Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
This morning Negra was peacefully enjoying her peanut butter pine cone…
When there arose such a clatter…
Not pictured: Burrito’s raucous display making the “clatter.”
Negra’s whimper of concern
And outstretched hand seeking reassurance from the photographer
Back to business
Still best to keep eyes on that wild roommate…
I saw someone recently ask, I think on Facebook, about why Burrito often has a small piece of enrichment with him, either in his mouth or a hand. The truthful and simple answer to that question is we have no idea. It’s just a Burrito thing, like dolls are a Foxie thing, books and boots are a Jamie thing, and magazines are a Cy thing.
Maybe there’s something you have that just makes you feel more you or gives you a sense of comfort. Maybe you have a signature color or a certain style of clothing or a collection of raccoon figurines that people identify you by (no judgement here).
Why are we drawn towards the things we are? It’s a question for the ages (whatever that means).
It’s also a question that an exhibit a few years ago at Central Washington University’s Museum of Culture and Environment attempted to tackle, with the inclusion of “artifacts” from Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. If they do a similar exhibit in the future, perhaps they’ll include an artifact left behind by Burrito too.
This phenomenon of signature “things” also points to the benefit, I would argue necessity, of having a large variety of enrichment that we give to the chimpanzees.
After rejecting all of the other enrichment objects that we offered when she first came to the sanctuary, Foxie found her thing (troll dolls). Now, it’s hard to imagine her without a doll of some sort. How wonderful that we were able to give her objects that have provided her with 15 years worth of joy that only she can truly understand.
The following photos are from today of Burrito lounging in a windowsill with one of his more recent favorite things to carry in his mouth – it’s a piece of wood that he found when the Young’s Hill outdoor area was shifted and expanded.
You’ll often see Burrito with a toy hammer that has a plastic head and wooden handle or with a block of wood. I thought it was special that he found something on his own, rather than something that we chose for him to carry.
The photo at the top of the blog post is Burrito watching some drama unfold this afternoon amongst his neighbors. Enrichment comes in many forms, and watching the live “soaps” through the window is probably Burrito’s favorite enrichment activity of late.
I couldn’t quite come up with the right written thread to connect all of today’s photos together. I simply present, a few moments from this *almost spring day.
Jody on Young’s Hill this afternoon. Notice it almost looks like there’s some green grass peeking out already!
Mave grooming her BFF Dora:
Rayne lounging in the Riverview Greenhouse:
I never quite imagined just how enriching having a neighboring group of chimps could be for Burrito in particular. He spends a great deal of his free time watching and listening to the goings on in Cy’s group. It comes as no surprise to me that he is vigorously tuned in on all things dramatic. I myself am a reality TV buff and there’s something so enticing about enthusiastically watching a spectacle that you don’t have to be involved in.
Burrito is always sure to grab prime seating on a barrel so he can see his neighbors in the chute, all he needs is a bowl of popcorn and he’d be set:
Winter here on the eastern slopes of the Cascades can be difficult. We go to work in the dark and return home in the same. The wind stings, the cold air bites. Thick mats of snow and ice cover the landscape. Wintry conditions turn scenic drives across the mountain passes into foggy, wet, anxiety-inducing ordeals.
Yet, we carry on.
We play in the snow with friends, take our vitamin D supplements, struggle to keep our houseplants alive, finally read the books we bought in a frenzy over the summer, stay in touch with friends and family, exercise in some loud building under fluorescent lighting, and make the most of the relatively warm days when we get them.
Eventually, the days start feeling longer again. The wind stings a little less, the temperatures rise a little. The snow melts to reveal the wet dirt underneath. We begin to make plans for the coming weeks without worries of getting stranded, spinning out, or missing a flight. One day at a time. Suddenly, we find ourselves standing in an elk-trodden meadow of balsamroot and lupine watching the spring thunderstorms roll by.
From last week into this past weekend, the chimpanzees have had quite a bit of drama and it’s been a challenge to navigate. But, as Diana and Jenna pointed out in their respective blog posts, there has also been a lot of rest, recovery, and reconciliation going on. Chimps are great at filling the intervals between conflicts with productive, calming activities: building nests, grooming companions, playing chase with caregivers, foraging on some greens you found on the Hill, etc. Perhaps the best way to get you and your loved ones through hard times is just to give someone a breathy pant, eat an icicle, pile up some blankets, take a nap, and move forward. As someone told me recently, why worry about the whole necklace when you can just keep putting beads on the string?
Cy’s group, the chimpanzees who have been fighting the most frequently lately, have actually been relatively peaceful for much of their tenure as an integrated social group. It wasn’t always that way; we can all remember last spring when their union was so new and fragile that we gave them nonstop supervision, around the clock, for weeks on end. If you had visited me in the foyer one of those nights and told me those new relationships would continue to grow and thrive for six months before enduring a rough patch like this one, I would have been ecstatic.
Yes, there are tough times that seem like they will never end…
…but they always do.
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The distant glow of sunrise over the Chimp House front entrance at 4:44am on June 23, 2022. It wasn’t an unusually important day, but I have this photo from my overnight shift that I have never posted here before. I looked back at my notes from that morning. The chimps slept relatively peacefully after a string of tumultuous nights.
Dr. Erin watching the chimpanzees via the security cameras:
Gordo taking a moment to relax today in the playroom:
The hallway between the Lupine and Marmot Mountain playrooms after a day of cleaning:
Jamie peering down from atop a platform (where she had made a humongous nest):
The shovel that now lives outside the greenhouse door (which keeps getting blocked in with ice).
Annie, Missy, and Jody passed the early part of the afternoon in the greenhouse, grooming quietly.
Annie gently passed her fingers through Jody’s hair as Jody basked in the attention.
Suddenly, there was a scream. Nothing for the girls to worry about, as it came from the other group. But they were compelled to see what was going on. Off to the hill they ran.
Having two chimp families on site means having twice the drama.
But other people’s drama is far different than our own. As social primates, both humans and chimps enjoy other people’s business a little too much. The girls gathered by the fence to catch a glimpse of the action.
To the dismay of our spectators, most of the neighbor’s drama is mild and short-lived, such as when Willy B gets a little too rambunctious or when Mave overreacts to his occasionally boorish antics. And this time, the drama was over quickly. Nevertheless, Jamie decided a patrol was in order.
Her crew followed her up the fence line and around the hill.
While Jamie forged ahead, Missy and Annie maintained an easier pace to accommodate Foxie, who is slowed by arthritis.
Upon their return, all was quiet.
The gang resumed their normal activities – lounging, grooming, napping.
And waited for the next exciting twist in the neighbor’s ongoing saga.
We had a question recently on YouTube wondering if the chimpanzees fight less than other groups. It made us realize that we really don’t share that part of their daily lives much. I tried to provide some answers as to why in this video, but maybe there are other reasons that are less obvious (number of likes on Facebook? I hope that’s not it!).
We do have a category called “Fights” for blog posts, so you can check out previous posts on the subject here.
Let us know what you think – does this surprise you or make you uncomfortable to see the chimpanzees fighting?
