Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Cle Elum Seven

Love Day!

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The chimp’s had a fantastic Valentine’s Day party! Two of our supporters, Robbi and Dick Brown, brought TONS of fabulous new toys including books, stuffed animals, a plastic shopping cart, new troll dolls, scarves, socks, and a red feather boa. We filled gift bags of various new toys and wrapped the rest in red wrapping paper. Stephanie Perciful, our morning volunteer, brought tons of goodies as well, including food, decorations, and a lips-shaped pinata! The theme of the day- RED! Almost all the food was red- including strawberries, raspberries, red bell peppers, peaches, red pears, plums, apples, and pear juice in cute little bottles Stephanie brought. Elizabeth put a few raspberries and strawberries in decorative muffin cups (beautiful touch!) and put bite sized pieces of fruit in festive bags that we scattered and hung from various places in the playroom. The chimps were SO excited! The playroom was decorated to the max! Thanks so much to Dick, Robbi, Stephanie and Shelley, Margaret, and Karen! You guys put on quite the party! Due to technical difficulties, I was unable to put a video together today, but I’ve posted a sneak peek of the food. I promise more to come tomorrow… 🙂 Happy Valentine’s Day!

Valentine's Day yummies!. Valentine's Day Yummies!

Annie and Missy

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Annie and Missy have such a strange relationship. They are nearly inseparable, but when Missy decides to groom or play with someone else, Annie appears to be jealous. Its very predictable – if you see Missy playing with another chimpanzee, you can bet that Annie is watching her every move from a distance. Sometimes Annie will sit back on her butt and tap her heels on the floor, which is a behavior she often displays when she is anxious. And while Missy likes to interact with the other chimps, Annie mostly keeps to herself when Missy is not around.

Today I was taking photos of Missy and Jamie grooming and playing together outside:

Jamie Missy groom platform OA resized_MG_5374

Jamie Missy play blanket brachiate OA resized_MG_5382

And sure enough, there was Annie in the doorway, keeping an eye on things:

Annie doorway to OA resized_MG_5368

Tool use

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Chimpanzees are famous for their ability to use tools, but some individuals are more skilled than others. We know that human talent is a combination of genetics, early life experience, and practice, and the same is true with chimpanzees, I believe.

Jamie loves using tools. She could spend all day working on a project. I don’t think she’s as interested in the end result as she is in the process. Sometimes, when we are serving food, we accidentally drop a few pieces on the floor outside the enclosure. Jamie will spend the rest of the mealtime working to get those pieces, even though her caregivers are still giving out food.

Burrito, on the other hand, is just not a tool user. He has very limited patience, and he doesn’t seem to get that same flash of insight that spurs chimpanzees like Jamie to go fetch an appropriate tool. This doesn’t necessarily mean he is less intelligent. Most of the time, begging humans for help works just fine. But it does give you an idea why Burrito is not the alpha that he would like to be – Jamie is always one step ahead of him!