Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
In the mornings, especially with two groups of chimps, it’s either calm and playful or a little chaotic and loud, it’s rarely in between. However, this morning the chimps on both sides chose calm and playful. I hope you enjoy this nice long video!
Today is also wish list Wednesday. Donating on our Amazon wish list is really great way to support the chimps and staff!
Today was a busy one here in the chimp house, but I still had to stop to catch little snip-bits of Burrito playing throughout the day. There is nothing better than the sound of his breathy pants when he gets really into a play session, and today he couldn’t be stopped! Both Annie and Foxie got in on his good mood this morning and I felt it had to be shared!
Although we often share him playing, when he does decide to relax – he is the *master* of chill. See photo for reference:
On the other side of the chimp house, Caregiver Chad caught Dora taking a mid-morning, post breakfast nap in the Oakwood Greenhouse.
She caught on quick though.
In other news, a few weeks ago we introduced a new addition to our chimp house family – a full sized human skeleton, that we lovingly named Kirk! He seems to be settling into the routine here pretty well so far…
Which caregiver do you think is responsible for us discovering this when we got to work this morning? It’s still a mystery to us! (But I’m looking at you, Diana)
Check out Foxie’s unique game in this video and then feel free to jump on over and browse our newly updated Amazon Wish list. Happiest of Thursdays everyone!
This morning when we walked into the chimp house, every chimp was super playful! Gordo was bunny hopping around, Annie was playing chase with Burrito and her caregivers, Missy was chasing Jody, Jamie was playfully foot stomping to her caregivers, Dora and Mave were playing, and chimps on both sides were grooming in the greenhouses. Every day at the sanctuary is a great day because the chimps are safe, secure, and cared for, but that does not mean that every day is sunshine and rainbows. Obviously,the chimpanzees have their own feelings and moods, just like us. Some days we walk in and one group is displaying, while the other group is calm. Other days it’s loud everywhere you go. However, most days you get a balance of some calm with a little bit of displaying from time to time. And then you get a day like today, where both sides of the building are just silly and playful!
While most people wanted to play, Negra wanted to sleep all day:
We are running pretty low on magazines. If you have any laying around, I am sure Cy would love to take them off your hands!
I wanted to share a fun little story from this morning! As I gave Annie’s group Young’s Hill, everyone including Negra rushed out. Once Anna brought breakfast out to the greenhouse all the chimps were heading back in to eat, except Annie. We couldn’t find Annie anywhere. It had been more than 10 minutes of breakfast being served and she was nowhere in sight. Annie does not miss a meal! Sofia came over to help do checks when I said I think Annie is on the Hill, but we can’t see her anywhere. Sofia told us she did this yesterday, but eventually came back for breakfast. We finally got a glimpse of her 15 minutes into breakfast, she was far up on the top of the Hill foraging for what I assume was grass or some kind of foliage. Apparently, that grass was so good she didn’t even come back for breakfast! Breakfast was not a concern for Annie, because when she finally returned and Anna tried to call her over for food, she very contently laid back on the platform in the greenhouse and took a little nap.
Today was a beautiful spring day so we took advantage of the weather and did a Hill forage for lunch!
Don’t worry Annie got plenty of food!
But Missy seemed to score the most!
Negra was quite pleased with her haul! She even worked pretty hard for her food too, look at Neggie on the Esher structure!
Jody with a mouth full of corn and hands full of forage!
Jamie collected her forage and then took all of it to a secluded hammock to eat alone.
Burrito cradling an arm full of onions:
Little Foxie was having a great day roaming around the Hill and hanging out with friends!
Bonus Photos!
Rayne was asleep in a cozy nest up on one of the leaves in the Marmot Room.
And sweet Dora was hangout in the window ledge watching her caregivers cleaned her playroom.
Today’s blog and video is all about my walks with Jamie (and others) over my time as a caregiver here. Walking around Young’s Hill with the chimpanzees has been one of my favorite parts and will always hold a special place in my heart. When I first started Jamie would ask me to walk around Young’s Hill multiple times a day. No matter how hot it was outside. Some days she would rest in the shade of a structure and I would wait it out in the sun. I loved every minute of it even if my skin said otherwise. I started to catch on and would sit behind the gator while I waited for Jamie to start walking again. There could be so many different combinations of ways Jamie requested to walk around the hill. It could be me running, driving the gator, or someone driving the gator and me running in front of it. Sometimes others would join us on our walks, but for the most part my time was spent with Jamie on the hill. Every so often if Chad was busy Burrito would want me to race him around the hill and remind me how out of shape I truly am. Recently, Jamie left during one of our walks to go back inside and Foxie joined me for the rest of the way! I’m glad we are finally past winter (although it’s snowing outside right now) so we can spend time on Young’s Hill with the chimpanzees again.
I’m sharing all of these good memories because sadly this will be my last blog post. It has been an honor to work here and be a part of this family and I know in my heart I will always be a part of it. The chimpanzees, cattle, and humans here will always be a part of me now. I’ve really enjoyed my time here and I am staying in the field, just moving to a different opportunity. I wanted to thank all of you for being so supportive and providing such nice feedback over my time here! I really enjoy reading your comments on the blog and getting to know you all.
A bonus photo!
Jamie and her amazing nest yesterday.
It’s going to be a busy Monday here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest- a produce delivery, a facility inspection, some staff training, ongoing construction work, and all the usual chores- so today’s blog post is short and sweet.
Here’s a photo of Foxie enjoying the views from “The Portrait Studio” (Front Room 4), complete with a colorful doll companion.
