Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Cle Elum Seven

Thanksgiving 2016

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Today we’re thankful for delicious feasts, for food squeaks, for volunteers who spend their holiday spreading joy to the chimps, and for all of you who have so much love for seven chimpanzees you probably haven’t met. It’s been a good day.

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Annie:

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Missy:

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Negra:

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Foxie:

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Jamie:

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Foxie and Jody resting after the party:

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Most of the video footage we ended up with after today’s party happened to feature Burrito stuffing his face:

To all of you friends, supporters, volunteers, and well-wishers, thanks for giving Annie, Missy, Burrito, Jody, Foxie, Jamie, and Negra so much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!

Hurry Up, Please

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One of the reasons we call Negra the Queen of the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees is that she knows exactly what she wants and when she wants it, and she makes sure to let us know. When she decides it’s time to eat – this can be anywhere from a few minutes before mealtime to an hour before mealtime – she goes up to the playroom loft where she has a clear view of the humans working in the kitchen, and employs a variety of techniques to tell us to hurry it up. Once the meal begins, Negra continues to do whatever she can to move us along at a pace that suits her.

Missy deigns to play with a caregiver

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Missy is a chimps’ chimp. She much prefers the company of her chimpanzee family to that of any of her caregivers. Once in awhile she honors us with some attention, but she is hilariously aloof in most of her interactions with humans. On the rare occasion that she plays with a caregiver, she typically has a “I’m a little embarrassed for you right now” look on her face. Which, of course, makes her all the more charming.

More Positive Reinforcement Training Progress

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Our Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT) program is coming along nicely. (Learn about PRT and how it helps the chimpanzees in this blog post from last year.)

Here’s a video of Diana and Jamie’s session this afternoon.