Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
There are so many sharable moments that happen in a day, but sometimes I’m not sure if a video is worthy of the blog. So, I thought if I added some cinematic flair to this story that I caught through the window while I was cleaning the Mezzanine, it would make it seem that much more blog-worthy.
If you didn’t know before, now you know what those white bags are for on our Amazon Wish List!
It’s Wednesday and for many of us, we are busy with work, life, and all the in between. Personally, watching Dora and Honey B quietly groom and spend time with each other felt like some type of meditation. If you need a little zen or quiet time, this is the blog for you!
Sleepy Dora:
Bonus photo of Foxie this morning:
Today is International Women’s Day! I feel so blessed to work in such a female dominated field, it is truly empowering. Not only is our field dominated by women, but so is our chimp house, sorry Chad and JB :).
In the wild, males are usually the most dominate, however in captivity you can find females leading a group or allowing a male to think he the one in control, when really the female(s) are really calling the shots ;). Let’s meet the real individuals that run the show in this chimp house!
Obviously, Jamie rules this Sanctuary:
Negra, our true queen:
Jody, our forager:
The adventurer Missy:
Foxie, the prankster:
The ever so kind Annie:
Mora, besties for life:
Miss popular Mave:
The friend to everyone, Dora (but mostly Mave):
Rayne, the calming presence:
Lucky, the sweetest of sweet:
Honey B, the master of mischief:
The care staff ladies aren’t so bad either!
My apologies for today’s blog! Two Tuesdays a month, after cleaning is done, we have a staff meeting to discuss various topics about the sanctuary. Today’s meeting ran a little long. In fact, it lasted right up to the time it was to serve the chimps’ dinner, kind of putting me into a bind in terms of getting photos for the blog.
I was, however, able to get some last minute photos of darling Dora enjoying her evening popsicles. On days their daily food puzzle is scheduled to be given out during the day instead of the evening, we give out popsicles made of either Gatorade or water flavoring with some berries before they begin to nest in for the night. Dora is not one to ever pass up her evening enrichment, especially her popsicles.
Bonus Photos!
Honey B enjoying her avocado at dinner.
And Mave taking it easy earlier today!
Today, we are continuing on with our Fall in Love videos and highlighting the small but mighty, Dora! I think I can speak for everyone when I say, we fall in love with Dora a little bit more everyday. I think for chimps and humans, Dora has something about her that makes you want to spend all your time with her. To learn more about Dora and why she has stolen everyone’s hearts at CSNW, check out the video above!
If you’re interested in sponsoring Dora, you can become her Chimpanzee Pal today!
Do you have any spare magazines laying around? Cy would love to take them off your hands!
J.B. and I have been monitoring the chimps on the security cameras since the integration. We’re not watching them all the time, but we have a couple of iPads on after hours so we can take a look if we hear anything. It’s been interesting to see the changes in where the chimpanzees bed down for the night.
Initially, after the first few months of the integration, Honey B, Mave, and Willy B would sleep together in the front room area with the other group of six scattered about. At some point, this changed. I can’t say for sure, but I believe it was Mave who made the first integration move, choosing to make a nest in the catwalk of the Lupine Playroom near some of her new friends. From the other group, I saw Rayne on a couple of occasions nesting in the front rooms with Honey B, Willy B. and Mave or just Honey B and Willy B.
After a few months, I noticed that Willy B would start his nesting in the front rooms, but at some point in the night, he would make his way to the Mezzanine. Now, he disappears into the playrooms. This is all part of the integration process and one that is happening on their own timeline and based on nuances in their relationships and personalities that are a bit of a mystery.
Honey B has always liked the cubby in the mezzanine, and she is a woman of routine who knows what she likes. Given the happenings in the video I put together today, we’ll just see how things shake out.
To start, if you haven’t read Anthony’s final blog from Monday, I would stop here and go read his blog first. He very beautifully wrote about his experiences in sanctuary and the new journey he is about to start, but he also described the life of a caregiver. To be a caregiver is a true honor, but it also comes with many challenges. There are moments like the one I am going to write about today that make everything worth the hard parts, but then you have days of watching your friends fight and there is nothing you can do to help (which might just be the hardest part of the job). I digress though, I encourage you to read his blog!
For me personally, watching chimps who struggle socially develop strong relationships with other chimps is one of the most extraordinary parts of the job. Facilitating chimp introductions may have been one of the most stressful points in my career, but it was also one of the most rewarding as well. Now that they are a fully integrated group, I catch amazing moments every day between Honey B and Dora in particular, both with other individuals in their group and with each other. I feel so immensely proud of them. With their own quirks, they each left us unsure of how they would integrate in the very beginning of the introduction stage. This is not a new story I am telling; many of you who follow the blog know that we had a few individuals that we referred to as “wild cards.” What I didn’t expect was for Dora to become Miss Popular or for Honey B to sometimes be the cool, calm and collected one in the group. One might even go as far as saying that she may occasionally be a peace-keeper, and has developed strong relationships with multiple people in her group! This is just proof that chimps really do belong in larger groups with more social stimulation. I am not exactly sure what I am getting at today, but I am just really, really happy for them!
It is not so surprising that Honey B let the sweet, tiny, but also mighty Dora into her social circle. They did live with each other at Wildlife Waystation at some point, so they were not wholly unfamiliar. As Terry knows, however, it doesn’t always matter if you have history; you still have to put the work in for a friendship! (Fortunately, Honey B and Terry are good friends now.) While Terry had to work hard for Honey B’s affection, Dora did not. What a wild experience it must be to think that you won’t ever see or live with someone again and then end up back together. I hope you enjoy this video of Honey B and Dora, the two most likely friends :).
Bonus photo of Foxie:
