Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Cle Elum 7

Happy Birthday, Missy!

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It’s hard to believe that youthful, exuberant, energizer-bunny Missy is turning 40 today. She might be in the running for World’s Most Sprightly 40 Year Old Chimpanzee. Missy makes us smile everyday with her enthusiasm for life, her legs that never stop running, and her complete devotion to her chimp family. Today, we celebrate her.

Volunteer caregiver Patti put together an 80s-themed party for Missy’s big day. Naturally this included leg warmers, socks, and sweatbands in neon colors (including a few for caregivers to wear), and homemade Rubik’s Cube pinatas. We firmly believe a party is not a party without streamers, so we decked out the greenhouse with those too. Fruit smoothie “shots” in Dixie cups, apples, plums, tomatoes (Missy’s favorite), and primate chow rounded out the celebration.

Missy:

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Negra:

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Annie:

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Jody:

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Jamie:

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Foxie:

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Burrito:

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For Missy, no day is complete without some serious adventure, so we scattered a lunch forage on Young’s Hill. And adventure she did:

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To everyone who contributed to Missy’s party, sponsored today, or just sent happy thoughts to the birthday girl, thank you!

Keeping the nests clean

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Chimpanzees build nests when they go to bed each night, and sometimes during the day when they want to rest or play, and typically build a new nest each time. In the wild, chimpanzees construct arboreal nests, folding in the branches and leaves of the tree and making it into a bowl shape. Each individual sleeps in their own nest with the exception of mothers who share their nests with their nursing infants.

While in biomedical research, chimpanzees aren’t typically provided with nesting materials so they’re unable to meet this hard-wired instinct. I often recall a moving story Diana shared of when they first met the chimpanzees before their arrival to the sanctuary. She was spending time getting to know them and handed them small pieces of newspaper through the caging. Most of the chimps began using it to nest with straight away, particularly Negra and Jody. There’s no way to know whether Negra and Jody retained this behavior from their days as infants living in Africa with their mothers, or if they had been given materials to nest with at some point during their 30 years in the labs. Whatever the case, it’s always amazing to me that as soon as the chimpanzees are provided with the opportunity to engage in their natural behaviors, they embrace it.

Here at the sanctuary, we made the decision to offer the chimpanzees as many blankets as we could feasibly wash and dry each day. At current count, they receive at least 60 fresh blankets a day to nest with. Just like us, they love fleece blankets for their cozy factor, and at the same time they are easy for us to wash and dry quickly. As you can imagine, that is a whole lot of laundry to do each day! A few years ago, we were graciously gifted with a washer and dryer from beloved supporters, “The Wagmanagerie,” and they’ve been running like champs for pretty much 7-8 hours a day, 7 days a week. They were amazing despite the heavy demands placed upon them, but have definitely begun to show their wear and tear. So we couldn’t have been more thrilled when supporters Ross and Karen Barde purchased a brand new washer and dryer for the chimp house! And And they just arrived yesterday! Ross is also a chimp house volunteer so he’s no stranger to the mountain of blankets we wash each day.

Behold, the shiny and new gifts!!:

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Each of the chimps has their own style, often weaving in favorite items or snacks, and some use more blankets than others. We have found as many as 20-25 blankets in one nest! Here are a few examples of nests we found this morning while cleaning so you can get a sense of how many blankets they enjoy using:

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Negra’s nest in front of her sunny window overlooking the valley:

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Jody’s nest with a guest:

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Our new washer and dryer are a larger capacity and we were done with laundry a couple of hours early today. And you know what the best part about that is? Now we can give the chimpanzees even more blankets! I think Jody’s yawn from her nest says it all:

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Ross and Karen, thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and the bottom of the chimpanzees’ nests, for your generous gift!! And as we continue to celebrate the gift of a week of sanctuary sponsored by Micheal in honor of Arlene’s birthday, we can’t think of better timing to be able to offer the chimpanzees even more comfort. We are so full of gratitude for all the support that allows us to make every day better than the last for these seven amazing and deserving chimpanzee people.

Making Up

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Burrito depends on Foxie quite a bit. Despite the fact that Foxie’s about half his size, she’s his friend, his security blanket, and his most loyal protector. She’s always there when he needs a hug.

But everyone behaves a little unkindly to their friends from time to time. Yesterday, during a dominance display, Burrito thumped Foxie on the back as he charged past her. This isn’t unusual behavior for Burrito, or for any chimpanzee in the midst of a display. Still, it’s probably not fun to be the recipient of the thumping, especially when it comes from your good friend.

Luckily, chimps are experts at reconciliation. A little grooming is all it usually takes to make amends.

First Impressions: Jody

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Last week I had every intention of doing a blog about Jody, but Jamie stole the show. Jody can be a tough chimpanzee to get to know. She will put up boundaries between her caregivers (especially new ones) that are easy to respect. She has the admiration of her chimpanzee family and is high ranking (although not as high as Jamie). Jody is a lover of large nests and will sometimes leave them in the doorways of the enclosures making it a challenge to close off. If you ask her nicely, she may oblige and move her blankets. On other days, she may stay posted in an area so there is no chance to clean it. Jody is also an amazing forager. She will go out on Young’s Hill and fill her mouth and hands so full of produce that her wrists bend into a shovel shape and her impressive lips are extended to capacity. She finds delicious things to eat on the hill, even when we haven’t specifically put out a forage. Whether it be bamboo branches, weeds, or grass, she will find it and enjoy it.

Today I took some photos of Jody as she lounged in the playroom. She had the beginnings of a nest built and a bamboo shoot ready to be snacked on. She also had a green-haired troll in her pelvic (hip) pocket.
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Burrito was on standby as I photographed Jody. Keeping a watchful eye on her and making sure I didn’t step out of line.
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Beautiful, tough, and respected, this is Jody chimpanzee.
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Bouncing Back

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Burrito’s been through a lot lately. In early June, he fractured a canine. The injury itself didn’t seem to phase him, but in order to prevent future pain and infection, we needed to extract the tooth. In late June, we performed an exam to do some blood work, check on his heart condition, and assess how he would do under prolonged anesthesia. And in late July, we performed the extraction.

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Before he came to the sanctuary from the research lab in 2008, Burrito was sedated for procedures pretty frequently. The routine nature of these “knockdowns” probably didn’t diminish the fear associated with them. Until Burrito’s tooth ordeal, we’ve been incredibly lucky that none of the chimps here have required medical intervention beyond a dose of antibiotics here or there.

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When you care for former lab chimpanzees, you hope that they know they’re safe now, and that they trust the difference between their current home and their former ones. We’ve spent the last seven years working to gain these chimps’ trust, and one nagging fear is that something will happen to lose you the trust you’ve earned.

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Regardless of the fact that Burrito was surrounded by friends who love him and who want the best for him, it’s likely that the two procedures he had to undergo recently brought back some scary memories from his past life. And regardless of the fact that we’ve seen firsthand how incredibly resilient and forgiving chimps can be, it’s still hard not to fear that you’re going to push things too far and damage the relationships you’ve built.

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But we shouldn’t have worried. Burrito has bounced back to his sweet, goofy, mischievous, happy self. His love for the simple things in life – a ripe avocado, a good grooming session, a long and loud bout of chase with a human friend – is as strong as ever. May we all strive to be as irrepressible as this guy.

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