Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
The next time a stranger asks me what I do, I think I will answer that I’m part of a paparazzi team for some high-profile niche celebrities, focusing on positive images and stories.
The camera was clicking away when I was taking these photos of Queen Negra today:
Co-paparazzi J.B. captured this image of the devilishly handsome Willy B while he was in the Courtyard.
Last week one of our supporters very excitingly asked when expansion work was going to begin, and I’m happy to inform everyone that today was the day. During the morning, Gary’s Sage Mechanical crew came in to do some work on top of Young’s Hill. This meant that Jamie and her six friends could not go out on the hill during that time but that did not mean that they were unaware that some humans were in need of chimp supervision. After work concluded and it was safe to give them access to the hill, Jamie, Annie, Missy, Foxie, Burrito and Jody sprinted up the hill to assess the situation. Jody went back inside the safety of the green house shortly after, might have been too scary of a situation. On the way up Missy asked for reassurance from all her friends. First from Burrito, then Jamie, and finally from Foxie who gladly complied. Annie was the first one to arrive and climbed up the Twister to get a better view. Jamie, of course, was very excited to see new people but more excited about seeing new boots.
Foxie reassuring Missy on the way up to check out the expansion work.
Missy and Foxie looking at Jody as she turns around to go back into the safety of the green house.
Foxie and Jamie looking at J.B. and the members of Sage Mechanical…and their boots.
Gary’s nephew, who has a background in forestry, Gary, and J.B. smiling for the camera.
Annie supervising from the Twister platform.
After brief visual inspection, the construction boots pass the test and are worthy of a run around the hill.
On the other side of the chimp house:
Rayne eating green apples during breakfast this morning. Courtesy of caregiver Sam.
Dora resting in one of the front rooms.
Rayne in the green house taking advantage of the break from the rain that we got today.
I had so many thoughts going through my head when I was taking the walk in the video above.
I believe that the true beauty in this world is in these small, transitory moments and recognizing how quickly time passes. I feel it with the seasons too. I see the leaves changing, their colors taking my breath away, understating that a big part of the spectacular beauty is knowing that their display will soon be gone, and the next season, the next year, the next decade, will arrive before I even have time to process that one moment in time.
It’s cliche, but life is brief. We are so fortunate to have this outlet of the blog to capture and share the small moments and invite you to take a minute to appreciate them with us.
If you subscribe to our e-newsletter, you should have received an email this week that included information about National Estate Planning Awareness Week. This week is all about acknowledging the briefness of life and preparing for the future.
We are so grateful to be able to honor supporters and supporters’ loved ones in various ways at the sanctuary, including receiving some legacy gifts that have helped care for the chimpanzees. As I said in that email, whether or not you include Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest in your estate planning, I do hope you will take advantage of the free tools we offer to create your will and set up your estate in whatever way you desire.
Take a moment to do something really important–you won’t regret it.
Back to those precious fleeting moments, I give you Gordo in a box:
Sundays are for recharging energies and getting ready for the week, and over here it is no different. Enjoy some moments captured today on this lazy lazy Fall day.
Gordo resting in the front rooms, courtesy of Caregiver Katelyn.
Gordo resting in one of the platforms of the green house.
Jody enjoying some brussel sprouts during lunch time.
Which then led to laying down and munching on some potatoes.
Terry hanging out in the green house, catching some rays.
Honey B very much aware that Caregiver Anthony was doing cattle care.
Lucky in her favorite spot to nap, the platform of one of the front rooms.
As the temperatures begin to drop, Jamie’s group have been waiting a little while before going onto Young’s Hill in the morning, but not too long. Well… Almost everybody in her group…
One of the first things we do when we arrive at the Chimp House is to do a security check to give the chimpanzees access to Young’s Hill as soon as possible. This morning, as I opened the door to the Hill, most hung back a little bit for the sun to do it’s work and warm things up a little bit. But Burrito is a different story. We have been talking about how much we all could have the level of energy he has that early in the day. Once the door was open, *zoom* he was out the door and off to the races. I grabbed the camera and ran as fast as I could. I usually can keep up with him most of the day, however, the first run in the morning is the one where he undeniably beats me.
I grabbed what photos I could while running. As you might expect, they are just a blur.
Then once we made our way back to the starting point, we went around again. This time though, other members of his family decided to join.
Then it was off to the races again!
Keep in mind, Young’s Hill is indeed a hill and most of the run is up. I say this as an excuse for my huffing and puffing, trying to catch my breath throughout the day. How he has this amount of energy in the morning? It’s almost as if he eats a bowl of Cheerios (or Burrit-O’s that I assume are more energy-packed) before we arrive to ensure he is ready to go once we walk through the door.
Some bonus photos from today!
And a huge thank you who have supported us during Giving Day for Apes! There is still a few hours left you you wish and can support us to reach our goal! Because of you support, not just during Giving Day for Apes, but also on a regular basis, you help us try to provide the best life we can for the 20 individuals in our care. Thank you so much!
Designing chimpanzee buildings is not an easy task. There are so many functional needs to take into consideration, not to mention having to make everything virtually indestructible as well as fun for smart and strong chimpanzees.
For our most recent construction, in order to connect the two new greenhouses to one another so that chimpanzees could pass from one to the other, a door needed to be installed between them, but we also wanted a human hallway in between the greenhouses with a shelter overhead.
After much rumination, J.B. and Marc Brown of Marc Brown Design came up with a door above the hallway. Our doors on the new side of the building are on a hydraulic system and remotely operated, so the next challenge was figuring out how the human door-operators could see the door while operating it.
The solution was to create a small space of caging embedded within the ledge of the greenhouses on each side that allows the humans a clear view of both sides of the door (Door Q, in case you’re curious), while operating the door using the lever on the left in the photo below.
Aside from the outdoor Chute, It’s currently the only place where the chimpanzees are directly above human space.
Rayne thinks this perspective is very fun, and she surprised me the other day by greeting me from above.
You may notice that Rayne has a strange looking pinky toe on her left foot – this is from a recent injury during introductions. If you know chimps at all, you won’t be surprised to learn that Rayne is not bothered in the least by this injury. She allows us to spray it with Vetericyn, and I’ve seen her friends occasionally paying close attention to it, but otherwise I forget she was even injured. Even directly after the fight when this injury happened, she was ready to be reunited with the sparring chimpanzees, so we put them all back together for the big playroom romp that J.B. wrote about.
The toughness and silliness of chimpanzees will never cease to impress me.
It’s been a stressful week. Intros are tough! They can be exhilarating and heartwarming, but there’s a whole lot of anxiety that permeates almost every moment for the staff. Our colleague Jen Feuerstein left last evening, with some suggested next steps for us. When the staff is all back together, we will regroup and make some plans. We don’t need to come to any particular point on a certain timeline, so we can move forward at our own pace and play things by ear. All in all the process so far has been a success with some promising potential.
We know that some chimpanzees need more experience with intros, so we’ll be doing some more one-on-one meet and greets. In particular, Terry, Gordo, and Dora haven’t been as easy to set up for intros, so we’ll be making a concerted effort to give them some more opportunities.
Cy participated in all of the intros throughout this last week and so far is proving himself to be a well-balanced leader who doesn’t provoke easily. Willy B REALLY likes Cy, which is perhaps cause for some uncertainty and concern with Terry and Gordo, so having Willy B get to know the other boys better is one of our goals.
Somewhat to our surprise, as J.B. mentioned earlier in the week, Mave has not been the gentle mediator that we saw her to be when we attempted the intros with the original group of seven. She’s more obviously nervous, sometimes holding back and sometimes acting gruffly. We did see her interpersonal savvy come forward on Thursday when she comforted Terry, so perhaps she is good a understanding when her particular skills are most needed.
The stand-out happy surprise so far is Honey B. In his notes to everyone yesterday about the intros and her role in them, J.B. referred to Honey B as a “total professional.” She is reading the other chimps and not pushing them too much, but still trying to engage with them when she can. She has been staying out of the way during the big displays and most of the conflicts. It could all change the next time we involve her in an introduction, but, so far we all feel quite proud of her.
We have lots and lots of observations and stories, but I wanted to share two small anecdotes from the week that were amusing to me and illustrate the complicated nature of chimpanzees, and then share a few photos from today’s beautiful and much more relaxed fall day!
First story – My overnight sleepover with Honey B, Willy B, Cy, and Lucky on Monday night was not very restful for anyone.
Every few hours, Cy and Willy B would erupt in loud and boisterous displays, which were echoed (or perhaps in reaction to) displaying from chimpanzees in other parts of the building. Displaying is a normal part of being a chimpanzee. Male chimpanzees in particular frequently display, and it would seem that they equate the amount of commotion contained within their displays with their individual power. It’s serious business.
In captivity, there’s a lot of pounding and shaking of caging, raking objects across the floor, punching and back-hand-thumping benches and doors, and of course pant-hooting. While displays are perfectly normal, they certainly can and do lead to conflict. Adrenaline rises as the displays become more exuberant, and subordinate chimpanzees often take a thumping from the displayer, which can result in screaming and further escalation. Or if males are in competition, a display can be the working-up to a direct act of aggression.
Lucky and Honey B deftly navigated their shared rooms while Cy and Willy B showed off, smartly staying out of their way, without appearing overly anxious. I can’t say that I shared their seeming lack of anxiety.
Here’s the funny bit of the story – a few times during these very raucous bouts of displaying, with Cy an impressive illustration of the power and force of male chimpanzee-ness, he would rather suddenly stop, sit down, and flip through the pages of a magazine. And then, a few minutes later, resume his displaying again.
Willy B and Cy didn’t direct their displays at one another, and the four generally didn’t interact much during the night, but the next morning Cy and Willy B were grooming and Lucky and Honey B were playing, then they peacefully separated back to their original groups at breakfast. We’re definitely counting that as a successful overnight.
Second story – on Thursday afternoon, the Cy-Terry-Mave-Willy B “quad” ended with Willy B chasing off Terry, who screamed for some time, even after he was safely separated. This screaming caught the ear of Jamie’s group in the adjacent playroom and their displaying in response led to a conflict within that group. It lasted several minutes, with the chimps running from playroom to front rooms to greenhouse on the old side of the building.
After several loud minutes, I watched Foxie suddenly embrace Jamie from behind, which calmed Jamie. We see Foxie jump in to calm members of her group frequently during tense situations. Like Mave, we have sometimes referred to Foxie as the mediator of her group. So, “little Foxie the mediator” is what I thought I was witnessing. However, a few minutes later, when the staff who had been watching that conflict from different areas got together to compare notes, I learned that just minutes prior to Foxie embracing Jamie, she had pushed Jamie off a ledge in the greenhouse. So, perhaps what I witnessed was not a brave act of mediation but more a desperate apology. Either way, that hug and a subsequent approach of Missy to Jamie, is what ended the argument.
Chimpanzees, like humans, and like most beings, cannot be summed up with a few words. Their personalities and interactions with one another are constantly in development and ever complicated. It makes them lovable, fascinating, and, at times such as when you are bringing strangers together, cause for anxiety and all sorts of surprises.
On to the photos from today! What a perfect autumn day it was. Young’s Hill was aglow and the chimpanzees looked fantastic against the backdrop of the golden grass.
Jody:
Foxie:
Negra:
Jamie:
