Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Playtime with Dora and Honey B Part II

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This may seem redundant since Diana had posted a video only a couple of weeks ago of Dora and Honey B playing, but I had to share this play session between the two from yesterday. It just makes me happy knowing that these two are now back together after being separated years ago. It’s almost like they are trying to make up for lost time.

Since this is a semi-repeat, here are some bonus photos!

Honey B up close and personal:

Terry grooming Dora:

Meredith enjoying the green grass of their new pasture:

Sunday Rest & Relaxation

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Happy Sunday, everyone! Here at the sanctuary, it is cloudy and in the low 50’s (before adding in the *aggressive* wind that hits every spring). This means that it has been the perfect day for some much needed R&R… and the chimps have been vibing. Us humans have been enjoying it too – the last few weeks have been so busy, with the integration of the 9 and Negra’s procedure, that we have all been operating under some level of stress.

Today, though, both humans and chimps seem content to go through the day calmly and intentionally. We have been checking things off our daily tasks while the chimps enjoy time together or with the staff. It has been so nice to walk through the chimp house and hear breathy laughter coming from some of the chimps playing or teeth clacking from some serious grooming sessions (looking at you, Willy B). It seems that we all needed some R&R and we are more than happy to soak it in!

Lucky taking a moment for herself in the Oakwood Greenhouse this afternoon. Her brother, Cy, was nearby and they seemed to just be enjoying each others company.

Willy B (read: Chaos Coordinator) about to catch some shut eye after lunch in the Front Rooms.

Terry enjoying a quiet moment in the Oakwood Greenhouse after breakfast. That floof is something else!

Cy watching Terry as Terry watched me take pictures of him (Terry)… make sense?

Burrito taking a nap in-between play sessions.

Annie enjoying the quiet in the warmth of the greenhouse.

Negra is still healing up great and enjoying her mini-staycation, complete with movies on demand, food puzzles, and dancing caregivers.

BONUS PHOTO: Dora from the other day- not in rest or relaxation mode- but in full play mode. The photo from my phone is a bit grainy, but I thought the moment between her and the slinky was too great not to share.

Hope you are able to have some rest and relaxation today, too!

(And knock on wood… I don’t want to jinx the quiet chimp house. 🙂 )

The Nightbag Ritual & Your Questions About Integration, Again

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Before I get to the brief content of this blog post, I have a question for you, or, rather I have a request for your questions.

Several months ago, I recorded a conversation with Jen Feuerstein about integrating groups of chimpanzees with one another. Before that conversation, I invited blog readers to submit your questions for Jen. Then I made that recording available for a small donation.

I am going to be talking with Jen again in just a few days so that I can follow up with her now that she helped us make the final leap in putting the two groups of chimpanzees together. The group of nine has been together for just over a month, so the timing seems right.

Once again, I am inviting you to submit your questions about the integration process and now also post-integration considerations, worries, and expectations.

Your questions can be general to captive chimpanzees or specific to the integration that we just did. My thought is to add the follow-up conversation to the original video and make the whole thing more widely available for anyone who is interested in watching it (perhaps with a donation suggestion but available for free).

Let me know what you think, and write your questions in the comments to this blog post or send them to me by email at [email protected]. Thank you!!

 

On to today’s musings:

We’ve written about nightbags before. They are the post-dinner packaged treat that we give the chimpanzees. I’ve never met a chimp who didn’t like them.

It’s more than just the food at this point, though.

It’s the ritual.

The crinkling of the paper as your caregiver twists the bag to hand it to you though the mesh.

The cracking open of the bag (however you might choose to get into the contents of your bag – some break the twisted bag in half, others carefully unroll it, open the bag, and reach in).

The immediate gratification of staying right where you are to partake or taking your bag and going to your favorite spot, away from everyone else.

The spreading out on a surface, then sorting with your fingers or lips, or just shaking the contents and pouring the seeds, peanuts, popcorn, and dried fruit right into your mouth (your individual method has been honed to your personal preference over the years).

The finding someone else’s nightbag spot and picking through the leftovers to see if there are any surprise shells with seeds still contained.

All of it is so satisfying.

Just ask Annie:

Or Foxie:

Sanctuary’s Sprouting Seeds

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In their natural habitat, chimpanzees help maintain their ecosystem by helping with the dispersal of seeds. They disperse seeds by either ingesting the fruit or nut and later depositing the seeds elsewhere in their feces, or wadging the seed or nut and leaving it somewhere else in their habitat. Once the chimpanzee leaves the seeds via droppings or wadge, it germinates and a new generation of fruit tree can begin to grow. It is one of the many upon many of reasons protecting wild chimpanzee populations is important. It helps maintain the natural ecosystem.

Seed dispersal can also occur in captivity. Last summer, we had noticed a couple of pumpkin plants growing in the Oakwood Greenhouse. This year is no different. In fact, this years seems like there is more of a variety of plants growing throughout the sanctuary. Some of them can be attributed to the night bags the chimpanzees receive at dinner, while others are a bit more curious. They are sometimes part of the ingredients we use for the chimpanzees’ morning smoothie, and the only way they could have started to grow is by the chimpanzees passing them.

Here are some of the plants growing in the greenhouses (currently):

Pumpkin Plants

In the Riverview Greenhouse.
The biggest one so far is hidden behind bamboo in the Riverview Greenhouse.

Elderberry

Elderberry is sometimes added to the morning smoothies. This seedling is starting to grow in the Riverview Greenhouse.

Blackberry

Blackberries are also sometimes added to the morning smoothies. And this seedling started to grow in an area Jamie’s group is know to defecate.

Sunflower

Notice the pumpkin plant starting to sprout at the root of this sunflower in Burrito’s greenhouse.
In the Oakwood Greenhouse.

It also appears that growing is not exclusive to the greenhouses:

A sunflower sprout growing on one of the artificial leaves in the Marmot Playroom.
And another growing under the door in the Mezzanine.

Though these plants probably won’t grow to their full potential since the chimpanzees will probably root them out at some point, we can only hope they are left untouched and can start growing some fruits/veggies.

Here are some of the seed dispersers today!

Jamie:

Honey B:

Gordo:

Foxie:

Mave and Rayne:

And some photos of our recovering Queen Negra:

Negra has been receiving frequent visits from her group mates all throughout the day. This was during Foxie’s visit.

Negra seems to not mind this set up. She has been staying out of the family politics, been covered in blankets, receiving a lot of attention from the human caregivers…

And yes, Hawaiian rolls!

Heart of Grass

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As J.B. summarized in yesterday’s blog post, we’ve been hard at work caring for Negra as she recuperates from a trip to the sanctuary’s clinic.

Neggie continues to enjoy her cozy solitude and appears to be making a speedy recovery. We caregivers have been supplementing her cocktail of meds with enrichment puzzles, movies, and even the occasional sips of Sprite and nibbles of a sweet Hawaiian roll. It’s safe to say that, despite the laceration on her backside, Negra is thriving in this temporary clinical setting. (Think of Forrest Gump happily eating ice cream despite the bullet wound in his buttocks.)

Despite the unpredictable events of the Chimp House, J.B. and special projects volunteer Adam found time this weekend to complete a facelift of the upper pasture. The area was previously grazed by our neighbor’s horses but will now be the main enclosure for the rescued bovines during the summer. This afternoon, Betsy, Honey, Meredith and Nutmeg made the trek up from their winter paddock to the new frontier. The area is currently dotted with wildflowers and partially shaded by pine trees, and we think they’re going to love it up there once they get used to the terrain.

(Note: the wildflowers include quite a bit of lupine, which is problematic for pregnant cows when grazed in large amounts. Since none of the cows in our small herd are breeding and they generally avoid the lupine anyway, we’re allowing it to remain on the pasture for now.)

Here are some photos of Betsy taking an initial romp around the new area:

And here is a wider shot of the four bovines hanging out at the far end of the new pasture:

There aren’t many things that get the Jersey cattle to show their excitement, but giant fields of green grass seem to do the trick.

Guess these Lips!

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Today was very busy in the chimp house, but I thought we could play a game! Can you guess these lips?

Only one rule: don’t scroll down too quickly or the answer will reveal itself!

One hint: he is a handsome devil!

⬇️ Scroll down for the answer! ⬇️

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Willy B!