Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Lisa Buckley has sponsored today in honor of Pickles the pit bull. Pickles was Lisa’s Aunt Conny’s beloved dog, who passed away recently at the age of 14. Lisa says that Pickles was so sweet and loveable that she should have been a “spokesdog” for pit bulls everywhere! In honor of Pickles, we put out all of the chimpanzees’ dog-themed toys today. 🙂
Thanks, Lisa, for honoring such a sweet soul.
J.B. took a really good photo of Negra in profile yesterday and turned the photo into a silhouette. Last night I dreamed of creating the image below. I could try to make this an educational or thought-provoking post about evolution and facial features, but the truth is I just like the image. It looks especially good on a black background. Maybe this should be our next t-shirt…
It’s been another cold, yet sunny day today and a few minutes ago, six out of seven chimps were out roaming on the hill (can you guess who was inside?). As I rounded the corner of the greenhouse to see what was happening out there, I saw Missy just standing in the bamboo with a big playface:
Annie came running out of the raceway towards her, full speed ahead!
Her playful charge was pretty anti-climatic at first…
But it wasn’t very long before Missy engaged Annie, and a wild foot grabbing, tickling, and laughing chase game ensued.
Sometimes, play is serious business.
Since Eyes on Apes has broadened its focus to include all great apes, I thought I would share some information about gorillas. There are four different sub species of gorilla: the Mountain gorilla, the Western Lowland gorilla, the Eastern Lowland gorilla (also known as the Grauer’s gorilla), and the Cross River gorilla. All sub species are endangered, but the Cross River and Mountain gorillas have the smallest populations, with numbers in just the hundreds. The Mountain gorillas are the sub species that were studied by the famed primatologist Dian Fossey, who observed gorillas in the Virunga Mountains before her tragic murder in 1985. Fossey was the Jane Goodall of the gorilla world. Recently, some good news came out of the protected areas surrounding the Mountain gorillas’ habitat: their population is rising! New census numbers reveal that populations have increased by nearly 100 gorillas since the last census, bringing the total number of Mountain gorillas to 880. This shows that the protection surrounding the forest and conservation efforts are working!
Though this is good news for one sub species of gorilla, the other three in the more lowland areas are in greater danger of human encroachment. As I mentioned in a post about the plight free-living chimpanzees, humans have logged for expensive woods in the middle of the African rainforest, creating logging roads that make it easier for hunters to kill the apes and sell their meat on the black market for the bushmeat trade. Coltan mining is another huge threat to gorilla habitat (coltan is the material used in LCD screens). The easiest way to take action for the gorillas in these areas besides donating to a conservation organization is to be a conscious consumer. Just like I mentioned with the plight of free-living orangutans, be aware of where your products you are purchasing are coming from. Recycle products with an LCD screen when you upgrade to a new device, or even if is broken – the parts can still be recycled. CSNW can even help you recycle your old cell phones!
Photo courtesy of the International Gorilla Conservation Programme’s Facebook page
Yesterday, longtime friends of the Cle Elum Seven Margaret and Karen got married in Seattle. Margaret and Karen are truly beloved by anyone who meets them. They are bright and warm and kind. They have possibly the biggest hearts of anyone you’ll ever meet.
We wanted to celebrate their joy, so today we put out the happiest, most colorful enrichment we could find. The chimpanzees spent quite some time taking inventory.
Foxie:
Annie:
Jamie:
Appropriately enough, the weather at the sanctuary is gorgeous and sunny today and the chimpanzees have been feeling pretty carefree. Annie and Missy enjoyed a lazy game of chase in the greenhouse this afternoon.
We’re so happy for you, Margaret and Karen. Lots of love from CSNW!
It’s snowing right now at the sanctuary, but this morning the sun was out for a bit and five of the chimps were hanging out on Young’s Hill. JB got some photos of Burrito giving himself a back massage on top of the platform:
Can you believe it’s already December?! The holidays are fast approaching and supporters are always asking us what we need or want. This year, we came up with a pretty comprehensive list and added a ton of stuff to our Amazon Wishlist. There are a variety of things on there, both for the chimps and for the humans, including our biggest need: a new external hard drive. Ours is apparently no longer backing up our data, which is scary when you think about how many amazing photos and videos we have on this computer! Four years of memories! So, we would love a new hard drive that will protect all of those awesome images, like this one of Ms. Foxie:
If you peruse the wishlist, you’ll see we’ve added everything from cleaning gloves to new plastic chairs for the chimps (they love to sit on the chairs during meal times). I also found a few new food puzzles (like this one) that I added to the list. As you may already know, Jamie is the smartest person on the planet. She loves a challenge, so finding projects to keep her busy and enriched is my daily goal, and a lot of times (because she is so much smarter than me) my daily challenge. But I think I’ve found a few things to help occupy her (and everyone’s) mind. Check them out!
You’ll probably notice that some of the goodies on the list are more “fun” than others, but we added a lot of things that are key parts of our daily routine – pens for example. But actually the pens are not just on there for human use. With Jamie’s love of drawing, we are always in short supply of pens. So having extra pens around the chimp house will enrich both the chimps’ and the humans’ lives. It’s a win-win for everyone!
So, check out our wishlist and feel free to email me at [email protected] if you have any questions or other ideas of things we might need. Thanks so much!
