Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Staff training

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Today (like last Tuesday), the staff are Zoom training to sharpen our skills in positive reinforcement training (PRT) so blogging will be quick! In the meantime, take a look back at some of the posts we’ve done in the past about our ongoing training program.

Our first blog post about our program comes all the way back from May of 2015.

Next comes a post just a short time later from former staff caregiver Debbie about Negra’s PRT progress

And here’s an August 2015 update  a November 2015 update and a November 2016 update

And another Negra update from October 2017

Here’s Jamie in January of 2018

Here you can see Negra’s progress from September of 2018

We’ve also been working with the Californians 

Most recently, the concern of COVID-19 has made taking temperatures a  priority.

Stay tuned as we get to share more progress with you in the coming months!

A Blossoming Friendship

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Since Burrito’s life-threatening situations, most particularly the rattlesnake incident, Jamie seems to be more tolerant of Burrito. It wasn’t that they weren’t friends before, they would play or groom from time to time. But something in their friendship has shifted. For example, Jamie often wants to go on walks alone with her caregivers; she will even hideout in the culvert to ditch everyone. Recently though, she doesn’t mind when Burrito joins, she doesn’t even try to ditch him! We find them going on adventures, like climbing the twister. They even share a barrel while eating! He is kind of her shadow sometimes. Could it be that Burrito is less reactive overall, maybe? Could it be the near death experience, possibly? Or it could be a little column A and a little column B, we will never know for certain. But, what I do know is that watching them share a barrel while eating a meal brings me more joy than words can express.

I mean look how close they are!

Burrito wearing a blanket around his neck. It looks like a sweat towel, which makes perfect sense for him because he is always working up a sweat. Wait, no, his caregivers are the ones sweating.

Bonus Mave photo! Personally, I love a good photo of chimps hands or feet clasped together.

Pardon the Interruption

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Today, staff will be under going training this afternoon. We are hoping to analyze and enhance our positive reinforcement training program since we are always trying to find ways to better ourselves as caregivers to provide the best care we can for the chimpanzees and cattle. Positive reinforcement training (PRT) is a cooperative health monitoring program which the chimpanzees present different body parts for caregivers to inspect and track. More recently, PRT has helped us with daily temperature checks with all the residents during times of a pandemic. With training scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for the next few weeks, it may be difficult for us to develop a blog, though we will try within the best of our abilities!

For today though, please enjoy these photos from Sunday of the grooming party Mave, Honey B, and Willy B had!

And a bonus photo of Jody during breakfast this morning.

Photographs of the Day

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Saturday is the end of the week for some of the staff, while others return from their weekend on Sunday. I’m in the latter group.

As the person responsible for the blog on Sundays (the beginning of my work week), I often gravitate towards whatever topics have been touched on in the previous day’s blog. It isn’t always intentional, but I do notice that it naturally happens more often than not. Hopefully, all of you blog followers don’t mind getting two related posts in just as many days.

Yesterday, Diana shared “Video Clips of the Day“, a fantastic blog entry that consisted of a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Therefore, of course, I’m giving you all “Photographs of the Day”, which is essentially the same concept but with still images instead of filmed content.

Just like the clips in yesterday’s video, the pictures aren’t all from today. However, you may be assured to know that some of these photos are from this dreary winter day, while the rest are quite recent. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this evening’s post and have a great week!

 

The view of the Yakima River and train tracks near the sanctuary:

 

Icicles hanging from the Chimp House roof:

 

Willy B looking down at the snow, then looking at me as if I have the magical power to make it instantly go away:

 

Honey B supervising the construction of her new playrooms:

 

Mave using the same windows to groom her toes:

 

Jamie strolling on the Hill (sorry about the bad focus!):

 

The view from the sanctuary driveway:

 

3/4 of the Moo Crew:

 

Nutmeg:

 

Meredith:

 

Betsy:

 

Honey (apparently also known as “Honey Buns”):

 

Lunch in the cattle barn:

 

Burrito:

 

A closeup of Burrito’s toes:

 

Burrito’s plush monkey friend (featured in yesterday’s video) being incrementally dragged into the chimp enclosure through a food chute and then leisurely disemboweled by seven VERY enriched chimpanzees:

 

Barn Kitty’s tracks in the snow (black-and-white version):

Play is in Session

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The chimps are always having these amazing play sessions in the front rooms while we clean their playroom. Yesterday was a particularly silly day as you can see from the video and photos. It’s always a good day when you see boss lady Jamie letting her hair down to play with her friends, Burrito and Foxie. The day continued to be goofy with this guy! There is nothing better than an upside-down Burrito and hearing him laugh.

It snowed quite a bit last night. So today was all about snow, napping, and yelling at the neighbors.

Jody melting our hearts since 1975 <3.

Negra with her snow snacks.

Coniferous Cold Cabbage

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It began snowing on Sunday and hasn’t really stopped since. Though it hasn’t been a heavy snowfall, it’s enough for it to start to feel like winter finally is here after several bouts of warm weather. When the caregivers began to arrive at the sanctuary in the morning, they were greeted by something to remind them it is indeed near to end of January and still winter.

This is one of the Christmas trees that has been adorning the outside of the Chimp House. As some of you know, it’s somewhat of a tradition to plant the trees that decorate the enclosures for the chimpanzees’ Christmas celebration on Young’s Hill when the weather is better. Until then, it sits right outside the door.

While the conditions outside thwarted any ambitions of going outside today (though they did have access to go outside), they seemed pretty content inside the warm indoor enclosures.

After cleaning was done, Willy B, Mave, and Honey B were treated to some cabbage that was spread out in their enclosure.

After lunch, Mave and Willy B spent most of their afternoon grooming.

Honey B was busy supervising the construction workers and couldn’t be bothered with grooming or most photos today.

Meanwhile on the other side, while most of the Seven were cozy in their nests all day, there was one individual who had a lot of energy he had to burn through.

There was a good game of chase between him and I from the Greenhouse doors to the door that leads to Young’s Hill. If you’ve seen J.B.’s post a couple of weeks ago, then you know this route. A common question we get is why does Burrito ask for snow from caregivers when we can just grab it himself during winter? We don’t really know why, but let’s be honest, who wouldn’t like a hand delivered caregiver made, artisan snowball?

Plus, we, as caregivers, have a hard time deflecting Burrito’s charm when he asks for his zero-calorie treat.

With the weather seemingly on different ends of the spectrum lately, who knows what tomorrow may hold. Though Burrito may hope it holds more hands full of snow.

Stay warm, friends!

Second Lunch

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What’s better than lunch? SECOND LUNCH.

On Friday, J.B.’s blog post featured a video of seven chimpanzees being served lunch in the Greenhouse. Today, we decided to record lunch on the other side of the building where Honey B, Mave and Willy B reside.

As J.B. explained, the seven chimps in the original group have a specific way of doing things. The newer residents are quite different; among those three, each individual has their own characteristic style and pace.

Honey B gingerly sorts through her food, eating each piece very slowly. She often saves some pieces for last by piling them up between her feet.

Mave is wary of the others and mostly keeps to herself while she scarfs down her food.

Willy B practically inhales his food, making it disappear like some sort of magic trick. When it’s all gone, he sometimes intimidates others into giving up theirs. To promote tolerance and patience, we space out his portions and reward him with extras for letting the others finish their meals in peace. Usually, this special reward is an apple. Teaching him to cooperate using positive reinforcement is less disruptive than separating him from the group. To date, it seems to be working well for Willy and his companions.

This afternoon, I served lunch to the three chimps in the Mezzanine (as you can see in the video). We completed the Mezzanine in August of 2019 and it is currently their largest indoor enclosure. Soon, the three sanctuary inhabitants will be able to access the new playrooms (which are more than twice as big) and, eventually, their own outdoor greenhouse enclosure!