Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Grooming

A Budding Friendship

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We’ve said it many times, but it’s still just as true- watching the group of nine expand on and build new friendships since their integration in 2022 has been one of the most amazing things to witness. While they still have their tense moments, the little happy and peaceful moments we catch throughout the day between individuals who were originally in two separate groups are always exciting.

Last week I came in one morning and before breakfast was served I went over to say good morning to Cy’s side. I walked in and found Terry and Willy B grooming, quite intensely, in the front rooms. I went around to say hello and they were still grooming when I came back up, and they let me capture some of it on video. 🙂 Seeing these two big guys spend some quality time working on their relationship was a really nice way to start the day.

Glad with May

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There’s no particular theme with today’s blog, just a series of moments that represent this lovely season fairly well.

Spring time means that Jamie’s group doesn’t want to give up the Greenhouse for cleaning. Negra and Foxie are infamous for their ability to collude and camp at the top platform of the greenhouse when we invite them inside with a morning forage. Who can blame them though? There’s nothing better than grooming and napping in the sunniest place in all of Cle Elum.

Here’s Jamie and Burrito grooming in Greenhouse 1 before lunch:

This afternoon Negra sampled the chives picked fresh from the garden:

Negra and her luscious brown eyes:

For lunch, Rayne found a whole fennel on the Bray:

Terry was also a busy lunch forager. One of my favorite things is to look up the Bray and see a speck of a chimp spending some quality alone time.

And all the world is glad with May.

-John Burroughs

No Hill, No Problem

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Today JB has been working with a crew of people to make improvement’s to Young’s Hill, including finishing the new structures, planting more trees and adding irrigation. You would think this would make for a very stir crazy group of chimpanzee’s but they all managed to take it in stride and have a relatively quiet day together. It helps that they had a lot of activities and enrichment to keep them busy including juice pools, TV time and, of course, supervising Jake when he was left alone to mow on Young’s Hill. Join Jamie & Co for a day in the Chimp House in today’s blog video!

The Sunrise Committee

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Early mornings in Cy’s group can be pretty rowdy. Some of the boys (usually Willy B, but occasionally Gordo, Terry, or Cy) will begin displaying at some ungodly hour—5 or 6am if we’re lucky, or 2am if they know we have to work in the chimp house the next day—and the whole group will take turns screaming, pant hooting, or even chasing each other around. The chimps don’t usually bed down for the night, per se, but instead engage in first sleep, second sleep, and so on, sometimes moving to a new nest each time. But as the sun begins to rise over the Bray, things start to change.

One by one, they make their way to Greenhouse 2 (the Oakwood Greenhouse), compelled by the sun. As the greenhouse heats up and becomes bathed in a warm glow, the chimps groom, nap, and engage in their favorite activities together. This is the one time each day when the group reliably comes together as a whole (with one typical exception, of course!). I think of them as the Sunrise Committee, and when the Committee convenes, I know I can drink my coffee in peace.

If you know Honey B, you know she’s not one for committees. So this is usually her personal time, when she gets to enjoy the freedom of being alone. Sometimes she’ll pull one of the committee members for a game of chase or mall walking, but it’s rare to see her in the middle of the grooming session.

 

Honey B’s World

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…. We’re just livin’ in it!

Honey B is a complex, intelligent gal. She is very much like Jamie, in the sense that she does what she want when she wants. Her group has learned to accept that about her. She is not the most dominant member in their hierarchy, but she does control a lot of situations. She is very sensitive and does not let anyone mess with her! Sometimes, Honey B prefers her alone time and decides to not shift with her group. We shift the chimpanzees throughout the morning so we can clean each area. However, Honey B sometimes chooses to stay put. Which is fine by us! She just stays in one of the front rooms (her favorite place to be) and we clean the other spaces, minus the room she is in. Once we are done cleaning, we will shift again so Honey can go back with her group, and then we can clean that last room she was in.

In today’s video, it was a Honey B-not-shifting day! We gave her Front Room 7 to hang out in and she had the time of her life. Enjoy! It may be one of the most fun videos I’ve put together!

Random photos from today!

Lucky:

Rainy Day Activities

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It’s been a very rainy day at the chimp house, but don’t worry, no day is boring when you are around chimpanzees! This morning, I heard chimp laughter and walked in to see Honey B and Dora playing with Mave supervising.

The afternoon rolled around and it was still raining and chilly. This time when I walked in to the front rooms, I found Cy grooming a certain someone. I won’t say who, because there will be a quiz in today’s video! They didn’t seem to notice my presence, so I sat down to enjoy the peaceful moment with them.

I am so happy to be a part of this team and to get the privilege to witness these moments of sanctuary and share them with each of you. I hope you enjoy today’s video, and find some inspiration from the chimps to find the best in even the dreariest of days!

Grooming with Terry

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Chimpanzee grooming vocalizations fall into a few broad categories. Generally speaking, you’ve got your teeth clackers, your lip smackers, and your raspberry blowers. But within those categories, every chimp’s vocalization is unique. Some are quiet, with the lips just barely touching as if they are whispering. Others are quite loud – I can often hear Willy B’s teeth clacking during the morning grooming sessions through the security camera system audio.

Each chimpanzee has a different style of grooming, as well. Terry likes to do two things: 1) gently brush your skin with his fingers, and 2) try to pull individual hairs out of your arm. Our safety rules prohibit us from allowing the chimps to use two hands while grooming us, so Terry is forced to try to pluck our hairs by grasping them between his index and middle fingers. Luckily for us, it’s not very effective.

For chimps like Terry, grooming seems to be more about spending quality time with chimp and human friends. For Honey B, on the other hand, it’s all about picking scabs and drawing blood. She gets frenzied when she sees something to pick at, and she will continually direct you to turn your arm or present a different body part until she finds something good. I actually feel bad disappointing her when I haven’t injured myself recently. Honey B is the reason why we sometimes turn around and wonder how someone got in a fight without us hearing a sound. Where did all those wounds suddenly come from? Turns out Dr. Honey B was on duty and she opened every nearly-healed scrape and scab on one of her friends!

I wish chimpanzees were always as gentle as Terry is in this video as he tries to shoo away the third wheel at his grooming party.