Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Cle Elum

Foxie- the next “Lord of the Dance”

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Today, I popped in a video of “Lord of the Dance”, donated by one of our many wonderful supporters and volunteers, Stephanie Perciful. We put it on our wishlist in hopes that Negra would enjoy it, because she sometimes enjoys watching her caregivers’ dance. So far Negra hasn’t shown much interest in it and is usually too far away to see it. Foxie on the other hand, seems to thoroughly enjoy it and looks like she kind of wants to join in! Someone recently commented that Foxie may be musically inclined- I think I agree. Thanks, Stephanie! I’d say Foxie seems pretty enriched!

Note- I orginally said that the video was donated by Tamela, but it was actually Stephanie who donated it! So sorry Stephanie and Tamela for the confusion! Guess I am indeed human. 🙂

Negra’s son Noah

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CSNW supporter Jennifer Douglas and her husband James are sponsoring the migration of Noah on behalf of his mother Negra. Check out the photo of Noah below – he looks so much like his mom!!

Noah (STC) [Bubba's Family]

Noah currently lives at the Save the Chimps facility in New Mexico which was formerly owned by the Coulston Foundation – a notoriously horrid research facility that closed down when Save the Chimps stepped in to rescue the chimpanzees. Like all of the chimpanzees at the former Coulston Foundation laboratory, Noah will be making the journey to Florida where he will live on an island with a large group of chimpanzees. We’re so pleased that Jennifer and James and so many of you are reaching out to help the relatives of the Cle Elum Seven in other sanctuaries.

Thanks to Candy Crannell for alerting us that Noah is now on the Save the Chimps website, and for sponsoring the migration of Foxie’s daughter Angie (who also looks remarkably like her mother).  Also check out Negra’s daughter Angel from this previous post. Many of the sons and daughters of the Cle Elum Seven are now at Save the Chimps, so more on relatives soon!

Nesting, Nesting, Nesting…

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Today, Jamie built herself yet another nest using a blanket and a box. This sparked a conversation between Diana and I about the similarities and differences of nesting behavior of captive vs. free-living chimpanzees. We couldn’t find many videos on the internet of free-living chimpanzees nesting, however, Jane Goodall’s Discover Chimpanzees Website has a behavior glossary, complete with video footage of the chimpanzees in Gombe engaging in a variety of behaviors, including this clip of nesting. If you compare the following video clips of Jody, Missy and Jamie (in order of appearance) to the video clip from the Discover Chimpanzees Website, you can see many similarities. Notice how the free-living chimpanzee (named Fifi) pulls the branches into her nest and pushes them down to make her bed more comfortable. It truly is an exact science.

Party!

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Here are a few photos from the party thus far. We really can’t thank you all enough for the gifts and donations you sent to make this day so special for the chimpanzees in Cle Elum. They certainly do love a party. Little does Burrito knows his birthday is just around the corner! Hope you’re having a great day too!

Caregivers’ Use of Chimpanzee Behaviors

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Having recently finished my master’s thesis, I thought this would be an appropriate venue for talking about my thesis topic: the use of chimpanzee behaviors and vocalizations by caregivers. At CSNW, the caregivers incorporate chimpanzee behaviors when interacting with the chimps. For example, during play, we exhibit chimpanzee playfaces, laughter and other playful behaviors. In addition, we use submissive behaviors when the chimpanzees display aggressive behaviors. Chimpanzees are excellent readers of nonverbal behavior. Some natural human behaviors, such as walking upright, swinging our arms, and smiling, are all aggressive/territorial behaviors to chimpanzees. Therefore, although they understand human behavior, to prevent a possible miscommunication, we use behaviors to let the chimpanzees know we are their friends, rather than trying to dominate them. Playing this submissive role has produced relationships that are centered around cooperation and friendship. In my thesis research, when caregivers used chimpanzee behaviors, the chimps spent more time interacting with the caregivers and used more playful and friendly behaviors. I see the effects of this everyday, and feel this simple thing has greatly improved these chimpanzees’ psychological wellbeing. So, next time you see a chimpanzee, whether it be at a zoo or a sanctuary, try giving them a chimpanzee head nod or a playface (you’ll see these behaviors in the video). They will be elated to know someone out there speaks chimpanzee! And being submissive when the chimpanzees are displaying (as seen in THIS video), lets them know that we aren’t threatening them and that we are their friends. It can make a world of difference.

Holiday ideas

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Need some holiday gift ideas for Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest? Below are just a few ideas that would make the humans’ and the chimpanzees’ lives wonderful in 2010:

1. Check out our amazon.com wishlist. Think buying paper towels is boring? We love getting supplies! It saves us a bunch. If you can get them cheaper elsewhere, just let us know what’s coming our way and we’ll update the amazon list. Also, if you want to do your own shopping on amazon anytime, click through our wishlist first and we’ll get a referral bonus at no extra cost to you.

2. Gift cards, especially for Costco. We were so lucky to have received several of these last year from Anna – they came in so handy! We bought everything from postage stamps to bananas.

3. Cash Donations. Every little bit helps and we rely on end-of-the-year generosity!

4. Check out our recently updated full wish list.

The Cle Elum Seven are really lucky to have amazing friends, so we have a good supply of blankets, stuffed animals and clothing right now. Thank you so much for being so generous!

Through The Looking Glass

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Today was a really nice day, so I was able to give the chimps access to their Outdoor Enclosure and their Front Rooms while Elizabeth and I cleaned the Playroom. Almost everyone was playing outside at some point, and they were very interested in playing with us through the new glass window. This has been such a wonderful addition to the sanctuary. It must be SO nice to look out and not see bars! And they’ve created a very fun (and distracting!) new game to boot!