Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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chimpanzee

Marmot Madness (and Other Harbingers of Spring)

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Although years, days, and seasons are observable phenomena supported by astronomical measurements, the custom of starting our calendar year in early winter seems comparatively arbitrary.

Personally, I tend to feel that western cultures missed a grand opportunity by not using the spring equinox to mark and celebrate another long journey around our star. The logistics of that switch may get a bit messy, but I would  support it symbolically… in spirit.

For one thing, spring is accompanied by the start of baseball season. That’s reason enough for me to regard it as a “new year.”

Importantly, it’s also a time of rapid transition around the sanctuary. We caregivers witness the local wildlife emerge from their winter dens (MARMOTS!), the pastures develop a tinge of green, and the chimpanzees venture outside for both recreation and reconnaissance. (Also, there are marmots.) All of these little signs gradually accumulate, day by day, until the  landscape is bursting with wildflowers and songbirds and we’ve forgotten all about the winter snowstorms.

In honor of this “new year”/equinox, I’m sharing some recent photos that feel undeniably spring-like. (Did I mention the marmots already?)

Annie surveying Young’s Hill
The Jersey cattle eating some fresh grass hay
Filling up the cattle’s water trough in the winter barn
A black-tailed deer (one of last year’s fawns) beginning to shed it’s winter coat
The crew from Sage Mechanical setting the fence posts for the expanded outdoor enclosures
A pair of ground squirrels having a moment in the sun
Honey Cow
A yellow-bellied marmot peeking out from its brush pile
This morning’s duplicitous weather: snow above, rain below
Willy B foraging for scattered nuts in the outdoor “courtyard”

Cy Solves a Fire Hose Puzzle

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Cy has been trying out different ways of retrieving the walnuts out of the fire hose knot puzzles over the last few months. The last few times that I’ve been in the chimp house when Cy’s group has gotten fire hose knots, I’ve seen him chew the nut while it’s was still in the fire hose, then suck on the fire hose, I suppose getting some essence of walnut out of that process.

Last night, however, I was lucky enough to get this video of Cy’s new, and more fruitful, method of getting that sweet, sweet walnut reward.

a little bit about Fantastic Ms. Foxie

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It was recently brought to my attention that we haven’t had a lot of blog posts about Foxie lately. So, I wanted to let everyone know that Foxie is as fantastic as ever.

I did try to get some photos of her today, but I only got a couple of mediocre ones with my phone as Foxie anticipated and then ate the avocado that Sofía served at dinner:

There’s virtually no where you can go on Foxie’s side of the chimp house without seeing signs of her. Here’s a few photos of Foxie calling cards that I took tonight while spot-cleaning the loft:

I remember several years ago remarking on Foxie’s suddenly gray hair on her arms, which was an undeniable sign of her getting older.

Just last week, however, Foxie did a full flip from a standing position while playing with me. That old lady still has a lot of energy and is way more fit than I am!

Here’s a selection of Foxie photos from the past:

This photo of Foxie:

taken by Katelyn, was the inspiration for this year’s HOOT! graphic, created by loyal blog-reader, Foxie fan, and graphic designer, Kathleen Corby:

It’s true – we are planning an in-person HOOT! fundraising fête this year on September 16th. Stay tuned for more details.

Thank you to everyone who loves Foxie. She is one-of-a-kind and has a way of stealing our hearts every day.

Sunny Tuesday

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Sunny days are always great, specially after some days of non-stop rain. Today, the clouds scattered away and the rays of sunshine made an appearance. To say the least, everyone, including the caregivers were very happy to catch a break from the Pacific Northwest gloominess. If only there were away to turn OFF the wind!!! But regardless of the wind, the chimps in Jamie’s group went on countless walks around the hill and spent most of the day in their warm greenhouse. Cy and his friends also spent the day in their greenhouse and every so often you could walk by and someone would pop their heads off the edge of the platforms for a subtle “hello”. Willy B and his friends were very into the raisin boards they got for daytime enrichment, although it is very likely that Willy B got every single raisin.

Annie looking over at the neighbors before sprinting over to catch up with Jamie, who was going on a perimeter walk with caregiver Grace and her sweet new boots:

Honey B sitting on a wooden chair

A Cy close up

Dora was very interested in the mechanics of a phone camera

Jamie observing my every move while I squeegeed in the play room

A sequence of Foxie with a doll in her mouth making her way over to the greenhouse window to meet up with Jamie

Gordo in the platform of the greenhouse very much aware of the display Willy B had going on on the other greenhouse

Jody resting in the greenhouse

Willy B securing ALL the raisins in the raisin board enrichment that his group got today

Takin’ It Beezy

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Caregivers are racing around completing chores on this rainy Monday afternoon, so today’s blog post is absurdly simple.

In honor of National Napping Day, here’s a portrait of Honey B lounging on the heated floor in one of the indoor enclosures.

Chad explained yesterday that the chimps have no concept of “daylight savings,” but they definitely know how to spend a gloomy, damp day like this one.

The Matter of Time

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Today is Daylight Savings! Meaning for most of the United States (Arizona and Hawaii excluded) most of us lost an hour of sleep as our clocks were set an hour ahead. But for us here at the Chimp House, it was business as usual since the chimps don’t obey the concept of Daylight Savings. All this means is that the humans come in an hour later, though in reality it’s the same time had we not set our clocks forward.

When the chimpanzees were given access to Young’s Hill, Burrito zoomed out of his greenhouse and was off to the races.

He was so fast he was a blur!

Before we finished our morning run, he stopped for a bit and took in the morning sun.

For others, business as usual can mean something else.

For Mave, it meant a full day of lounging around.

Rayne spent the day fishing for raisins from raisin boards.

Honey B being mischievous.

Even when she’s eating her lunch, she has her eye on you.

Dora be inquisitive of the camera.

Cy being as handsome as ever.

Also being very inquisitive of the camera.

A closeup of Lucky’s eye.

And Terry watching the human caregivers walk by.

Hopefully the chimpanzees’ day helped you push through the hour that was lost. We hope you have a wonderful week ahead!