I was playing tug of war with Burrito in the greenhouse the other day when Negra approached and sat herself down in front of Burrito, waiting to be groomed. Burrito took the hint. Be sure to turn your volume up to hear Burrito’s tooth clacking, lip smacking, and Bronx cheers.
chimpanzee sanctuary
Games with Foxie
Okay, okay — I know I just posted a bunch of Foxie photos yesterday, but this video was just too much fun to not post. So, here she is, the nearly 38 year old chimp who is going on six. 🙂
Foxie with a new troll and outreach updates
If you are active on our Facebook pages and like to see updates about the chimps there—I have some important news! We have decided to share more photos of the chimps on our main page and close down the individual chimp pages, so it’s all in one place and more people will get to see stories about the Cle Elum Seven. We have made dedicated photo albums of each chimp and will be transferring photos from their individual pages to these albums this week.
We’re also going to participate in the social media challenge of 100 Happy Days. The idea is that for 100 days in a row, we will post a picture of something that represents happiness for the sanctuary. Really, every day is a happy day in sanctuary, so this shouldn’t be too hard! We will use the hashtag #100HappyDays so that any other person participating in the challenge will see our posts, too. I think it will be a lot of fun and I hope you all will enjoy it. We will do the majority of the posts on our Instagram and Pinterest pages, but will post them to our Facebook page as well once a week. Even if you don’t use those social media sites, you can still view the photos!
As a side, we are SO close to reaching 10,000 likes. How awesome would it be to reach that goal? Anytime you like, comment, or share a post from our page you help to get more friends for the sanctuary, and we can always use more friends! I’m making it a personal goal to reach 10,000 likes by the end of the 100 Happy Days. Even if it means I have to hunt down another 300 friends just to make it! But something tells me that with all our wonderful and caring supporters, it won’t be too hard to get you all to share some of our posts and encourage yours friends to like the page.
Anyway, on to the most important part of this post—Foxie with a new troll! 🙂
A relaxing morning walk
We have written quite a lot about Jamie chimpanzee’s Young’s Hill walks and accompanied the descriptions with many, many pictures. It really is one of the best experiences of working at Chimpanzee Sanctuary NW and one of my favorite activities to share with Jamie. Today I would like to invite you to join Jamie on her walk around the hill. The video doesn’t do the actual experience justice but I did what I could to try to capture the idea. Hope you enjoy your walk around the hill!
A spring walk with Jamie
Today is a beautiful spring day here at the sanctuary and the chimpanzees have been enjoying a relaxing day in the warm spring breezes. Jamie was ready for a walk around Young’s Hill after lunch and after donning the Jamie-approved cowgirl boot, we set off. Everyone (with the exception of Negra who chose to enjoy the warm spring breeze from her nest in the sun) came out to spend time exploring. But Jamie and I decided to meander, stopping to check things out and wait for each other along the way.
This is not usually the case when walking with Jamie. She has a sense of purpose to everything she does and Jamie, being Jamie, typically determines the course and speed of the walk. She isn’t one to wait around for her caregivers (or the other chimpanzees) and does not appreciate any of us making up the route or getting ahead of her. But this spring day, with so much in bloom, she tolerated a little exploring on both our parts.
Once back inside, I found Jamie nesting in front of the barn doors, surrounded by her magazines and enjoying the warm breeze through the playroom.
She stayed like this for a long time, just gazing outside and enjoying the view into the chimpanzees’ garden. It was a rare treat to see her so relaxed and at peace.
She didn’t even mind the paparazzi.
We hope you are all enjoying equally beautiful and relaxing spring days, wherever you are!
Jody and the Bamboo
Jody loves to harvest her own plants from Young’s Hill. In addition to a variety of wild plants that grow out there, we have planted several groves of bamboo generously donated by Provitro Biosciences. While Missy appreciates the bamboo for its climbing potential, Jody prefers to break off shoots and eat the leaves.
I snapped the following photos the other day when Jody brought this bamboo inside to enjoy.
And as I was typing this blog post, Jody dragged this giant piece of bamboo in from outside. Let’s hope the bamboo survives Jody’s love.
Carrying things around when you’re a chimpanzee
Everyday I put on clothes that have pockets to hold my keys, cell phone and wallet. When I leave the house, I carry a purse to transport the many “vital” items I might need throughout the day. Most of the time, I do this without thought since it’s such a natural part of my day. While I am grateful for the ease that these modern conveniences provide I can tell you with confidence that they are not strictly necessary. You might think that carrying things around as a chimpanzee could be challenging. The chimpanzees do not have pockets or purses (although they do have access to them provided by the daily enrichment) and yet they manage to carry around the important things just fine. In fact, their ingenuity is often inspiring! There are various solutions to the problem of carrying things when you’re a chimpanzee. Here are just a few.
Of course, hands and arms are always up to the task.
Mouths are often quite useful as well.
Carrying things on your back takes a little practice, but Foxie is a pro.
Options that are particular to chimpanzees are the hip pocket (the area between the thigh and the abdomen) and the ever popular foot grab!
Sometimes, you just have to make it work with whatever you have at hand. Jamie’s problem solving skills often lend themselves to situations like this in interesting ways. For example, she has been seen on more than one occasion to use this table to carry her portion of food from a meal to a more comfortable location were she can enjoy her selection at leisure.
