The chimps are presented with different food puzzles each night before they settle down and make their nests. Volunteers placed peanuts and spoonfuls of peanut butter in cups and screwed them together in stacks. Burrito carefully unscrewed the cups from each other to find the treats but found it much easier to use his large, powerful canine teeth to rip off the lids – reminding us that an effective solution to a problem often looks different from a chimpanzee’s perspective.
Enrichment
Shoveling Snow!
Everyone seemed to enjoy Anna’s snow sculpture yesterday, so I tried to replicate it! We hid some nuts in the snow sandbox & in buckets and topped it all off with icicles! Jamie also had volunteers pack her a bag of folios, magazines, and anything that would get you through a snow day. Jamie also didn’t mind jumping in to shovel the raceway!
The enrichment for the Playroom:
Jamie seemed to be a fan of it again:
Jamie took the responsibility snow shoveling the raceway, I mean someone had to do it:
She shoveled a few times and decided to take a snow break:
Snowpocalypse 2019
As the state of Washington braces for more snow, the chimpanzees spent the day thoroughly enjoying the first day of Snowpocalypse / Snowmageddon / Snowzilla WA 2019.
We really just got a few inches here, which is pretty normal this time of year. Anna did do a pretty good job of hyping the drama of the storm with her snow and ice sculpture for the chimps:
Missy did her best to carefully remove an icicle so she could abscond with it to the loft:
Jody decided to eat hers in situ:
Foxie kept a close eye on the snow as she consumed it (as is her way):
Jamie received a bonus treat today! After reading Anna’s post from the other day, donors must have immediately started gathering things to send, because we have already received some special Jamie enrichment.
We thought Snowmaggedon was a good time to give Jamie a donated folio full of interesting things.
She carefully pulled out and sorted through each item. When she came across a piece of paper that had photos of boots, she put it aside. After closely examining each card and envelope, she picked up the paper with the boot photos and went upstairs with some leftover lunch for some private Jamie-time. This chimpanzee knows what she likes:
Wanted: Gifts for Jamie
Many of you may remember this pretty fantastic video of an example of quintessential Jamie enrichment (taken last December):
Jamie loves a project to work on. She likes things she can investigate, take apart and reassemble just the way she wants. She likes things with pockets, compartments and zippers.
We love setting up these special little projects for her and and we could use your help designing more of them. Diana added this Folio to our Amazon wish list as an example of the something we would like to get her.
We also think she would like a used briefcase or messenger bag. If you want to help enrich The Boss, feel free to search your closet or local consignment store for these type of items.
One of the challenges we face when coming up with new enrichment for the chimps is determining if something is safe for them to actually have. Sure Jamie would LOVE to have a real cordless drill, but we also have to think of all the ramifications of her actually wielding such power.
Besides the obvious potential weapon and definite ruin of the building aspects of the drill, we have to consider things like batteries. After the chimps investigate their enrichment, they often try to break their new objects using any means possible. If Jamie did get her hands on a drill, we would never want to see one of the chimps get hurt from biting into a battery.
A long story short, we have a strict list of enrichment guidelines, so please check out this link before you decide to send Jamie a present. We are always happy to help guide your quest for the right item. Feel free to send me an email ([email protected]) if you have any questions.
If you choose to accept this mission, you can send her package to:
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
PO Box 952
Cle Elum, WA 98922
Happy searching!
A Dietary Staple
There’s one item that’s part of any self-respecting Pacific Northwest chimpanzee’s diet.
Boyish Charm
Burrito, the one male chimpanzee at the sanctuary, is turning 36 tomorrow!
When describing Burrito, I wouldn’t be able to count how many times I have said his age and then inserted the caveat, “but he acts more like a teenager.”
When he arrived to the sanctuary in 2008 at age 26, even then he was well into adulthood; but his boyishness was apparent. Actually, it was apparent to me when I first met him at Buckshire.
Below are a few of the early photos we took of Burrito. There’s just something absolutely irresistible and, yes, cute, about this guy:
Don’t get me wrong, he is a chimpanzee and behaves accordingly. He has his Tasmanian devil moments (no slight or stereotyping of Tasmanian devils intended).
He still regularly spits on me when I’m operating doors, especially in the morning.
But often immediately afterwards he wants to play a game of chase or tug of war:
Burrito’s je ne sais quoi clearly reaches beyond those who are lucky enough to meet him in person – he has many fans, including official Chimpanzee Pals, out there. Being able to share Burrito’s youthful spirit is one of the very best parts of my job.
If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to share the similar boyish charm of two other male non-humans at CSNW.
A few years ago, J.B. and I adopted a dog from Lady’s Hope Dog Rescue. He had been a stray and spent some time at a couple of different shelters before he caught the attention of Lady’s Hope. He was a handful for a variety of reasons, but he quickly started to remind me of Burrito in that boyish charm sort of way.
I mean, just look at this face:
This is what Wilson wants to be doing most of the time:
Coincidentally, Wilson was diagnosed with heart issues after Burrito’s diagnosis. They take some of the same medication. Thankfully, at this point, neither of them are symptomatic and likely have no idea that they have an illness.
Because J.B. and I occupy the house on the property, Wilson is a part of the sanctuary too. He and (even more likely) his canine companion and savior Abbey can often be seen in their yard by the house, checking in on who’s coming up the driveway and watching all of the goings-on across the property.
And now we have a third young male who lives at the sanctuary. We’re still getting to know Nutmeg, the one steer who is part of our new cattle family. Somehow, he also has this young-at-heart innocence that was immediately apparent and has won us all over.
He also has one of the greatest hairdos of anyone I’ve ever met:
Nutmeg dutifully ambles along after his mom Betsy, adoptive aunt Honey and more feisty cousin Meredith. Being a male born to a cow genetically bred for the dairy industry, he’s a big guy, but I don’t think he realizes his size.
I don’t know how we lucked out with these three or why they all have a similar enchanting youthful demeanor, but I sure am glad I know them.
I’ll end with a look back at a couple of videos that illustrate the easy task of enticing the silliness out of Mr. B.:
A big happy birthday to Burrito tomorrow! May your heart always remain young, and may you, Wilson, and Nutmeg continue to charm anyone who takes the time to get to know you.
Fleeting Moments
This morning the sanctuary was encased in a thin layer of delicate ice.
Here’s Annie taking in the scenery:
Each tiny twig and blade of grass seemed to have suddenly discovered an independence, briefly standing on it’s own, separated from the whole:
It was clear this was going to be a very temporary state – a moment that vanished so quickly the shutter of the camera was scarcely fast enough to capture it.
The air turned warmer and the icicles began to disappear one drop at a time. As I walked around the perimeter of the chimpanzees’ outdoor habitat, I could hear cracking all around me as the trees shrugged off their icy coats.
After taking in the scene, Annie quickly decided to partake in the moment before it was gone.
Soon the sun stood boldly in its place in the sky and transformed the landscape.
Still, in the places that stubbornly hid from the sun, the ice-covered snow remained.
Missy realized that she didn’t need to venture outside herself, she could instead request that I gather handfuls of the delicacy for her.
A lesson for us all, as another year comes to end (a lesson that I’m in need of remembering): appreciate what the day has to offer and enjoy the fleeting moments before they disappear.
Speaking of fleeting moments – we are just days away from December 31st and the end of the huge year-end matching challenge! I don’t know if you’ve looked recently – we are now less than $40,000 away from reaching the goal.
I honestly am not sure what is going to happen. Can we actually reach that lofty goal?! This is where I turn towards you all and ask that question!
