Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee retirement

Holiday Games

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This period between Christmas and New Year’s Day is always a bit odd.

Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, the days between the solstice and end of the year must still have a unique feeling. For one thing, unless you work in the health or service industries, you’re probably spending most or all of this time on vacation. Maybe you’re using the holidays as an opportunity to chip away at your reading list, reach out to friends and family, or partake in winter sports. Perhaps you’re sleeping in, binge-watching crime documentaries, or cuddling with your nonhuman companions.

Regardless of your interests, you’re likely reflecting on the events of the past twelve months and recharging your emotional batteries for the challenges of another year. After the rollercoaster ride that 2020 just gave us, it seems more important than ever that we all take a deep breath, recite our personal mantras, and engage in the activities that bring us fulfillment.

One thing that I’ve been doing during this week-between-the-holidays is playing a wide variety of games with my friends and family. The ongoing pandemic makes meeting up with loved ones more difficult for all of us, but we still find ways to compete virtually because we think it’s important. For humans and other creatures, play challenges cognitive abilities and yields valuable insight about the world and how it works. When done socially, it can reaffirm social relationships and hone crucial skills like empathy, adaptability, and resilience. Of course, I don’t usually think about these benefits while I’m getting torched in a game of Cribbage (unlike some cool scientists who actually research the adaptive value of play behavior), but I still appreciate the opportunity to engage with others in lighthearted competition.

Lately, my playlist has included card games like Rummy and Cribbage, online multiplayer games like Among Us, and turn-based board games like Settlers of Catan. (By the way, does anyone have ore or wheat to trade? I’ve got a ton of sheep.) My friends and I have also carried on with our fantasy football league, giving us each a small stake in the weekend contests.

On top of all that, I am greeted by ten playful chimps upon arriving at the sanctuary each morning. The chimps and staff jointly create arbitrary rituals that, over time, become woven into the fabric of our relationships. The games that the chimps play, like ours, have understood rules and require a certain amount of trust. When Jamie nods, we start walking. When we rev up the Gator, Missy starts running. When Burrito stomps and pivots, we stomp and pivot.

When I see the chimps creating these odd rituals, it reminds me of the contests that we conceive among ourselves. Therefore, today, I’m giving you all a new game to play. It’s similar to ones that we have hosted in the past (Saw references and all).

Today’s version challenges you to guess which one of the sanctuary’s four rescued cattle is pictured in each of the following images. Each member of the Moo Crew is included at least twice. I’ll post the answers in a separate comment tomorrow evening. “Let the games begin!”

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

Hint: One pair of related cattle shares a similar hair-do. The other related pair does not!

Bonus points!

Good luck, everybody!

 

 

Christmas Party Bonus Photos

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We took hundreds of photos during the various parties yesterday, no exaggeration. I combed through them today and selected a few I just had share.

Burrito unwrapped one of the many gifts and decided to wear the raffia ribbon for a while.

Then he donned a new leopard print scarf

The tree in the greenhouse was a real treasure this year and produced quite a lot of enjoyment.

Negra:

 

Annie:

Missy mastered the tree and got the most out of it until the very end when she toppled it over (see video from yesterday).

Look at that tangerine hidden way in the depths of the the tree!

Jody enjoying the fruits of her tree-scavenging labor:

There were several spots in the greenhouse that were dusted with coconut. Here’s Annie collecting some:

and Negra:

and I’ll end with this photo of Burrito, in awe of Christmas, with coconut dust on his lips:

for even more warm holiday cheer, check out our Instagram account to see a short clip of Mave’s Christmas nest. Happy Boxing Day, everyone!

The Forest for the Trees

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It’s been a busy week at the sanctuary, but that’s not stopping us from feeling a little bit of holiday cheer.

For the most part, the holidays don’t interrupt our operations. First and foremost, the chimps need the same amount of specialized care that they always do. Additionally, the ongoing construction of new chimpanzee areas will continue right up to Christmas and is set to resume immediately after. Since the electrical work that Anna mentioned last week is still in progress, the seven chimps living on that side of the building have been somewhat inconvenienced. For the past few days, they have had to hang out in the heated Greenhouse and cozy front rooms while the larger playroom is unavailable.

That hasn’t seemed to bother them too much, though. They have ample enrichment puzzles, nesting materials, views of the contractors, human caregivers to socialize with, and each other’s company.

Burrito
Burrito (and the Holiday Tree!)

Jamie seems to enjoy watching the electricians. Although she can’t see their faces because of their masks, Jamie nodded approvingly at their footwear today. The guys seemed proud when I told them The Boss was pleased.

Jamie

Fortunately, the first days of winter have been relatively warm and consistently clear, so the chimps have also felt comfortable making frequent excursions outdoors. The amazing weather convinced us to spread forages on Young’s Hill both Saturday and Sunday, but they seem to be motivated by other factors in the days since. Maybe they want to survey the land and spy on the neighbors, or perhaps they’re just looking for some recreation. Either way, it’s nice to see them using the large outdoor enclosure this late in the year. I took the following photos during Sunday’s special activities and today’s regular patrols.

Jamie (front) and Burrito (back)
Annie
Foxie
Foxie
Foxie
Annie
Missy
Jody
Jamie
Negra

Foxie, in particular, seems to value her time outdoors. Based on her tendency to wander off from the others, I’d guess that she enjoys the brief periods of solitude.

Foxie on “The Escher” structure
Foxie atop “Neggie’s Cabin”

Of course, she may just be taking in those sweet views of the surrounding pastures, forests, and snow-covered mountains.

Foxie

Mave. That’s It. That’s the Blog

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Today, electricians continued their work connecting the existing building to the new area of the expansion! This meant there was a lot of human activity in the Chimp House. Similar to last week, the chimpanzees were extremely patient while parts of their enclosures were closed off to ensure the safety of both chimpanzee and human.

As the electricians worked and caregivers spent a majority of the day processing all the amazing Christmas gifts everybody donated from our Amazon Wishlist (sidenote: thank you all so much! There is a lot for us to process!), there was a lot of grooming going on with the chimpanzees. The few times I tried to get some photos of the massive grooming party happening nearly all day with the Group of Seven, Burrito halted every chance. Playtime is more important than photo time to Burrito.

However, I was able to capture a few photos of the Group of Three sporadically throughout the day.

Honey B chewing on some sugar-free gum.
Willy B pondering if he will continue to allow me to take photos, or decide he needs to review the photos I captured. (He lip-smacked at this one, which I took as him telling me this was the shot to use.)

Then there is Mave!

Mave is generally low key. As Katelyn described yesterday, Mave can be laying down one second, then be more than a foot in the air the next. Sometimes I feel she can put Tigger to shame with her jumps and bounces. Though Mave can be very playful with human caregivers when she wants to, sometimes she just likes the quiet company. Unlike Honey B and Willy B who want to play chase, groom boots, play poke, or watch what ever screen a human has, be it a television or smartphone, Mave generally just likes the humans to sit there quietly with her. As we sit with her, she usually grooms herself or lays there drifting off in to Dreamland. If we attempt to leave, she will jump up in the air in a flash. Though sometimes we mistake this for her now wanting to play, she will immediately resume her prior activity of self-grooming or setting sail to Zzz-Town. When Mave is ready, she will let us know if it’s play time, or if we can go. The former is usually accompanied with laughter and her fingers extended toward us to play poke. The latter is usually just no objection to us getting up and continuing to work.

Here are some photos she allowed me to take of her as I sat with her today.

As also mentioned yesterday, we just never know when she’s going to do it or who she’s going to direct this invitation toward. I can’t speak for the other caregivers, but I am certain they are like me in cherishing these quiet moments with the Marvelous Mave.

what to my wondering eyes should appear

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I don’t want to bury the lead here – something newsworthy and heartwarming happened today, but I do feel that it requires a little bit of set-up…

The morning greeted us with calm and fair weather after a very windy night, so J.B. decided we should take advantage of the unseasonable warmth and throw a little early impromptu Christmas party for the chimpanzees.

He and Kelsi decorated the trees of Christmases past that are planted on the hill. Anna came up with cute and yummy “ornaments” by cutting out heart shapes in pieces of pineapple using a cookie cutter.

If you know anything about Negra, it’s probably that she’s not an early-riser, generally preferring to linger in bed. This morning, however, she was the first out of the raceway to investigate the breakfast party.

She marched right up to the trees, and we all remarked to one another that she was further up on the hill than she’d been all year.

Perhaps she overheard us and thought, “hold my pineapple.”

What she did next was without precedent.

Missy had grabbed a pineapple ornament, a book, and a pineapple top from the tree and climbed up high to Jamie’s Lookout, joining Foxie and Jamie:

Foxie and Jamie soon departed.

Anna saw J.B., who was taking photos on the other side of the fence, run up the hill. Then we all heard him exclaim over the radio that Negra was climbing up the ladder to Jamie’s Lookout.

The Towers: Jamie’s Lookout and Carlene’s Tower were conceived of and built by founder Keith LaChappelle and friends in the summer of 2015 (I had to search for this blog post to find out the exact timeline).

Negra has never been to the top of this structure.

But today, five and a half years later, she climbed right up and sat next to Missy as though she had done it a hundred times before.

 

Perhaps you can discern her motivation and feel the subtle pressure she is asserting over Missy in this photo:

Missy soon finished her pineapple ornament and took Negra’s cue, leaving the pineapple top behind. Negra stayed up there, on top of the world, for a wonderfully long amount of time.

And then she climbed down holding the pineapple top and book (which she no doubt hoped contained peanut butter between its pages) in her mouth.

A Handful of Ingenuity and A Splash of Imagination

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As Diana mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Missy and Honey B are remarkably similar in many ways, while also uniquely different as Katelyn mentioned.

To add on to this growing list, they both show a knack for ingenuity for their enrichment items. It’s hard to be certain, and I would be questioned to no end by the scientific community, but I would go to say this requires at least some hint of imagination. (Though recently more researchers have been becoming more open to the idea of imagination in chimpanzees with the case of young chimpanzees carrying around and playing with sticks as if they were dolls in the wild.)

As you may know, Honey B shows her skills by using a different tool to master her PVC Tube food puzzle. And her mom, Missy, also shows some very unique ways to master her food puzzles. But what about after?

Most of the other residents are usually move on after they are done with an enrichment item. For Honey B though, these items just become a part of her fort-nest. Honey B is known to make these elaborate forts with anything she can find, usually blankets, toys, and used enrichment items. The other day, we found this in the Mezzanine.

(For some reason, a certain scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail came to mind when I saw this.)

Though Mave also has a knack to fort build as well, she is a little more particular on which items she uses. Most notably blankets and the cube chairs almost exclusively, though she may add some other things from time-to-time when she feels like it. Mave’s forts are also not as elaborate as Honey B’s forts.

It also could be that Honey B has been watching the construction workers build and felt like building something of her own.

However, Honey B has been building these “structures” long before their arrival.

Over on the other side, Missy is know to wear socks occasionally when she is in a very playful mood. But the following morning after the Seven were given Firehose Knots as an evening puzzle, Missy was seen with hers still in hand. She was carrying her pieces of firehose around while wearing an avocado sock I might add. After about 30 minutes or so, I witnessed her stuffing the firehose into the sock, which she proceeded to carrying around with her. I tried to find the past blogs of Missy holding a blanket down from the loft towards Annie and playing keep away with it, but I was unsuccessful. So you have to imagine her playing that game but with this instead of a blanket.

They both are remarkable in finding other uses of used enrichment items and to breath new life into them. And as one caregiver mentioned after seeing the above photo, “Maybe Missy is preparing some Christmas stockings” for their upcoming celebration.

Speaking of Christmas, thank you to all of you who have donated items from our Amazon Wishlist for their celebration! Your donations will help us try to throw a great celebration for them this year!

But did you know there are still some other items on the list!?

*Gasp*

You can still donate some of the items on the list to help us make this celebration special, but there are other items which helps us continue our day-to-day operations and ensure the residents’ home remains clean!

Through a Window

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Windows are cool.

They let us keep an eye on the residents but, more importantly, also serve to give the chimpanzees a current view of their surroundings. The chimps use them to socialize with the neighbors, survey the property, and monitor human activity.

Today, I took some photos of the chimps from outside their areas.

Jamie
Jody
Burrito
Anthony, trying his best to be artsy
Jamie

On snowy days like today, the windows are even more crucial. Why step outside and get cold toes when you can just spy on everyone from a warm blanket nest? Their logic is irrefutable.

I also stepped into the new playrooms (under construction but almost finished) and looked through all the windows to imagine what the new chimps will see when they get here. J.B. is still rigging the overhead LED lights and some of the windows are still covered, but the windows and skylights fill the space with soft sunlight even on cloudy days. Of course, Honey B watched me the whole time from the reinforced window that looks into the new addition from the Mezzanine.

Honey B
Honey B and Mave (fore- and background, respectively)