The skies are blue, the sun is shining, and Foxie doesn’t have a care in the world.
Cle Elum 7
The Two Sides of Burrito
Burrito is not the most popular guy on the block. That may shock those of you who are human beings, because humans are completely unable to resist his many charms. But if you were a chimpanzee living with Burrito, he’d probably be a thorn in your side.
Burrito is a unique (and completely endearing, says this human) mix of macho and vulnerable. At times, he is a whirling dervish, composed entirely of testosterone and muscle. In the next moment, he is all confused little boy, cowering in a corner while the ladies put him back in his place. As a male chimpanzee who grew up in an unnatural and impoverished environment, he is a slave to instinct but lacks finesse. He is the teenage boy who does something incredibly misguided, and when asked why, cannot provide an explanation. He is more action than thought.
But most of the time, Burrito is like a puppy. He is affectionate and goofy and a little needy. He just wants love and attention and praise and food and someone to play with. Because he’s slightly intimidated by the other chimpanzees, he usually turns to his human friends to fulfill these needs. It is a burden that we take on because someone must, but it is rough. So rough.
Easter Revisited
Yesterday, Keri shared some photos from the chimpanzees’ Easter party. We didn’t get a ton of video footage of the party, but I thought I’d share a few clips. Enjoy!
The Art of Grooming
Grooming is a standard activity here at the sanctuary. Usually, the chimpanzees groom one another. Some of the chimps enjoy being groomed by their caregivers. Jamie, though, likes to be the one doing the grooming. For safety reasons, the chimps don’t have the same level of physical access to their caregivers as they do to one another, so when Jamie wants to groom a caregiver she grabs a tool.
Jamie is fascinated by humans and often uses her tool to explore as much of us as she can. She removes dirt from the bottom of our shoes, checks our fingernails, and tries to remove buttons from our clothes or undo zippers or velcro. She pays special attention to any wounds, scars, or tattoos.
The morning routine
The mornings at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest are always full of hungry chimpanzees expecting breakfast and caregivers getting down and dirty with cleaning activity. Today I thought I’d pull back the curtain for some behind the scenes photo blogging of a step-by-step guide to the a.m. routine at the sanctuary. You may notice a lot of pictures with the chimpanzees behind caging, and unfortunately that is the reality of any captive primate (even one in a nice sanctuary). Please check out Diana’s blog Why are the Chimps in Cages? from several months ago if you have questions about what you might see.
First thing in the morning comes breakfast preparation. Breakfast is made up of a fruit smoothie (with protein powder added), peanuts (mostly to motivate Negra out of bed), 2 kinds of fresh fruit, chewable vitamins, and two small bags of primate chow for each chimpanzee.
The first area we generally try to clean in the morning is the Greenhouse. Since humans never go into any of the enclosures with the chimpanzees, caregivers ask the chimps to shift into a different area and staff members operate remote controlled doors to securely lock the chimpanzees out of an area that we wish to clean.
In this photo, volunteer Lizz serves a banana slice to Missy as a morning snack in the Playroom. Shortly before this photo was taken, I operated the doors to close off the Greenhouse for cleaning.
As part of CSNW’s safety protocol, staff and cleaning volunteers are trained to double check that the Lead Caregiver (the staff member who is operating doors for the day) has closed and locked the proper doors and the chimps are in the right areas so we can safely enter an enclosure without their presence. Here Lizz is double checking the lever and lock controls for one of the doors used to close off the Greenhouse.
Once an area is deemed safe to enter by the Lead Caregiver and at least one other fully trained individual, the cleaning begins!
After an area is cleaned, we replace the dirty blankets and enrichment with new items. Here volunteer Kaylen puts out a fresh blanket and a stuffed primate.
We remove all cleaning supplies and personal belongings from the area before we lock up the human access doors and let the chimpanzees shift into the clean area (again a staff member operates the doors using a remote controlled lever and lock).
After the greenhouse is cleaned, it’s time for the rest of breakfast! We take the opportunity of the breakfast excitement to close off the Playroom area for the next round of cleaning.
During breakfast, the Lead Caregiver will also make sure that Young’s Hill is secure so the chimpanzees can have access to it. Here Jody peers out the newly open door to the Hill (notice she is still finishing up her bag of primate chow from breakfast).
When deemed a “safe for humans to enter” area, caregivers will attack the Playroom by sweeping, spraying, scrubbing and squeegeeing their way to a fresh sparkling clean enclosure!
During cleaning, the chimpanzees alternate between napping and supervising.
In this photo, Jamie watches us clean from her nest in the Front Rooms (her current purple boot obsession laying next to her).
This morning, Missy checked out our work from a window in the Greenhouse.
After the chimpanzees shift back into the Playroom, it’s time for the last round of enclosure cleaning (the Front Rooms). And last,but certainly not least, comes lunch!
Jamie’s Weakness
Jamie does not exhibit vulnerability often. She is in complete command of herself and everyone else at all times, and what she sometimes lacks in confidence she makes up for in bluster. In her relationships with humans and other chimps, she rarely lets her guard down.
But Jamie has one weakness: men. Men make Jamie as close to googly-eyed as she ever gets. Our personnel at the sanctuary have always skewed heavily female. Out of our six staff members, one is male. Out of our 42 current chimp house volunteers, five are male (which is the most we’ve ever had at one time). Jamie’s behavior around these male volunteers would be recognizable to anyone who’s ever had a crush.
This morning volunteer Yuri was here and Jamie split her time between staring at him and trying to get his attention. Here she is trying to catch a glimpse of him working in the kitchen:
The Luck o’ the Cle Elum Seven
The Cle Elum Seven may not head to the pubs on St. Patrick’s Day, but they still know how to have a good time. We had a breakfast party in the greenhouse this morning with fruit smoothie in plastic shot glasses with lime garnishes, peanuts, and chow. The main event, though, was undoubtedly the whole green apples. The chimpanzees find whole fruit infinitely more exciting than the same amount of fruit cut into pieces. We put this morning’s apples inside socks and hung them around the greenhouse. The chimps were beside themselves. Here are a few highlights from the celebration.
Jamie went after the “apple socks” with a laser focus. She had some trouble carrying all her treasures, so she made good use of her opposable toes.
Foxie with a lime wedge:
and getting the last drops from a cup of smoothie:
Negra held onto her apple for awhile before eating it:
Burrito with an apple and searching for more:
and enjoying smoothie:
and more smoothie:
Annie thought there must be food inside this big green plastic egg that volunteer Alex brought:
Alas, there wasn’t.
But she consoled herself with some smoothie.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
