Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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chimpanzee retirement

Stunt Missy

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When we set out food forages for the chimpanzees on Young’s Hill, the chimps’ outdoor habitat, especially on a gorgeous day like today, all of the staff onsite tend to gather at the base of the hill near the greenhouse, frequently with more than one of us taking photos.

It never gets old watching forages, and we often narrate out-loud to one another what’s happening. Today, Missy provided some excitement for our (and her) enjoyment.

The lunch forage was whole tomatoes (a Missy-favorite!), big chunks of lettuce, celery, mini sweet peppers, primate chow biscuits, and a few pieces of sweet potato.

Missy was keen on finding the tomatoes, but was also busy gathering lettuce. We spotted her on the treat rock (an artificial termite mound) taking a moment to eat some lettuce.

She must have spotted some tomatoes on top of Negra’s cabin from the vantage point of the treat rock, because she leapt off the treat rock in a way only Missy would. J.B. got a shot of her in motion!

Here’s the zoomed-in version of that photo. I dubbed it Stunt Missy.

Negra was settled in inside her cabin, casually enjoying some chow biscuits and lettuce, when Missy approached.

Missy was determined to climb up the log support of the cabin, even with her hands quite full. The humans watching wondering if she could do it…

Of course she could! She scaled up the log one-handed, not dropping a leaf of lettuce.

and enjoyed the tomato reward when she reached the top

Deconstructing a Display on a Fine Spring Day

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Within the past couple of days, the weather has been almost nearly perfect. Sun in the sky without a sight of a cloud. Not too hot and not too cold. Gentle breezes instead of wind gusts. This is the perfect weather for outdoor activities.

After security checks were completed, the Seven were given access to Young’s Hill first thing in the morning.

While six of the seven immediately patrolled their grounds, one decided to stay back and just enjoy the warm Spring morning.

Negra elected to go onto Young’s Hill and eat her breakfast hard-boiled egg in the sun while the others patrolled.

With the weather being so nice, we thought it would be a great day for a lunch forage outside of carrots, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, and bonus pineapple tops.

Jamie:

As you can see, Jamie won out with Fistfuls of Bell Peppers.

Missy:

Though Jamie went straight for the bell peppers, the pineapple tops were in Missy’s sights.

Negra:

Burrito:

Annie:

Foxie:

Jody:

Jody has learned, some times you have to climb the highest of heights to get the biggest reward.

The Three on the other side of the building are still settling into their new playrooms. Though it seems it’s technically no longer “settling in” as much as it is they fully moved in and have become comfortable in the new areas.

Willy B has started to use the artificial tree branches/platforms as his new lounge area.

Though Willy B, Honey B, and Mave have access to new areas, they are still fond of their old ones. For Willy B, in particular, the Courtyard is still an area he loves to venture out to.

Though he did go outside today, I was not able to get any photos. Instead I will share some of the ones I took on Sunday of his Courtyard Adventures.

When Willy B first gets access to the Courtyard, he will scan around for any nuts or food items near the boardwalk. Afterward, he seems to just take in the surroundings, some times even taking a nap on the boardwalk.

What happens next is usually when he notices he has an audience.

When Willy B notices the Group of Seven watching him for their playroom windows, he has to show them this area is his. He does this through his territorial display.

First he begins his pant hooting:

Then he becomes piloerect and moves to the nearest loudest object. In the Courtyard, this is a barrel.

Piloerection is when a chimpanzee’s hair stands on its’ ends. The best way to think of this is thinking of when you get goosebumps. Pretty similar. In fact, you can see Willy B’s “goosebumps” if you look close enough!

Once he reaches the barrel, he begins drumming it:

As the intensity and rhythm of the drumming increases, so does his pant hooting. When his display reaches its’ crescendo, he hits the drum as hard as he can in one final *BAM* and lets out a scream for all the hear:

When finished, Willy B resumes taking in the Spring sun and air, while also peeking to see if the neighbors got the message and if it riled them up.

Hint: They usually do and it usually does.

That’s the Spot

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Today was a quintessential early spring day in Cle Elum that started with great gusts of wind driving snow across an otherwise peaceful green landscape. This attempt of winter to make a resurgence was no match for the sun, however. The snow was gone by midday and the scenery was back to being spring-like.

It’s been just a few days since Willy B, Mave, and Honey B first got access to the two new playrooms. They are still experimenting with the new space and trying out different areas. It will be fun to discover what their favorite hang-out spots are.

Today, Mave laid down to groom herself in a puddle of sun on the catwalk of Playroom 3 (also known as the Marmot Room because of the marmot silhouette painted on the wall downstairs in honor of a special supporter).

On the other side of the building, I found Jody in one of her all-time-favorite spots on the lower platform in the original greenhouse doing much the same as Mave.

Not one to spend much time lounging, Jamie was busy perusing the sanctuary’s site plan…

If you are on Facebook, you might have caught a Live Lunch Service (recorded video available on Facebook here). We hope to do more of those live videos in the future, most likely on a random and spontaneous schedule.

Whether you are more in the mood to relax or all about keeping active, if you are a local supporter, I have the thing you need to do this month!

Get yourself to Gallery One in Ellensburg and check out the display of designs that were submitted to last month’s art contest. Note – Gallery One is currently open at a limited capacity – check out their Covid protocols for more information.

You won’t go home empty-handed – there’s merchandise available for purchase that features the winning design of Fabulous Foxie by artist Thyra Rutter. There are also brand new postcards of all ten of the current chimpanzees; plus a really great display of information that the creative students in the Primate Awareness Network at Central Washington University put together. If you are not local, you will miss out on the displays, but you can still get stickers from the top four People’s Choice winners and merchandise of Fabulous Foxie in our online merchandise store.

Have fun shopping!

Nor’Easter

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In my native Rhode Island and the surrounding New England states, the locals have a unique name for winter storms that blow down from the north Atlantic: nor’easters. These tempests bring sideways rain, chilling temperatures, and powerful gusts of wind.

The eastern slopes of the Cascades don’t have the same maritime climate as the northeast seaboard, and we lack a consistently strong breeze. However, early spring in eastern Washington is known for the blustery winds that signal the transition to warmer days. Such is the weather in our valley right now; Mother Nature seems to be torn between winter and summer, snow and sunshine, and the alternating fronts seem to churn past the sanctuary by the hour.

This morning, Easter Sunday, was one of the windiest days we’ve had all year. I’ve decided to call it Nor’Easter.

The howling winds provided us with a soundtrack as we did the morning chores, set up a big celebration for the chimpanzees, and watched them venture outside to gather up all their treats. Due to the turbulent weather, the chimps brought their harvested carrots, beets, lettuce and eggs back to the sheltered Greenhouse where they happily feasted away the afternoon.

We decided to make a video of the day’s festivities for all of you to enjoy. I know that some of you love to hear food grunts and breathy panting, so I tried to edit out the harsh background noise while leaving the best chimp vocalizations intact. Despite the gusty weather, it ended up being a beautiful day for everyone.

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Also, in case you missed our earlier post, today’s holiday had TWO sponsors (and they have quite the connection to each other).

First, our friend Lisa Stuverud sponsored this special day in memory of her sister-in-law, Linda Vazarre. Additionally, Lisa’s husband Richard Stuverud also sponsored this day in honor of her birthday:

“I’d like to sponsor today in honor of my wife Lisa’s 63rd Birthday (she will not be upset with me for sharing that). I know she believes that the Chimps and everyone associated with CSNW has contributed immensely to her making it this far. The chimps continue to bring her joy and lighten up the sometimes difficult days especially of this last year in ways only you and they can do. Much love and Thanks!!”

We really can’t thank them enough for all they’ve given to the sanctuary over the years, and we owe them our deepest gratitude for sharing their love with the chimpanzees. They’ll be glad to know that the chimps had a great feast!

Happy Birthday, Lisa!! We hope you had a beautiful day!

Are You a Jamie or a Burrito (Chimpanzee)?

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Kelsi and I were cleaning the playroom this morning when Jamie got Kelsi’s attention and requested a walk (we’ve learned to read Jamie’s behavior pretty well, and she’s insistent until we figure out what she wants). It’s not unusual for Jamie to want to pull someone from cleaning to do her bidding. That’s what sanctuary is all about, right?

When Kelsi came back from the patrol around Young’s Hill, she was grinning – I could tell even with her mask on. She said she got some great video of Missy and Burrito playing while patrolling.

She was not wrong! It was a joy putting this video together.

Later in the day, during a lunch forage, Missy and Foxie scaled Negra’s Cabin at the same time (Burrito down below).

Foxie made it to the very top and secured some beets before climbing back down to where she had left her doll.

Soon enough, they were both off doing their own things separately.

Here’s a bonus photo of Spring Queen Negra:

On the other side of the building, Willy B laid down on the boardwalk, just as he did yesterday, soaking in the sun and taking cat naps. Spring is good!

Burrito and the Chamber of Play

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It was a busy day today. The construction crew worked hard to begin installing the new doors in the new playrooms. Since they spent most of their time in the Mezzanine, that means Willy B, Honey B, and Mave had to stay in the Front Rooms and Chute while the crew was up there. The Three didn’t seem to mind. Willy B and Honey B spent most of their time in the Chute, while Mave liked her quiet time in the Front Rooms.

On the other side, the Seven spent most of their day on Young’s Hill.

A morning patrol was Jamie’s top priority.

While Missy found a block of ice in one of the structures.

She grabbed her ice treat and went to one of the highest structures to enjoy it in solitude.

Foxie also had her own little adventure with Angel Cake.

Burrito also joined in this morning’s walk.

What’s that around his neck you may ask? It’s a drop down puzzle, one of the chimpanzees’ evening food puzzles. Food puzzles generally come in different shapes and forms. There are those which can be passed out, those which can be scattered, and those which are hung from various places in the enclosures. For the most part, all the ones which can be hung inside the enclosures are deemed safe for them by the staff. They are hung up for various reasons, such as having one in one place to try to deter someone from grabbing them all and hoarding them, to provide just a splash of extra challenge, or to just help prevent them from breaking easily. Though Burrito is fine with having something like this, it wasn’t what we had in mind when we hang up drop down puzzles.

However, seeing how it made his entire day…

I will allow it this time.

Speaking of Burrito enjoying things, you may remember he has found a certain fondness to the rocker mirror. While we were cleaning the playroom the other day, I looked over and saw this.

He never ceases to amaze me.

We hope you have a terrific night and enjoy the video of Burrito playing with everybody!

Why We Puzzle

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Raise your hand if you like to do puzzles.

There are lots of different kinds – jigsaw puzzles, word puzzles, logic puzzles, math puzzles, etc, etc. Remember the Rubik’s Cube fad? Or perhaps you are mechanically-minded and like to figure out how things come apart and go back together. Maybe you’re more of a physical person and you like to do actual obstacle courses. Video games are really electronic puzzles, and we know how popular those are.

There was an increase in humans doing puzzles this last year during the pandemic and lockdowns. I’ve read a few articles about why we humans like to puzzle, and the explanations generally include things like: puzzles provide us with a sense of control, and when we solve a puzzle our biology rewards us with a chemical hit of dopamine. There’s some intriguing research showing there’s more than just a dopamine surge going on in our brains when we we are working on puzzles.

We, as primates, are hardwired to solve problems. We often do it all day long, and even choose to do it in our leisure time.

Why am I talking about this?

At the sanctuary, we provide the chimpanzees with food puzzles. A few of them have been featured in recent videos, like Honey B and Willy B acing Anna’s inspired Slinky Madness puzzle and the video that J.B. shared last week of Honey B  fishing out a peanut from a boomer ball puzzle.

On both of those video posts on social media, there were a couple of comments that questioned whether the chimpanzees were being led to frustration with these puzzles. There was even the notion that the puzzles were cruel.

A long-time blog follower, Dan Oksiuta, responded wonderfully to one such comment by saying, “While the puzzles & caging may appear unnecessarily frustrating, it is reasonable to assume they experience the same emotions of accomplishment & satisfaction as humans completing a difficult task. Treats probably taste better, too.”

Thank you for that, Dan!

The food that we include in food puzzles is a really minuscule amount, and it’s outside of their regular meals, so they aren’t choosing to solve puzzles out of hunger. They have a similar drive as we do and receive similar intrinsic rewards for solving puzzles (plus the sweet reward of a peanut isn’t nothing).

For those who have been following the sanctuary for a while, you already know that Jamie is a chimpanzee who often prefers to use a tool to get food instead of having it handed to her. Jamie’s brain seems especially wired for problem solving.

Just like humans, not all chimpanzees are the same. I don’t think I’ve ever done Sudoku and really most of my puzzling and problem solving is more of a practical nature (i.e. “how can I fit just one more houseplant on this table”).

Burrito used to be pretty bad at solving food puzzles, giving up rather quickly. As the years have passed, though, he’s gotten quite accomplished at puzzle solving. Even in the early days, when his puzzle solving wasn’t what it is today, he was eager for the nightly enrichment.

Negra, who is not known to exert extra energy for much of anything, delights in all sorts of food puzzles; in fact it’s a rare evening when she’s not clapping for her caregivers to hurry up with the distribution of the night enrichment. She might prefer the easier enrichment, like peanut butter in between the pages of magazines, but she’ll engage with even the more challenging puzzles before bedding down for the night.

An aside, take a look at our Enrichment Database for examples of the food puzzles as well as the more generalized enrichment we provide.

Boredom is the ever-lurking nemesis for primates in captivity. It can lead to depression and all sorts of strange behaviors. Providing ways for primates to problem solve is one way to keep boredom at bay.

Actually, you could consider forages to be giant food puzzles. When we spread out food, sometimes hiding it, the chimpanzees have to locate and gather their food, and they are in somewhat of a competition with the others in their group. This is an important skill to have and develop when you are a species that must find ripening fruit in the jungle.

Images or videos of chimpanzees in captivity foraging for food, especially if they are outdoors, rarely if ever results in people commenting that it must be frustrating or questioning why we don’t just hand them food (we do that type of serving too). I think it comes back to our superficial, knee-jerk perceptions of animals in captivity. We want to see them in “natural environments”, not necessarily because that’s what they like the most or what’s the most enriching, but because that’s what makes us feel the best.

So, food puzzles hanging on caging just doesn’t sit right with some people. We hear you. We don’t think chimpanzees should be in captivity either, but they are. I wrote a little post called What is Natural a long time ago that addressed something similar.

The thing is, a chimpanzee working on a food puzzle indoors in captivity is a good thing, as long as they also have access to the outdoors, live in a social group, and have a wide variety of other ways to alleviate boredom and do the things they are hardwired to do. It’s as least as natural as a human solving a Sudoku puzzle on their couch.

Here are some photos from today of chimpanzees problem solving:

Foxie with a purpose:

Jody with her forage haul, heading back to the greenhouse:

Jody experiencing the sweet rewards of a successful forage:

Willy B is still the only one of his group of three who will venture into the open Courtyard. Mave and Honey B are more comfortable inside and in the Chute. We’ll be thinking of ways to help them look at the outdoors differently and are hopeful that their expanded space will help, but, in the meantime, we make sure the spaces they do spend their time in have lots of things for them to do.

The next two photos aren’t great, but they show that we put some lettuce on top of the Chute for Mave and Honey B while Willy B went into the Courtyard to get his lettuce.

The photo below is of Mave up high in the Chute pulling the lettuce through. She spends a lot of time with this food puzzle, which we’ve just recently introduced:

Honey B really likes to “groom” pebbles out of our boots. There’s no food reward, but she clearly gets a lot of satisfaction out of this task.

J.B. put lettuce at the top of the structure to entice Willy B to do some extra climbing in the Courtyard.

Sometimes it’s fun to watch other people work. Here’s Mave and Honey B watching J.B. painting murals on the other side of the window.