Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Foxie

Night Bag Noises

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Nightbags, or night bags, are the post dinner treat for the chimpanzees here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. Jamie, Jody, Missy, Annie, Negra, Foxie and Burrito all love these nut-filled bags and each has a preferred practice for how to get the most out of these small but delectable treats.

The sound of the chimpanzees crunching on nuts and seeds is, in my opinion, the sound of satisfaction and a job well done. No other noise is more evocative to me of hope, love, home, and sanctuary. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Listen for yourself and decide.

A quiet moment between friends

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We are in the middle of our second heatwave of the season and the chimpanzees are spending much of their time in the cooler chimp house. (With the exception of Jamie who just returned from her third perimeter walk of the day and is currently on her fourth). I recently found Foxie and Dora lounging in the greenhouse, enjoying the breeze:

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Usually the second that Foxie sees us she makes a beeline to us to pass us her troll or Dora doll and start a game of chase. But it’s just too hot for such shenanigans. So we sat for quite awhile just gazing at each other and giving the occasional head nod:

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Those friendships in which you can just spend time with one other without saying or doing anything are pretty great. It is no small gift.

Rainy days

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Yesterday, Jamie received a package in the mail with new cowgirl boots from our long time supporters and friends, Don and Karen Young (for whom Young’s Hill was named thanks to their generous contribution to making it possible). When we arrived at the sanctuary this morning, Jamie was watching us from the greenhouse and as soon as we got out of our cars she immediately gestured that she was ready for a walk with her new boots. I think that’s something we can all relate to.

A wonderful article, featuring the chimpanzees, was posted today on One Green Planet speaking to the many ways in which chimpanzees and humans are alike. And today at the sanctuary was another simple example of that. We are getting some much needed rain to the area and the chimpanzees and humans alike are kicking up their heels a bit more with the cooler temperatures. And although Jamie was ready and waiting for an early morning walk, due to intermittent thunder showers, we had to wait for the voltage on the electric fencing surrounding the chimpanzees’ outdoor area to come up before we could give the chimps access to the hill. So just as we humans do when we are waiting for stormy weather to pass, Jamie reluctantly made a nest, holding fast to her new boots, and waited it out.

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Finally, after lunch the voltage on the fence was high enough to give them access to Young’s Hill. Jamie immediately had J.B. put on some boots and they set off for a perimeter walk. While Jamie and J.B. were busy walking, everyone else (well, except Negra who chose to take an after lunch nap) raced out onto the hill to enjoy the brief break in weather.

Missy, being Missy, made several laps up and down, and back and forth, only stopping to occasionally check out the view:

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But it wouldn’t be long before she was off to race across the hill, or chase her friend, Annie, again:

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Jody, marched out onto the hill with purpose, clearly on a mission. A mission to forage for a rather large piece of bamboo to bring back to enjoy in the comfort of her nest before the rain began again:

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Even Foxie felt adventurous and explored the platforms on her own. Well, not exactly on her own as she had Dora with her, of course.

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While these moments captured seemingly simple joys for the chimpanzees that we as humans can relate to, there is no denying the countless ways in which chimpanzees experience the world and their lives just as we do. For me, I just consider us to be different cultures who still have distinctly similar thoughts, emotions, and desires. Who still want the same things in life. Just like all beings we share this planet with.

Jamie playing

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We’ve often described Jamie as a complicated chimpanzee. She seems to identify more with the humans than with being a chimpanzee, but at the same time, she’s very socially manipulative and runs the show around here. As the boss, there’s no doubt she always has a lot on her mind. Most of the time, Jamie is pretty serious about things, even when she’s playing with the humans. She will ask to groom our shoes or wrists, play chase, or walk around the hill—and we will usually get a head nod from her as acknowledgement that she’s happy about that moment, but rarely does she laugh when playing with humans. Foxie, however, seems to be the one individual who can really get Jamie to be silly. The other chimpanzees are occasionally able to get Jamie’s silly side out, but not as much as Foxie.

The other day I posted the first part of this video on our Instagram account—if you’re not following us there, you should be! Today I got Foxie and Jamie playing again and laughing pretty hard. It wasn’t long before Jamie caught me, the paparazzi, and shifted her attention away. She looked toward my boot so I played a little tickle game. You’ll be able to see her briefly head nod, but not laugh the way she does when she’s wrestling with Foxie.

I’ve always found it interesting that though Jamie is very human-oriented, she seems to really only let her guard down when playing with other chimpanzees. Jamie is certainly an interesting and complicated chimpanzee, but we love her all the more for it.

An icy smorgasbord

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We are at the peak of a long heatwave here at the sanctuary with temperatures hovering in the triple digits for the past week. I found Negra enjoying a moment of peaceful solitude in the still cooler greenhouse early this morning:

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But it doesn’t take long for the greenhouse to get too warm on days like this. Much like the humans, the chimpanzees find it too hot to do much of anything and have been spending a lot of their time in the cooler playroom. (Though Jamie still manages to power through her daily walks in the midday heat!). So we thought today should be an ice-filled enrichment day to help keep everyone hydrated and cool.

The chimpanzees love ice so we filled their wading pool, gardening table, wheelbarrow, and buckets with several bags full and then volunteer caregiver-in-training, Sandra, tossed in a few cherries, frozen raspberries from the chimps’ garden, and sunflower seeds to jazz up the forage. There were pant-hoots and food grunts galore.

Burrito was pretty overwhelmed at first and didn’t seem to know where to begin:

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But he made good use of those fabulous prehensile lips of his:

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Missy and Jody joined Burrito (though Jody was avoiding the paparazzi today):

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Missy LOVES ice and she didn’t leave this spot for some time:

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Foxie made the rounds of the ice smorgasbord, taking mouthfuls from several locations:

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Then for the second frozen course, volunteer caregiver, Steph, showed up with frozen water bottles filled with strawberries and cucumbers! These were a huge hit and Foxie got right to work on these as well:

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Annie enjoying hers in the greenhouse:

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Surprisingly, I wasn’t able to get any photos of Jamie, but she was beside herself with so much to do and at one point was seen drinking from one of many bottles she had collected and scrubbing the front rooms with a brush and bucket of water (at the same time, of course).

And while this is not a great photo I couldn’t resist sharing Negra, with perhaps the biggest mouthful of all!

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