Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Honey B

Honey B and Dora with a Side of Gordo

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Honey B and Dora have the most fun together!  My personal favorite is when Honey B is standing on her head, and Dora is playing with her feet (keep your eyes peeled and you may see this a couple of times in today’s video!).

Today, Gordo happened to be sitting close by and wanted badly to get in on the fun!  While often times, two’s a party and three’s a crowd, Gordo managed to sneak in a few play moments with the girls!

Enjoy!

Consulting with Honey B

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I thought I would share a crazy story with you all. This is something I had not seen before, however it’s never a dull day here and something is always happening! One morning near the end of February, caregiver Sabrina calls me on the radio to come up the ladder in Greenhouse 2. I was curious why she was so insistent that she needed me to come up there with her. When I stood up there with her, she asked me if the window that is shared with Playroom 2 had looked “like that” since the last time we had worked on that side of the building, perhaps we had missed a message in the work group chat but we had not, this was new! The window was shattered from the inside, luckily not the entire window (see below and in video). The windows we have are bullet proof, they are very sturdy and secure, to quote J.B. in our group chat “It’s a mix of poly-carbonate and glass so the poly is still good and the window should be perfectly safe, but obviously we’ll replace it”. Later, we scoured the security camera footage to find out what happen. Some theories thrown out, but my favorite and by far the most logical was from caregiver Sabrina. Her theory was that Willy B did it with his mind. As you will see in the video, it happens in the middle of the night with a loud popping sound. The chimps weren’t displaying or hitting it, “everyone” was sound asleep.

However, these windows are extremely expensive. So in the meantime JB had Gary and his crew come out to replace a lower window for the broken on and swap in mesh caging for the other. The best part about having Gary and his crew come out is that Honey B got to see her old pals. Honey B enjoyed being apart of the consulting crew and I don’t think anyone would find it surprising that she might have a differing opinion or too. She is a tough boss, but one of the best in her field!

Click here for the video!

Playroom 2 window:

Lower playroom window replaced with mesh, Cy approves:

Honey B managing her crew on-site:

Bonus of Dora!

Honey B’s Tips & Tricks

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When it comes to a mess, Honey B knows a thing or two. Many of you might know that Honey B doesn’t mind a messy room and would in fact live in her own mess for a while if she had a say in it, and sometimes she does, which is why she is also an expert at cleaning a mess! Last week, one of the enrichment days was soap buckets. This is where we put in the tiniest amount of soap and make a lightly soapy bucket and put out scrub brushes for the chimps. Sometimes the chimps enjoy the enrichment and other times, the chimps wonder why we didn’t fill the buckets with a tasty juice. Honey B took the opportunity to use her soap buckets, whether it was because she just thought it was fun or because she thought we missed a few spots, we can’t know. What we do know is that Honey B was thoroughly enjoying herself, so much so, we later provided her a towel so that she could dry her front room and she was very enthusiastic to be able to continue her cleaning process. Honey B really is one cool chimp.

Click here to watch Honey B’s Tips & Tricks!

Spring Fashion with Honey B

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As everyone knows already, Honey B had another trip to the clinic recently for the lingering injury to her left hand. At the end of the visit Dr Jeffrey Friedrich was kind enough to leave a gift for Honey, a “surgeon bag”, check it out in today’s video!

Like mother, like daughter?

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Honey B was born on June 11th, 1989. Just hours after birth she was taken from her mother and raised by human caregivers.  Her mother just so happens to be Missy, a now longtime resident at CSNW. Missy and Honey B don’t live together in the same group at the sanctuary, and that’s not for lack of trying. During the now unsuccessful introduction process between Missy and Honey B’s groups, we watched for any inclination that they might know each other, but we didn’t observe any noticeable acknowledgement.

Here’s one of the few photos I could find with them in the same frame. Honey B is on the chair and Missy is sitting in the doorway:

Despite the apparent lack of relationship between Missy and Honey B, caregivers do see some behavior similarities between the two. Whether their behaviors are due to some inherited trait, or just a coincidence, that’s open to interpretation. I’ve listed a few of their shared similarities below:

  • An amazing ability to haze caregivers. Honey B is famous for spitting huge quantities of smoothie on an unsuspecting human. Missy always chooses to back up Jamie during hazing events with a round of threat barks and even the occasional leap at the caging.

Missy:

  • They’re both high ranking individuals in their groups.

Honey B:

  • They’re popular amongst their group mates, often found in a grooming or play session.

Missy:

  • They both are extremely intelligent and socially savvy

Honey B:

  • They can be stubborn shifters, sometimes choosing to hold up the cleaning process because they decide to stay somewhere else. For Missy it’s the playroom and for Honey B, it’s usually the front rooms that they choose to hang out in.

Missy:

  • They egg on the drama.  If there’s a fight, you can usually find them in the middle of all the chaos.

Honey B:

  • They are both picky eaters, usually preferring to eat just a few of their meal items.

Missy:

Today we talked about the similarities, perhaps another day we can discuss their differences?