Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

dora

Dreaming of Summer

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As I was cleaning today, I randomly thought to myself how sad I was that Annie had skipped her summer fashion for 2022. Then lo and behold, as if her ears were burning, Annie walked in wearing a hot pink headband around her waist!

It’s hard to tell if the fashion season has come early this year, or if Annie is making up for missing the 2022 season. Either way, Annie looks fabulous!

Bonus Photos:

Dora and Mave grooming this morning

Bonus Side Story:

Yesterday, as I was cleaning the Oakwood Greenhouse, I saw Dora grab a piece of paper and sit on the Lupine Playroom stairs. She sat there for a few minutes staring at it and kind of caressing it. When she got up and left, I was able to see what she found so intriguing.

It’s the Mave spread of the 2023 Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest Calendar! (Which is coincidentally on sale right now!) I thought it was a little funny because she was acting like she hadn’t seen Mave in weeks. In reality, Mave was just across the room eating what was remaining of her breakfast.

Sometimes, I just can’t with the Mora relationship!

Bonus Bonus Photos:

I passed through the two greenhouses and saw Mave like this. How could I not share them?

Coming Up Next…

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Christmas may be behind us, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t planning for the next big celebration! After New Years, we have a big one: Burrito’s 40th Birthday! It’s going to be so hard to believe this Energizer Bunny of a chimpanzee is going to be 40! We are going to try to make it special for him hitting this milestone! I know we have asked a lot recently with the Comfort & Joy auction and Christmas donations, but if you could, please go to our Amazon Wish List and see if there is anything you can help out us getting to throw a 40th Birthday Bash!

Burrito with some of his favorite enrichment items; wooden blocks, slinkies, and Squishmallows!

I don’t even know where to begin describing what is happening here. We were playing, then he picked up this toy cone and started peering through it like a telescope, maybe?

I also want thank everyone who tuned in to listen to ramble on today during the virtual visit talk about enrichment! Plans are already underway for the next virtual visit talk!

Some bonus photos:

Dora pooped out after her Christmas party!

Beautiful Rayne also taking a snooze after partying!

Rayne also watching caregivers clean the Mezzanine the other day!

Negra when caregivers greeted her in the morning!

Cy thumbing through a new magazine!

Burrito loves his snowy treats!

Betsy, Nutmeg, Honey, and Meredith! The bovine are super fuzzy with their winter coats right now! (And yes, Meredith is still Miss Independent!)

Dora enjoying her cherry tomatoes at lunch!

The Eleventh Day of Christmas

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It’s Christmas Eve!

On the eleventh day of Christmas, the donors gave to us… giant wolf blankets! Although they are large and fill up an entire washing machine on its own, they are truly so loved by the chimps! As you will see in today’s video, so many of the chimps incorporate these blankets into their nests at night. They are warm, cozy, and huge! Not sure about you, but that checks off all my boxes when it comes to blanket criteria.

Special thanks to:

Lisa B. for donating wolf blankets

While labeled for Honey B in the auction, everyone will get great use out of these new blankets. Even when it warms up!

Photos of the wolf blankets being used in the chimp house:

Honey B

Dora

Negra

Lucky, Dora, and Rayne

Dora and Rayne

Dora and Rayne

 

 

On the Eighth Day of Christmas…

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On the eighth day of Christmas, the chimps received cozy blankets. I think you all can guess who put these blankets to good use!

Special thank you to:

CeeCee M. for bidding on cozy fleece blankets for the chimps!

And thank you to everyone who has donated blankets to us over the holiday!

It’s Negra, of course:

Negra in her morning nest. She greeted me and then went back to sleep :).

Lil’ Bit of This, Lil’ Bit of That, Lil’ Bit of Terry

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For today’s blog, there really isn’t any theme or story. Just a random assortment of photos I was able to capture today before our monthly staff training.

Honey B, Rayne, and Lucky watch as staff prepare to start our monthly escape drill.
Willy B enjoying his lunch chow in front of the window looking into the Oakwood Greenhouse.
Burrito waiting for his neighbors to make an appearance in their Chute.
Mave comforting Dora after Willy B spooked her. If you are wondering, yes. Mave and Dora hug… A LOT! Scared? Hug. Happy? Hug. Unsure? Hug. Playful? Hug. Mad (at someone else)? Hug. Sad? Hug. Bored? Hug.
A missed opportunity? Yes. This photo is blurry, but had it been in focus it would have been amazing. However, either way it is too good not to share!

Rayne looking as beautiful as ever in the front rooms.

And then there is Terry…

Whenever I seem to be in a jam for photos or blog material, I can usually count on Terry to bail me out of it. I mean, come on. Look at this handsome face!
This year, Terry has also become accustomed to snow snacks!
Terry seems to have developed a taste for the wintery treat!

Don’t forget to check out our wish list! Christmas is fast approaching and things are being added almost daily to help us throw them a wonderful party this year! We are also in need some of the Shutterfly gift cards. We use these for multiple things, including purchasing Jamie’s custom made book of the caregivers’ XtraTuf boots.

Five Simple Rules to Becoming Mora

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The thing about Dora is that everyone loves her! If you had told us that she would be the popular girl, I think we all would have been shocked. But it’s hard work being popular, we don’t know how Dora does it. She doesn’t seem to get a lot of alone time, but Dora also doesn’t seem to mind all that much. Especially when it comes to Mave. Again, if we were making predictions of friendships going into integrating this group of 9, my money would not have been on Mave and Dora. But that is the thing about chimps, they are always surprising us! And this was one of the best surprise I think we all didn’t know we needed. It has been so sweet to watch Dora and Mave’s friendship blossom. They truly care for one another and enjoy their time together, which is how the power couple of Mora became. However, there are rules to Mora:

1. Groom or spend quality time as often as possible

2. Three can be a crowd, but not all the time.

*** Rules 3 and 5 are very important and can be repeated or enforced multiple times throughout the day!***

3. No, and I repeat no, more than one arms length apart from each other. If Dora or Mave are to far apart, adjustments must be make quickly!

4. Always try a little bit of each others food. Sharing is caring you know!

5. It is important for any relationship to hug or hold hands as much as possible. The more engulfed the hug is the better!

The VIP Lounge

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The chimpanzees spend more time resting and socializing in the heated indoor areas as the weather gets wetter and colder.

We’ve recently been focusing much of our content on the chimps’ outdoor enclosures, especially Young’s Hill and The Bray. Large outdoor habitats are irreplaceable because they provide chimpanzees with unique opportunities to engage in “natural” behaviors such as climbing, foraging, and patrolling as a group. The greenhouse-type enclosures, including the new Riverview and Oakwood Greenhouses, also have certain characteristics that the chimps can take full advantage of at their leisure.

Even so, chimpanzees living in sanctuary also need clean, climate-controlled, enriched indoor spaces. These are locations where they can be cozy, entertained and secure, regardless of the conditions outside. It would be easy to look at the artificial interiors and think that these enclosures are inferior to the outdoor ones, but the chimpanzees don’t seem to think so. Instead, the residents seem to utilize the various spaces differently so that together they provide one expansive, complex, multi-functional home.

Sofia highlighted the indoor front rooms in her September post “Back to Front Room 7” and Anna wrote about them again in last week’s post “Small space, big fun“. I thought it might be fun to share some additional video clips of the chimpanzees enjoying that same space today!