Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee

The Penny Arcade

by

It was a nice enough day that the chimpanzees were able to enjoy a lunch forage on Young’s Hill. It wasn’t too hot, too cold, and there was a bit of an overcast.

On today’s menu was avocados, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, and tomatoes. As we were watching them foraging on the hill and taking photos for the blog, I had one instant the reminded me of a mutoscopes of the late 1890s/early 1900s (the only reason I know what they are is because a local theme park where I grew up had a penny arcade that still had them). A mutoscope was a machine that housed a reel of cards and was operated by a hand crank that flipped the photos to create a moving picture. Sort of like a machine operated flip book.

While the chimpanzees were on Young’s Hill, I saw Missy on the top of Negra’s Cabin with a stash of tomatoes.

As she finished the last slice she had, she made her way to the firehose that leads to another platform on the hill. This is usually one of the most common places where she tightropes across. I prepared myself to get some photos, and away she went.

Here are some other photos from today:

Burrito during the forage.

Negra heading back inside after scoring a couple of avocado pieces.

Honey B and Mave grooming on the top platform of the tree in one of the new playrooms.

As staff are working very hard in preparing for the Lucky Six‘s arrival, we are very excited to see the possibilities they take when they are provided new opportunities here. You can help their arrival by sponsoring their journey to Washington during the Queen’s Brunch auction! Be sure to check out the different tiers of sponsorship that are available.

Last minute bonus photo of Jody eating her potatoes at dinner:

New Friend

by

Hi everyone! My name is Sam and I am one of the new caregivers here at CSNW. Originally, I am from Ohio and I moved to Washington to attend Central Washington University to obtain my Masters degree in Primate Behavior in 2016. During that time I was an intern/volunteer at CSNW and this started my path in the direction of chimpanzees. After graduation I moved to Georgia to work at Project Chimps and was a caregiver there for the past 2 1/2 years. I am beyond excited to be back in the Pacific Northwest and here at CSNW working with these amazing chimpanzees, humans, and cattle!

 

This past month I’ve been learning the routine and enjoying the beginnings of building friendships with these 10 chimpanzees. Jamie has been keeping a close eye and making sure I’m being trained correctly. Grooming my boots in the afternoon is also a strict part of the training process. Burrito has been helping to build my cardio and Honey B has been making sure I am always on my toes.

 

I have a couple photos to share with you, as I have started practicing with the camera.

 

Burrito between play sessions

 

Jamie keeping an eye on things from her comfy nest

 

Jody enjoying an orange for breakfast

Honey B watching watching us do checks

 

Betsy relaxing in her summer pasture

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burrito in a Tub

by

The other day I was questioning J.B. as to whether he thought we deserved to have playful Burrito in our lives, and his reply was, “I don’t even think the world deserves Burrito.”

Deserving or not, here he is to spread joy to all of us, doing whatever it is he was doing or trying to do with an empty tub and a big tub full of water.

Speaking of spreading joy, have you registered for The Queen’s Brunch yet?

The virtual event is on June 13th, just eight days away!

I was going to share that there were some Burrito pillow cases available to buy now that had been carefully stashed away from past events, but the two we had were snatched up already!

There are, however, still a few pillow cases featuring Negra, Foxie, and Willy B on the online auction site. You might need to act fast to get one!

 

Scenes From the Day

by

Sometimes I curse the invention of smartphones, but there’s something to be said about having a camera in your pocket at all times – especially when you spend your days with chimpanzees. So here’s a random collection of clips I recorded today.

While we’re at it, here’s a smartphone photo of Mave from last week.

Sights, Sounds, and Sensation of Summer

by

As Katelyn mentioned yesterday, Summer is making a quick visit the next couple of days. With 90ºF temperatures today, the chimpanzees have remained relatively low key. Each in a spot in the indoor enclosures in the shadiest of spots, or in front of the fans to escape the heat. We did offer them some icy treats throughout the day since it seemed like today called for it. Some of these spots are very tricky to get photos of, and the only photo I was able to get of any of them was of Negra climbing down from the platform in the Greenhouse to head indoors.

The cattle have been spending most of their day lounging around in the shade at the top of the pasture, just like the chimpanzees. However, it’s far easier to take photos of them on days like today. They did spend an hour or two grazing in the mid-day sun.

Can you spot all four in this photo!?

And taking turns licking the mineral block.

And don’t worry, Meredith was there, just waaaay in the back.

With summer creeping up on us, the sights, sounds, and smells of summer are starting to come in. Here are some of those things found around the sanctuary.

The strawberry plants are starting to fruit.

The grape vines are starting to bunch.

Squirrel moms are calling for their kits.

Racer snakes are seeking shelter in the raspberry bushes.

Barn swallows are beginning to nest.

And white-crowned sparrows are collecting food for their babies.

Though the temperatures are foretasted to go down by the end of the week, these sensations of summer (minus the heat) are sure to stay until it’s official arrival.

Sunday Leftovers

by

Today, I decided to share some “leftover” photographs of Mave’s birthday celebration that didn’t make it into earlier posts!

On Thursday, we threw a bash to commemorate Mave’s 32nd trip around the sun. The party- planned to perfection by Chad, the sanctuary’s Enrichment Coordinator- featured whole coconuts, giant banana leaves, pineapple bowls, and massive heads of iceberg lettuce. Anna posted and amazing video from the event on Thursday, and Diana shared another fun clip on Saturday of Honey B enjoying the sandbox well after the party!

Now, here are some still images to complement their media coverage of the festivities. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mave immediately grabbed a coconut and ran away to devour it in peace.

Then, Mave also annihilated an entire pineapple stuffed with iceberg lettuce.

Honey B preferred to drink her coconut by the pool.

(Sadly, I didn’t get any good photos of Willy B because he was running around scarfing down all the lettuce and stomping on coconuts.)

On the other side of the building, the neighboring group of chimps had an equally amazing birthday bash in honor of Mave. Since they can hear and see each other, it would be unfair to leave them out of the fun, and they seemed to appreciate all the same appetizers, entrées, and desserts.

Jody, forager extraordinaire, swiftly grabbed a coconut and then went back out for peppers afterward.

Annie found a coconut and loudly slurped all the liquid from inside. The sound was kind of gross, to be honest, but it was funny that we could hear it from 100 feet away.

Missy went after the lettuce, but had to acknowledge Jamie before she could run away and eat it all in privacy.

Negra’s strategy was to chase everyone else and beg them for food. It works sometimes.

Foxie “flew under the radar” during this forage. She was barely visible as she ate iceberg lettuce atop a distant platform.

After displacing Missy from her perch on the Treat Rock, Jamie harvested a bunch of coconuts, iceberg and peppers. Even though she paused to sip on a coconut, she had a hard time carrying it all back into the Greenhouse.

Burrito’s manner of transporting lettuce and coconuts made us all chuckle. At one point, he gave up trying to hold it all and just kicked his coconut downhill towards the Greenhouse.

Thank you to everyone who sponsors chimps, donates items, follows and engages with our online media and supports the sanctuary! Once again, you facilitated another memorable birthday party for Mave and her companions.