Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
The boss demands that you fall in love with her.
I have to admit that it took me a few years to fully appreciate Jamie in all of her complicated moodiness, but I truly love everything about her.
Jamie currently has 31 Pals. Will you Share the Chimp Love and be her new Chimpanzee Pal for Valentine’s Day?
It’s hard to predict how the chimpanzees will interact with the enrichment we offer each day. For Jamie, the absolute highlight of this week has been the new sand table featured in Tuesday’s blog post. Jamie continues to be thoroughly captivated by it. Yesterday we added some buckets of soapy water to the mix.
For the Share the Chimp Love fundraising this year, we are seeking new Chimpanzee Pals (and other donations!) for all of the chimpanzees, and we’re producing videos of each of them so you can get to know them better (Foxie’s video is at the end of this post).
Last night, supporter Monica Best joined an elite group of donors by sponsoring all seven chimpanzees! The heart is starting to fill!
Foxie’s video was a really fun montage to put together! Foxie currently has 35 Pals. Will you be her next Chimpanzee Pal?
Learn more about Sharing the Chimp Love.
It’s the second video in our Share the Chimp Love videos leading up to Valentine’s Day!
The goal is to increase the number of Chimpanzee Pals for each of the chimpanzees and raise some funds for their care.
Check out their individual pages (click on their “polaroid” images at the top of the page) to see all of their current pals and to learn more about their histories and personalities! Then become a Chimpanzee Pal or make a donation on the Share the Chimp Love donation page.
But, before you do any of that, fall in love (again) with Burrito:
Most of the chimpanzees here at the sanctuary are pretty “low-maintenance”. Give Foxie some dolls and she can entertain herself for hours. Jody’s thrilled with a huge pile of blankets. All Negra wants is some peace and quiet and a patch of sun.
But Jamie is not easy to please. It would be fair to say that all Jamie requires is the unceasing, devoted attention of her caregivers almost every moment of the day. She might demand more of us – more time, more attention – than the other six chimps combined.
It’s hard to imagine someone with a personality like Jamie’s surviving decades in a research lab, where she wasn’t in a position to demand anything of anyone. The chimps experienced a lot of firsts when they moved here: fresh air, sunshine, good food, warm blankets, friends. But I think for Jamie, the ability to make humans do things for her is just as important.
It’s our honor to be bossed around by her.
Annie is continuing to show her newfound adventurous nature.
The other chimpanzees (well, most of them) were inspired to follow her out into the snowy expanse of Young’s Hill this afternoon.
The pair of photos below of Annie and Jody are my favorite! It’s so uplifting to see the chimpanzees support one another and share in adventures big and small:
Foxie and Missy were 3rd and 4th out. The photo below is of Foxie giving Missy a quick hug before continuing along the path:
Foxie didn’t have to go very far to find a snack:
Nor did Missy:
Jody seemed to be in awe of the snow:
and dove right in for a taste:
Jamie came out after a few minutes and headed straight for a structure. She often takes the lead in adventures, but not today.
Though she did win points for her acrobatics once outside:
She also found some big chunks of snow to bring back into the building to savor:
Negra and Burrito didn’t follow these adventurers, but I did see Negra coming in later in the day, and I have no doubt Burrito at least reached an arm out to get a taste.
Before ending this post, I have to express our gratitude for volunteers and interns. This week we have really relied on you!
After being sick for a week herself, Katelyn has been the only healthy full time staff member this week. We’re very deliberate about staying away from the chimp house when we are feeling under the weather because we don’t want the chimpanzees to catch our bugs, so volunteers and interns have been life savers!
Today I’m much better but still not at 100%. I was able to don a mask and gloves to operate doors but luckily had an incredible crew of volunteers and Central Washington University interns who did the (literal) dirty work all day.
Thank you to all of you who give your free time to the sanctuary – it makes a huge difference to all of the primates here!
I took some photos of Burrito this morning that caused me to admire his face and think about the chimpanzee facial features that I love.
The top of my personal “awesome chimpanzee facial features” list is the brow ridge (also known as supraorbital torus, ridge, or arch).
Though much less pronounced in chimpanzees, humans have a supraorbital ridge too – our eyebrows normally sit near the bottom of our arches.
Each chimpanzee has a somewhat unique brow ridge – I wonder if you could identify a chimpanzee by a brow ridge “print” like a fingerprint.
I will never say that I have a favorite chimpanzee, but I will admit that I have a favorite brow ridge: Jody’s. I like how deeply arched it is with lots of wrinkles, giving it a decidedly heart-shaped appearance:
Here’s a look at everyone else’s supraorbital tori:
Missy:
Negra:
Foxie:
Jamie (that’s also her profile in the 2nd photo in this post):
Annie:
Burrito:
