chimpanzee

Our Queen

February 8, 2023 by Kelsi

Negra, as we all know, is our awe-inspiring queen here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. This morning in particular, Negra was looking more regal than normal, if that can even be possible.

Often when I look at Negra, I find myself reflecting on just how resilient and amazing she really is. There are some parts of her life I will never understand how she endured and still found a way to persevere. It is a true honor when Negra graces us with her presence, whether it be a kiss, a laugh, a head nod, ordering us to dance for her, or simply just a glance.

Over the years Negra has taught me so much in life: never settle, be unapologetically yourself, always appreciate a sunny day, speak up when you are dissatisfied, life is short- take your sweet time, and to only spend time doing the things you love. I have many things to be thankful for in my career, but one of the greatest privileges is to have built a relationship with a true queen, Negra.

Please enjoy the photo series of Neggie:

Negra yawning:

Negra food grunting before breakfast:

Bonus photos!

This morning at breakfast Burrito took his sweet potatoes to the bench in Front Room 2 and relaxed:

After cleaning we found a grooming train!

Jamie (not seen Missy grooming Jamie), Jody, Foxie, Burrito:

Breakfast, Interrupted

February 3, 2023 by J.B.

Sometimes my brain is in no mood to write a blog post so I go through my phone to see if there are any photos I haven’t posted. Thus, I present to you, apropos of nothing, these photos from last summer of Dora and Cy stopping to watch the train go by as they eat oranges.

Keeping up with Burrito

January 28, 2023 by J.B.

I followed the chimps up the hill this morning as they made their way to the wooded area. Burrito followed Jody closely as they made their way through the gully and up along the fence line.

Foxie was not far behind.

Missy, of course, had made it to the top before anyone even noticed she was gone.

When we arrived at the top, Burrito appeared determined. He may not be ready to climb a tree just yet, but he was going to do something adventurous. He climbed past Missy and went to the roof of Carlene’s Tower.

From there, he took in the view of the Yakima River and the distant town of Cle Elum.

But then he was off to do other things, like climbing the log pile with Jamie.

The group returned to the greenhouse. Jody brought with her a piece of pine bark with scars form the Taylor Bridge Fire and what look like holes from a woodpecker.

Throughout the morning, the group (minus Negra, of course, who remained in her cozy nest) would continue to make trips up to the pines. Annie is still wearing her waist band, as you can see.

After lunch, Jamie brought her sweet potatoes for a picnic and took some time to inspect the insect and chainsaw markings on the logs.

On their fourth trip up, it was clear that Burrito was not slowing down. Missy chased him across the log bridges and nearly captured his toes.

Next time, Missy.

They stopped to rest together.

In the original side of the building, there’s a small interior room called Front Room 4 that has a view into the kitchen and foyer, where we work throughout the afternoon. Burrito has learned that if he tries hard enough to get our attention, the humans can’t concentrate and must abandon their attempts to write the blog.

And so long as you’re not doing anything, you might as well take a walk with Burrito, right? Great! He’ll meet you outside then.

He waits for you to arrive, and then he’s off to the top of the hill once more.

Impressions

January 27, 2023 by J.B.

It’s officially mud season, and boy do we have a lot of it this year. Construction on Young’s Hill and The Bray finished too late last year to replant grass in the disturbed areas, so what was dust last fall when the chimps went back outside is now a squishy, slippery mess. One benefit of the mud, however, is finding the chimps’ hand and footprints all over the hill.

Unlike a lot of the animal tracks we find around the sanctuary, the chimps’ fore and hind limb prints are very distinctive from one another, due to the fact that chimps use the middle phalanges (not the knuckle itself but the area between the first and second knuckles) of their hands for walking while, like us, they use the soles of their feet.

Here are some hand prints:

Footprints show the entire sole of the foot with the big toe extending almost 90 degrees from the other toes.

There was a time when most of the Cle Elum Seven, who previously knew nothing but the concrete and bars of their laboratory cages, wouldn’t dream of stepping in mud. Times certainly have changed. It’s not as if they enjoy being dirty, however. When they return from an adventure outside, they promptly clean themselves up by wiping their hands and feet on walls, caging, cardboard boxes, or anything else within reach. And then leave it for their cleaning staff to take care of 🙂

Cheers to the Goofy Moments

January 26, 2023 by Grace

No two days of sanctuary are ever the same. When you spend your time caring for amazingly intelligent, complex, and witty individuals you never know what is going to come your way. Some moments are difficult and some are relaxed, but there’s little goofy moments sprinkled throughout them all.

Over the last few months I’ve been collecting as many of these moments as I can, but this is just a small snapshot since I had to mostly rely on the security cameras. Unfortunately, the odds of us having our phones out recording when we spray ourselves in the face with a hose (just an example) is slim to none.

At the end of the day, all moments of sanctuary (whether difficult, easy, or somewhere in between) are precious and are moments I wish could be captured for forever. I guess that’s one of the perks about having a daily blog- along with connecting with our amazing supporters, it gives us the opportunity to record in web-history moments from our days here. Thanks for that. 🙂

Dora and Mave, or Mora, engaged in a grooming session:

Beautiful, sweet Lucky:

Last night, staff and volunteers went out for dinner to celebrate Anthony’s tenure here. While not everyone was able to make it or is pictured in the photo, it’s always a special moment hanging out with everyone in the outside world:

Two Most Likely Friends

January 25, 2023 by Kelsi

To start, if you haven’t read Anthony’s final blog from Monday, I would stop here and go read his blog first. He very beautifully wrote about his experiences in sanctuary and the new journey he is about to start, but he also described the life of a caregiver. To be a caregiver is a true honor, but it also comes with many challenges. There are moments like the one I am going to write about today that make everything worth the hard parts, but then you have days of watching your friends fight and there is nothing you can do to help (which might just be the hardest part of the job). I digress though, I encourage you to read his blog!

For me personally, watching chimps who struggle socially develop strong relationships with other chimps is one of the most extraordinary parts of the job. Facilitating chimp introductions may have been one of the most stressful points in my career, but it was also one of the most rewarding as well. Now that they are a fully integrated group, I catch amazing moments every day between Honey B and Dora in particular, both with other individuals in their group and with each other. I feel so immensely proud of them. With their own quirks, they each left us unsure of how they would integrate in the very beginning of the introduction stage. This is not a new story I am telling; many of you who follow the blog know that we had a few individuals that we referred to as “wild cards.” What I didn’t expect was for Dora to become Miss Popular or for Honey B to sometimes be the cool, calm and collected one in the group. One might even go as far as saying that she may occasionally be a peace-keeper, and has developed strong relationships with multiple people in her group! This is just proof that chimps really do belong in larger groups with more social stimulation. I am not exactly sure what I am getting at today, but I am just really, really happy for them!

It is not so surprising that Honey B let the sweet, tiny, but also mighty Dora into her social circle. They did live with each other at Wildlife Waystation at some point, so they were not wholly unfamiliar. As Terry knows, however, it doesn’t always matter if you have history; you still have to put the work in for a friendship! (Fortunately, Honey B and Terry are good friends now.) While Terry had to work hard for Honey B’s affection, Dora did not. What a wild experience it must be to think that you won’t ever see or live with someone again and then end up back together. I hope you enjoy this video of Honey B and Dora, the two most likely friends :).

Bonus photo of Foxie: