If Foxie were a superhero, she’d be Spiderwoman.
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Happy Holidays, Julie and Rob!
A Christmas Eve day of sanctuary was sponsored by Jean Bengston as a gift for Julie and Rob Sweet! Jean shared what fans Julie and Rob are of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and that they wish to give this gift to the chimpanzees as opposed to themselves. We have the most generous and compassionate supporters! Thank you so much, Jean, Julie and Rob, for making the chimpanzees’ Christmas Eve even more magical.
Happy Holidays to you all!!
Christmas is coming, Christmas is coming!
As the year comes to a close we are thick in the heart of the holiday season enjoying all that this can entail: friends, family, food and fun. Here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest the trick to celebrating the holidays is creating engaging and chimpanzee friendly traditions. Now, for myself, this will be my first year to enjoy the holidays as a member of the CSNW family but they’ve been at this for a while and are definitely pros. You can check out previous year’s party posts to read about ghosts of Christmas past:
2012 – Merry Christmas!
2011 – Best Christmas Ever
2010 – Happy Holiday!
2009 – Party in the morning . . .
2008 – Holiday celebration with the Cle Elum Seven
Or, if you just need a little seasonal cheer to tide you over until Christmas morning check this out!
Nothing To See Here
Posting to the blog is one of my favorite job duties. I love sharing stories, photos, or videos of the chimpanzees, because someone is almost always doing something funny, endearing, impressive, or otherwise interesting. But capturing these moments on camera can be a challenge.
I just came across a series of photos Diana took a couple of weeks ago of Foxie and Burrito playing. The series perfectly illustrates our daily struggles trying to get photos of the chimpanzees for the blog. When we witness moments like this, we run and grab the camera.
But as soon as the chimps catch sight of the photographer, whatever blog-worthy thing they were doing often comes screeching to a halt, as though it never happened.
The Scavenger
Chimpanzees are natural foragers, but Burrito also has a little bit of scavenger in him. He can often be found hours after a meal prowling the area for any bits of food the other chimps may have overlooked. Today shortly before lunch, he found a peanut that had been missed at breakfast. A single peanut may not seem like much, but for the guy who lives for food, it’s big news.
Let the sun shine
The sky is blue and all the leaves are, well, on the ground, but the sun is warmish and the wind is certainly not freezing today. In fact, if I didn’t know better I might be convinced that the worst that winter had to offer was on it’s way out and Spring was just around the corner! Sadly, I realize that this is not the case but that’s not going to ruin such a delightfully warm day in the middle of this otherwise frozen wasteland for me. And while it’s just a little too blustery for the chimpanzees’ taste I can tell that the spirit of Spring is affecting them as well since everyone (including the boss) is full of fun and play today!
Jamie and challenges
You may have figured out by now that Jamie is a tough chimp to enrich. Her mind is so active and she requires a lot to keep engaged. Part of our job as caregivers is to come up with new ways to keep the chimpanzees enriched, and in particular, keeping Jamie busy.
Though raisin boards are already a puzzle in themselves (the chimps usually have to use tools to get the raisins out), it’s even more so when they are just out of reach. Jamie prefers the challenges. She will go right past the raisin boards that are hidden under a blanket and aim for the ones that are harder puzzles to solve.
Here you see she even learns from her own mistakes—the first board she dropped too quickly and it went too far for her to reach. At first she looks around for a tool to grab the raisin board but decides to work on the more accessible one and leave the other project for later (don’t worry—she got that one eventually, too).
After seeing this video (and likely even without watching you know already) I think you will agree that Jamie is amazing.