Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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chimpanzees

Point A to Point B

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What is the quickest way to get from point A to point B?

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Well, for Missy chimpanzee, that means taking the tight rope walk across the fire hose railing to get to the platform on top of the climbing structure.
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Once she made it to the top platform, she took a moment to look out over the valley.

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In the first picture, Annie and Foxie were also on the climbing structure. If you look close enough, you can see the blue hair of Foxie’s troll doll lying on Foxie’s back.

Annie (bottom left), Foxie (top left), Missy (far right).
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Lips

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I’ve recently been asked about how we receive kisses from the chimpanzees. The simple answer is that the chimpanzees extend their lips through the wire caging toward us and we put the back of our hand up towards their lips. But, words can only describe so much; pictures actually show it. So, today I tried to capture that through photos, but none of the chimps offered kisses to me (perhaps because I had the camera in hand?). So, I had to resort to the next best way of showing how the chimpanzees extend their prehensile lips towards us to give us a kiss. Meal time is the perfect opportunity to capture the chimpanzees extending their lips through the wire caging.

In the following photos, volunteer caregiver Becca served breakfast to the chimps this morning. On the menu were red pears and oranges, along with a watermelon, banana and protein powder smoothie. Each of the chimpanzees are also given fiber pills and vitamins every morning. You will notice in the following pictures that Becca’s fingers never penetrate the caging. For safety reasons, we consider the caging to be a barrier between our space and that of the chimpanzees, therefore we never stick our fingers into the enclosures.

Annie takes her fiber pill at breakfast.
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Annie getting her share of the breakfast smoothie.
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Burrito uses his lips to slurp his smoothie.
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Jamie uses her lips to take her fiber pill.
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Missy
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Jody’s lips are pretty impressive. She seems to have the furthest “reach” with them. What do you think?
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Jody taking her vitamins.
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Negra, troll dolls, and overcoming anxiety

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If you read J.B.’s blog post yesterday, you know that we’ve had quite an interesting development at the sanctuary. Negra, who normally ignores enrichment, has taken a shine to troll dolls, which up until now have been Foxie’s “thing.”

An unrelated fact that you may have noticed if you’ve been with us for a while is that Negra is not as often pictured participating in forages on Young’s Hill as the other chimpanzees. Sometimes Negra decides not to join the group on the hill for forages. We are not entirely sure why this is, and we are trying to figure it out right now (more on that later).

The new development today is that Negra took a troll doll with her to forage on the hill!

It certainly seems that Foxie is able to get comfort from her dolls that she carries everywhere – a kind of security blanket, and perhaps Negra is experiencing something similar with the dolls now.

This is a not-very-good photo of Negra, with the troll doll in her right hand as she is walking back to the greenhouse with a mouthful of lettuce:

Negra holding troll on young's hill

 

Here is Negra passing Foxie (her inspiration?). I like the way that chimpanzees, even when there is lots of room (like 2 acres), will go out of their way to have physical contact:

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I was excited to get this photo – you can see Negra’s hand around the troll and Foxie’s around a Dora as they walk in opposite directions:

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One of the many things that I love about Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest is that all staff caregivers meet twice a month to talk about the chimpanzees and raise concerns or even just share stories. One of our recent topics has been Negra’s reluctance to participate in forages. For a while, every time that Negra did not forage with the group, we would give her a meal in the greenhouse or inside the building. But then it seemed that she wasn’t even considering going onto the hill, perhaps because she knew she would get her own private picnic. She does sometimes show anxiety about going on the hill, and we don’t want to cause her to miss lunch if she is responding out of genuine fear.

However, we do want to encourage all of the chimps to experience everything that the sanctuary has to offer, to get exercise, and to work on overcoming situations that might cause a little bit of anxiety. So, a few weeks ago we decided to try not giving Negra a private meal if she didn’t at least make a move to participate in the forage. This may be providing her the encouragement that she needed to join the group in foraging.

Negra eating lettuce

At our last meeting we decided to start recording the different factors that may be influencing Negra to choose whether or not to participate in forages on the hill. But now we might just have to add one – whether or not she has a troll doll with her!

New Beginnings

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As I drove over the snowy pass on the way to the sanctuary this morning, I was reminded how snow signifies new beginnings and a fresh start. While I have spent many years in the non-profit and primate world, I view my role as executive director at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest as a new beginning for me. For most of my life I have wanted to serve primates in a sanctuary setting and to live in the northwest. I now have been given the opportunity to marry both dreams and I could not be more thrilled. Sarah and the CSNW team have poured their hearts into this organization and have accomplished many things such as providing a safe and healthy environment for seven amazing chimpanzees, expanding space for the Cle Elum 7 by building a greenhouse and Young’s Hill, advocating for all primates by creating Eyes on Apes, and developing a visitors’ program (the list goes on and on).

Jamie and I spending quality time together
Jamie and I got to spend some quality time together

Today, I take the proverbial leadership baton and am looking forward to the future (not just for the organization, but for all chimpanzees). I look forward to helping the organization grow, advocating for chimpanzees around the world, and continuing to care for the Cle Elum 7. In the meantime, I will be getting acclimated to the sanctuary and to the area. I have already met many of our dedicated volunteers and supporters and am eager to get to know all of you. The Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest team and the chimpanzees have also been incredibly welcoming. I have begun forming special bonds with Jamie, Foxie, Missy, Negra, Burrito, Annie, and Jody…how can I not love them?

Jamie wanted me to show her my boots
Jamie wanted me to show her my boots

Thank you all for welcoming me with open arms. During this transition, feel free to e-mail me with suggestions as to how we can better serve our chimpanzees, community and supporters.

Cute Burrito

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The other day I caught Burrito sitting by himself in the greenhouse with a pasta spoon in his mouth. He was just casually hanging out, minding his own business, and I snapped this photo:

Then he caught me taking pictures, and started being ridiculously cute:

Negra’s kind of day

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Negra’s not a big fan of the cold, so she hasn’t been spending time on the hill. Even the greenhouse is a bit too cold for her these days. Her favorite spot is lounging in the warm playroom in front of the windows, so today was Negra’s kind of day. Missy stayed in the playroom during breakfast (so we couldn’t clean there until later) so after she ate, Negra got to go right back to lounging in the sunny playroom in her bed.

Slinky Entertainment

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Last week’s spiderweb had some pretty amazing details that may not have been captured by the video. There were lots of little bugs (bees, caterpillars, butterflies) caught in the web, along with troll dolls, stuffed animals, beaded necklaces, and plastic Slinkies. The Slinkies ended up being a nice touch, because when Foxie would shake the web, they bounced all over the place, which may be why they got so much attention that day. At one point, I caught Jamie stringing some of the ribbon through the coils (much like she was “sewing”) and later, Missy took one up stairs and played with it for a while. I like how she almost looks proud of her creation in the video below.

The slinkies were sent by our friend from Oregon, Leslie Sodaro, who sends us some of the most amazing things for the chimps! From hilarious stuffed animals (some of my recent favorites being Spock, Alf, Richard Nixon, and Betty Boop) to crazy dolls that Foxie flips for (literally!), when we get a package from Leslie, we know we are in for a treat! Thanks for always keeping the chimps (and humans!) so enriched, Leslie!

Here are a couple more of Leslie’s finds:

Burrito with the blue fish:

Foxie and the wrestler: