Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

forage

Wholly Sweet Mother of Pearl Onion

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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about forages on Young’s Hill and trying something different by placing “jackpots” in some of the harder to reach areas. Today, I decided to up the ante and place even more jackpots around Young’s Hill to see who will get what. Similar to the aforementioned blog, it should be to nobody’s surprise Missy was the “winner” at finding most of today’s jackpots.

I wasn’t able to race up the hill in time to catch her snagging the whole ear of corn in one of the trees. I was, however, able to to catch her grabbing what essentially looked like a huge Easter egg.

A whole sweet onion!

While Missy was relishing in her discovery, Jamie also found a jackpot that unintentionally seemed to be made for her.

A jackpot of a decent sized stash of pear and chow biscuits in the hammock. She seemed pretty happy with her discovery.

Then the neighbors came out.

Time to hide all enjoyment and act serious. First a small patrol to let them know she’s serious.

Then resuming to forage like it’s no big deal.

There was still a hidden bell pepper amongst one of the many logs on Young’s Hill by the time I had to head back to attend our staff meeting. I’m not sure if anybody has found it yet. Only to ravens circling Young’s Hill and The Bray know.

Bonus Photos!

Foxie

Over the hill and through the bamboo, to a location only Foxie would know.
It was to the tower structure. That was the location.
A doll for every occasion. Foxie had to put morning Strawberry Shortcake to bed and bring out Plum Puddin.’

Mave + Friends

When Mave went out onto the Bray this afternoon, she was greeted by Cy.
Then groomed with Lucky on the boardwalk.

All Shapes and Sizes

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First thing is first! If you have been following the news, you may have heard about a zebra that has been on the loose near the cascades for about a week. It has sparked a meme trend across social media of a zebra found in different places and scenarios. This lead to a discussion of where the zebra could be found. In this definitely not doctored photo, I believe we have had a glimpse of the elusive zebra!

(Note: This is in fact a doctored photo)

If you wanted to know the real update about the zebra, it was finally located and captured last Friday.

Enrichment comes in many shapes and forms. From food puzzles to toys to caregivers and to interacting with other chimpanzees, enrichment is a crucial part in caring for chimpanzees. While monitoring physical health, cleaning enclosures, and preparing meals is a big part of it, enrichment holds and equally important piece to the puzzle of caregiving. Enrichment helps to keep their minds stimulated and engaged. In a very loose way to look at it, it’s sort of like the mental health aspect of caring. In the video, those are just some of the was the chimpanzees are enriched.

We also wanted to let you all know today is the first official day of Give Big! This two day campaign is a way for non-profits to encourage donations to come in. We are currently at approximately $20,000 of our $50,000 goal. These donations are a crucial part in being able to care for all the residents at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. It is what allows caregivers to provide top notch medical care, health and fresh meals, new toys, and fun parties. Every little bit helps. Even the tiniest donation. We are not able to do any of this without all the years of support and donations. Thank you so much for choosing to follow us, falling in love with the chimpanzees and cattle, putting smiles on caregivers faces, and making all of this possible! I hope to see some of your names on the donor list! There is currently a matching donation going on, where every dollar becomes two dollars!

Here are some bonus photos from today!

Rayne

with a yellow brush!

Cy

I imagine this is Cy’s happy place. Surrounded by magazines and boomer balls!
He found a whole celery stalk place on The Bray during today’s lunch forage!

Willy B

I make the same face too when I see food.
Eyeing everyone to see what they got.

Burrito and Jamie

Fishing for raisins in their Greenhouse.

Honey B

Enjoying her time foraging in the Oakwood Greenhouse.

Terry

Enjoying the goods he collected during the forage.

This, That, and the Other

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You have probably read before that caregivers usually have mounds of unused photos and video clips. There are multiple reasons why they don’t make it to the blog: they didn’t quite fit that particular blog so they get lost to the wayside. They are too short to include into a full video. The reasons go on. Here are some clips I found on my phone that have yet to be used. Minus the Rayne clip, which I grabbed from the security cameras today.

Earlier today, you may have read it has been one year since we lost our beloved Jody Chimpanzee. I will be honest, it still is extremely hard for me to talk or even think about that day. This entire 365 days has felt like it was just yesterday, yet at the same time 1,000 years ago. There is literally not a single day that passes in which I don’t think about her.

On Jody’s burial spot, we planted some lilac trees, if you may recall. Right after planting the trees, they lost their leaves and seemed to be dead. We hoped that wasn’t the case and that Fall was just doing its thing. As the months passed and no sign of life, we began to lose hope that they survived. Well, I am happy to say, they in fact did not! On the contrary, they are thriving in this early Spring. When I noticed it as I was doing my morning run around Young’s Hill with Burrito, my eyes immediately went from dry to emitting a salty watery discharge.

Jody’s Lilac Tree with a smaller one in the foreground

Since noticing it, my entire day was filled with thoughts and memories of Jody. All the thoughts of our Joji gave me the idea to do something she loved: foraging. But I didn’t want to just do a normal forage as usual and call it a day. No. I decided to spice things up a little bit. I hid several “jackpots” around Young’s Hill. The more difficult to get to, the better the jackpot. Most of the jackpots were whole carrots and potatoes. But there was one jackpot that took a keen eye to spot and some athletic agility! (<– BIG foreshadowing of who got it.)

The prize?

A whole opal apple in one of the trees at the top of the hill! I will spare you the details of how I got it up there and got it to stay.

One person came to mind of who would reach it first. To no surprise, that person knew I was up to something at the top of the hill and it was worth skipping the bigger forage at large and see what was up there.

Missy!!!

Initially, she found one of the easier to reach whole carrots. When she looked up though, she dropped everything and raced up the tree. I wasn’t able to get photos of it on account that I am not as fast as Missy and couldn’t make it up the hill in time.

Mmmmmm… The sweet taste of victory

I did, however, follow Missy the rest of the forage. During that time, Missy when to every single structure to see if any more big prizes were to be had. (Unfortunately for her, there wasn’t since some of the places she looked, I wouldn’t have been able to reach.)

Missy climbing down from the very top platform of the Twister structure
She did end up going back to reclaim the carrot she dropped
She found another one of the jackpot carrots on top of Negra’s Cabin

It was well worth climbing to some pretty hard to reach areas to watch Missy seemingly having a forage that was designed for her, unintentionally.

Good job, Missy!

Here are some bonus photos from today!

Burrito

Scooping a pile of chow biscuits into his mouth
During our morning run today with Jody’s lilac tree in the back ground.
Annie even joined

Missy

Nothing like pre-breakfast grass to start the day

Gordo

Gordo seems to agree about the pre-breakfast grass. So far, he is the only one in his group we have seen collecting grass to eat.
Don’t forget you keys!

Rayne

Taking in the morning sun in some solitude on the Bray
Rayne found all the jackpots during her group’s forage

Jamie

She took a slight detour during today’s morning patrol through the logs

Negra

Hiding behind some logs watching the neighbors

Foxie

That blur in the background is Missy making her way to the top of Young’s Hill

Terry

Teeny Tiny Terry not looking so teeny tiny during lunch

Unlike most, Terry is very delicate with his nightbags to pick out his favorites first

Grazing Days

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What food could possibly be so exciting that a chimpanzee would willingly pass up fresh fruit, peanuts, chow, and smoothie? Why, it’s grass, of course!

Yes, for a few weeks each year the chimpanzees at CSNW become grazers, chomping down on grass at a rate more in line with the cows they share their sanctuary home with. What’s so great about grass? You got me. Wild chimpanzees do naturally consume significant amounts of browse—fibrous foods such as shoots, stems, and leaves—but the chimps at CSNW don’t eat any other browse with the same gusto as they do spring grass. This time of year, the grass is at its sweetest and most tender, as the cows will most certainly attest. But is it really better than smoothie?

Speaking of grazing (and with it being Earth Day and all), I thought I’d mention one of the projects we’ve been working on: Converting our pasture fencing to wildlife-friendly fencing. The original sanctuary property and the four parcels we purchased in recent years were part of a large homestead ranch that was in operation for a least a century. During that time, most of the pastures were fenced using barbed wire or a combination of barbed wire and woven field fence. Unfortunately, we’ve seen firsthand the toll this kind of fencing can take on wildlife. First, there’s the very real risk that wildlife, such as deer or elk, will get injured by or caught up in a fence. And second, there’s the problem of fawns being separated from their mothers as their moms cross over pasture fencing too high for them to jump. After doing a lot of research, we decided to transition to 3-wire high-tensile electric fencing, which can effectively contain our cows while allowing wildlife such as deer, elk, bobcats, and marmots to cross over or under safely. And for pastures no longer in use, the fences can be removed and the areas can be slowly re-wilded. As we work on finalizing our master site plan, we will also do so with an eye toward preserving wildlife migration corridors throughout the 113-acre property. After all, it’s not much of a sanctuary if it’s not also a home for the animals that were here first.

And last but not least, allow me to share some photos of Negra from today’s lunch forage: