Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

dora

Photo Salad

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This blog is filled with some random photos from the chimp house today!

Do you ever feel like someone is watching you? I definitely had the feeling this afternoon and saw Honey B keeping her eye on me from behind the bamboo.

She’s always watching.

Willy B taking an after lunch rest.

Dora hanging out in the Greenhouse.

Gordo finishing the rest of his lunch.

Cy took his reading material out to the Greenhouse.

I tried all day to get a photo of one of the chimpanzees in Negra’s group. I finally got one of Missy all bundled up in her nest.

‘Twas the day after Christmas

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‘Twas the day after Christmas when all through the chimp house, not a chimp was stirring, not even a Lucky.

The stockings were picked through and dismantled from the trees without care. In hopes that the party cleanup crew would soon be there.

The chimpanzees were nestled all snug in their nests, while visions of more presents danced in their heads. Cy with his magazines and blankets had just settled down to watch the movie Shrek.

Out in the yard there was such a loud clatter. Jamie sprang from her nest to see what was the matter. It was just me, making too much chatter.

The chimpanzees all had such a great Christmas! So many new presents! Today was very laid back and a lot of resting after the huge celebration yesterday.

Dora, Rayne, and Terry having a little grooming party this morning. Lucky joined too after I took this photo.

Grooming with friends

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The chimps were all warm and cozy inside this morning and most were taking some after breakfast naps. Not Rayne and Terry though! They were having quite the grooming session. Terry was very gently grooming Rayne’s face with his lips. Anthony happened to spot this and I rushed to get the camera. This went on for a long time and they groomed on and off. What a perfect way to groom when your stomach is full from breakfast!

Cy waiting for us to put out some new magazines for him to read.

Dora resting on one of the wooden toys.

On the other side of the building Katelyn was on snow treat duty! The chimpanzees in Negra’s group were lined up in the front rooms waiting for Katelyn to bring them lots of snow! Foxie’s snow had a special treat waiting in it.

Negra enjoying snow.

Jody patiently waiting for some snow.

Foxie with her shovel coming inside to join the snow party!

 

Portrait of a Pant Hoot

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The day started out on the warm side, considering that we are well into the month of December. The chimps’ greenhouse spaces were cozy all morning.

A storm came through in the afternoon, making the most delightful sound as the droplets hit the greenhouse roof panels.

Just as the rain began, Dora went into her greenhouse, looking up towards the sound:

glancing at me:

and then beginning a glorious chimpanzee response to the rain – a classic pant-hoot (for a classic video of pant-hoots, go here):

Her display was short-lived. She calmly retreated to a windowsill:

The Unlikely Meetup

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This week is an intro week and I spent a lot of the day trying to get Dora alone so she could spend time with Honey B’s group. However, Dora is really hard to get alone. To make Dora a little more comfortable we decided to try to do a quad with all girls. Rayne kindly stayed with Dora and I think Willy B had a good laugh when I thought I could get just the girls. With all my best efforts Willy B decided he could not be left out. So today’s meet up was Honey B, Willy B, Rayne, and Dora. This intro made us all a little nervous, Willy B isn’t always the best at giving the girls the reassurance they might need and Dora is still a wild card for us. We had decided that we would just stick to the mesh unless there were a lot of positive behaviors at the mesh. Well, right off the bat they were breathy panting, grooming, reassuring each other, giving kisses, and playing through the mesh. We had to open the door, so we held our breath and we let them in together. Overall, it went really well! Near the end Dora and Willy B had a miscommunication, which led us to separating them. As you will see in the video Willy B was having a blast with Rayne and Dora! What you all might not know is that Willy B and Dora have met a few times and they were non-eventual, but today Willy B really learned how Dora wanted to play! At first he was overwhelming her, so he backed off and waited for her to come to him. To see how far Dora and Willy B have come is really spectacular. Though it didn’t end on the highest note there was a lot to take away from this intro!

Also Rayne is the best at introductions! She is so good at making the other chimps feel at ease, she gives reassurance when needed, and distracts others by instigating play instead of screaming when they are nervous. She is one of a kind.

Let’s taco about Tuesday

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Tuesday has been a normal day consisting of cleaning, preparing meals and enrichment, a one-on-one introduction, and also about getting ready for Thanksgiving day. As usual the chimps will get an entire feast just for them with their favorite food items and Fall themed enrichment. On the other hand, the humans will be getting together for an early thanksgiving pot luck tomorrow night. This will consist of homemade traditional Thanksgiving meals, or what we each consider to be traditional. In my case, I’ll bring a vegan sweet potato and marshmallow casserole and although it is not a dish commonly made back home in Puerto Rico on this occasion, I like it so much that I would always require my family to make it just for me. I’ve been told that caregiver Chad makes a mean Nasi Goreng fried rice that is very famous in the chimp house so there is a lot to look forward to.

Enough about food, let’s taco about today’s introductions. I know we have said it before, but even though we plan ahead for possible introduction pairings, the chimps get the final say and that is exactly what happened today. Honey B and Willy B conspired together to not allow us to access the Mezzanine for cleaning, which directly dictated the fate of today’s pairing options for introductions. During lunch time, Willy B shifted out and Honey B remained up there meaning she was the one that was going to hang out with one of the California Six. On the six’s group, Cy was the one that wanted to stay in the front rooms so that made the decision easy for us. This introduction ended up being very low-key, with an on edge Honey B and only a few direct interactions but all in all positive.

Cy reading a magazine. Not pictured here are Cy’s happy sounds while reading.

Dora hanging out in the green house.

Lucky in her favorite spot of the front rooms with a slinky.

BONUS: A beautiful rainbow over Young’s Hill taken by caregiver Chad.

A variety of play

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Enjoy this video of a variety of short play clips from around the sanctuary over the past couple weeks. Also, here are some photos from the chimp house today!

Dora enjoying the Greenhouse.

Willy B relaxing after breakfast.

Mave and Honey B in the afternoon.

Jamie watching Lisa and Burrito play chase.