Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzees

What’s Your Strategy?

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Today, while observing the chimpanzees forage on Young’s Hill, volunteer Patti said she likes how Negra goes about things.

While Missy is running from one structure to another, finding all of the food that was placed or hidden high up on the structures or the treat rock:

And Jody is busy running around collecting as much as she can, mostly from the ground (low hanging fruit, you might say):

Negra wanders about until she finds some food:

And then she plops herself down and simply enjoys what is at hand (in this case, a beet that she seems to have splayed open and a prized pineapple top):

After finishing, she’ll sit for a bit and look around before moving on to the next station:

J.B. described this as a lack of a strategy, but I think it’s still a strategy to have a laid back, “see what happens” way of approaching the forage.

Either way, she looked very happy out there. ❤️

Cautiously Carefree

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The chimpanzees still don’t do much lounging on Young’s Hill. They spend quiet moments outside, to be sure, but it’s rare to see any of them just fully relax like they do when they’re indoors. Even when we’ve put out blankets, we haven’t seen them really nest.

Perhaps because they spent decades living indoors in laboratories without access to big open spaces, the outdoors seem to require more vigilance. I guess I feel the same way, come to think of it.

This morning, I did catch Foxie lying down way up high on the structure donors named “Jamie’s Lookout”.

You might notice that she’s still holding onto the ladder.

Even with this tether to security, you can tell that she is happy because she’s rubbing her big toe and second toe together – a classic and unique sign of happiness for Foxie.

Missy noticed Foxie in repose, and came over with a big playface. Then ensued a very short tickle/wrestle game (so short I didn’t capture a decent photo).

Missy then spied on J.B. who was with the cattle on the other property,

took a moment to sit next to the now upright Foxie,

and resumed her position on the other side of the lookout.

Foxie did some careful inspecting of the structural integrity of the platform before making her way back down.

Two Small Words

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I’ve been writing these two small words over and over lately: Thank you.

Donors to the sanctuary made our year-end fundraising soar to new and unexpected heights, and we have been quite busy sending out thank you letters and donation receipts.

I love to write those words, and I love thinking about each person as they made their donation. Some donors I know very well, and I can picture them as I write. Others are new and mysterious, and I wonder how they came to know about the chimpanzee sanctuary in Cle Elum.

Sometimes (often) those two words don’t feel nearly big enough to contain all of the gratefulness that I’m feeling. I hope the actual depth of my appreciation is somehow transferred into the ink as I write.

It really is incredible that people support the sanctuary and take the time and effort to back up that support with often hard-earned money. Knowing that we have this shared concern and mission is powerful.

I feel lucky to have a job where I not only get to be around amazing and unique non-humans, but I also have the opportunity to see the generosity and hope that our own species is capable of demonstrating.

So, reflecting on all of this today, I started to think about how the chimpanzees show gratitude. Thankfulness is a pretty complicated emotion that is probably an amalgam of different feelings, and maybe something that carries a bit of cultural individuality.

We don’t claim to be able to be inside the heads of the chimpanzees, even those we know very well, so I can’t say for sure that they experience thankfulness like I do.

That’s the conundrum about perception, though – I only know what I experience. I can guess that other people/beings experience the same or similar feelings as I do based on imagining how I would feel in a given situation and observing their outward behaviors, but it’s really just a guess.

Given my limitations of knowing much of anything about what’s outside of myself, I do think that the chimpanzees show and maybe feel something akin to gratitude.

When we serve food, we bring it through the chimp area first, as illustrated in the popular “pasta cam” that J.B. created on Burrito’s birthday. The excitement that the chimpanzees exhibit and the satisfying groans they make when we provide them with food is, I think, at least tinged with gratefulness.

Among themselves, when one of the chimpanzees reaches out for reassurance (like Negra here):

and then receives the reassurance they are seeking (from Jamie in this case):

I imagine there’s some thankfulness that’s part of what the reassurance-seeker experiences.

There was a more dramatic experience last fall when we had to suture Jody’s eyelid that I couldn’t help but believe that Jody was thankful for the humans, even though we had to do something that she otherwise would not have appreciated.

And then there are just the little everyday moments when the chimpanzees do a little something that makes me wonder if they are feeling grateful, like when old friends visit and walk with Jamie or today when I caught Missy’s gaze as she turned from the window she was looking out, and she proceeded to walk over and let me groom her back through the fencing.

I can’t say for sure if Missy was thankful that I was there to share the moment with her, but I can say definitively that I felt a whole lot of gratitude.

Tis the Season

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One frequently asked question we’re asked, well, frequently, is how the chimpanzees cope with snow. Snow is not a part of wild chimpanzees’ environment, to be clear.

However, save for maybe a few months as infants for Negra, Annie, and perhaps Jody, the seven chimpanzees here know nothing about the life and environment of wild chimpanzees. They grew up, for the most part, indoors. And for the last decade (at least) before coming to the sanctuary, they didn’t even have a window to look out.

So, to answer the question about how they cope with snow, I’d say they’ve adapted very well! As a rule, chimpanzees generally don’t like to get their feet wet. However, if the snow is not deep, the chimpanzees at CSNW go right outside, explore, and often collect some of the wintry treat to enjoy back in the greenhouse.

The visual of chimpanzees in snow is still sometimes strange; but they are, after all, honorary citizens of Cle Elum: Heart of the Cascades.

After ten years, a trek in the snow is probably just as normal as walking through the tall pasture grass and planted bamboo in the spring and summer.

And they look darn good against a backdrop of white.

Burrito

 

Annie & Burrito

 

Jody

Speaking of snow season, thank you to everyone who has donated so far in our year-end fundraising! I’ll have some more updates about that soon. I’ve been overwhelmed by all of the generosity from so many people. It really does a heart good to have the support of inspiring, amazing, and caring folks who are rooting for the Bring Them Home Expansion to continue as quickly as possible so we can provide a home for more chimpanzees!

Did you know that artist and friend of the chimpanzees Maragaret H. Parkinson has a special offer of a painting to a lucky person who donates $1,000?! Check out the original 12×12″ oil painting “Rainbow Ele” ©️ 2018 below and get in touch ([email protected]) if you would like to take advantage of this truly amazing gift!

A time for lounging and a time for adventure

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If we were to do a poll of the caregivers, or you all reading this (if you’ve been following a long for a bit), I would be willing to put good money down that Negra would be chosen as the chimpanzee at CSNW most likely to be found nesting.

Who do you think would be the second runner up?

I’m going to go with Jody. Is that what you thought?

There is no question that Negra and Jody know how to truly relax. Here are two of my favorite photos of them demonstrating their lounging prowess.

Negra:

Jody:

This morning was another GORGEOUS fall day, and most of the chimpanzees headed right outside, literally disappearing into the hill:

You will probably be able to guess who remained under her blanket, though (thanks to Earth Rated for donating these green lovely blankets to the chimps!):

If you guessed Negra, you would be correct.

Jody, despite her love of leisure, does like a morning adventure, so she went out, then back to the greenhouse, then out again, until she finally came back with a procured bamboo snack:

She stopped at the raceway to keep an eye on the other adventurers:

By the time lunch rolled around, Negra too was ready to emerge from her cocoon and soak up the fall air:

The addition of baked pumpkin to the lunch forage may have played a motivating factor:

It’s so satisfying to be able to see the chimpanzees making choices about how they spend their time. I’m glad that everyone got outside and enjoyed this beautiful day and also fit in a little quiet time for napping too.

Negra’s priceless life

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The other day someone asked me what I thought about all of the resources (time, staff, funds) that go into caring for a relatively small number of chimpanzees. It wasn’t a hostile or accusatory question at all, just one of curiosity.

Part of my answer in the moment was that we are working hard towards bringing more chimpanzees to the sanctuary. We are REALLY excited to expand in order to provide more chimpanzees with a home at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

But there’s also what we’ve seen in the last decade caring for the seven chimpanzees.

I was thinking about that question again this morning as I took this photo of Negra:

and then some more as I watched Negra walk out onto Young’s Hill and climb a structure to sit next to Annie in the sun:

Some things really are priceless. I could never put a value on the last ten and a half years of Negra’s life. Every moment has been invaluable for her, for her six friends, and for all of the humans who have gotten to know the chimpanzees in person and through this blog.

I’m filled with gratitude that so many people care about Negra and her friends and have given their time and money towards each priceless moment.

Negra thanks you!