Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee

CSNW featured in Seattle Metropolitan Magazine

by

Really great article: http://www.seattlemet.com/issues/archives/articles/chimpanzee-sanctuary-northwest-1209/

It’s hot off the presses (or at least recently uploaded to the world wide web) and the print version should be all over the Seattle area soon. Please share on your Facebook and Twitter pages and send to all of your contacts (you can do that by clicking “Email” or “Share This” at the top of the article when you go to the link). It not only tells the story of CSNW, but also the broader plight of chimpanzees in captivity.

I only wish Jamie knew how famous she is.

Missy then and now

by

Every once in a while it’s good to look back to see how far we’ve come. Though we are very focused on the future – the next celebration, the next event, the next fundraising initiative, the next building improvement, etc, looking back can be really motivating.

One way to do this is to see how much the chimpanzees have changed since their arrival to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

The below “before” and “after” photos appear in the 2010 calendar, which you can purchase through the online store (and, yes, I am looking forward to lots of people buying the calendar and sharing the Cle Elum Seven with friends, family and coworkers this year!)

Missy on her first day at CSNW, after years of living as a biomedical research subject and “breeder”

web_Missy Before Picture 044

Missy after one year in sanctuary

Missy_green bottle outside cropped MG_9376

The new door

by

On Sunday, the chimps got to use the new door for the first time. We do our best to keep things interesting around here, but the facility itself doesn’t change that often, so the chimps are always very excited and very curious to see the improvements. 

Anytime there is a major change, whether in the social group or in their environment, the chimps like to reassure each other and seek comfort amidst the excitement. You’ll notice a lot of greeting, hugging, and submissive behavior in this video (Foxie kissing Burrito, Jody greeting me with a “genital bounce”, Annie kissing Jody, Annie and Missy submitting to Burrito who is off-camera). 

We serendipitously discovered that the chimpanzees appreciate having fire hoses hanging just outside the door. The hoses were there previously, but once we installed the door, many of the chimps used them to climb from the door up to the the platform outside without setting foot on the wet ground. That’s one of the strange things about caring for ex-lab chimps (any captive chimps, really). Wet ground is a fact of life for free-living chimps, but it can be unpleasant and even terrifying for individuals who have spent a lifetime indoors. We used to place tractor tires outside so that Foxie could use them as stepping stones, but now we’ll have to hang some more fire hose by the other door.

Displaying

by

Given that we share around 99% of our DNA, it is not surprising that chimpanzees and humans have much in common. Both species, for example, are very territorial. We might not think of ourselves as territorial creatures, but imagine how you might feel if you looked out your living room window and saw a stranger standing in your front yard peering in at you. Free-living chimpanzee communities will defend their territories, sometimes violently, against intruders from neighboring communities. (Sound familiar?)

One of the ways chimpanzees express their territoriality is through a display. During a display, a chimpanzee stands bipedally (upright); swaggers back and forth; makes a lot of noise by banging or throwing objects; and exhibits pilo-erect hair (hair standing on end). All of these behaviors serve to make the individual appear much bigger and more intimidating than he or she really is.

Defending a territory isn’t the only reason a chimpanzee might display; displays can also be associated with dominance. Jamie, who is the most dominant member of the Cle Elum Seven, displays several times a day. (Although it is almost always male chimpanzees who display in free-living situations, it is not uncommon for females to display — and to be dominant — in captivity.) Jamie displays to defend her home, to exert her dominance, and even, it seems, to alleviate boredom.

Below is a video of one of Jamie’s displays. You’ll notice many of the behaviors I described above. Despite spending the last three decades in the most unnatural and impoverished situations, it seems Jamie has figured out just how to be a chimpanzee.

A new game

by

Missy and Annie are playful in the morning, sometimes chasing each other all over the playroom before we even turn the lights on. Lately, they have been playing a new game: chasing each other while balancing on the catwalk railing. I finally caught them in the act the other day. Good thing they have opposable toes….

More construction!

by

We spent the last two days installing the new pneumatic door that will allow the chimps to go from the front rooms directly to the outdoor area. The door is in, but there’s a little more work to be done before the chimps can have access to that area. Hopefully we will be able to post photos of the chimps using their new door this weekend.

I’d like to thank the very generous – and very patient – donors who made this project possible. It took a little longer to complete than I had anticipated, but thanks to you, the chimps will soon have more freedom to move around the sanctuary as they please.

Missy and her raisin board

by

We included raisin boards in this morning’s enrichment, and Missy demonstrated a new technique for fishing the raisins out (at least one that I haven’t seen before). Rather than trying to pry the raisins out or poke them out the other side, she would insert the chopstick and push it all the way through, like she was sewing with a big needle. It seemed to work well, except for when her tool would get stuck, in which case she would just break it off and start over with a smaller stick.