Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Just a Little Stitious

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Are you superstitions? New World Encyclopedia says: “The earliest superstitions were created as a way to deal with the ignorance and fear of the unknown. Chance misfortunes could be ascribed a cause, and the potential to avoid or control them was created. Superstitions are thus a way of attempting to regain control over events, particularly when one feels helpless.”

I wouldn’t say we are superstitious at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, but we are careful about saying how successful the integration is going. I guess you could say we don’t want to jinx anything. Anna pointed out a quote from Michael Scott on The Office that describes us best in our current situation: “I’m not super stitious, but I am a little stitious.” Recently, I find myself knocking on wood if I say the 9 are doing well, just in case something goes wrong. Which is why a recurring phrase you have/will hear from us for a long time is: We are cautiously optimistic! We don’t know what the future holds for these 9 chimpanzees, but for now things are looking up and we are just a little stitious.

I wanted to capture some photos of the 9 grooming and playing, but they were all doing those things in hard to reach places. However, I was able to capture a few individual photos today!

Dora peacefully napping:

Lucky:

And Willy B admiring his own reflecting:

Today is also Wish List Wednesday!! We recently just updated the wish list!

Short Stories From The Chimp House

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It has been a busy day here in the chimp house! After the morning cleaning, it started to rain and since then the chimps have been keeping us busy. Burrito is being his normal playful self (which has involved at least five runs around the hill with the caregivers), Foxie is blowing raspberries to try and get Caregiver Katelyn’s attention, and Jamie is observing all. On the other side of the chimp house Terry is looking for shoes to groom, Willy B would like to see our camera reels, and Lucky is hoping to snag some extra tomatoes. While we work to get our daily tasks done we’ve also been snagging photos – so today’s blog is a montage of short stories from throughout the day. 🙂

This morning, Caregiver Katelyn and I gave Foxie two new Strawberry Shortcake dolls. When Foxie saw them she expressed her excitement with a ceiling punch! She quickly came downstairs to get them and give us some happy grunts. Katelyn snagged this photo of Foxie and her new doll shortly after in the Greenhouse and we just can’t take it!

This morning was overcast and cool – a nice morning, but damp from last night’s rain. I thought that Jamie’s group wouldn’t be waiting for Young’s Hill access, since it was so wet, but when I opened the door everyone proceeded to head straight out! Annie went almost straight for the hammock, where she picked some grass before going for a stroll around the hill. Annie has been disappearing during the mornings lately to enjoy some time by herself on the hill- you can read more about that in Kelsi’s blog here.

Negra also went straight out on the hill… and kept going… and going! Negra will often go onto Young’s Hill and stop a short ways out where she will sit and enjoy the morning, but today she joined the rest of her group and enjoyed the morning out far on the hill. Spring has really sprung!

We weren’t the only ones surprised to see Negra so far onto the hill – Jody also came over to make sure all was well with Negra. Caregiver Chad caught this sweet moment of Negra reassuring Jody that all is well, before they both went back to their respective morning hill activities.

I found Dora in the Oakwood Greenhouse this afternoon. The sound of the rain on the greenhouse panels was peaceful and calming, which matched the sight of Dora and Terry grooming. After Terry left, Dora continued to sit and relax in the greenhouse.

Have a great evening, everyone!

Where in the World is Annie?

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I wanted to share a fun little story from this morning! As I gave Annie’s group Young’s Hill, everyone including Negra rushed out. Once Anna brought breakfast out to the greenhouse all the chimps were heading back in to eat, except Annie. We couldn’t find Annie anywhere. It had been more than 10 minutes of breakfast being served and she was nowhere in sight. Annie does not miss a meal! Sofia came over to help do checks when I said I think Annie is on the Hill, but we can’t see her anywhere. Sofia told us she did this yesterday, but eventually came back for breakfast. We finally got a glimpse of her 15 minutes into breakfast, she was far up on the top of the Hill foraging for what I assume was grass or some kind of foliage. Apparently, that grass was so good she didn’t even come back for breakfast! Breakfast was not a concern for Annie, because when she finally returned and Anna tried to call her over for food, she very contently laid back on the platform in the greenhouse and took a little nap.

Today was a beautiful spring day so we took advantage of the weather and did a Hill forage for lunch!

Don’t worry Annie got plenty of food!

But Missy seemed to score the most!

Negra was quite pleased with her haul! She even worked pretty hard for her food too, look at Neggie on the Esher structure!

Jody with a mouth full of corn and hands full of forage!

Jamie collected her forage and then took all of it to a secluded hammock to eat alone.

Burrito cradling an arm full of onions:

Little Foxie was having a great day roaming around the Hill and hanging out with friends!

Bonus Photos!

Rayne was asleep in a cozy nest up on one of the leaves in the Marmot Room.

And sweet Dora was hangout in the window ledge watching her caregivers cleaned her playroom.

Mave’s Feminist Uprising

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Mave is currently living her best life. She seems to thrive in a larger group with more chimpanzees to interact with and look after. These last few days, she’s virtually never alone.

The video above is of a very fun play session between Mave and Rayne, but the blog post title is more about these two stories…

You may remember from a blog written by J.B. entitled “It’s Only Natural” that Terry and Dora are the only two chimpanzees who express a certain natural behavior. We know from their former caregivers at Wildlife Waystation that they haven’t always done this – they did it for a while, stopped for a very long time, then started again in recent years. Terry only requests that Dora mate when food is brought out for meals. Yep, food is VERY exciting for chimpanzees. From our observations so far, Dora is not always in the mood for Terry’s advances, but she eventually gives in to his requests.

Enter Dora’s new friend Mave.

Mave, apparently, is not willing to tolerate Terry’s behavior and will not only yell at Terry if she catches him requesting Dora to copulate, but will physically “protect” Dora. Chad wrote up the first instance of this the other day. To quote Chad, “Mave began screaming at Terry, and blocked Dora from him via hugging her.” She apparently spent the rest of lunch guarding Dora while also trying to reconcile with Terry. At that point, Terry was more interested in lunch. He did reassure Mave that all was okay, and did not make another attempt that day.

We’ll have to see how this plays out in the end, but I can tell you that the female humans at the sanctuary were feeling a certain feminine solidarity with Mave.

 

The second story is from last night when everyone was getting ready for bed. I was watching on the remote security cameras. Every night prior to last night, Mave, Willy B, and Honey B have slept in one of the Front Rooms while the six chimpanzees from the other group spread out among the two playrooms.

Last night, Cy was still up taking some alone time (or so he thought) in the Mezzanine. I watched as Mave gathered some blankets from the Marmot Mountain Playroom. I expected her to take her large pile of blankets through the Mezzanine and down through the door in the floor that connects to the Front Rooms. What she did instead was make a nest right in the “cubby” of the Mezzanine, blocking the door that connects it to Marmot Mountain. She made a beautiful nest and lied down.

A few minutes later, Cy approached where she was lying down. It was clear to me that he wanted to vacate the Mezzanine. Mave, however, remained lying down, not moving a muscle. He got a little closer and patiently waited again. Still no movement from Mave. After about ten minutes, he climbed over her to get out the door. She still didn’t move.

Mave is a female figure that we all can admire. She’s a friend to everyone but is strong and confident in her position.

If you haven’t already, I suggest you celebrate Mave by getting a Mave hoodie. I will wear mine with even more pride and admiration now.

Some Things Never Change

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As we cautiously move forward with the group of 9 chimps, we are all trying to adjust to a “new” normal for schedules, shifting, and cleaning. Though we don’t know what the future holds for this group, I do want to express that even though we are “cautiously optimistic,” the chimps have worked so hard to build these relationships and their hard work has paid off! We are so proud of them and the way they have been able to navigate difficult social situations so far! While we humans may have helped facilitate these meet ups, they really deserve all the credit for making this group become nine, especially Cy! That guy really knows how to defuse a situation!

Meanwhile, on Jamie’s side of the building, some things never change. This morning Jamie took a nice leisurely stroll while I drove the gator beside her. Burrito and Missy chased each other up Young’s Hill as Annie followed peacefully behind. I took great comfort in doing something so familiar while we have all this change happening. So if today you needed something familiar to ground you and bring you comfort, I hope this video of the chimps on the Hill bring you some joy.

Don’t forget today is the last day for GiveBIG! We are so close to our goal, and you can help us get there!! Also, check out the article written about us in the Yakima Herald!

Grace took these awesome photos of Rayne relaxing in a box in the Oakwood greenhouse:

Social Studies

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It’s been about four days since the newly-integrated group of nine rescued chimps spent their first full day together. We caregivers have been closely observing with our fingers crossed that things keep going smoothly, but we’re already impressed by how well the chimpanzees have adapted to cohabitating with their former neighbors.

We have previously touched on the challenges and benefits of socializing captive chimpanzees. If things continue going well, Cy, Dora, Gordo, Lucky, Rayne and Terry will keep living with Honey B, Mave and Willy B in the newer wing of the Chimp House.  It was evident from the first introductions that these chimpanzees have some sort of affinity for one another, and our observations since then have largely reinforced those beliefs. There have been displays, disagreements, misunderstandings and (occasional) fights, but the chimpanzees have repeatedly found ways to resolve their differences through grooming, play, and a great deal of measured politeness.

Although free-ranging chimpanzee communities consist of fluid subgroups that change membership frequently, merging entire communities is not something that they naturally do. Even so, it’s clear that these nine individuals want to do exactly that. For these captive chimps, all rescued from the closed Wildlife Waystation, expanding their social network will enrich their lives in ways that puzzles and climbing structures cannot.

Our team will continue to post occasional updates and will probably produce some sort of comprehensive summary once we know more about the group’s long-term compatibility. Our daily routine currently includes all the usual chores plus additional observation and discussion, so the blogs may continue to be a bit atypical for a while.

Today’s blog post features a simple assortment of video clips we have recorded during the last couple days! Most of these are close-up shots taken “through” the caging with an 85mm lens; the steel mesh is often visible as a square vignette around each frame (always reminding us of the unusual environment these chimps reside in). Hopefully this post gives you a glimpse of current events at the sanctuary and some more excitement for the future!

Terry (right) grooms Willy B (left) in the shady Oakwood Greenhouse.
Gordo extracts raisins from a “raisin board” enrichment puzzle
Honey B perches on a firehose “vine” inside
Cy sits amid the foliage outside
Gordo literally puts his feet up in the front rooms