Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Today’s sponsor-a-day is from the Tacoma chapter of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. The ladies collected tons of enrichment for the chimps’ Cinco de Mayo party. Thanks so much ladies!
Here’s to a fun fiesta for Negra, Missy and all of the seven!
We all know Jody knows how to relax (see this the old Lessons from chimpanzees post with Jody nesting outside and this classic photo retrospective of Jody’s yoga poses).
Well, a couple of weeks ago Jody took a serious liking to the sandbox in the greenhouse. The greenhouse must have warmed up the sand nicely. While Connie and I cleaned the playroom, Jody truly appeared to be in her own private spa, oblivious to the world.
P.S. Don’t forget that we’ll be celebrating Jody’s birthday this Sunday – Mother’s Day!
We have a couple of small bamboo plants that we have been keeping in the human area of the greenhouse, and we’ve discovered that the chimps, especially Annie, love it just as much as grass! Annie will make raspberry sounds and point to it, just begging for us to give her more!
The other day she discovered that not only is it fun to eat:
…but it’s also fun to watch yourself eat it:
I can’t wait to see this girl on Young’s Hill!
Annie and Missy just play, play, play:
In the chimp world, when you are the boss, it means you can get away with a lot– well, everything. As the leader of the Cle Elum Seven, Jamie lets her feelings be known. When she doesn’t like something someone did, or the way they did it, it can lead to a fight (or a screaming match, which seems to be more common these days). So, to succeed as a member of the group, you must learn how to be a good politician, which first and foremost means how to be submissive to the (wo)man. As the least dominant member of the group, Annie is excellent at this. She is constantly referencing the other members of the group to make sure everyone is okay with whatever it is she is doing. Foxie is somewhere in the middle of the dominance hierarchy but tends to get away with a lot. She is the peacekeeper of the group and has a very close friendship with Jamie, but she still has to tread lightly, none the less.
