Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee

Today in memory of Zippy cat

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Today is a Sponsor a Day in memory of Pam and Marc’s cat friend Zippy, who they still miss everyday.

The majority of CSNW supporters, like Pam and Marc, probably share their lives with companion animals. The CSNW staff collectively have dog, cat and bunny family members, and we understand the loss of animals under our care. So, today we’ll be thinking of the love we knew you gave to Zippy during his years with you.

Thank you for choosing to remember Zippy and helping the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees at the same time.

Visit the Donate page for information on how you can Sponsor a Day and to view upcoming dates.

“Oh, Neggie…”

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Negra’s playfulness with her caregivers was not just a one time deal. It seems she is really coming out of her shell and is starting to loosen up a bit. I can’t even begin to tell you all how happy this makes all of us. To see Negra laugh and play with her caregivers brings us sheer joy!

Today in honor of Kaite McGrew

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Thank you, Kaite McGrew for sponsoring today and helping the Cle Elum Seven continue to lives filled with variety, enriching experiences, play and love! Every single donation to the sanctuary helps us to fulfill our mission, and we couldn’t do it without supporters (and Facebook fans!) like you.

Anyone can sponsor a day of sanctuary! Visit the Sponsor-a-Day section of our donation info page.

Foxie’s new baby

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Supporter and friend Tamela recently sent the chimps an incredible (and huge!) care package with all sorts of goodies. Foxie’s favorite gift was the doll featured in the video below. It’s always a little bittersweet to see Foxie exhibit such natural mothering behavior given her impoverished history, but it’s so rewarding to be able to provide her with another chance.

Sperm Competition

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If you watched the video from the previous blog post, you may have some questions about a certain part of the male chimpanzee anatomy. Think of this post as Everything You Wanted to Know About Chimp Testicles, But Were Afraid to Ask.

Burrito is not unique – male chimpanzees have rather large testicles compared to other apes. And there’s a very interesting explanation for this. Most people are familiar with the concept of males competing for access to females. For example, male gorillas will compete for control over a harem of females – whoever controls the harem has primary mating access. But female chimpanzees will regularly mate with multiple males during estrus (see this recent article for an interesting take on chimp mating behavior). Therefore, much of the competition between males takes place between their sperm within the female’s reproductive tract.

If you think of mating as a lottery, with the prize being a fertilized egg, then whoever can produce the most sperm is essentially buying the most lottery tickets. And whoever has more tickets has a better chance of winning. There are also other forms of sperm competition besides this sperm “arms race”. Chimpanzees also produce sperm plugs (also called copulatory plugs). After mating, some of the semen will coagulate to plug up the cervix, so that sperm from future mating (with other males) will be less likely to reach the egg.

So for chimpanzees, it pays to produce a lot of semen, and that requires large testicles. Now you know!