Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Have you checked out our Database of Chimpanzee Enrichment? On this site we keep track of all the fun food puzzles and other items we give to the chimps. We are always looking for new enrichment ideas to try at the sanctuary and share with the chimpanzee caregiver community, so please feel free to share our site with anyone who might be able to benefit or contribute new ideas to our page!
Here’s Jamie using the treat rock food puzzle (filmed May of last year):
Last Sunday we all changed the clocks back an hour, but the chimps have no use for telling the time (other than when their stomachs tell them it’s time to eat). Rather than changing the chimps’ schedule and routine, the humans change their own work schedule. During the winter months we start work an hour earlier and in the spring we start an hour later. This way the chimpanzees get to remain blissfully unaware of springing forward or falling back.
Jamie’s nesting schedule remains the same: whenever she feels like it!
It’s been sunny today with no additional snow, but what we have has been taking its time melting and it’s still pretty chilly out.
The chimps have chosen to park themselves in front of sunny windows facing the valley to nap and groom and occasionally engage in games of chase, thundering through the loft of their playroom or nesting out of sight in the top of the greenhouse.
Foxie seems to be particularly enjoying the snow days and has been taking full advantage of the weather to enjoy some indoor games. She has also requested so many snowballs to eat that I think she has to take breaks in-between to be rowdy and raucous so she can warm herself up. So after a particularly large number of snowballs, we had a long bout of passing her beloved purple-haired doll back and forth with spins, leaps, pirouettes and general chimpanzee shenanigans.
Her she is lying on the heated floor playing with her doll and prepping to pass it to me through the caging:
Here she had two dolls and we were racing to pass them back and forth between us, always a favorite:
Foxie stopped to check out her image in the camera:
And what would be a proper game without standing on your head?
All those shenanigans can wear a girl out:
We woke up to our first snow today! There are some mixed feelings about this white dust.
1.) First and foremost we are excited to eat the snow!
2.) We like the beauty of it, but also it came too soon…
3.) It is making us a little reluctant to get outside…
SO… We like you snow, but please not yet!
Young’s Hill:
Jody eating some snow from the Hill entrance, but not going outside:
Burrito doing the same:
As enrichment we filled buckets with some snow and put them everywhere:
Jamie snuggling with a boot and keeping warm with blankets over her:
Boss Jamie does frequent patrols of the perimeter of the chimps’ outdoor habitat to make sure everything is on the up and up. These patrols happen multiple times each day, and most of the time Jamie prefers for a caregiver or three to accompany her (and sometimes some of the other chimps tag along also). A walk around the hilly 2-acre habitat is good exercise for everyone involved, but occasionally Jamie pushes us to go a little faster.
Hope everyone had a happy Jamieween! Thanks to all who helped make it a spectacular day!
Jamie turned 40 today, so I want to make sure to do her birthday video justice… Therefore, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to watch it. Until then, I leave you with these before and after teaser photos.
I thought they’d had enough pumpkin, but as I closed up, Negra was still eating this last piece laying down in her nest.
Happy Jamieween!
