If you hear laughter coming from the chimp house, chances are Burrito is involved.
Also – we put out a lunch forage for Cy’s group this afternoon and Chad placed a whole tomato where only the bravest chimpanzee could find it. Look at Lucky go!
forage
A Day for Annie!
There can never be enough parties!!!
That must be one of our mantras here at CSNW. After celebrating HOOT! 2023 yesterday evening, we rolled into the chimp house this morning ready to celebrate again. Today, though, we are celebrating Annie’s 49th birthday! Like Jenna wrote in her blog yesterday, it truly takes a village to support the chimpanzees and cattle in our care. Thank you to everyone who participated in HOOT! yesterday, whether in person or remotely. It’s really wonderful to be surrounded by a community such as this one.
Today, we celebrated Annie’s 49th. It’s always shocking to me when I remember Annie’s age, because (for me) she is timeless.
Annie is a special lady. She is what we refer to as a ‘chimps chimp’, in that she prefers spending time with her group mates rather than with humans. She lets others in her group take charge and can be anxious at times, but loves spending time with Missy and is known to play rough with Burrito every now and then. She has had a tough journey- we celebrate her birthday on September 10th and we believe it’s possible that she was born in the wild. Before coming to CSNW, she spent her life in biomedical research where she was used in hepatitis vaccine studies. She also had quite a few babies while in the lab, potentially even up to 7, but they were all taken from her. In the lab, she wasn’t given the opportunity to decide how she would be known.
Here at CSNW, she is known for making her unique ‘bird-noises’ when she’s laying down, for washing her face with water that she cups in her hands and rubs vigorously across her forehead which leaves the hair on the top of her forehead all spiky. She is known for walking (or even running) bipedally while out on the hill, and for her love of human toes and comfy nests. Us humans often know when spring is coming after a long winter when we find Annie wearing one of her beloved head bands around her waist. She is sweet, kind, and often quiet, but will adventure to the top of Young’s Hill with her best pal, Missy. If you’re serving her, she will let you know if you are taking too long (or if she’s not ready to take something yet). Her food grunts when she’s eating something she loves (like pears at breakfast this morning) are deep and soothing.
We love her for exactly who she is.
A big thank you to Paulette Wrisley for sponsoring Annie’s birthday today- from everyone here, thank you for helping us celebrate this special lady!!!
BONUS PHOTOS:
Annie:
Foxie:
Jamie:
Negra:
Testing, Testing 1-2-3
It has been a little while since we have talked about enrichment for Rayne’s group. If you happen to have been wondering, yes. They are still destructive in comparison to Jamie’s group. We have been taking it slow to see what works and what doesn’t. The problem with that is that it is what it is; slow. Though more and more things are added to their growing repertoire of enrichment, some in that group have a burning desire to eat plastic, stuffing from stuffed animals, and some other things. Just because they are destructive, does that mean we should stop trying? If you’re hardheaded and stubborn like myself, then you know the answer is “no.”
It has been a slow process of introducing them to new things, but things are still moving along. We recently attempted to introduce them to firehose cubes. Before Mave, Honey B, and Willy B integrated into the Lucky Six, firehose cubes were on the list of food puzzles they received. Since the cubes are pretty durable, we decided that was going to be the next step. The first trial run was overall a success! There was some minimal damage when caregivers were able to retrieve the next morning, but nothing that would stop the second trial run.
Though six of the group of nine have not experienced firehose cubes before, they had some to show them the ropes.
Mave working her way through a firehose cube as Dora looks on
Willy B reunited with one of his favorite food puzzles
For others, it came naturally. For instance:
Rayne, the queen of all natural intuition, didn’t even hesitate to grab one and rummage through it
Hopefully (fingers crossed) you all will be seeing some more photos of firehose cubes with Rayne’s group.
Here are some bonus photos from today:
Mave being silly with a sock
A photo montage of Missy before and during a lunch forage today
Jamie during today’s lunch forage
Negra looking like the queen that she is
Burrito returning from a “walk” (read run) around Young’s Hill
A Day for Foxie!
Today was a busy, fun, crazy, happy day here at CSNW! We celebrated sweet and sassy Foxie’s 47th birthday- can you believe it?
She makes 47 look pretty darn great. 🙂
And we’d like to give our heartfelt thanks to Paulette Wrisley for sponsoring Foxie’s special day of celebration! It means so much to us to be able to honor Foxie, and each of the chimpanzees, for the amazingly special individuals they are.
We kicked off the celebrations with a delicious smoothie for the birthday girl, who loves smoothies and holds her own cup every morning. She got new dolls throughout the day, enjoyed a pre-party party, and then had a forage on Young’s Hill complete with Pineapple Bowls (!) full of yummy fruit, bok choy, cucumber, and cabbage. Despite the weather being quite warm, everyone went out on the Hill and was able to grab at least one pineapple bowl. Cy’s group also enjoyed pineapple bowls with lots of fresh goodies! Be sure to check out the video for more.
If you are new to following us, Foxie was born on August 8th, 1976 at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research. According to our records her mother, Winny, passed away at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in 2013. Foxie was used in hepatitis vaccine research and as a breeder while living in the lab. She had four babies- all of whom were taken from her when they were very, very young. In the wild, chimpanzees rely heavily on their mothers for many years and live with them through their adolescence. The practice of taking infants from their mothers in laboratories has long-term harmful impacts on both the mother and the offspring- I, personally, cannot imagine this sort of trauma.
When she came to sanctuary, she adopted a doll within the first month here. This single doll has turned into quite a collection and she has one, if not two, babies with her all the time. She enjoys games of troll toss and will often give one of her caregivers a doll to ‘babysit’ for her. She lets us know when she’s ready to have them back by blowing raspberries in the loft of the playroom by the human kitchen. 🙂 When she really gets going and is playing chase with a caregiver, she is known to do these amazing spins across the floor from one end of the room to the other. Or she will climb up the caging and flip so she hangs upside down. After all she has been through, her resiliency and silly nature is truly awe-inspiring.
Foxie is a sweet, spunky, forgiving, and absolutely precious soul who I feel lucky to know. Happy birthday, Fox. <3
Photos from the day:
Foxie allowed a mini photo-shoot in the front rooms this morning:
Negra scored a pineapple bowl during the forage:
Jamie, looking as regal as ever:
Jamie, winning the ‘How-Many-Pineapples-Can-I-Carry-At-Once’ Award:
Annie looking very sweet during the pre-party party in their greenhouse:
And on the hill:
Burrito decided to enjoy his pineapple bowl on Young’s Hill:
Burrito also enjoyed the Gatorade pools:
Birthday girl enjoying her pineapple bowl on Young’s Hill:
And a fresh green onion:
Greens for the Queen
The time of year is upon us when greens and browse items are especially plentiful. Negra took advantage of today’s forage by eating her way through ample amounts of mini bok choy brought to us by Charlie’s Produce who delivers our weekly produce orders and a browse forage of cattails picked fresh from our nearby pond. If you want to help keep the chimpanzees stocked up on produce, consider becoming a Produce Patron. Many happy food grunts from Negra and her fellow sanctuary residents to all our Produce Patrons!
All Around the Raspberry Bush
When caregivers are assigned to be the lead caregiver on a certain day, one of our first tasks is to “open up” the Chimp House. For me, this is one of the best times of day because it’s still early in the morning and some residents are still not fully awake. Case in point: Negra
To walk in the morning to see Negra still in bed, you kind of watch in real time what kind of mood she will be in that particular day. And yes. She has been in a really good mood today.
Since she was in a good mood upon awakening, and because today’s high temperature in Central Washington is 70º, it was a perfect day for a lunch forage on Young’s Hill. As of this typing (almost dinner time), they have been going on and off Young’s Hill looking for anything they may have missed. On today’s forage menu was: baby iceberg lettuce heads, prickly pears, and sweet potatoes.
Foxie
Burrito (and Foxie) enjoying some baby iceberg lettuce
Missy does the same
Negra: (Iceberg) Head Hunter
With everybody in high spirits, it was also a great day to set up a browse of raspberry branches! Jamie could not have been more content!
And just like the chimpanzees’ night bags, here is a final treat of bonus photos to end today’s blog!
Rayne fishing for cherry tomatoes yesterday
Gordo keeping an eye on the medical staff during a tour after Willy B’s procedure yesterday
And finally, this guy! If you look carefully, you can find an “Easter egg” within this photo
Go Gordo, It’s Your Birthday!
Many thanks to Paulette Wrisley for sponsoring this day of sanctuary: “Sending happy birthday wishes to Gordo, Tom, Dan and David! Have the best day you guys!” Thank you so much Paulette for helping us celebrate Gordo on his special day!
Today is Gordo’s 35th birthday! We threw a big lunch celebration for both Gordo and Burrito’s groups. We started Gordo’s day with an extra large cup of smoothie, because that is hands down Gordo’s favorite thing in the world. To say he was excited would be an understatement. I am sure you are all dying to know what was on the menu for Gordo’s birthday! The forage consisted of some of Gordo’s favorite foods such as oatmeal cups topped with fresh berries, leeks, cherry tomatoes, corn, and more fresh berries.
I thought I would share a few of my favorite things about Gordo. Number one, I think this might be why all of us staff love him, because he is quirky! I love his pokey fingers and that he always sits in boxes (the novelty has not worn off). I adore his little smirk, he just always looks cheeky, it kind of fits his personality. As we have mentioned before, Gordo does come off aloof like he is uninterested in us humans. However, if you pay close attention, when he does want to play or interact he will do the most subtle little knock with his knuckles or he will ever so slightly tap his toe, not toes, just one toe. It’s like he is seeing if you are paying attention and if you are you are rewarded with the prize of playing chase with him. I love the way he lays at the end of the stairs on a hot summer day, looking like fell down them (he has not!). Emotionally, Gordo can be hard to read so it makes me admire how brave he is and extremely proud of how he has handled himself and embraced all of these new situations. We are so lucky to know him. Gordo is a one of a kind guy!
Now you can see why it may look concerning when Gordo lays by the stairs (again it’s just how he lays):
