Looking for Cy, Lucky, Terry, Gordo, and Rayne? Better lace up your hiking boots and prepare for a workout because they’ve been spending their afternoons at the top of the Bray.
chimpanzee
A Hill of Beans
And just like that, Honey B (aka Beans, to some of us) became an outdoor chimp. This particular clip actually took place over a week ago and she has been out on her hill several times since! For now she is staying close to home (as is Mave) but I bet they’ll be exploring more soon. Your turn, Dora!
Here are a few photos of today’s lunch forage on the Bray.
Rayne:
Cy:
Cy discovering a whole apple:
Pant-hooting with delight!
Terry:
Cy finding an orange on the second tower:
Cy and Terry:
Terry:
Lucky:
Lucky, Rayne, and Cy:
The Sunrise Committee
Early mornings in Cy’s group can be pretty rowdy. Some of the boys (usually Willy B, but occasionally Gordo, Terry, or Cy) will begin displaying at some ungodly hour—5 or 6am if we’re lucky, or 2am if they know we have to work in the chimp house the next day—and the whole group will take turns screaming, pant hooting, or even chasing each other around. The chimps don’t usually bed down for the night, per se, but instead engage in first sleep, second sleep, and so on, sometimes moving to a new nest each time. But as the sun begins to rise over the Bray, things start to change.
One by one, they make their way to Greenhouse 2 (the Oakwood Greenhouse), compelled by the sun. As the greenhouse heats up and becomes bathed in a warm glow, the chimps groom, nap, and engage in their favorite activities together. This is the one time each day when the group reliably comes together as a whole (with one typical exception, of course!). I think of them as the Sunrise Committee, and when the Committee convenes, I know I can drink my coffee in peace.
If you know Honey B, you know she’s not one for committees. So this is usually her personal time, when she gets to enjoy the freedom of being alone. Sometimes she’ll pull one of the committee members for a game of chase or mall walking, but it’s rare to see her in the middle of the grooming session.
A Day on the Bray: Lucky Climbs a Tower!
Mave has been showing off her newfound confidence on the Bray, though at this point she prefers to stay somewhat close to home. Lucky, on the other hand, has been pushing herself to explore the very top of the enclosure. The other day she climbed one of the towers under construction at the top of the Bray for the first time (I think!) and took a moment to enjoy the view with her brother Cy and pal Gordo.
Rayne with one of her favorite books:
Cy, as I found him while closing up the chimp house one evening:
Here’s a photo of the sanctuary taken several weeks back from the driveway on the southern edge of our property which the Bonneville Power Administration built to access their transmission towers for us to walk our dogs along. In the background you can see one of the many cuts along Old Highway 10 where university students and geology buffs go to examine the various strata of ancient riverbeds, as well as the infamous Taylor Bridge, forever linked to the 2012 wildfire which bears its name.
And one from yesterday, after a wind gust blew a plastic bag up this impossibly steep hill while Jake and I were working on cattle fencing. I figured I’d stop a take a photo to hide how tired I was from the climb and buy myself a little time before trying to make my way back down. I was reminded of one of those quirky British competitions where people chase after a wheel of cheese down a steep slope (I’m not kidding) except at the bottom of this hill is simply an old barbed wire fence. This view of the slope might give you a sense of why we couldn’t extend the chimp enclosures any further to the east than we did – bear in mind, the chimp enclosure is itself a pretty steep hill. I really thought about it, though.
Grazing Days
What food could possibly be so exciting that a chimpanzee would willingly pass up fresh fruit, peanuts, chow, and smoothie? Why, it’s grass, of course!
Yes, for a few weeks each year the chimpanzees at CSNW become grazers, chomping down on grass at a rate more in line with the cows they share their sanctuary home with. What’s so great about grass? You got me. Wild chimpanzees do naturally consume significant amounts of browse—fibrous foods such as shoots, stems, and leaves—but the chimps at CSNW don’t eat any other browse with the same gusto as they do spring grass. This time of year, the grass is at its sweetest and most tender, as the cows will most certainly attest. But is it really better than smoothie?
Speaking of grazing (and with it being Earth Day and all), I thought I’d mention one of the projects we’ve been working on: Converting our pasture fencing to wildlife-friendly fencing. The original sanctuary property and the four parcels we purchased in recent years were part of a large homestead ranch that was in operation for a least a century. During that time, most of the pastures were fenced using barbed wire or a combination of barbed wire and woven field fence. Unfortunately, we’ve seen firsthand the toll this kind of fencing can take on wildlife. First, there’s the very real risk that wildlife, such as deer or elk, will get injured by or caught up in a fence. And second, there’s the problem of fawns being separated from their mothers as their moms cross over pasture fencing too high for them to jump. After doing a lot of research, we decided to transition to 3-wire high-tensile electric fencing, which can effectively contain our cows while allowing wildlife such as deer, elk, bobcats, and marmots to cross over or under safely. And for pastures no longer in use, the fences can be removed and the areas can be slowly re-wilded. As we work on finalizing our master site plan, we will also do so with an eye toward preserving wildlife migration corridors throughout the 113-acre property. After all, it’s not much of a sanctuary if it’s not also a home for the animals that were here first.
And last but not least, allow me to share some photos of Negra from today’s lunch forage:
Pan hibernatus
Join us for an exclusive look at the life of one of the world’s rarest (and sleepiest) primates.
Brave Mave’s Foray on the Bray
We almost missed it the first time.
I had a few minutes to kill before the chimps’ breakfast and decided to see if anyone was on the Bray. When I exited the greenhouse door I had to rub my eyes. Funny, I thought, that almost looks like Mave out there…
When caring for animals, or anyone for that matter, there are things you can control or influence and things you can’t. For the latter, all you can do is be patient and let them find their own way in their own time.
I guess the other obvious life lesson here is this: If there’s something you are afraid of, just get in a lot of fights and do the scary thing while you’re fighting. The fighting will seem much scarier by comparison, and over time, you will come to discover that you had the power to do the thing without fighting all along. 🙂
Anyway, three cheers for Mave! See you out on the Bray!
