Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee retirement

Spring Fever

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The other day it was finally warm enough that I could open the barn doors in the playroom. Because of the cold it’s been a while since we could do that, so the chimps were so excited! Everyone started pant hooting and ran over to enjoy the fresh air. Jody immediately began to build a giant nest using several blankets and a sleeping bag but alternated between nesting and chasing silly Annie and Missy around the playroom. Jamie put her hands in the kiddy pool and chased folks around with it. Everyone was super playful and goofy, and spent quite a bit of time hanging out and enjoying the sun and spring-like air.

Here are a couple of photos of Jamie relaxing in the green hand chair donated several months ago by volunteer Pam:

And Jody in her sleeping bag nest:

Happy Spring, everyone!

New Mirror

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Not long after the chimps arrived, supporter Tamela found an acrylic mirror that we hung on the playroom wall. It has gotten pretty scratched up in the last 2.5 years, so J.B. just recently replaced it with a new one. And not unlike her reaction when it was first hung in January of 2009, Jamie spent a good deal of time trying to figure out how to remove it.

Chimps’ Choice!

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It’s been a while since we had a Chimps’ Choice item, and we have an awesome idea!

We love to challenge the chimps with puzzles. Not to cause stress, of course, but to keep them stimulated and enriched. Jamie loves nothing more than a project but she’s so smart that it is difficult to come up with a project for her that actually challenges her. Something that would take me an hour to figure out, Jamie masters in less than 5 minutes. The puzzles that Cari donated the other day are just perfect and we would love to have more. The website has a variety of puzzles, but not all of them will work for us, so I added the specific ones we think will be best to our Amazon Wishlist. They are the PVC Puzzle, the hanging sliding feeder, the Forage Raisin Ball, and the Discovery Food Ball. All of these puzzles have a chain attached to them and hang on the outside of the caging. They encourage tool use and creative problem solving skills, and I suspect they will be just the thing to keep Jamie and the others enriched and occupied for years to come.

***Update: The company that sells these puzzles, AbsolutePrimate.com, has a $75 minimum, so if you would like to participate, instead of ordering them through the website, please send us a donation and we will order them. Be sure to mention Chimps’ Choice or puzzles in the gift note section.

Jody

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Jody is a pretty serious chimpanzee. She seems to take everything she does very seriously, whether it’s greeting a caregiver, playing (somewhat reluctantly) with one of the other chimps, or kicking back in a nest. This is one of the things I find (simultaneously) most intimidating and most endearing about Jody. Check out Jody’s “serious face”:

More enhanced enrichment puzzles

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Thanks to volunteer Cari Parker, we have more enhanced enrichment puzzles. Cari’s friend Stephanie sponsored today in honor of Cari’s Birthday, so Cari sent us a box of enrichment for the occasion. Included in the box of goodies were some PVC pipe puzzles. There is a photo with an explanation in the video below.

Keeping the chimps (especially super smart Jamie) enriched is a challenge. We are always trying to come up with new puzzle ideas- and these are great! (Thanks, Cari!) If you ever have any ideas you would like to share, please email me at [email protected]