Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
After lunch is the laziest time of the day here at the sanctuary. The chimpanzees have a few hours between lunch and dinner, and they usually spend it in quiet pursuits like grooming, nesting, and napping. This afternoon we set up a lunch forage on Young’s Hill, and after all that activity and excitement, Jody was ready for a little solitary grooming.
After awhile, even grooming took too much energy and she settled in for a nap.
The summers at the sanctuary begin with the grass and plants an almost unnatural neon green. The plant life boastfully emerges from the earth looking impossibly fresh. The photos we take during this period are beautiful with the chimpanzees’ dark hair contrasted against the bright green of the grass on Young’s Hill.
Foxie:
Jody with some wild plant she’s harvested:
This period of lush green that comes on so strong, holding the promise of electrified life, sometimes feels like a fleeting moment. As soon as summer begins, the precipitation seems to come to a halt. The grasses release their seeds and begin to fade, but they remain tall and the chimpanzees can hide and explore in this more wild landscape.
Jody:
Missy:
Annie:
Jamie in the foreground, Missy in the background:
Jamie:
With the threat of wildfire that arrives each summer, and to allow the chimpanzees to navigate the hill a bit easier, we (meaning J.B.) mows pathways that turn to amber streaks across the fading but stubborn green grass.
Annie (taken today):
Negra collecting her lunch from a forage set out on the hill (taken today):
While the rich and deep green of early summer imparts a contagious sense of renewed life, there’s definitely a beauty with the changing landscape of each season. Just as the grass turns gold, the established bamboo plants along the irrigation lines have produced ambitious shoots that leaf out and offer greenery for many more months, which Jody clearly appreciates:
There’s something for every season, and I think that the chimpanzees appreciate what this sanctuary environment has to offer year-round. Yes, even as the seasons inevitable progress into winter:
Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Andrea Ogg in honor of Derek Johnson! Andrea surprised Derek with this special gift last Christmas and shared the following message about today: “Derek has spent a significant portion of his adult life studying, caring for and about chimpanzees. We will be coming to the sanctuary on July 11, 2015. We can’t wait to “meet” your chimps!”
Andrea, what a wonderful gift to give for both Derek and the chimpanzees! That it is complimented with your attendance of our summer visit program makes it even more meaningful and we are so touched that you would think of the chimpanzees in honoring Derek today. Thank you so much for caring about the chimps and making a difference for them.
We look forward to your visit and hope you both have a wonderful day!
Our guy, Burrito:
Chimpanzees spend a lot of time in their nests. In the wild, they tend to bed down at dusk and remain there for about 12 hours until the sun rises again. On average, they sleep for 9 to 10 hours, waking now and again throughout the night and even calling to group members in other trees but rarely leaving their nests.
Here at the sanctuary, most of the chimps follow a similar 12-hour nesting pattern, even though the length of each day here in Central Washington changes drastically with the seasons. On a typical day, the chimps eat dinner at 4:30 and get their evening food puzzles at 5:00. When they are done eating, they begin to make their nests indoors, and almost everyone is in bed by the time we’re wrapping up our workday at 5:30. This is true even in the summer when it stays light outside until 10:00!
Once the chimps are inside for the night, we close off Young’s Hill for security reasons. But if any of the chimps choose to stay outside, two staff members stay at the chimp house until the chimps choose to come back in.
Jamie, as you may have heard, is not like the other chimps. She needs very little sleep, and she has no interest in lying awake in her nest for hours counting sheep. So, being the clever chimp that she is, she figured out that all she has to do is stay outside after dinner or even sit in the doorway to Young’s Hill and, just like that, she has two companions for the rest of the evening.
When she keeps her caregivers here late, she usually does three of four purposeful walks around Young’s Hill, much like her daytime patrols. But eventually, even she grows tired of the walks and it becomes obvious that she’s just killing time to keep her human friends around a bit longer.
On our last walk last night at 8pm, she made a point of climbing every structure on the hill.
She crossed every fire hose bridge.
Finally, she sat quietly at the highest point on the hill and took in the view.
When she decided that she’d had enough, she climbed down and returned to the chimp house.
Even Jamie needs to sleep eventually. Which is good, because her caregivers do too.
Burrito is a completely charming combination of man and boy. At times he is a typical male chimpanzee: blustery, macho, a whirling dervish. And at others he’s all little boy: sweet and playful and full of laughter.
Man:
Boy:
Negra spent the day hanging out with a new friend. And if you’ve been following the blog recently, you may be able to guess who that might be. Diana got some great photos of the Queen enjoying a leisurely morning in the greenhouse and it didn’t take long to spot her new companion.
You can just see a tuft of white hair sticking out from under Negra’s hip pocket:
Negra heard the train coming and one of her favorite things to do is watch it go past in the valley below. She also loves to bang on the window at it as it passes by and today she seemed to be telling her little friend all about it.
Similar hairstyles…
For reasons unclear to the humans, trolls are the “it” item du jour in the chimp house again. Jody has been wearing a scarf with several trolls tied onto it for two days! She even ran back in before breakfast to retrieve it and put it on during her meal. But no worries about Foxie, she’s been spending her time with Dora today.
Today was sponsored by Joan O’Flaherty in memory of her parents, Ned and Noreen O’Flaherty, and their wedding anniversary. Ned and Noreen were great advocates for animals and conservation and we are honored to have them remembered here at the sanctuary.
Joan, we are so touched that you choose to honor your parents’ memory by helping to ensure the chimpanzees lives are all that they deserve. In remembering Ned and Noreen today we hope that the knowledge of the difference you, as well as they, have made to the chimpanzees brings you the comfort and joy that it does the chimps. We are very thankful and will hold you all in our thoughts today.
Burrito and Negra:
