Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Off-balance or perfect ten?

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We’ve had some beautiful, sunny, blue sky days this weekend which is unusual for this time of year, and Jamie is certainly taking advantage of it. Diana and Jamie went on at least six walks yesterday! Missy joined a couple of times, but of course opted to run at full speed while Jamie kept to more of a saunter.

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Then Missy decided to sprint toward the log bridge as if it were a vault, and she appeared to lose her a balance a little bit. Or maybe she meant to hurdle herself in that way, and it was actually an intentional landing. So, the question is, did Missy lose her balance or did she totally stick that landing? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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The ladies of mystery

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The ladies of mystery…Annie, Jody, and Missy. We always intend to share the lives of each of the chimpanzees equally on the blog. But some of the chimpanzees have different feelings about being the subject in front of the camera (just like we do) and we always want to respect that and never invade their personal space uninvited.

If you’ve been following the blog for awhile you’ve probably seen that Missy (often with Annie right behind her) is always on the go and rarely sits still long enough to photograph. And Jody, who loves to relax in luxurious nests, is often tucked away just out of sight of the humans, especially in the winter time. But then, all of this speaks to the beauty of their lives in sanctuary. They always have a choice.

So while today two of the ladies of mystery still remain a mystery, I was able to recently capture one of them, the beautiful Annie:

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From scrawny to brawny

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When the chimpanzees first arrived at CSNW six and a half years ago, they were frail, weak, almost sickly ghosts of themselves. Through the years we have seen their once physically and mentally deprived selves transform into thriving, healthy, and fit chimpanzees full of personality.

The other day Jamie was sitting on a step in one of the front rooms and it struck me how strong her thigh muscles have become from her daily perimeter walks. It’s really very impressive!

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She’s really come a long way. These photos from the first days in sanctuary really highlight her fragile, atrophied leg muscles.

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In this photo you can see not only how scrawny and skinny her legs look, but also how much she plucked her hair from her belly while in the lab, likely due to sheer boredom:

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Sanctuary has provided Jamie the opportunity to patrol her territory, stretch her legs, and keep her mind active. Her life now is full of so much enrichment—both for mental stimulation and physical activity—that she doesn’t get as bored as she used to.

Of course, captivity is not perfect and Jamie still does pluck her belly every now and then, perhaps because it became a habit but also possibly due to periods of boredom. No matter how great we make her environment, we can never recreate the life she and all captive chimpanzees should have had in the wild. But for Jamie, the next best thing is taking walks around Young’s Hill while her caregivers follow along on the other side of the fence—always with at least one of her favorite boots, of course!

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Rain, snow or shine

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I’m often asked if the chimpanzees go onto Young’s Hill when it is raining or snowing. The answer is yes, they still venture outside, although I think we can all agree, sunshine is probably preferred.

As I’m writing this, Jamie is on her fourth walk around the hill (it’s currently foggy and sprinkling). And she wasn’t the only one to venture outside. Burrito, Missy, Jody and Annie joined her on the hill for a little while after lunch despite the fog and rain.

Sometimes the chimps go out to gather a “snowy treat,” as you will see in the some of the following photos.

It seems that no matter what the weather brings the chimpanzees still choose to go outside.

Annie

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Burrito

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Jamie

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Missy

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Glitter baby!

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Thanks to all of our amazing supporters, Foxie is the lucky recipient of many troll and Dora the Explorer dolls. Without fail, each new “baby” makes her day (and subsequently the humans’ day as well). She recently received this wee glitter troll and as one might imagine, she was particularly enamored with this flashy little guy:

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Shortly after receiving her new friend, I found Foxie in the greenhouse full of joy and laughing all by herself (well, not by herself, she did have the troll tucked in her hip pocket):

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Look at this huge play face!

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And the piece de resistance…notice glitter troll on top of Foxie’s upside-down bum!!

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Good times, in classic Foxie-style.

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Enrichment in Boxes Day

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Each day at the sanctuary has a daytime and an evening enrichment theme. Having these themes helps volunteers and staff select various objects to offer the chimpanzees. It’s not that the chimps know what each theme is, like “Red Day” or “Giant Pile Day” or “Things in Bags Day;” it is more that the themes help staff and volunteers make sure to mix up the enrichment that is offered each day (and night) and the ways in which it is offered.

One of the recent themes was “Enrichment in Boxes Day,” which entailed volunteers putting various items like troll and dora dolls, socks, scarves, straws, bandanas, wooden toys, etc. into boxes. We put the boxes with all of those items in them into each of the enclosures after we finished cleaning yesterday.

We caught Foxie checking out one of the boxes in the Playroom. Can you guess what she was after?

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Watching Foxie stick her hand into the box of “unknown” is something that really struck me. Elizabeth literally said “She never would have done that six years ago.” She was right. Without knowing Foxie’s early years at the sanctuary, one might think that she has always loved troll and dora dolls. But, that has not always been the case. When she first arrived, she did not want anything to do with the enrichment or blankets that were offered each day. She actually went out of her way to avoid all of it.

Throughout the past six plus years, Foxie has grown by leaps and bounds. She has gained confidence to explore Young’s Hill (and even joins Jamie on her patrol sometimes), she continues to try new things, and as Katelyn wrote in a recent post, she has grown to trust humans with her “babies.” Who would have imagined that one piece of enrichment would have such a dramatic effect on the transformation of Foxie chimpanzee?