Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Cle Elum Seven Chimps on King 5 tonight at 5pm

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The chimpanzees had a visit from reporter Gary Chittim and videographer Ken Jones of King 5 today! At least two of the girls were smitten – Jamie checked out their boots and Jody shyly spied on them from the greenhouse.

They will be airing the visit and some unique video footage of the chimpanzees on Seattle’s NBC station tonight at 5pm. I won’t give too much away, but you’ve never seen this perspective of the chimps before.

King5 will have the story on their website after it airs, and we’ll update you with a link as soon as we have it. Post your comments here, on the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest Facebook page and on King 5’s Facebook page as the story airs!

burrito face in camera

In the grass

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Over the last 3 (almost 4!) years, we’ve had tons of blog posts about grass forages (in case you haven’t heard, the Cle Elum Seven love to eat grass!). Oddly enough, the first blog post about grass forages was on May 1, 2009 (almost exactly 3 years ago from today). What’s awesome is that we no longer have to set up a grass “forage” (unless we want to) because the chimps get to harvest it themselves on Young’s Hill. And that’s exactly what they did today. I wasn’t able to catch any photos of her, but even Negra went out a couple of times grabbing big handfuls of grass to take in the Greenhouse.

Burrito:

Jody:

Jamie:

Foxie:

Foxie greeting Jody:

Chimps’ Choice- Spry gum!

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I just looked in the cabinet and realized the chimps are out of Spry Gum! The chimps actually love to chew gum. Sometimes they just swallow it, but usually they will chew it and sometimes even play with it (check out this adorable video posted in 2010 of Negra enjoying a piece of gum). We don’t give the chimps sugar or artificial flavors so Spry is great because it contains Xylitol, a natural sweetener, which is great for your teeth and gums.

So, I would like to propose a challenge: the first 5 people to send this 5-flavor pack of Spry Gum from our Amazon Wishlist will get something extra special from me in return, along with the joy that you helped enrich the Cle Elum Seven, of course! What could be better?

Let it snow!

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Just kidding!

We’re still getting to enjoy beautiful spring-like days here in Cle Elum, but to mix things up a bit, volunteers Stephanie and Katelyn (who drive over from Seattle) stopped at Snoqualmie Pass this morning to pick up some snow for the chimps. Mixed with strawberries and juice, it was a delicious treat! The Cle Elum Seven are certainly not native to the Pacific Northwest, but they certainly know how to make the most of it!

Missy:

Foxie sucking all the juice out of the snow:

Jamie:

Jody:

Annie

But mixing things up for the chimps didn’t stop there. Stephanie brought tons of super soft new blankets for them. Jody was extremely happy. She immediately collected as many as possible and built a giant nest by the barn doors, constantly rubbing them on her face and making an “ahhhh” sound. After a cold snack, new soft blankets were probably right on time. Thanks Stephanie and Katelyn!

sweet eats and sweet annie

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Hey! Tomorrow is the last day of the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale (what a cool concept, right?)  You can help Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest by heading to the Tacoma bake sale located at King’s Books, 218 St Helens Ave, Tacoma, WA 98402. Find out more on the Facebook event page, which includes photos of some of the yummy baked goods you can buy. If you want to bake something as well as purchasing baked goods, feel free to drop in with your goodies at the book store tomorrow (Sunday) at noon. In addition to the baked goods, 35 copies of the vegan baked goods recipe book is up for sale. All proceeds support the sanctuary, so indulge!

Tacoma vegan bake sale flyer

 

Speaking of sweetness, if you saw our April e-news last week, you learned a little bit more about beautiful Annie. However, if you’re somewhat new to the sanctuary and the blog, you might not be aware that Annie has a habit of making bird noises (check out the video in the “Annie-isms” blog post from 2010 to hear her chirps). She has a particular technique for producing these sounds that involves holding both hands over her face. She was relaxing in the greenhouse this afternoon making her bird sounds and I snapped a few photos.

 

Annie involved her feet in the chirping today:

Annie hand over mouth bird noises

 

She may have just been having fun with her lips in this photo:

Annie hand over face bird noises

 

I think she’s generally quite pleased with herself after a good bird call (chimpanzees don’t smile the same way that humans do, but Annie often looks like she has a grin on her face from our human perspective):

Annie pleased

The Queen of Relaxation

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If Negra is the Queen of the Cle Elum Seven, Jody is the Queen of Nest Building and Relaxation.

Jody is hands down the best nest builder I know. She is definitely an artist about it, and will often use as many as 20-30 blankets. We put out tons of new straw and alfalfa hay in the greenhouse yesterday, so Jody forewent the blankets and made herself an amazing nest right on the ground.