Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Taking time to appreciate the roses

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There were so many amazing pictures from Jody’s birthday celebration that it was hard to choose just a few to feature the highlights. In fact, I got so many good pictures of the chimpanzees foraging for the roses that I just had to share a few more today. Jody wasn’t the only one to savor the treat. Although she did end up with the lion’s share almost everyone got the opportunity to enjoy a flowery breakfast snack. What I find particularly intriguing is that I observed more than one chimpanzee looking at and smelling the flowers as part of the process of eating them. Now, this isn’t necessarily different from food as they often observe it and smell it before deciding whether or not it seems good enough to eat. It does seem a reasonable habit to get into if you’re going to be taking gastronomic risks. However, I still found it to be a captivating behavior to observe in my friends and certainly one that provokes further thought, if you go in for that kind of thing.

Annie
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Missy
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Jamie
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Negra
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Burrito (Okay, he’s not actually foraging for roses here but for chow instead!)
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Jody’s Big Day

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In celebration of Jody’s birthday we set up a fabulous breakfast party in the greenhouse and on Young’s Hill. The weather proved amenable with gorgeous skies and little to no wind, the spread was provided by volunteer, Patti, and the party set up was made possible by the hard work of volunteers, Sandra & Katie (in addition to Patti, of course!). Breakfast consisted of pears, watermelon, and pineapple along with the fruit smoothie, all set out in grande style in the greenhouse for the chimpanzees to enjoy. We also showered flowers (lilacs & roses) on Young’s Hill, along with chow, watermelon and lettuce for an exciting forage. What better way to honor Jody than with flowers? Not only are they as beautiful as she is but they are also an edible, delectable treat for the chimpanzees! Special thanks to Terra Bella Flowers for donating the roses the chimpanzees relished today.

I had a difficult time choosing photos today, there were so many great ones. Here is the scene from the party in the greenhouse:

Missy
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Jamie
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Negra
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Foxie
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Annie
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Burrito
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You don’t see much of Jody in the greenhouse and that’s because she was busy making out like a bandit in the flower forage.

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After such an engaging breakfast a little down time is in order.

May your Mother’s Day be full of joy and light in the company of those you love whether in spirit or in life. Happy birthday, Jody Chimpanzee!

Today is for Keri, Bob and the chimpanzees!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Keri Heniff and Bob Mark who want to celebrate their wedding day with the chimpanzees! Keri is a volunteer caregiver here at the sanctuary and is adored by the chimpanzees and humans alike and we couldn’t be happier for her and her fella on this special day! Keri and Bob shared the following message:

“We want to share this special day with all our family and friends and the chimps are part of our family, so we wanted to include them in our celebration.”

Keri and Bob, you make the world a better place just by being yourselves and we are so touched that you included the chimpanzees in your celebration. Annie and Missy seem to find something to celebrate in each day with joy and laughter and all of us here at CSNW wish the same for you both. Thank you so much for all you do and congratulations!!

Annie and Missy

Interrupted play

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Today Burrito and Foxie were wrestling and chasing and just being super playful in the greenhouse. Their laughter got to be pretty loud, and I think it caught Jamie’s attention…

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…She came out to see what was going on, and stepped right between Burrito and Foxie to interrupt their play.

This is a very boss-like thing to do in chimp society. We (lovingly) refer to Jamie as the “party police” because of instances like this.

But this time, she didn’t cease all playing—instead, she immediately started wrestling with Foxie and began to play “tug-o-troll” with her.

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Cinco de Mayo Party

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We like a good excuse for streamers, pinatas, and forages here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary NW. Today was no exception and, although we were mostly winging it, it appears to have done the trick quite nicely according to the chimpanzees. In particular, they seemed to be especially pleased by the whole lemon and lime forage provided by caregiver Elizabeth! Here they are enjoying a colorful greenhouse breakfast for Cinco de Mayo.

Foxie:
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Negra:
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Annie:
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Missy:
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Burrito:
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Jody:
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Jamie:
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Play initiation and Hoot!

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Tonight is our very first Hoot! gala event and I’m so excited to see everyone. I hope you all are ready to Give a Hoot! tonight! And don’t worry, for those of you that aren’t able to make it to the gala, we are going to have an online auction later this summer so everyone can participate.

Yesterday I posted about Jamie’s huge paper nest, but I left out a couple photos that Elizabeth took that day. She captured Annie initiating some play by biting on the handrail of the stairs in the playroom, right above where Jamie was nesting. Missy couldn’t resist her invitation and of course started play slapping and wrestling immediately. They didn’t seem to mind that Jamie was trying to perfect her nest just inches away—and luckily, Jamie didn’t seem to be disturbed, either.

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Lots and lots of paper

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We’ve posted about the enrichment theme “lots of paper” before, but it never gets old with the chimps. They love it, so we try to work that theme into each month—so long as we have extra paper to spare. Yesterday we had plenty, including a bunch of paper from some boxes that were shipped from Amazon when people sent us supplies we needed from our wishlist. You probably didn’t know you were helping us stock the shelves AND enriching the chimps at the same time did you? 🙂

Jamie definitely appreciated the extra paper, and we threw in some crepe paper, toilet paper, and a big roll of red paper for additional nesting materials. She built the biggest paper nest I’ve seen! It was an all day project that she returned to a few times to perfect her comfy spot.

First, she started with the brown paper from the Amazon boxes and added the giant roll of red paper.

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She abandoned it at one point (probably to go on a perimeter walk of Young’s Hill) and you can see just how elaborate it is:

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Later she returned and added some toilet paper, which she reportedly had wrapped around her like a mummy but when the paparazzi (Elizabeth) arrived she quickly brushed it off herself. The toilet paper added a nice softness to the nest and she curled up with some boots to take a mid-day nap.

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