Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Faces and Stories

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First, a story. Or, rather, a continuation of a story about the budding at-a-distance relationship between Foxie and Gordo that Kelsi mentioned the other day.

Today, I was in charge of shifting on the original side of the building where Foxie’s group lives.

Volunteer Patti was on top of her game, and we were done cleaning with time to spare before lunch. Volunteer Ryan and I set up a lunch forage on Young’s Hill.

Ryan was very ambitious and climbed on top of Jamie’s lookout to put some food up there. Burrito, Missy, and Annie had a lovely picnic atop the lookout. Here’s Burrito:

As I was taking photos and watching the chimpanzees gather food, I kept hearing Foxie start to pant hoot. It seemed like odd circumstances for her to be pant-hooting, though not unprecedented. She finally did a little display and let out a loud pant-hoot, all the while still gathering food.

A few minutes later, Ryan pointed out that someone had come out onto the Bray. I’m still not used to both groups being out at the same time, since we’ve only been doing this for a few days. Foxie seemed quite aware that there was someone in the adjacent outdoor habitat.

Then I heard Grace on the other side of the building calling for Gordo. She and Patti were serving Gordo’s group inside, and Gordo had evidently disappeared before getting all of his lunch. All alone, he had climbed up on the Escher structure and was looking towards Young’s Hill. I can’t say for sure, but it’s possible he had heeded the call of his new love interest.

 

Now for some faces in familiar expression.

Rayne:

This is a very familiar Rayne pose, with her hand supporting her chin:

Mave:

Mave often has asymmetrically pursed lips:

Terry, looking uncharacteristically intimidating?:

Here’s his more familiar relaxed expression:

I don’t know if we’ve mentioned it before, but Terry has a bit of a tic or habit of turning his head from side to side. It’s hard for me to describe in words. Maybe you’ve seen it in previous videos of him. I happened to catch a photo of him in mid head turn:

I really enjoy knowing the chimps and their quirky mannerisms so well.

Stuff

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As many of you know (especially if you watched the recent Christmas videos), the CSNW chimps have a lot of stuff. Most of the chimps are not attached to these things – they use them and enjoy them and then go on about their business. But some chimps are quite materialistic and borderline obsessive about it, too.

This morning, Sofia and I were cleaning the playroom when I heard Jamie emit a “low moan” from the front rooms. This is a vocalization that often indicates satisfaction. I imagined that she had saved her primate chow from breakfast, as she often does, and was digging into it in private while the others chimps groomed in the greenhouse. But when I peeked around the corner I found that she didn’t have any chow and was simply making a nest. With her, however, was her favorite book, I’m Lucy.

An attachment to things wouldn’t work very well for a species that ranges across a vast territory and rarely sleeps in the same place twice. While Jamie was not fortunate enough to know the life of her wild counterparts, there’s some comfort in knowing that she gets to experience the same pleasure we do when settling down with a good book on a snowy winter morning.

 

On a separate note, I just wanted to express our thanks to the rest of the staff (and their spouses) who dealt with some challenging conditions while Diana and I were gone on a longer than expected trip. Kelsi mentioned that the well froze up, but she may not have mentioned that the cattle water also froze up just as we left, the radiant heat in the original chimp building stopped working the next morning (we have backup heaters on standby), and the tractor refused to run, requiring them to find someone to come plow the sanctuary’s long and steep driveway on short notice and make multiple trips to the well house with a heat gun using snowshoes. All of this on top of having to take turns staying overnight at the sanctuary through the holidays. Some might say that Diana and I were the real heroes last week, as we valiantly struggled to enjoy all the cookies, cocktails, and Christmas presents with my family while burdened with the knowledge that the rest of the staff were facing one catastrophe after another. But I’d say our coworkers did a pretty good job, too.

a little bit about Fantastic Ms. Foxie

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It was recently brought to my attention that we haven’t had a lot of blog posts about Foxie lately. So, I wanted to let everyone know that Foxie is as fantastic as ever.

I did try to get some photos of her today, but I only got a couple of mediocre ones with my phone as Foxie anticipated and then ate the avocado that Sofía served at dinner:

There’s virtually no where you can go on Foxie’s side of the chimp house without seeing signs of her. Here’s a few photos of Foxie calling cards that I took tonight while spot-cleaning the loft:

I remember several years ago remarking on Foxie’s suddenly gray hair on her arms, which was an undeniable sign of her getting older.

Just last week, however, Foxie did a full flip from a standing position while playing with me. That old lady still has a lot of energy and is way more fit than I am!

Here’s a selection of Foxie photos from the past:

This photo of Foxie:

taken by Katelyn, was the inspiration for this year’s HOOT! graphic, created by loyal blog-reader, Foxie fan, and graphic designer, Kathleen Corby:

It’s true – we are planning an in-person HOOT! fundraising fête this year on September 16th. Stay tuned for more details.

Thank you to everyone who loves Foxie. She is one-of-a-kind and has a way of stealing our hearts every day.

The Doll Thief Strikes Again!

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The doll thief is back! While we did a deep clean on chimps playroom, Foxie and Jamie decided to play. Jamie has been in a great mood and as many of us know Foxie always tends to get the silly side out of Jamie. This play session may seem similar to last Friday, though not quite as epic as Jamie lifting Foxie up, but still pretty great!

After the play session was over, Foxie needed to rest.

And for those who need a daily dose of  Burrito, here he is enjoying his bags of chow :).

The Doll Days of Summer

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We start each day with a walk around the perimeter of Young’s Hill. This is done as a precaution to ensure that the fence wasn’t somehow compromised overnight, but it is also a great time to check on the cows. While they are constantly on the move, on summer mornings they can often be found just above the chimp enclosure where they like to sleep. As I walked by this morning, the girls were in the middle of a grooming session.

Honey grooms Betsy.
Betsy grooms Meredith.
Meredith grooms Honey.

Nutmeg didn’t get any of the love this time, but don’t worry – his mom always takes care of him. I did got photo of him the other day as he drank from the spring-fed stream that bisects that sanctuary property.

Willy B was feeling pretty adventurous again today. He’s getting pretty comfortable sitting on the grass if he is close to the structure.

If he ventures any further, he brings a chair with him for a sense of security, or perhaps so that he can get his feet off of the ground at a moment’s notice.

At one point, I saw him rolling the big white barrel away from the boardwalk. What on earth is he doing? Diana even called me on the radio to inquire as she watched from the mezzanine inside.

After pushing the barrel out into the courtyard, he pulled up a chair and sat down to enjoy the view.

After lunch, Diana was weeding the garden by the Greenhouse and gave out some of the prickly lettuce that she had pulled. This is one of the chimps’ favorite weeds. They can pick as much as they want from Young’s Hill but I think it tastes better when someone else does all the work.

Missy wasn’t in the mood for prickly lettuce, though – she wanted goat’s beard – so she took off to Young’s Hill to find some.

I know we’ve mentioned this before, but the salt and pepper hair on Foxie’s arms is really starting to lose its pepper.

Thankfully, age has not slowed her down yet.

While Foxie’s love of dolls is unmatched, others in the group can be seen carrying dolls from time to time, particularly in the summer. Just like the waistbands, it’s a seasonal thing. You know who really likes Dora the Explorer lately? This guy.