Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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chimpanzee

taking care of the boss

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As we’ve mentioned before, grooming is an important aspect of chimpanzee culture. Between lunch and dinner in the afternoon is probably the most popular time for grooming among the Cle Elum Seven.

Even though she’s the boss, Jamie is not always the center of grooming. Missy grooms Jamie fairly often (see some photos from about a year ago on this blog post).

Missy grooming Jamie

But Burrito is a less frequent grooming partner to Jamie.

Today Burrito and Missy were both grooming Jamie at the same time as they all sat in front of one of the windows on the catwalk of the playroom.

web burrito jamie missy groom pr catwalk IMG_1328

 

Burrito kept looking at me while I was taking photos.

web burrito jamie missy groom closer up fr catwalk IMG_1324

web Burrito jamie groom look over shoulder pr catwalk IMG_1321

 

Foxie and her dolls

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I can’t imagine Foxie without dolls. She is almost never without one, and they obviously bring her a lot of comfort and happiness. What many people may not realize is that dolls can also be an outlet for Foxie’s frustration.

In the past, Foxie has “adopted” troll dolls, Dora the Explorer dolls, Bratz dolls, and some Madame Alexander Happy Meal figurines. But most other dolls tend to get ripped to shreds immediately, especially stuffed primate dolls. And even her beloved trolls and Doras are not always treated with care.

I think it’s easy to read too much into her behavior, but some things scream out for interpretation. Clearly, Foxie shows some displaced maternal behavior with her trolls and Doras. She had five babies in the lab, and all were taken from her. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that she enjoys getting a chance to care for her dolls in a way that she never did with her real children. But most of the other female chimps at CSNW had children in the lab too, and they don’t show the interest in dolls that Foxie does. Maybe Foxie just has a more active imagination.

We’ll never really know how Foxie feels about her dolls. In school, we learned about chimpanzee behavior, but this is more like psychoanalysis. At some point, most chimpanzee caregivers stop trying to explain every detail of behavior in the chimps they care for and just accept what they see. Foxie loves her troll dolls. She also beats them up from time to time. That’s the Foxie we know and love.

Burrito Love

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I can honestly say that Burrito puts a smile on my face every day. He has a certain mischievous yet vulnerable charm that is impossible to resist.

Burrito has a big day coming up right after the holidays. He’s turning 30 on January 6th! There are several ways you can wish the man a happy birthday: you can become his Pal and support him monthly by clicking here, join Team Burrito here, or sponsor his birthday (here) to make sure he has the best party ever.

web Burrito lie down lean on elbow playroom PR IMG_1261

web Burrito playroom PR IMG_1268

web Burrito look at camera playroom PR IMG_1266

Fun with Silhouette

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J.B. took a really good photo of Negra in profile yesterday and turned the photo into a silhouette. Last night I dreamed of creating the image below. I could try to make this an educational or thought-provoking post about evolution and facial features, but the truth is I just like the image. It looks especially good on a black background. Maybe this should be our next t-shirt…

 

Negra Chimpanzee and Alfred Hitchcock in silhouette

Hurry up and play

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Missy tends to speed up in the winter. I think she knows she won’t be able to stay outside as long so she has to cram all of her activities into ten-minute bursts.

Yesterday, she ran outside and immediately started to climb all of the structures.

web Missy climb tree post YH IMG_0927

Then she jumped off of them.

web Missy jump off platform YH IMG_0942

web Missy jump off platform YH IMG_0944

While climbing a structure at the top of the hill, she noticed something.

web Missy climb structure YH IMG_0948

web Missy get ice from tire Yh IMG_0957

web Missy get ice from tire YH IMG_0962

Ice is somewhat of a delicacy for chimps and Missy is good at finding it.

web Missty eat ice under structure YH IMG_0967

web Missy run eat ice YH IMG_0968

web Missy eat ice YH IMG_0982

web Missy eat ice YH IMG_0977

Of course, wherever there’s a Missy, there’s an Annie close behind, trying to catch up.

web Annie run eat ice YH IMG_0991

 

 

Take Action Tuesday: Gorilla populations

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Since Eyes on Apes has broadened its focus to include all great apes, I thought I would share some information about gorillas. There are four different sub species of gorilla: the Mountain gorilla, the Western Lowland gorilla, the Eastern Lowland gorilla (also known as the Grauer’s gorilla), and the Cross River gorilla. All sub species are endangered, but the Cross River and Mountain gorillas have the smallest populations, with numbers in just the hundreds. The Mountain gorillas are the sub species that were studied by the famed primatologist Dian Fossey, who observed gorillas in the Virunga Mountains before her tragic murder in 1985. Fossey was the Jane Goodall of the gorilla world. Recently, some good news came out of the protected areas surrounding the Mountain gorillas’ habitat: their population is rising! New census numbers reveal that populations have increased by nearly 100 gorillas since the last census, bringing the total number of Mountain gorillas to 880. This shows that the protection surrounding the forest and conservation efforts are working!

Though this is good news for one sub species of gorilla, the other three in the more lowland areas are in greater danger of human encroachment. As I mentioned in a post about the plight free-living chimpanzees, humans have logged for expensive woods in the middle of the African rainforest, creating logging roads that make it easier for hunters to kill the apes and sell their meat on the black market for the bushmeat trade. Coltan mining is another huge threat to gorilla habitat (coltan is the material used in LCD screens). The easiest way to take action for the gorillas in these areas besides donating to a conservation organization is to be a conscious consumer. Just like I mentioned with the plight of free-living orangutans, be aware of where your products you are purchasing are coming from. Recycle products with an LCD screen when you upgrade to a new device, or even if is broken – the parts can still be recycled. CSNW can even help you recycle your old cell phones!

Photo courtesy of the International Gorilla Conservation Programme’s Facebook page