Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzees

King of the Hill

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While on a walk with Jamie, I observed Burrito and Missy following each other on the logs and then start to wrestling. It made me think about when I was young playing king of the sand dune with my brother. I asked the rest of the staff if they had ever played this game when they where kids, which of course they had! Some of their variations were: king of the mountain, king of the hill, and king of the log! The object of the game was to be the last one standing and then you were pronounced king of the object you were standing on, said log, mattress, or hill and then you have bragging rights for as long as you rein! Today, for Missy and Burrito it seems as though no one holds the title but I see a rematch in their future!

Time has flown by! Can you believe it already been 4 years with our wonderful bovines!

Honey and her gang:

Honey:

Meredith:

Nutmeg and Betsy:

Jamieween 2022

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This year’s iteration of Jamieween was a joyful success!

With the help of our amazing supporters, we caregivers prepared a feast and party to celebrate The Boss’s honorary birthday. The staff collected some video clips and photographs of the event to share with you all. Please be aware that we also recorded the highlights of the other group’s party but haven’t had time to sort through all the files yet. We hope to share additional content from today’s event very soon!

Some of the plentiful treats and toys we served and delivered to the chimps today:

Burrito:

Jamie:

Jody (with the prized pumpkin):

Jamie turned 45 years old this year, but the decades haven’t slowed her down one bit. Yesterday, for the first time in her life, she courageously shimmied her way up into the canopy of a real, living tree. This chimpanzee’s confidence, intelligence and curiosity truly know no bounds, and we’re honored to care for her in her sanctuary home.

Here are some of my favorite photos of Jamie from the past year:

Predictions

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During introductions it was hard tell who Honey B would become friends with. We knew Honey B enjoyed her alone time, but still appreciated the company of her chimp and human friends on her terms. When Honey B first re-met Dora they were both so excited to see each other! However, Terry and Honey B had to put the work into rebuilding a friendship. Recently, Honey B has been hot commodity with her new group. It seems like everyone wants to “mall walk,” groom, play, or just be around her. If we had to predict which chimps would bond with Honey B, Dora and Rayne would really be my only guesses. Lately, we find Honey B and Terry hanging out a lot. We have been seeing some play with her and Cy and even Gordo gets a little quick play session in from time to time.

Words can’t express the feelings I have when watching Honey B build connections with her group. It’s everything they worked so hard for and why a bigger social group is so important for chimps, especially one like Honey B.

Cy grooming Honey B:

Rayne grooming Honey B:

Honey B in the middle of a grooming train:

A series of different Honey B nests:

And one more picture for fun! Can you guess who was wearing this accessory as an anklet?

Look below for the answer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you said Burrito, you would be correct!

 

 

 

 

 

Vignettes of Young’s Hill

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We caregivers have been excitedly toting around cameras while the chimpanzees continue to explore the new version of Young’s Hill. The outdoor habitat has retained all the lovable qualities of the original and provides the chimps with even more space and a potential for novel experiences (e.g., climbing up the trunk of a real tree). The weather has cooled substantially since last Wednesday’s big reveal, but we can still count on Jamie and her companions to do a thorough patrol of the new perimeter each morning.

For today’s blog post, I thought I’d share some additional images from the group’s first outings in Young’s Hill 2.0.

The group patrolling together:

Missy climbing a new log structure:

Burrito using the familiar Twister to get a better view:

Burrito waiting impatiently for the others to catch up:

Burrito perched on a tree trunk, inspecting the new vegetation:

Annie using a new structure to take in a new view of the property:

The most popular addition has been the grove of Ponderosa pines (and one Douglas fir) that is now located just within the enclosure’s eastern boundary. The relocated lookout tower provides a perfect vantage to both examine the evergreen trees up close and take in the scenic mountain views across the valley.

With the bright afternoon sunlight coming down from the southwest, the chimpanzees were visible as dark silhouettes against the golden backdrop of early autumn. Missy made an imposing figure when perched atop the lookout.

 

As Jenna demonstrated yesterday, focusing the camera lens on the chimpanzees is tricky when we have two layers of field fence and electrified wires between us. Our objective isn’t to make you forget about the fencing entirely, but rather to portray the chimpanzees as we perceive them, with the wires out of focus and their expressions in clear view. If you look back at any of the photographs above, you can see the hazy streaks created by the fencing that separates us and them.

Auto-focus admittedly makes tracking the chimpanzees a little bit easier, and a lens with a wide aperture helps to blur out foreground obstacles, but we still often find ourselves embroiled in games of trial-and-error just to get a few photos for the daily blog.

This image, for example…

…was taken just milliseconds before this one:

Have a great week, everyone!

P.S. The answer to yesterday’s guessing game is 17 blankets. Congratulations to Linda C., Nancy Potter, and Gayle Marie Stone for guessing correctly!

Let Tree-dom Ring

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Well, we have some exciting news! I am not sure if anyone picked up on Anthony or Chad’s very subtle hints, but today Jamie’s group received access back to the new and improved Young’s Hill! For those who might be wondering about Cy’s group, the Bray Hill isn’t quite ready yet.

This afternoon, watching the seven go back out into their outdoor enclosure was a spectacular event to witness! I will share a few highlights of the day and tomorrow JB will have a video with more details to share!

Annie trying out new structures:

Burrito exploring:

Fearless little Foxie:

Missy and Annie inspecting:

Jody:

Jody and Foxie checking out their new structure:

Chad took this photo of Jamie. To me, this photo is the epitome of sanctuary:

Also this photo of Jamie, she looks so happy:

Maybe one of the best highlights of the day is Missy being the first to climb the trees! We humans and probably Jo were all holding our breath, but also so excited to watch Missy agilely climb a tree for the first time EVER!!!

Jody watching Missy climb a tree:

Jody and Annie monitoring Missy closely from the ground:

“Here I sit beneath a tree. Heartbeat calm. Soul hums free.”

– Angie Weiland-Crosby

Go Nuts For Coconuts

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When caregivers get done cleaning the playrooms, we usually put a forage inside to convince the chimpanzees to take up our invitation to go into the newly cleaned area and leave the one we want to close off to clean. These forages are smaller than the lunch forages and more often than not made of greens like lettuce, cabbage, kale, etc. But every so often we like to surprise them with something a little more exciting. Today, their invitation was made for them to go nuts! It was coconuts!

The chimpanzees seemed to really love it. Especially Burrito! As you can see in the video, sometimes the anticipation is the best part of the of the excitment of things to come!

Here are some photos of Negra with the pieces of coconut she got during the forage:

And Jody and Jamie enjoying a browse of cornstalks in their Greenhouse:

And this guy (Burrito!) playing with caregiver Kelsi!

And as a reminder, the Countdown to Jamieween has begun! There are still some items on the wish list we think she and her family would like!

Lucky Us

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There are chimpanzees in captivity who are front-and-center as soon as you meet them and every day thereafter. Burrito and Jamie, for example.

Then there are chimpanzees who allow others in their group to take the human-liaison role and more often hang out in the background.

Sometimes, this is because they just aren’t that interested in the humans (think Missy). More power to those confident types who just don’t need us bipedal apes (unless there are tomatoes to gather from the garden, of course).

Sometimes, chimpanzees are just shy or apprehensive. I can relate! It might take them more time to warm up to caregivers (think Gordo).

Sometimes, there are chimpanzees who choose certain humans they connect with, while they are pretty ambivalent about other people in their orbit (the best example of this with the chimpanzees I’ve known over the years was Washoe – she had her favorite people, and was SO EXCITED to see them. Everyone else was simply there to wait on her, and the rare occasions when she decided to pay attention to you, if you were not on her favorite list, were thrilling. And she knew this.)

Personally, I’m just not sure about Lucky and where she fits on this spectrum I just made up. She does greet her caregivers with enthusiasm, and seems to be more enthusiastic with certain humans (Jenna may be her human BFF right now).  She’s not front and center like others in her group. She is often at a bit of a distance, observing.

The other day, I felt very privileged to sit down with Lucky for a somewhat extended period of time while she was in the Oakwood Greenhouse.

She quietly sat, wanting to groom my hand, and looked into my eyes. Towards the end of our interaction, she started to look around, like she was searching for something but not finding it.

After a few seconds, she reached over to the bamboo plant next to her and pulled off a leaf. Then, she handed it to me through the caging.

I don’t know what she was thinking when she did this, but it seemed to be a gesture of friendship, and it made my day.

Bonus photos of one of the more gregarious chimpanzees in Lucky’s group. The ever-present Terry: