Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimp

Greenhouse Napping

by

It’s hard to remember, but the space that we now call the greenhouse used to be the chimpanzees’ only outdoor area.

building without Young's Hill

Karen and Don Young visited in 2009, and we conceived the idea of encasing the caging in removable polycarbonate panels so that the chimpanzees could enjoy this space year round! The Youngs kicked off donations for this project and we raised the rest of the greenhouse funds at our 2009 auction.

Construction began in late 2009 and early 2010 (because what better time to embark on a construction project than winter?!). Those were some cold construction days, as Jim Spencer I’m sure still remembers.

greenhouse construction in snow

The result for the chimpanzees was so worth it! The greenhouse is their favorite area year round.

greenhouse in snow

When the weather starts to warm up in the spring, J.B. removes some of the panels, leaving the roof, so the chimpanzees enjoy their summer lounging in an indoor-outdoor space.

web jb removing greenhouse panels view youngs hill

Then, around this time of year (today, for example), J.B. buttons up the greenhouse for the winter, so the chimpanzees can enjoy the cooler months in the protected area that heats up with the rays of the sun, or, in the case of today, keeps out the rain.

Today, Jamie enjoyed nesting and napping up high on the platform today, where it’s warmest, as it poured and blew outside:

Jamie sleeping on platform

Jamie at rest

Jamie close up under blanket

Jamie with eyes closed

And, of course, she also ventured onto Young’s Hill during breaks in the rain.

Jamie standing on Young's Hill

The relentless hawk

by

The hawk saga has continued this week and the chimps are still on high alert. Last week, J.B. posted about a hawk that caused the chimps to be somewhat apprehensive.

Here’s a couple shots of the hawk (we’re calling him Hank).

web_hawk_on_yh_post_hunting_jb_IMG_4391

web_hawk_on_yh_post_open_wings_jb_IMG_4399

Since Hank has been hanging out this whole week, the chimps are more used to his presence, but they are still very territorial. Today, Missy was still a little apprehensive and took cover inside the tunnel, and then ran back toward the safety of the chimp house. But Foxie, Jody, and Jamie were on patrol letting Hank know who’s in charge.

Missy emerging from the tunnel:
web_Missy_emerge_from_tunnel_YH_jb_IMG_4471

web_Missy_run_YH_jb_IMG_4461

Foxie, Jody, and Jamie on alert:
web_Foxie_Jody_Jamie_hawk_YH_jb_IMG_4431

And then on patrol to secure the rest of the territory:
web_Foxie_Jody_Jamie_patrol_YH_hawk_jb_IMG_4441

web_Foxie_Jody_patrol_YH_hawk_jb_IMG_4438

Jamie took one last look back to make sure Hank learned his lesson:
web_Jamie_bipedal_Jody_patrol_YH_jb_IMG_4444

It’s really great getting to see the chimps exhibit such a naturalistic behavior—patrolling the fence line and defending their home.

web_hawk_on_yh_post_stare_down_jb_IMG_4394

Rainy day

by

Sometimes on a rainy day, all I want to do is cuddle up with a blanket or two and read a good book or even take a nap. That has not been the case for Jamie today. She has kept herself quite active with the help of volunteer caregiver Becca, despite the rain. She has already walked around Young’s Hill four times in between heavy rain periods. And when it did start raining harder, she took action right away and ran the rest of the way around the hill.

web_Jamie_walk_Youngs_Hill_perimeter_rainy_day_YH_kh_IMG_5153

When she was not walking around Young’s Hill, she was flipping through magazines and inspecting some of her boots. And she even allowed herself some down time to sit quietly.

web_Jamie_sit_on_box_look_at_camera_arms_crossed_FR4_kh_IMG_5102

web_Jamie_good_close_up_face_look_at_camera_raceway_YH_kh_IMG_4488

Droopy lip vs heavy lip

by

My all time favorite chimpanzee facial expression is the “relaxed face with drooped lip.”

Jody is famous for her drooped lip face. In fact, I discovered today that if you do a google image search for “drooped lip chimpanzee,” the first three images that come up are of Jody!

But there’s another set of perhaps not as famous lips among the Cle Elum Seven – those of Negra. Rather than classic drooped lip, we like to describe Negra’s lips as “heavy.”

Below are some examples of each. What do you think is more charming – Jody’s drooped lip or Negra’s heavy lip?

 

JODY:

Jody drooped lip face profile

web Jody in grass drooped lip face YH IMG_2441

web Jody sit on structure YH drooped lip IMG_3467

web jody relaxed face drooped lip GH (dm) IMG_8183

web Jody close up drooped lip Young's Hill YH IMG_5486

web_Jody_drooped_lip_GH_ek_IMG_9663

Jody drooped lip while walking

 

NEGRA:

web_Negra_close_up_droopy_lips_enrichment_lie_down_catwalk_wood_toy_relax_PR_kh_IMG_2353

web_Negra_lie_under_blanket_catwalk_lip_protrude_pr_dg_IMG_4616

web Negra room four close up arms crossed lip out looking toward window

web Negra funny lip close up outdoor area IMG_0112

Negra heavy lip with eyes closed

web_Negra_heavy_lip_close-up_gh_dg_IIMG_2146

Grooming is so cool

by

We’ve talked about the importance of grooming among chimpanzees before, and it’s pretty well known what an essential aspect of life grooming is for most primates. Below is a video of very good friends Burrito and Foxie grooming, with Missy (off-camera), occasionally also grooming Burrito.

There’s a lot of cool things about grooming. In a comment on a post back in 2009, I mentioned some of the following:

The basics: aside from the social aspects, grooming is the removal of dirt and debris and the tending to wounds (licking and picking scabs). It’s why chimpanzees don’t need baths – they do a really good job of cleaning themselves and each other – no water necessary.

The debris found on the grooming partner is not necessarily consumed, even though the lips are usually involved in grooming because chimpanzees use their prehensile lips, almost like another set of fingers, for many activities like inspecting objects, turning the pages of a magazine (in captivity), and especially in grooming.

Increased grooming often occurs after a conflict to reassure and/or “make up” with one another and to cement social bonds. Grooming has a calming affect, which is easy to see when you observe chimpanzees grooming one another. A study of wild chimpanzees that used non-invasive methods to collect urine samples after grooming bouts found that oxytocin (sometimes referred to as “the love hormone”) levels were higher in bonded grooming partners than in samples collected of chimpanzees who had not been grooming or had been grooming with a “non-bond partner.”

Regarding lip movements during grooming: it is common for chimpanzees, as well as other primates, to “lip smack” or “teeth clack” or make other “sympathetic mouth movements” when grooming (also when performing other fine motor behaviors – like many of us who move our tongue a certain way when we’re really concentrating on a task).

Each chimpanzee does his/her own thing, Burrito is a lip smacker (he may teeth clack on occasion too), Foxie is a teeth clacker, and Annie makes raspberry sounds with her lips. The intensity of the mouth movement/noise will increase if something (especially a wound or scab) is found during grooming.

Some scientists have hypothesized that these sympathetic mouth movements were an evolutionary step towards spoken language. Our friend Gabriel Waters and [former] Central WA University professor Dr. Fouts published a study on this theory a few years back: http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1349990, and there was a book with this premise called Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language, which I admittedly still need to read, that argued that gossip for humans is what grooming is for chimpanzees and other non-human primates.

So, with all that information, here’s the video of Burrito and Foxie strengthening their friendship through grooming today: