Despite the fact that they have access to their own personal water sources 24 hours a day, the chimpanzees seem to really enjoy drinking out of the hose. Caregivers are always happy to oblige.
chimpanzee
Annie Chimpanzee
Age: 41ish. Her exact birthday is unknown since she was captured in the wild, but her records indicate that she was born sometime in 1974 (we celebrate her birthday on September 10th each year).
Best friend: Missy chimpanzee
Nicknames: Annie-bo-bannie, Miss Annie
Best known for: Putting her feet up and making bird noises
Personality: Sweet, kind, gentle, gorgeous, playful, sassy, courageous, evolving.
Distinguishing physical characteristic: notch in her right ear.
Other: She secretly loves to groom human toes with a tool.
Click here to read more about Annie’s history before arriving at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
Happy Birthday, Meg!
Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by the chimps’ good friend, Meg Lunnum! Meg has been a long-time supporter of the chimpanzees and their sanctuary home and she shared this message about today:
“Today is my birthday and my birthday wish is for the chimpanzees to have new roommates. I understand this is a real possibility and I am so excited.”
Meg, thank you so much for thinking of the chimpanzees today and always! We have such an exciting year ahead as we begin to move forward with our plans for expanding the sanctuary and the chimps’ family. How very special it is to have you as part of our sanctuary family as we watch the chimps’ lives grow in so many wonderful ways. Thank you so much for recognizing and honoring them, and all animals, as the amazing individuals they are. All of us here at the sanctuary send you Happy Birthday hoots!! We’re so glad you are in the world!
Your pal, Queen Neggie:
Nap Time
I love taking photos and video of the chimpanzees running around, being active, and getting into mischief. Active chimpanzees are generally happy chimpanzees, and when I watch them explore and run I think of all of the years they lived in small cages.
There’s also something incredible, though, about watching the chimps truly relax.
Today the sun is streaming into the playroom and seems to be making Jamie and Negra very sleepy.
Jamie, in typical Jamie fashion, is curled up in her nest with boots and toys:
Of course, being Jamie, this nap is not going to last very long:
Negra is in her spot on the catwalk of the playroom in front of the window – feet up in the air:
Doesn’t this just make you want to join them in relaxing in the sun?
Just the right piece
There is no shortage of snow on the ground in Cle Elum, so the chimpanzees don’t have to step far outside for a cold snack. They don’t have to, but with this sunny weather they’ve been venturing farther and farther onto Young’s Hill just to grab a handful of snow and bring it back inside to eat. It seems the snow is just an excuse to have a quick outdoor adventure.
This morning Jody walked outside with purpose, climbed up onto the shaky bridge, gathered a very specific chunk of snow from the bridge, and immediately climbed back down and went back inside.
Today’s blog, by Foxie
It’s one of my favorite things to write the blog and have the opportunity to share the lives’ of the chimps with all of you. That said, there are just days when one has the words, but no photos, or vice versa. Today, for the life of me, I could not get a single photo as the chimpanzees have spent the majority of their day in the loft of the chimp house where it’s warm, grooming one another and napping.
I asked boss lady, Jamie, if she would please write the blog for me to which she responded by throwing a nut at my head. I took that as a “No.” At this point Foxie perhaps took pity on me and came into the smaller front rooms along the human hallway to play and she and I decided to take some “selfies.” Chimpanzees are self-aware and have the ability to recognize themselves and others in mirrors and photos. Many of the chimps enjoy seeing photos of themselves after we take them, or being able to see themselves on the camera as with an iPhone. Foxie particularly seems to enjoy this form of enrichment. So as I held the phone at a safe distance so she could see herself, I snapped the photos as she gestured. (While it’s not safe for the chimps to have a phone, or for us to have them touch it as we hold it, we have been fortunate to have supporters generously donate iPads that the chimps’ can safely interact with through the caging and they do enjoy this occasionally).
So here’s today’s blog, “by Foxie.” (Apologies for the quality, but we were laughing a lot!):
In this last photo, you can see Foxie is doing a “lip-flip” which I wrote about last week with Annie.
That face!
We can’t get over how perfect Burrito’s face is.
