Cle Elum

Kongs for Evening Enrichment

November 10, 2014 by Keri

Another one of our evening enrichment puzzles is putting nuts, peanut butter or mashed up banana into holes in kongs. The chimpanzees use their fingers or a tool (or a combination of both) to get at the tasty treats inside, but sometimes the treats can be pretty tough to get out.

Jamie spent the better part of the morning working on her kong that was left over from the previous evening. Evidently, there was a hazelnut that was trapped inside and she could not free it. She tried using all the tools at her disposal, including her finger, her tongue, the arm of a troll doll, and a short wooden tool. When none of them worked I offered her a hard plastic chop stick to use.

Playing with Caregivers

November 9, 2014 by Elizabeth

Our preference is always that the chimpanzees turn to each other when they’re looking for company, but we’re always here for them in case they want some human time.

Point A to Point B

September 28, 2014 by Keri

What is the quickest way to get from point A to point B?

Well, for Missy chimpanzee, that means taking the tight rope walk across the fire hose railing to get to the platform on top of the climbing structure.

Once she made it to the top platform, she took a moment to look out over the valley.

In the first picture, Annie and Foxie were also on the climbing structure. If you look close enough, you can see the blue hair of Foxie’s troll doll lying on Foxie’s back.

Annie (bottom left), Foxie (top left), Missy (far right).

Negra Light and Bonus Play Video!

September 27, 2014 by Diana

*Note – due to feedback on Facebook this post is basically a two-for-one. Photos AND video of Negra on the hill AND a bonus treat -a video of Jamie and Foxie playing. Just a fraction of the great things that happened at the sanctuary today.

Please let me know which was your favorite part of this post in the comments below and on our Facebook page, and share your favorite photo and video on your own Facebook, Twitter, Ello (are you on that?), etc. page or email a link to the blog to your friends. Spread the chimps’ joy!

We’ve had rain for the last few days, which was a nice change. Today, however, was back to sun, but with a definite autumn feel. There’s that bit of crispness in the air and the ambient light seems to have suddenly changed overnight with the sun lower instead of directly overhead. I might just start referring to this light as “Negra light” because it made for some beautiful photos of the Queen this morning.

The change back to sunshine prompted us to set up a breakfast forage on the hill. Negra doesn’t always join foraging on the 2-acres, but I made sure to make a pathway of lettuce to encourage her to come out. To our surprise, Negra not only ventured onto Young’s Hill, but spent quite a bit of time foraging, and was the last one back in. Not only that, but she demanded that Debbie serve her two cups of smoothie, which she often is not interested in – perhaps the workout of foraging on the hill made her a bit more hungry.

In any case, please enjoy the (many) “Negra light” photos and the video below, don’t forget to watch the Foxie and Jamie wrestling video at the end of the post and let me know what your favorite part of today’s post was (one of the videos, a particular photo, the eclectic content…?).

Thanks for reading and learning more about the family at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest! Your support and donations make all the difference!

“Negra Light”!

And here’s the bonus video, which doesn’t need much explanation. What a happy pair!

Lips

September 22, 2014 by Keri

I’ve recently been asked about how we receive kisses from the chimpanzees. The simple answer is that the chimpanzees extend their lips through the wire caging toward us and we put the back of our hand up towards their lips. But, words can only describe so much; pictures actually show it. So, today I tried to capture that through photos, but none of the chimps offered kisses to me (perhaps because I had the camera in hand?). So, I had to resort to the next best way of showing how the chimpanzees extend their prehensile lips towards us to give us a kiss. Meal time is the perfect opportunity to capture the chimpanzees extending their lips through the wire caging.

In the following photos, volunteer caregiver Becca served breakfast to the chimps this morning. On the menu were red pears and oranges, along with a watermelon, banana and protein powder smoothie. Each of the chimpanzees are also given fiber pills and vitamins every morning. You will notice in the following pictures that Becca’s fingers never penetrate the caging. For safety reasons, we consider the caging to be a barrier between our space and that of the chimpanzees, therefore we never stick our fingers into the enclosures.

Annie takes her fiber pill at breakfast.

Annie getting her share of the breakfast smoothie.

Burrito uses his lips to slurp his smoothie.

Jamie uses her lips to take her fiber pill.

Missy

Jody’s lips are pretty impressive. She seems to have the furthest “reach” with them. What do you think?

Jody taking her vitamins.

A Surprise for Foxie

August 7, 2014 by Elizabeth

Tomorrow is Foxie’s 38th birthday, and we’ll be throwing a big party to celebrate. We’re going to fill her day with the stuff that makes her happiest, including this impressive collection of new troll and Dora dolls:

Foxie hasn’t seen the new dolls yet. We want them to be a surprise on her big day. Be sure to check back tomorrow to see how she likes them!

New Horizons

July 20, 2014 by Elizabeth

Negra doesn’t spend as much time outside on Young’s Hill as the other chimpanzees. She seems to feel safer and more comfortable inside. And when she does go out, she doesn’t venture far. So we’re always excited to see Negra explore new territory on the hill.

This morning we set up a breakfast forage outside, and included some lettuce (Negra’s favorite). Negra couldn’t resist, and she joined the rest of the group as they went out to forage for breakfast. As if that wasn’t exciting enough, she spotted some lettuce on top of a climbing structure. Negra’s not much of a climber, and most of the climbing structures on Young’s Hill have remained unexplored by her. This morning’s lettuce, though, was incentive enough to brave the unknown.