Foxie

Sidewalks!

May 16, 2014 by Debbie

You may have picked up that Katelyn mentioned that J.B. and Ken Mikkelson were prepping the areas around the chimp house for sidewalks on Wednesday, and yesterday the Poppoff crew came out and started work on forming the concrete. Today they finished the sidewalks and now they are curing and drying so we can start using them in a few days. The Poppoffs are long-time supporters of the sanctuary and have helped us with other construction projects including Young’s Hill and even years ago when we created the greenhouse.

So, why sidewalks? It’s all part of the veterinary clinic project that we started last year. The cement pad in front of the gate will make it easier if we need to move big equipment in or out of the chimp house, including the trailer itself. The sidewalks go from the chimp area doors to the clinic, so we can easily transfer a chimp to the clinic if we need to. They also will be much nicer to shovel and put ice melt on in the winter! So, we are pretty excited about these sidewalks.

The chimps were very interested in all the work going on, and watched from Young’s Hill:

Foxie’s Secret Language

May 9, 2014 by J.B.

Some forms of chimp communication are universal. Chimps the world over food grunt, make play faces, and pant-hoot. While there are variations to all of these behaviors based on culture and geography, they are all part of a common chimp language.

But chimps also develop communicative behaviors all their own. My favorite example is Foxie. When Foxie adopted her first troll doll, she was extremely protective of it and became visibly upset when “Trixie,” as we named her, wound up in the hands of someone else. But over time, she began to trust us with her dolls, and at that point she actually started to use her troll dolls as a way to signify that it was time to socialize with her. While I really have no idea what is going on in Foxie’s mind, I like to think of it like this: She knows that we would never take her doll away from her, so when she hands one to us, she knows we have to stick around. You have my troll, so until I ask for it back, you’re all mine. At least that’s my guess as to how it started. Now we don’t even question it – it’s just how things work around here.

When we come to work in the morning, Foxie passes us a troll to say hello and starts to do her playful acrobatics. And when we are locking up for the night, she often drops a troll on our heads from the loft, as a way of saying: Just five more minutes, then you can go. When she’s done with us, she asks for it back and she goes on with her day.

And it’s not just humans on the receiving end. When Foxie wants to play with Jamie, she will run up, stomp her feet, and hand a troll directly to her.

Jamie knows that this is an invitation to a playful game of keep-away. Some of the best play bouts between Foxie and Jamie, like this one from earlier in the week, involve a troll doll (you’ll see that Jamie has it tucked into her pelvic pocket).

But sometimes Foxie goes from playful to genuinely concerned about her doll, and at that point Jamie knows to give it back immediately. No one likes to see Foxie upset.

Who knew that a weird fad toy from the 60’s (sorry, Foxie) would become such an important part of a chimpanzee’s life?

Green Grass

May 8, 2014 by Elizabeth

Each year around this time, the grass on Young’s Hill turns from brown and brittle to soft and green seemingly overnight. The chimpanzees love it, and I love how at home they look out there.

Annie:

Jody:

Foxie and Dora…

…and Ellie the elk spying:

Negra:

Burrito, enjoying the spring grass for the delicacy it is:

Troll stroll

May 7, 2014 by Katelyn

It’s a beautiful spring day here at the sanctuary, not to mention a rare one without wind. It was already quite warm early this morning so we decided to do a chow forage on the hill for the chimpanzees after they were served their breakfast. Foxie and her troll friend were first out the door and they spent quite a bit of time traversing Young’s Hill in search of the chow. At first she held fast to her troll in her hand (I love her tongue sticking out here):

But then she decided she had some ground to cover and the troll went on her back:

It’s a good day for a stroll with one’s troll:

Interrupted play

May 6, 2014 by Debbie

Today Burrito and Foxie were wrestling and chasing and just being super playful in the greenhouse. Their laughter got to be pretty loud, and I think it caught Jamie’s attention…

…She came out to see what was going on, and stepped right between Burrito and Foxie to interrupt their play.

This is a very boss-like thing to do in chimp society. We (lovingly) refer to Jamie as the “party police” because of instances like this.

But this time, she didn’t cease all playing—instead, she immediately started wrestling with Foxie and began to play “tug-o-troll” with her.

Pictures of Contentment

May 1, 2014 by Elizabeth

If there’s one thing that consistently makes for happy chimpanzees, it’s beautiful weather. We’re enjoying temperatures in the mid-70s in Cle Elum today, and everyone’s feeling carefree.

Foxie:

Jamie:

Annie:

Easter continued

April 29, 2014 by Debbie

We take so many photos that sometimes it’s hard to decide which ones to post on the blog, and so we have a collection of several that haven’t been posted before.

I found a few from the big Easter party last weekend that haven’t been shared yet. Take a look at the previous post to see how awesome their party was and set some context for these photos, and enjoy CSNW Easter 2.0!