Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee sanctuary

Relaxation

by

I take a yoga class once a week and am often inspired by the chimps here at CSNW. Their lives are nowhere near the freedom of Africa, but they have mastered the art of being able to truly relax in their sanctuary. Negra, Annie, and Jody have all been spotted doing “yoga poses” while relaxing (see this post of Jody doing some of my personal favorite poses), but true relaxation involves much more than a stretch or a twist. Today, I went out to the outdoor area and spotted Negra kicking back on the deck. Her ability to let go with her expression is priceless! That is true relaxation.

Art

by

As you may know, Jamie is an artist, though her medium of choice these days is usually pens and crayons, rather than paint. Perhaps she is more of a writer than a painter?

One of my favorite pieces from Jamie is the mask in this post. I found it while cleaning the playroom and was immediately amazed at how artistic and creative it was, so we’ve decided to frame it and put it in this year’s auction! I can’t wait to see how well it does!

Siesta Time

by

Afternoons are often very quiet around here. After the chimps have their lunch, the food comas set in and it’s almost always time for an afternoon siesta. Jamie was clearly thinking along those lines today.

Burrito, the tool user

by

Here at the sanctuary, we are constantly trying to find ways to encourage species-typical behaviors. Tool use is a great example. Presenting the chimps with a challenge that encourages problem solving keeps the chimps busy and entertained, which is so important in a captive environment.

Unlike Jamie, Burrito isn’t much of a tool user. J.B. said it perfectly in this post from last year- it’s not that he’s not intelligent enough, he just seems to lack the patience to use tools, especially when he can just ask for help from a caregiver.

However, the addition of the puzzles in the evenings to our daily routine has changed things a bit, and Burrito has been sharpening his skills. The fact that the puzzles are set up at the end of the day just before the caregivers leave, means that he can’t exactly ask for our help in some cases, so he’s becoming more and more willing to give it a try. There’s nothing like food to motivate Burrito!

More lovable Foxie

by

We usually try to mix up which chimps we post about every day, but we also try to balance that with the day to day happenings, and today, since we are on the topic of what we love about Foxie, and we are celebrating her birthday tomorrow, I thought I would just keep going with the theme of “things to love about Foxie”. So, today’s “thing to love”- her love of watching herself in the mirror.