Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
The chimps have been super mellow today- lots of nesting, grooming, and general quiet time. Elizabeth snapped a couple of really great pictures of Foxie and Negra resting on the catwalk in the playroom this morning. I love seeing the chimps so relaxed and peaceful.
Foxie:
Negra often lets her lips droop to one side when she’s relaxing. It’s almost like she’s so relaxed, she just lets gravity do the work.
Today we put out a watermelon forage on Young’s Hill to accompany the chimpanzees’ breakfast.
Burrito, collecting some forage:
If you look closely in the next picture, you can see the bright green grass in the background starting to come back from the part of the hill that was burnt in the fire. It’s along the irrigation line, so that’s why it’s a solid stripe of green grass.
This is Jody, sitting by a post in the shade while munching on watermelon pieces:
And my personal favorite—Missy with a mouthful of watermelon:
This morning when I walked into the chimp area, everyone was super quiet (usually it’s a little noisy first thing in the morning) and I saw Negra sleeping in her favorite spot on the catwalk beside the window. The nest she was lying in was huge—way bigger than any nest I’ve seen before! It made me smile so much, just knowing how comfortable and content Negra looked. I took a short moment while everything was still and greeted Negra by reaching my arm out and nodding my head. She gave me a quick head nod in return and then shifted in her nest a little bit. A couple minutes later, the other chimps started to get up and it became the usual noisy morning, but Negra stayed in bed. This is typically how it goes—while everyone else is eagerly watching the humans prepare breakfast and get ready for the day, Negra sleeps in until we are about to serve. But today especially, her nest was so expansive and comfy looking, I thought she might stay in bed all day! But as soon as she saw the peanuts we were serving as a breakfast appetizer, she quickly jumped out of bed and headed to join the rest of the chimps in the greenhouse. The pictures we got of her nest were a little dark, and I did my best to brighten them up but I apologize for the poor lighting due to the sun in the window! The first picture shows just how big the nest was (24 big, fluffy blankets in all) and the second is a close-up of our Queen’s beautiful face.
Negra simply enjoying her big nest this morning started making me think about how awesome it is that she can do that now, after 30+ years in a lab. I thought about it all during cleaning, and as soon as I had a chance I went to our blog to find an entry from before the chimps ever arrived—one about Negra trying to make a nest with scraps of newspaper in the lab she was in before coming to CSNW. It was written almost exactly 5 months before the Cle Elum Seven arrived at their forever sanctuary home. It’s here if you want to read it, but be prepared to get teary-eyed. As Diana says in the post, “Negra deserves to be forever free from the fear of life as a laboratory subject. She deserves to have choices in her life. She deserves to have room to walk, run and climb. She deserves to have access to the outdoors. She deserves a daily supply of a wide variety of food. And she deserves lots and lots of blankets so she can finally make the bed that will truly make her feel content.”
I am so happy that her new sanctuary life has given her the opportunity to build a bed that Diana thought she might enjoy. It’s days like today that make me realize how amazing and resilient chimps are, after all they’ve been through that they can still find joy and contentment in life. It’s admirable.
Burrito was a bit nervous going out on Young’s Hill today- most likely because before Friday, due to the Taylor Bridge Fire, the chimps hadn’t been out there in nearly three weeks. As soon as he got out there, he stood bipedally and his hair was pilo erect (standing on end), both signs that he was a bit worked up or aroused. But Foxie and Missy both reassured him that everything was safe.
Burrito trying to steal a hug from Foxie, who was walking by right after the door to the hill was opened:
who then hugged him back as a way to calm him down. If you look closely at the photo, you can see that Burrito is fear grimacing (aka- showing all of his teeth. This facial expression looks much like a human smile, but is usually a sign of fear or intense excitement).
Still a bit nervous, he approached Missy with a bent wrist. A bent wrist is a submissive gesture and often an effective way to gain reassurance from a more dominant individual. He has a large fear grimace in this photo.
Later, seeing that Burrito was still nervous, Missy approached him, breathy panted and gave him an open mouth kiss, again letting him know that all was okay.
He eventually settled down and got busy doing what he does (and loves) best- foraging for chow.
Burrito definitely loves playing with his human friends (and we love playing with him!) but I really like seeing Burrito play with other chimps. He and Foxie play pretty frequently– I would suspect that of the chimps, Foxie is his best friend. But he and Missy play sometimes too. I caught them in a rambunctiously goofy play session this morning in the greenhouse. They were so caught up in their silliness that neither of them even noticed me taking photos through the glass window in the playroom.
Today I caught Burrito mid-hoot face (the facial expression that accompanies a pant hoot). I love their lips when chimps make this facial expression/vocalization.
When he spotted me taking photos, he seemed to get shy and quickly stopped.
But then as I started talking to him about how cute he was, he seemed pretty happy to show that off.
Meanwhile, the other chimps were pretty relaxed (and beautiful). Here’s Annie lounging around with a hair brush:
Jamie:
Foxie:
Negra, chewing on some gum
Today, for the first time in a week, has been pretty calm around here. No fires, no firefighters, no smoke, clear skies, and cooler weather. It’s far from over in our minds and flare ups can happen any time, but so far so good. We’ll take it!
As tough as the Taylor Bridge Fire has been for us humans to process, the chimps have been champions. They have been eerily quiet at times over the last week and have occasionally been caught just staring out the window watching helicopters and firefighters– especially Annie, Jody, and Foxie. I have had several moments similar to the one Sarah described last week between her and Jody, where as soon as the chimps get the “okay” from us, they go right back to business as usual– which is usually play! Late last week, I watched Missy go around to every single person in the greenhouse engaging them in play, including Jody, who is not usually all that playful. Missy is always playful, but I have been thinking of her behavior this week as her own personal coping mechanism- keep everyone happy so you don’t have to think about the craziness going on outside.
I’ve been watching her employ this “tactic” since the day after the fire. As Sarah mentioned, the fire incinerated the water lines to our well, so because of possible chemical contamination, we have turned off the water to the chimp areas and have been giving the chimps lots of water bottles and Gatorade instead. They have been loving it! We’ve given the chimps water bottles before, but because it’s not the most sustainable practice, we haven’t done it all that often and certainly not in this quantity. But they have been so enriched by it! And thanks to so many of you out there- we have plenty to keep them happy and hydrated for a long time. Here’s a video of Missy being goofy with her water bottle the day after the fire broke out (August 14th). If you listen closely you can hear helicopters flying overhead as Missy just keeps on playing– it’s a good coping mechanism!
So, as things settle down outside, things get more relaxed, but also rowdier and goofier, inside! Jamie has been crazy playful all day. This morning, she and Foxie got into a thunderous game of chase and were tickling each other and laughing so loud it was hard for us humans to hear each other speak. Burrito was spotted walking in between the Front Rooms with a box on his head and Annie has been lounging in the greenhouse clapping her feet- a sure sign she’s relaxed. Jody and Negra have been kicked back in their nests sipping on water bottles all day. And every time I make eye contact with Missy, she springs off in a full speed run, engaging me in a game of chase. It’s business as usual around here. Chimps are such an inspiration.
