Cle Elum Seven

Females in Charge

June 30, 2018 by Diana

We’re getting ready for the small groundbreaking ceremony this afternoon! The actual construction on Phase 1 of the expansion will start in a little over two weeks, but today we’re having a ceremonial start to this huge project. I can’t even express how happy we are to have arrived at this day and how incredibly grateful I am for every single person who has donated these last two years as we fundraised to begin this project.

We have a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s amazing to be finally at the first step towards bringing more chimpanzees home.

In the meantime, I bring you my thoughts this morning as I walked around Young’s Hill with Jamie, Missy, Jody, and Foxie walking together on the inside of their habitat…

In the wild, chimpanzees societies are patriarchal. With their might, size, and testosterone, even low-ranking adult males are said to outrank all of the adult females in any given group. In captivity, things are often quite different. Every group of chimpanzees that I have worked with for an extended period of time has had a strong female that clearly called many of the shots and at least occasionally put their foot down with males in the group.

Maybe it’s because the chimpanzees I’ve known have not been socialized into a normal chimpanzee society – they were raised in human environments or spent much of their time living alone or in pairs within laboratory settings. Or maybe part of it is that chimpanzees are flexible and adaptable, figuring their relationships out as they go rather than having a rigid, strictly biologically-driven social order. Most likely it’s a bit of this and a bit of that.

Even though it’s not what they would be doing in the wild, and it would likely be much better if they were living in a more balanced male-to-female group, I can’t help but admire the female power that exists at the sanctuary.

Like today, when this all-female patrol walked around the perimeter of their territory.

Give and Take

June 28, 2018 by Elizabeth

Today volunteer Amanda captured some interesting chimp behavior on her phone while watching volunteer Kailie serve lunch to the chimpanzees. Kailie had set a couple of pieces of yam within Jamie’s reach. As boss, Jamie has the unique privilege of being able to leave her food unattended and be reasonably sure that no one else will have the nerve to take it. Today Jamie wasn’t showing much interest in her yams, so Annie (who is at the very bottom of the dominance hierarchy) must have done some quick mental calculations and decided that Jamie might not be too upset if Annie took her yams. As you’ll see in the video, it turns out that Annie was right, but it was still a gutsy move, and it demonstrates just how much confidence Annie has developed since her early days at the sanctuary when she wouldn’t have dared risk upsetting the boss.

Incidentally, later in the meal Jamie got her own form of payback when she distracted Annie with a kiss to the forehead while she swiped some of her primate chow.

The Lip

June 27, 2018 by Elizabeth

You can always tell when Negra is feeling extremely relaxed because she loses the motivation to control her lower lip. A Negra with a droopy lower lip is a very happy (and usually sleepy) Negra.

Celebration of 10 Years!

June 17, 2018 by Kelsi

Can you believe it, these chimps have been at the sanctuary for 10 years. Over the years whether it was by donation, volunteering, or following the blog we have seen tremendous change in their lives and well-being. In the beginning Foxie didn’t want to have anything to do with enrichment and now Foxie has found love in her dolls. Annie was reserved and had very little confidence and now she is more independent, bold, and confident. Negra was afraid of Young’s Hill and now she adventures to forage all by herself. And not to mention how they have been aging in reverse. It has been a privilege to watch the growth in these seven amazing chimpanzees. But really Negra says it best….

In addition, here are some photos to give you a sneak preview of what tomorrows blog might look like!

Burrito taking a breather from partying:

Foxie swinging with her new France Dora:

Negra searching for some mini bananas:

Negra enjoying some forage she found in a coconut:

Jody was the first to venture out to find what was hidden on the Hill:

Jody was very committed to foraging out there:

Jody got to take full advantage while everyone was preoccupied in the Greenhouse:

Foxie also went out on her own, well France Dora accompanied her of course:

This was just the start, there are more photos to come from our BIG celebration!

More firsts after ten years

June 16, 2018 by Diana

The featured photo (the one at the top of the page) literally brought tears to my eyes this morning. Well, not the photo itself, but seeing Negra in the grass with that very relaxed face. She has come so far in the last ten years, and has made new strides just in the last two weeks since I wrote about her (and Foxie’s and Annie’s) independence. And she’s not the only one (there’s a bonus Burrito story down below the photos of Negra).

Two days ago, following our PRT session, I was starting on a walk with Jamie, when I noticed an unmistakable figure ahead. Though I knew it could only be Negra, I really questioned my eyes when I saw this chimpanzee person climb into the hammock. Luckily I had the camera with me and was able to get evidence of what I believe is a first-ever event.

Negra’s main purpose on the hill these days is to find prickly lettuce. She sets off on these expeditions with a certain amount of determination, so it was very special that she stopped and took in the view from this new perspective. And just look at her face in that photo of her in the hammock and the featured photo – she is relaxed, content, and at home.

After this pause, she continued on her journey:

almost disappearing into the sea of grass:

Once she happened upon a spot to forage for the plants she is so fond of, she disappeared again, this time into a sea of wild mustard:

I moved to get a better angle (Jamie was being quite patient with me taking photos of Negra, waiting to continue the walk we had begun):

Here’s one for perspective. Negra is at the very top of the hill, beyond the tower structures:

Lately on these treks, another chimpanzee, usually Jody (below) or Missy, will join Negra. Perhaps they are ensuring everything is okay, or maybe they are hoping to share in her harvest:

At 45, after decades of living in confinement, Negra proves that it is never too late for anyone to try something new and become something you never thought you would be.

Perhaps Burrito has been observing Negra’s new sense of adventure because today he climbed up onto to the bar structure!

Sometimes I don’t notice when someone hasn’t done something until I see them do it for the first time.

I am pretty sure that Foxie was aware that this was a new occasion because she was very excited to see Burrito up there next to her.

and he seemed pleased with the experience too:

What a fantastic week of firsts as we head into tomorrow’s celebration of the ten year anniversary of the chimpanzees’ arrival to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.