Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Holiday celebration with the Cle Elum Seven

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Happy Holidays from the Cle Elum Seven. They thank you for all of the gifts, wishes, and support! It was a great day full of gifts, goodies and gratitude. Lots of photographic proof below:

Burrito with gift bag

Burrito using his foot to help open a gift box

Foxie, a blur with her new big pink-haired troll

and with her special Mrs. Claus troll

Jamie investigating a purse full of gifts

Jody deciding that the decorations are as much fun as the toys

plus you can wear them!

Missy surrounded by gifts

Negra in Christmas sun – it was sunny all day!

Annie with handfuls of Field Roast and mashed potatoes

Jody getting full on mashed potatoes, carrots and celery

Missy with a cup full of cranberry sauce and a piece of Field Roast

Negra, from behind, with Field Roast

Burrito loves mashed potatoes!

And watching their new TV!!! We showed them “all about chimpanzees” Burrito was mesmerized. He watched it about seven times.

Jody and Foxie were also really interested. Here’s Jody’s reaction

Best photo of 2008

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A photo of Foxie’s fingers is one of the Yakima Herald Republic’s best photos of 2008! Photographer Kris Holland and reporter Jean Guerrero came out to the sanctuary only a couple of weeks after the  Cle Elum Seven arrived in June. Jean wrote a really great article and Kris took some fantastic photos. Below is the photo of Foxie’s hand that made the year-end cut.

And this is my personal favorite photo of 2008 (Missy eating frozen watermelon), not coincidentally also by Kris Holland – he’s a really good photographer!

Front room playing

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We do a lot of cleaning at the sanctuary. We thoroughly clean the front rooms and playroom in the morning (unless one or more of the chimps decides not to follow the morning routine) and we spot clean throughout the day. When we clean the playroom, the chimps stay in the front rooms. When we’re doing our big morning clean, during and after their breakfast, we’re always conscious of trying to get done quickly so that the chimps can have the playroom back. What we’ve noticed is that at least some of the chimpanzees take this time to play in the front rooms. We’ve already shared a few videos of Foxie and Jamie playing in the front rooms while we are cleaning the playroom.  Somehow playroom cleaning time = Jamie and Foxie playtime (along with the occasional addition of Missy, Jody and Annie). It’s kind of a play routine they’ve established around our cleaning routine.

Below is another video of Foxie and Jamie. This short video is action-packed! It includes double troll doll action, a sheet, and a leap-over move never seen before. The noise you hear in the background is J.B. squeegeeing the floor of the playroom.

Let it snow!

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Yesterday began Cle Elum’s first snow storm of the year. And, to be honest, the chimpanzees did not react to the first flakes. I was thinking, “oh no, what are we going to tell the blog readers! Everyone is anxious to know what the chimps think of snow and they have no reaction!” It snowed more overnight and of course we had the outdoor area closed off to keep it toasty warm in the building. I opened the door to the outdoor area about 11:00 this morning and to my delight and surprise there was food grunting – and lots of it, especially from Jody. Everyone except Burrito took a turn sitting in the doorway and gathering up snow to eat. Burrito hung back and watched – I’m not sure if he was apprehensive or if he just didn’t get what the fuss was about.

Anyway, here are some photos and a video of the Cle Elum Seven ladies’ first experience of snow. What a way to celebrate 6 months in sanctuary!

Jody

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Jody has a few new fans who have pointed out that she is not as represented in our blog posts as some of the other chimpanzees. I think there are a few reasons for that. She is not interested in as much attention from humans as Jamie or Foxie (for example). Jody gives us very enthusiastic greetings and then goes on her way to do her own thing. Sometimes she doesn’t like to have her photo taken (when she’s unhappy with something, she spits huge mouthfuls of water at us in a very deliberate way :). And often she’s relaxing in a part of the building that’s not easy to photograph.  In any case, below are a few photos of Jody that we have not shared before.

We shared a couple of photos of Jody photos in a recent e-newsletter to show how dramatically the chimpanzees have changed in their physical appearance. Below is another photo of Jody taken the first day the chimpanzees were at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.  The below photo really gets to me. She was so happy to have these blankets to nest with, and she made the smallest circle around her. She looks so fragile. I don’t think she realized how much bigger her life had become. Thank you to all of Jody’s Pals!

Foxie adopts a small British boy

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For two days, Foxie abandoned her trolls for a new doll! We’ve been calling the doll (more of an action figure, really) the small British Boy. He is solid hard plastic, has a top hat, knickers and cloth vest. He’s actually a ring-bearer – he’s holding a pillow with a ring on it in his hand.

His legs and arms move, and the best part – he has eyelids that open and close. Foxie spent a lot of time “grooming” his eyes. She was smitten. She held on to him for at least two days straight. It was adorable. I haven’t worked at the chimp house in a few days, so I don’t know the fate of the British Boy. We’ll let you know. It was difficult to get photos because Foxie is always on the move, but here are a few.

Foxie climbing while holding the British Boy and a green monkey!

Foxie’s Left Hook

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Ever wonder why we don’t go in with the chimps? There are many reasons, but here’s one you might not have thought about: Chimps play rough. Even when they aren’t being aggressive, chimpanzees have the ability to inflict serious damage on us humans. We just aren’t built for their style of play (I get a headache just watching them).

Make sure you have your volume turned up when you view this clip so you can hear all of the slaps and punches (and laughter!)…