Mave partake the meetings. There were some ups and downs with the six(!) chimpanzees. We ultimately decided to just let them meet at the mesh for today. I wasn’t able to get enough photos or footage to piece together a video of today’s meetings… however… caregiver Sam was ever so gracious enough to allow me to share the video she was working on of the meetings that took place on Sunday!

Along with Sam’s video, please enjoy some of the photos I was able to take before introductions. I was not able to choose between some, so I had some other caregivers help chose which ones to use, but the consensus was to post two of each.

Though virtually the same, small little nuances make each photo different!

Jamie enjoying today’s browse of rose hips:

Picking at the rose hips
Enjoying the rose hips

Mave in her Greenhouse:

A straight shot of Mave looking at the camera
The addition of the lip bite

And one final photo of Lucky!