Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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chimpanzee

Hiding out

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Negra loves to cover herself in blankets, so as we were wrapping up cleaning today, in thinking of her I was inspired to build more forts in the playroom. We have several bullet-proof glass windows in the playroom but for ventilation purposes, we have left the caging over a few of them. Negra often builds her daytime nest in front of one of the window cages, so I decided to tie blankets up to the caging and let them drape off of the railing, making it a cabana-style fort. I think Negra was pretty pleased.

Though this isn’t a great shot, I love that it shows Negra peaking around the blanket to see what is going on outside of her fort

Burrito liked it a lot too. Here he is enjoying his peanuts in his fort

Spring!

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We brought springtime inside this morning to celebrate the equinox in memory of our friend Katie Gieser. The chimps had a lovely forage with lots of lettuce (always a special treat!). Plus paper flowers and decorations galore! Here are a few highlights:

Missy (tho I wouldn’t have known it was her unless Jackie told me!) feasting away:

Mister B amidst the spiderweb of yellow ribbon:

Jamie with her collection from the forage:

And Jamie again, posing perfectly for the camera in her springtime nest (note the boot in her hip pocket):

 

Dora Rescue

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This morning, Foxie played a little game on the hill in which she put Dora on top of one of the beams of the climbing structures and played like she was going to push her off. But, Dora was safe in Foxie’s hands, as she always had another hand below to catch her if she fell.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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The chimps enjoyed a St. Patrick’s Day feast this morning. Volunteers Katelyn and Connie brought potatoes, brussels sprouts, and Field Roast grain meat, as well as green fruit & vegetable juice. And while the staff were disappointed to see snow on the ground this morning, the chimps were more than happy to eat it – especially with a little bit of juice poured on top.

The distractor

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Foxie is excellent at distracting people from what they are doing. She chooses the moment we’re getting ready to lock up the chimp area at night to drop her troll doll outside of the caging and then beg for us to give it back to her. And then, she just can’t seem to catch it when we toss it back to her (even though she is a fantastic catcher). Today, she was all about distracting both me (from cleaning) and Jamie (from nesting).

Contact

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Chimpanzees engage in close physical contact for a variety of reasons. They might be seeking reassurance, playfully tickling one another, or quietly grooming. If two chimpanzees haven’t seen each other in a while, they often embrace each other just as we would. But what I love most is seeing chimpanzees hug, kiss, or hold hands out of sheer joy or celebration. For the Cle Elum Seven, just being on Young’s Hill is still reason enough to celebrate

Jamie encounters Foxie on the hill and puts her arm around her friend:

Foxie responds by giving Jamie a “soft bite” on her back (this is a friendly behavior):

Foxie and Jamie run off with big smiles on their faces:

Later, Jamie walked by Jody, who was eating grass near the bamboo. Jamie stops and gives Jody and quick kiss:

Chimpanzee kisses are slightly different than human kisses. A chimp kiss usually involves a soft bite, often with the lips covering the teeth, and some breathy panting. When Jody moved to a different bamboo grove, she received a kiss on the arm from Foxie:

A dominant male chimpanzee usually accepts submissive greetings from subordinates like a king is greeted by a commoner. The subordinates are made (or choose?) to grovel, and the dominant male acts like he is being generous by allowing the subordinate to be in his presence. Burrito, however, is not dominant, and he lacks some rudimentary chimpanzee social skills. Rather than submit to the females or accept their submission, he usually closes his eyes and acts like he doesn’t even see them when they approach him. But sometimes Jamie won’t let him get away with that, and in this case she ran after him and grabbed his feet. While foot-grabbing is usually an invitation to play, in this case Jamie seemed to be forcing Burrito to simply acknowledge her friendly greeting.

Sometimes greetings are preceded by a lengthy introduction. Jody often greets Burrito in this manner – there is a lot of pant grunting and bobbing (bouncing up and down on all fours), and in Jody’s case even some soft pant-hooting, before the two ever make contact. In this clip, Annie waits for Foxie to approach and gives her an extended greeting: