Missy really brings out Negra’s playful side. She slows things down a little when she plays with Negra in comparison to Annie or Foxie who are more active than the Queen, so this play session is a little different than what you’re used to seeing when we post video of the chimps wrestling. Still, even without the tumbling and running, Negra is able to throw in a (playful) punch and a few bites, too. 🙂
csnw
Lips
I’ve recently been asked about how we receive kisses from the chimpanzees. The simple answer is that the chimpanzees extend their lips through the wire caging toward us and we put the back of our hand up towards their lips. But, words can only describe so much; pictures actually show it. So, today I tried to capture that through photos, but none of the chimps offered kisses to me (perhaps because I had the camera in hand?). So, I had to resort to the next best way of showing how the chimpanzees extend their prehensile lips towards us to give us a kiss. Meal time is the perfect opportunity to capture the chimpanzees extending their lips through the wire caging.
In the following photos, volunteer caregiver Becca served breakfast to the chimps this morning. On the menu were red pears and oranges, along with a watermelon, banana and protein powder smoothie. Each of the chimpanzees are also given fiber pills and vitamins every morning. You will notice in the following pictures that Becca’s fingers never penetrate the caging. For safety reasons, we consider the caging to be a barrier between our space and that of the chimpanzees, therefore we never stick our fingers into the enclosures.
Annie takes her fiber pill at breakfast.
Annie getting her share of the breakfast smoothie.
Burrito uses his lips to slurp his smoothie.
Jamie uses her lips to take her fiber pill.
Missy
Jody’s lips are pretty impressive. She seems to have the furthest “reach” with them. What do you think?
Jody taking her vitamins.
Jody’s eyes
Over six and a half years ago, J.B., Diana, Sarah, and Keith all visited the chimpanzees while they were still in the Buckshire lab. J.B. wrote this entry about Jody and how the first thing he noticed about her were her striking eyes. After living at CSNW now for over six years, I think they are even more vibrant now than they ever have been before.
Chimpanzees: Always Curious
It’s important to have priorities in life, and the chimpanzees at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest are good at deciding what is top priority (usually food) and what is a close ranking second, as you’ll see in the video below.
Here’s what the back of the lower mount for the GoPro camera looks like. I caught this photo last week of Annie standing next to it. The steel mount, custom made by J.B., has a hinge and opens up to slip the camera in and then has a padlock to secure it.
Annie’s 40th
We celebrated Annie’s 40th birthday today! Her exact birthday is unknown since she was captured in the wild, but her records indicate that she was born sometime in 1974, and today is the day we picked to celebrate it. Annie certainly doesn’t act 40 at all! She’s still very young at heart—she shows her playful side daily when wrestling with Missy or running around Young’s Hill.
We wanted to celebrate her special day with some of her favorites—green grass, beets, green onions, piñatas, buckets of water, shovels, and chow! Thanks to some supplies Lisa Stuverud brought us we had a fun colorful party with new enrichment, too. We set up a breakfast forage first, and then volunteer Becca served Annie’s favorite veggies at lunch.
Here’s the party setup:
I love this photo — you can see the juice from the tangerine spraying to the side! Good shot by Elizabeth.
Annie with a mouthful of chow (she loves to wadge chow!)
Annie loves green grass, so we picked some for her and included bunches of it in their breakfast forage:
Some of her favorite veggies are green onions and beets:
The other chimps enjoyed the party too! Burrito the charmer practically posed during the forage for this photo:
Everyone loved the fruit! Here’s Jamie:
Jody:
Foxie:
Missy loved the green grass:
And Jody ended up getting the piñatas (there was a Dora the Explorer piñata too, but that was torn up before we could snap a photo!)
Foxie got a new troll and some knuckle rubs from Diana, which made her laugh:
And Negra spent a lot of time in hard-to-see spots during the day, but I did get this picture of her beautiful relaxed face:
Happy 40th Birthday, Annie!
Negra playing chase
As many of you know, Negra isn’t the most active chimp. Her favorite activity is curling up in a nice big nest with a blanket over her head (second only to eating night bags!) Today, Diana got a special treat when Negra decided to play chase with her. Of course, Neggie’s version of chase was basically moving from one door to another door that is about five feet away — meanwhile Diana had to run all the way through the kitchen and to the other side of the building to meet her. This went on for a few rounds and I was wondering what was going on, but figured Diana was playing chase with Foxie or Missy, who are both known for their playfulness. But no, it was Negra! So I rushed to grab the camera, and only got the last bit of their chase bout. Annie got Negra’s attention and ran around with her for a little bit, which was also a treat to see. We love seeing the chimpanzees come out of their shells—even six years after they first arrived they still continue to surprise us.
Annie, believe it or not, is turning 40 tomorrow! I’m a little late on this request, but if you’re interested in sending Annie a few (belated) birthday gifts, check out our Amazon wishlist. I added some of the toys she likes the most (and have worn out, so we’d like some new ones!) plus there’s plenty of other supplies we need to keep Annie and the rest of the Cle Elum Seven living in a clean home and happy as can be. Based on the video above, I’d like to think we do a pretty good job at giving these deserving chimpanzees the best life possible. 🙂
We’ve got a fun party planned for Annie tomorrow, but here’s a picture of her to tide you over until then!
Building Trust
One of the most frequent questions I am asked is what I like most about working at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest (CSNW). My answer in part relates to my evolving relationship with the chimpanzees over the past two years, particularly my relationship with Negra.
I first started training to become a caregiver over a year ago and Jamie was quick to demand I be her friend. It wasn’t long after, that Foxie began passing her troll dolls to me and Burrito constantly enlisted me in a game of chase. Even the shy Annie would extend her fingers through the metal fence to touch the back of my hand when no one else was looking. Jody would sometimes bounce up and down (a chimpanzee greeting) towards me when I called her name, while Missy would present her back up to the caging for me to groom. Negra, on the other hand would barely even acknowledge that I was present.
As the months rolled by, Negra started to look in my direction when I would greet her (which was usually me calling out her name and giving her a head nod). Then came the day she gave me a quick head nod in return to my greeting and I teared up. Here she was, this 40 year old chimpanzee (at the time), who had endured almost her entire life in biomedical research labs, was giving me, a new human, a greeting. After all that time spent behind bars, she was beginning to trust me.
It wasn’t until a few months ago that she actually came down from her blanket nest and stuck her lips out to offer me a kiss. I had to blink back the tears; she trusted me. I was doing my job to make her home a true sanctuary where she felt she could trust again. And that to me, is what this sanctuary is all about.
So, what do I love most about working at CSNW? I love that I am working to provide a safe, loving, nurturing home so that these seven chimpanzees can feel hope, love and trust again.
Here are a few of my favorite Negra photos from the past two days.
Negra taking a little break from foraging in her cabin on Young’s Hill.
Negra with broccoli in her mouth making her way back to the Greenhouse.
Negra (on the right) sits quietly next to Annie (on the left) as she finishes her oranges.
Negra relaxing in her blanket nest in the Playroom after eating.
