Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee sanctuary

Happy Birthday, Linda!

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Today was sponsored by Aimee Kaufman and Adam Webber in honor of their mother, Linda Webber! Aimee and Adam shared this message about their gift:

“Today is our mother’s birthday. All she wanted was a donation in her name to the sanctuary. She has such joy and love for the chimps at the rescue. It was her son, Adam who introduced her to the sanctuary after he began volunteering there. Nothing would make her more happy than to honor her by dedicating a day in her name. We love you Mom. Adam and Aimee”

Aimee and Adam, thanks so much for choosing to honor your mother and celebrate her special day by making a difference in the chimps’ lives!

Linda, we hope you have a beautiful day and year ahead! Thank you so much for your heart full of love for the chimps. Happy Birthday from all of us here at the sanctuary and may it be the best one yet!

Jamie and Missy, always enjoying whatever life brings their way (a winter past – we don’t have nearly this much snow…yet…):

Missy:

Annie:

The hard work of having fun

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When I opened the door to Young’s Hill this morning, everyone crowded into the raceway to file out. Missy was first out and straddled the muddy, icy raceway to avoid walking in it, Burrito clung to the caging the whole way and Foxie just went for it and walked right out through it all. She had places to go with no time to spare. Everyone meandered up the hill together to take in the view. grab a snow snack and enjoy the brisk morning for awhile before coming back inside to warm up.

Top left, going clockwise, we have Missy, Annie, Jamie, Jody, Burrito and Foxie. Negra ordered in and had snow delivered while she lounged in her warm nest.

Jamie has been full of absolute joy today. She started the morning off upside down on her barrel (always a sign of happy Jamie) kicking, flailing and laughing. Then she moved into wild games of chase throughout the chimp house with her caregivers and good friends, Jody and Foxie, then there was policing of the fun and games of others, grooming a volunteer caregiver in training, and somehow she still managed to squeeze in some alone time on the hill to take in her queendom.

But it wasn’t long before she raced back inside for another round of chase:

Frankly, all these good times have been exhausting:

Chimpanzee motion

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Compared to humans, chimpanzees have a tall and narrow pelvis, flat feet (not arched) and a differently shaped backbone. In short, a chimp’s skeletal structure is ideal for quadrupedal locomotion and when they are on the ground, they generally use all four limbs to get from one place to another.

This is not to say the chimps don’t use just their legs sometimes. It just looks like it takes a bit more effort:

But sometimes it can be convenient to switch to bipedalism:

The chimps have incredibly strong upper bodies that are perfect for climbing and swinging.

And having opposable toes comes in handy to add that bit of extra grip when you need it.

Sometimes, when they are feeling extra daring, those toes are all they need:

Snow and peanut butter

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Cold, wintery days always bring a change for the chimpanzees and while they always have the choice to go outside when they want, if it’s too wet or cold, they often prefer to keep their forays short and return to the warmth of the chimp house for indoor activities. As caregivers we’re always trying to stay a step ahead to meet their anticipated needs for any given day and knowing the chimps will probably be spending more time indoors sets our wheels turning on how to keep their active minds busy and engaged and how to jazz up their days.

We often utilize food puzzles during the day as an added activity and thought today was perfect for two chimp favorites: buckets of snow with a few raisins buried in them and dipper tubes with peanut butter. Dipper tubes are small PVC pipes that we screw into the caging from the outside and the chimps use their fingers or a tool to get the contents out. Kind of like indoor mini termite mounds minus the termites. 🙂

Beautiful Annie was quite enjoying her peanut butter “termites”:

Bonus photo of Jamie napping: