chimpanzee

Guy time

July 17, 2014 by Debbie

For whatever reason, the chimpanzee caregiver field is largely dominated by women. All of the staff here at CSNW at one point or another were students, interns, and/or staff at the former Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute, where we all learned the ropes of chimpanzee husbandry. In my tenure there, I would estimate it was about a 5:1 ratio of women to men!

At CSNW, we’ve had a handful of men volunteer in the chimp house, and several more that have helped in other ways—groundskeeping and outdoor projects, fundraising, event help, etc. But up until recently, the only men that have been direct caregivers are co-director J.B. and our founder, Keith.

Well, Joel broke a new record in our sixth year of sanctuary and became the very first male volunteer caregiver. Though all the chimpanzees enjoy new friendships, Burrito is especially excited. As you can imagine, living with a group of girls and being taken care of by a group of girls makes guy time all the more valuable!

Don’t worry—J.B. and Keith are still Burrito’s pals, as well as all his female caregivers, too! One of the things we emphasize during our caregiver training is the importance of building a strong relationship based on trust, and we divide our time between all the chimpanzees to avoid fostering any “favorites.” But, just like humans, some personalities click differently and that is totally fine. Burrito seems to really click with his new buddy, which makes all the primates here pretty happy.

James and the Giant Beet

July 12, 2014 by Diana

Ok – the title of this post was maybe a bit of a stretch to reference James and the Giant Peach.

I do use the nickname James for Jamie, but, as you’ll see in the photos below, it wasn’t really a giant beet, plus one of the photos is of Missy’s hand, but still – pretty great photos of a pretty great chimpanzee REALLY enjoying the beets that volunteer Patti brought.

It is in the high 90s today, so most of the chimpanzees quickly foraged for their lunch on Young’s Hill and brought their haul into the cooler greenhouse to enjoy, though Jamie made multiple trips to make sure she had found all of the beets.

Missy’s hand:

back to Jamie:

The doctor will see you now

July 11, 2014 by J.B.

Chimps fight a lot, and occasionally they get wounded. Serious injuries are treated under the direction of a veterinarian, but we leave the smaller stuff to Missy.

For the Love of Nesting

July 10, 2014 by Elizabeth

We talk a lot about transformations we’ve seen in the chimpanzees since they arrived at the sanctuary six years ago, both physical and behavioral. But one thing that hasn’t changed about Jody is her love of a good nest. From day one, Jody has made use of every last blanket we’ve provided to build big, soft nests multiple times a day. I’m not sure anything gives her more pleasure.

We included lots of paper in today’s enrichment, and Jody was happy to incorporate it into her morning nest in the playroom.

Mr. Charming

July 8, 2014 by Debbie

I think it is widely known that Burrito is quite the charmer, as you can see in these photos below:

He seems to lack some grace while dismounting the treat rock, but that just adds to his charm:

Treats

July 5, 2014 by Diana

This weekend marked the start of our summer visitor program. During the guided observation of the chimpanzees, while the chimpanzees foraged for their lunch, I found myself talking a lot about food with our guests.

One thing that we discussed was how easy it is as a caregiver to want to give the chimpanzees “exciting” food all of the time. Chimpanzees, much like humans, love food. Witnessing their excitement as they see food being presented and hearing their food grunts and squeaks is incredibly rewarding.

We made the very conscious decision before the chimpanzees came to the sanctuary that we would not give them processed sugar and we would avoid food with added salt. In the last few years, we’ve even gone further, and rarely give them processed foods of any kind (with exceptions for certain holiday parties, like 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and their primate biscuits). Their diet therefore is almost entirely fresh produce with some seeds and nuts, peanut butter, air-popped popcorn, and a small amount of commercial “primate chow.”

The result of our somewhat strict rules on food is that the chimpanzees remain extremely excited about fresh produce. We hear food grunts and squeaks everyday over fruits and vegetables, even produce that they get on a frequent basis like apples and tomatoes.

If we had decided that it was okay to give the chimpanzees things like cookies, cake, pizza, ice cream, and all of those foods that we humans tend to have a love / hate relationship with, the chimpanzees would have grown accustomed to that diet and might look down their (rather flat) noses at lettuce, kale, cucumbers, radishes, and all of the produce they truly love now.

We recognize that we are responsible for the health of the chimpanzees, and we try to ensure that we are doing everything we can in the way of preventative health care, which means providing a healthy diet and opportunities for exercise.

We’re very happy that something like a single fresh raspberry, picked from the bushes right outside of the greenhouse and still warm from the sun, is a huge treat for Foxie (pictured below) and for all of the chimpanzees:

Today Jamie savored the broccoli that was spread on the hill as part of the lunch forage, bringing it into the greenhouse to slowly eat:

Dinner tonight included lettuce, watermelon (a special summer treat), and peppers:

Jody in particular likes to supplement the diet we provide with plants that she picks herself, including this bamboo that she brought into the playroom this afternoon and ate the leaves, one by one:

Our friend Zarin, who has written guest blog posts about her work at the Kibale National Park in Uganda, shared research they did that examined the nutritional profile of food that the chimpanzees in Kibale eat. One interesting thing they found was that even ripe fruit that the chimpanzees eat in the wild at that field site contain about the same amount of natural sugars as the carrots found in grocery stores and gardens here.

This information led us to serve more vegetables and less fruit to the Cle Elum Seven, and we now often sneak veggies into the chimps’ morning fruit smoothie. No doubt our policies will continue to adapt as we learn more, and hopefully the result will be healthy, happy, and long-lived chimpanzees.

Happy 4th!

July 4, 2014 by J.B.

Volunteers Patti, Lynn, and Andrew put together a great feast for the chimps’ 4th of July celebration. It all started with a lunch forage on the hill. Then for dinner, they had corn, potato salad, watermelon, and Field Roast veggie dogs in the greenhouse. Throw in a couple of pinatas and some inappropriately dressed troll dolls and you’ve got a real 4th of July party! You should have heard the food squeaking and screaming as we were setting up the forage in the greenhouse.