The other day I caught a pretty funny trio in a game of wrestle and chase:
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Thank you so much, Paige!
Today was sponsored by Paige Powell in honor of the staff and volunteers here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest! Paige, this is such a kind and generous thing to do. I am pretty sure I speak for all of us when I say the honor is all ours. And we couldn’t give the chimpanzees all that they so deserve if it were not for the care and support of so many amazing people such as yourself. Thank you so much, Paige, from the humans and chimpanzees alike!
And here is the beautiful cover girl herself, Jody, who was featured in an article on the front page of yesterday’s New York Times! Learn more here!
Paper dreams
When is a roll of paper not just a roll of paper? When it’s been appropriated for use by the chimpanzees of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, of course! Yesterday’s enrichment theme was paper day and, in the spirit of things, Debbie and I covered the playroom floor with yellow paper from a large roll. Not only did it provide entertainment as we could hear the wrinkles and crinkles whenever the chimpanzees raced across the floor engaged in games of chase, but it also provided prime nesting material for Jamie in the heat of the afternoon.
I was unable to get a good picture this morning but the yellow paper was choice nesting material today as well. Missy was seen earlier in the day using it to nest with in the loft of the playroom. I tried to capture the nest on film this afternoon and found that the paper nest had migrated in the loft. It appears that the paper roll was a successful choice for enriching the lives of the Cle Elum 7.
Want to know more about chimpanzee nesting behavior? This blog post is a good introduction.
For Ned and Noreen O’Flaherty
Today was sponsored by Joan O’Flaherty in memory of the anniversary of her parents, Ned and Noreen O’Flaherty. Ned and Noreen shared a love of animals, and concern about conservation and environmental issues, and Joan is certain that they would have loved the chimpanzees. Joan, thank you so much for thinking of the chimpanzees in such a special way. It makes my heart happy to know people think of the chimps when thinking of their loved ones.
Good friends, good times
Mornings here at the sanctuary are busy times. The caregivers arrive, prepare breakfast for the chimpanzees, and, then, are usually engaged in quite a lot of cleaning. I love cleaning, it’s like having my own personal workout regimen that does wonders for my arms! My absolute favorite part of the day though is after we’ve accomplished some work and we can enjoy the company of good friends. Grooming and play are the most frequent forms of social enrichment for the humans as well as the chimpanzees. A quiet afternoon, hanging out with chimpanzee friends is the best way I know of to while away time in this heat!
Learn more about the function of chimpanzees grooming from previous posts.
Foxie and the garter snake
Chimps are very investigative, defensive, and at times aggressive. Combine all these characteristics and add a small garter snake into the equation and you get a whole group of chimps ready to attack an intruder! This morning a garter snake made its way into the greenhouse and the chimps were on high alert. Everyone took a second to peer at it, but most kept their distance. Foxie, however, showed a lot of bravery and was doing her best to protect her home by trying to attack the snake (but without touching it).
The chimps encounter snakes every now and then. They’re very careful not too get too close to something that raises so much alarm, which is a smart instinct. Thankfully, garter snakes are completely harmless so there’s nothing to really worry about if they do touch it. In fact after filming this attack, I closed off the greenhouse and picked up the snake (who was still alive) and took him to a nice garden area that I thought he’d pretty happy about. I apparently don’t have a huge fear of snakes because I was holding him for awhile, talking to volunteers Patti and Connie about how we were going to set up today’s lunch forage, when they said “will you just put that snake down already?!” Like I said, harmless 🙂
The snakes seem to be good at “playing dead” so as not to actually get killed. At the end of the video you’ll see that Jamie was fairly convinced Foxie had taken care of the problem, and then left it alone. I was glad to be able to rescue it and find that he was not at all harmed.
Thank you, Tracy!
Today was sponsored by Tracy Headley who is “celebrating starting summer by seeing a pal.” Thank you so much for including the chimpanzees in your fun, Tracy! I think your Chimpanzee Pal, Foxie, will be celebrating the start of summer with her pals right along with you!
