Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Foxie

Today is for Jeani, Sara, and their family!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Jeani Goodrich and her family! Jeani is a long time volunteer and friend of the primates here. She is such a kind and compassionate soul and is always looking for ways to make the lives of others better, be they human or non. Jeani’s family gave her the wonderful gift of choosing a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees and this is her special message about today:

“In honor of: Deb, John and Adam Mayes, Sean and Sara Curry, and Sean Peter and Brenna Curry.  Deb is my sister, Sara and Adam are my niece and nephew, and Sean Peter and Brenna are my grand-nephew and grand-niece. John and Sean are their wonderful spouses. They are honoring the chimps because they know how much the chimps mean to me. I chose the day, July 5th, because it is my niece Sara’s birthday and we are going to have a “Christmas in July” party for the chimps.”

Happy Birthday, Sara! We hope you have the best one yet! Thank you all, so much, for giving a gift that not only encompasses so many, but surrounds them all, including the chimpanzees, with love. And thank you for giving the chimpanzees another summer party to enjoy!

Jeani’s pal, Foxie:

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Negra braves the heat

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It’s difficult to catch Missy in an action shot because she moves so fast.

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It’s even harder to catch Negra in an action shot because…well, she’s just not very active. But even temperatures in the high 90’s couldn’t stop Negra from parkouring her way through Young’s Hill, troll in hand, to grab some broccoli and cauliflower during today’s lunch forage.

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Foxie has been holding on to a new troll with its purple hair still intact. She treasures these while they last (Jamie and Jody usually rip the hair out).

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Speaking of hair, a lot of people have trouble telling Annie and Foxie apart, so here’s a good side-by-side shot to help you out. Annie looks like someone just rubbed a balloon on her head. Not unlike a troll doll, come to think of it.

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And Burrito has been showing off a bit more of his physique, thanks to his recent exam. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t build muscle on a diet of fruits and vegetables. Your results may vary, however, unless you also stick to Burrito’s daily workout routine that includes leaping, swinging, and banging on everything in sight as you terrify everyone around you in a formidable dominance display and then running for your life as six angry girls chase after you.

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Snippets

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Some of the most important things we can provide the chimpanzees are choices. The choice to explore their outdoor area or to nest inside. The choice to play with their chimp and human friends or nap. The choice to play with enrichment or ignore it. The choice to stay in one area or not when we are trying to shift them for meals or cleaning. The choices are many and we particularly love it when the chimps take it upon themselves to engage throughout the day in what they find interesting as long as we provide the options.

Choices relieve the inevitable bouts of boredom these intelligent, curious and active people experience at times being in captivity. And choices of how the chimps wanted to spend their moments and days was not something they often received prior to living in sanctuary. Yes, they are still in captivity and ultimately, the humans control their environment and schedule, but we do our very best at all times to work cooperatively with the chimps and give them choices at every possible opportunity. We want the chimpanzees to feel as much as possible that they finally get to call the shots. And really, they do.

These photos will hopefully provide an idea of how the chimpanzees choose to spend their days, in snippets:

Negra, dozing in the morning sun in the greenhouse when I first arrived:

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Foxie and Dracula troll enjoyed a toothbrush while waiting for breakfast:

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After breakfast, Burrito headed up Young’s Hill to climb one of the structures:

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He is exhibiting a fear grimace here (notice it looks very similar to a human smile, but means quite the opposite for chimpanzees – when chimps smile they only show their bottom teeth). Burrito sometimes fear grimaces when doing new things on the hill until he feels more comfortable. He may be feeling a little nervous as he courageously walks out to the end of the plank:

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Feeling more comfortable back on the platform:

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Jody wasn’t far behind Burrito, but decided to survey the area for some wild greens instead:

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Success! And she decides to head back to the greenhouse:

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Annie chose to head straight for the new structure and enjoy a little quiet time and the view from Carlene’s Tower:

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Missy decided to take the swinging bridge over to the other side:

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Jamie decided to join Missy on Jamie’s Tower, but climbed the pole as opposed to taking the “simple” way up of the ladder:

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Foxie joined Jamie a bit later:

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While all this was occurring on the hill, Negra changed nests and took a post-breakfast nap:

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Back inside later in the day, Jamie was thrilled to find one of her favorite enrichment items out – her “kitchen sink” filled with water and paper towels at the ready. She immediately wiped her nose:

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And washed and dried her hands:

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In between lunch and dinner the chimps also enjoyed checking out their growing garden and sampling some fresh peas and green onions, playing chase and grooming with caregivers and each other, cooling off with an ice cube snack, and napping throughout the day. And Jamie went on to check out new boots and enjoy an evening of walks around the hill while the other chimps headed to bed in the cooler playroom after dinner.

Annie, utterly relaxed:

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As caregivers, continually providing the chimpanzees with new and interesting options of how to spend their time is one of our biggest challenges. And seeing them utilize all their options and sometimes create their own, is one of our biggest joys. And hopefully, one of their biggest joys as well.

Dora hitches a lift

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Much to our dismay, we reportedly have an extended heat-wave headed our way. But this afternoon we took advantage of overcast skies and a cool breeze and the chimpanzees enjoyed a lunch forage on Young’s Hill.

A great thing about forages is that it gives the chimpanzees enrichment for the rest of the day as they will all typically venture out throughout the day to see if anything was missed. Foxie decided to make a second pass and her good friend, Dora, came along. But Foxie ran into a challenge making room for carrots AND Dora.

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Foxie and Dora had a lot of ground to cover, so Foxie stopped and tossed Dora on her back. Chimpanzee mothers carry their young on their backs when on the go. Foxie mimics this behavior and often carries her dolls on her back, but while it’s particularly endearing and easy to read into, your guess is as good as ours as to why she actually does this. Regardless of her reasons, it’s pretty adorable.

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After such a long hike, Foxie and Dora came back to take a nap at the top of the greenhouse (you can just see Dora tucked in Foxie’s hip in the background).

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Lunch with the chimpanzees

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Most meals at the sanctuary go remarkably smoothly considering we have seven hungry and eager chimpanzees to serve at once. Occasionally, someone swipes someone else’s food or a scuffle breaks out, but more often than not, peace reigns.

That’s not to say that all the chimps always wait patiently, though. In this video, you’ll see some of the ways the chimps get our attention during meals and tell the server to please hurry up – hand clapping (Negra), vigorous head nodding (Missy), and blowing raspberries (Foxie). This video is longer than most of the ones we post, but hopefully it will give you some idea of what it’s like to be present at mealtime at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

Summer and Father’s Day

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It’s here; the year’s longest day of sunshine (well, at least for us here in the Northern Hemisphere). The high temperatures the past month may have indicated otherwise, but today truly is the official beginning of summer. By this time of year, plants in the garden are bearing fruit, baby birds have hatched and are growing quickly and the rivers and lakes have warmed up enough to be revitalizing after jumping in.

As for life here at the sanctuary, summer is in full swing, especially in the gardens with all of the fruit and flowers.

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I thought today’s blog would be mostly about how summer means vitality, growth, abundant energy, movement and all that means to be living life. And I was going to take photos of each of the chimps soaking up the long days of sunshine exploring Young’s Hill, eating wild plants and the climbing structures to take in the views. But, the chimps had something else in mind for today, which was a really good lesson for me.

It was as if the chimps were trying to convey to me that summer does entail abundance, energy, growth and all of those things I listed above. But, it can also mean making the most of lazy summer days by taking the time to relax in comfort, nap and soak up what it means to not have constant demands put on them to perform or to be used as test subjects. This was evident in the blanket nests we saw this morning when cleaning the various enclosures.

Here is one we found in the Playroom this morning.
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Jamie took a some time to rest up this morning after venturing out onto Young’s Hill.
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For Jody and many of the other chimps, summer time means endless wild snacks.
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For Foxie, lazy summer afternoons mean napping with a close friend.
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Missy sat grooming herself this afternoon…
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…while Annie lie down next to her.
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Burrito looking pretty relaxed in front of the camera.
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And Negra sat in one of her favorite spots on the catwalk this afternoon.
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Today also marks a special day for fathers. The Cle Elum Seven are fortunate enough to have loving, supportive fathers from all over the world who dedicate their time, energy and offer unlimited support in order to provide a safe and enriching environment for these chimps. Your love has helped these chimpanzees grow leaps and bounds over the past seven years in ways they have never known before. To all these fathers, we cannot thank you enough.

So, however you choose to spend your summer days, enjoy them to the fullest. And to all the fathers out there, have a wonderful day knowing how loved and appreciated you are for all the things you do to provide for those you love!