Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Jamie

The Watchdog

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As the alpha, Jamie has a lot of responsibility. It’s her job to make sure all the chimps and humans at the sanctuary are following her rules. Anyone who’s ever worked in management knows that this isn’t always the most enviable position. But Jamie is diligent and dedicated to the task. She is a great overseer. One of her self-assigned job duties is to know everything that’s going on at the sanctuary at any given time. She keeps track of when people arrive and when they leave. She knows who’s authorized to be on site and who isn’t.

She spends a lot of time spying on the driveway from various vantage points within the chimp house or outside on Young’s Hill. The other day I caught her in one of the front rooms keeping an eye on a UPS delivery.

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Foraging Strategies

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There was quite a bit of excitement around today’s forage on Young’s Hill. I mean, who wouldn’t be excited about raw kale, tomatoes, lemon wedges, carrots and primate chow? Once they saw what was on the menu, all seven chimpanzees headed out to the Greenhouse and anxiously awaited for us to open the door to give them access to the hill. As soon as I opened the door, Jamie lead the way. But, it was Foxie who stayed out the longest.

There seems to be a variety of strategies these chimps use to forage, as you will see in the photos below. Some of the chimps will eat the food items as they find them, while others seem to prefer to gather as much as they can before heading back to the Greenhouse to feast. Take Jody, for instance. Today she gathered so much food in her mouth and both of her hands that she has to walk upright (bipedally) in order to hold onto everything as she made her way back to the Greenhouse. And Missy went for the food items that were up high (on top of the various structures). And then there is Foxie, who took her time eating each piece of food as she found it.

Annie
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Burrito
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Foxie
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Jamie’s strategy was to put all her lemon wedges in her mouth in order to keep her hands free.
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Jody
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Look at her cheeks; they are completely full!
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Missy
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Negra
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Night owl

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Chimpanzees spend a lot of time in their nests. In the wild, they tend to bed down at dusk and remain there for about 12 hours until the sun rises again. On average, they sleep for 9 to 10 hours, waking now and again throughout the night and even calling to group members in other trees but rarely leaving their nests.

Here at the sanctuary, most of the chimps follow a similar 12-hour nesting pattern, even though the length of each day here in Central Washington changes drastically with the seasons. On a typical day, the chimps eat dinner at 4:30 and get their evening food puzzles at 5:00. When they are done eating, they begin to make their nests indoors, and almost everyone is in bed by the time we’re wrapping up our workday at 5:30. This is true even in the summer when it stays light outside until 10:00!

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Once the chimps are inside for the night, we close off Young’s Hill for security reasons. But if any of the chimps choose to stay outside, two staff members stay at the chimp house until the chimps choose to come back in.

Jamie, as you may have heard, is not like the other chimps. She needs very little sleep, and she has no interest in lying awake in her nest for hours counting sheep. So, being the clever chimp that she is, she figured out that all she has to do is stay outside after dinner or even sit in the doorway to Young’s Hill and, just like that, she has two companions for the rest of the evening.

When she keeps her caregivers here late, she usually does three of four purposeful walks around Young’s Hill, much like her daytime patrols. But eventually, even she grows tired of the walks and it becomes obvious that she’s just killing time to keep her human friends around a bit longer.

On our last walk last night at 8pm, she made a point of climbing every structure on the hill.

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She crossed every fire hose bridge.

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Finally, she sat quietly at the highest point on the hill and took in the view.

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When she decided that she’d had enough, she climbed down and returned to the chimp house.

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Even Jamie needs to sleep eventually. Which is good, because her caregivers do too.

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Jamie at Rest

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It is nearly impossible to satisfy Jamie. She has a mind that never sleeps; it needs constant stimulation. She demands a lot of her caregivers. When she’s bored – and captive chimpanzees are always in danger of boredom – she turns to us to entertain her. Most of the time, we are able to figure out what she wants, or to come up with an enrichment idea that keeps her busy for awhile. But sometimes we just don’t seem to be able to please her no matter what we do.

So it’s always a relief and a pleasure when we catch Jamie in a peaceful moment – relaxed, satisfied, and in need of nothing.

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Happy Birthday, Harry Hmura!

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This day of sanctuary was sponsored by Alison Chapot in honor of Harry Hmura’s birthday! Alison has been a long time supporter and friend of the chimpanzees and in celebrating today she shared, “Harry is a dear friend and advocate for apes around the world.”

Harry Hmura is a musician and volunteers his performances to bring awareness to great apes and the sanctuaries that many of these individuals call home and assist with fundraising. Gaining inspiration from Dr. Jane Goodall and all of the great apes, Harry created a unique project called, I AM, I AM, in which he composed and produced an album using great ape vocalizations. “The entire collection of great ape vocal recordings, beginning in 2007, of chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans and gibbons including background environment sounds were recorded at sanctuaries or in natural indigenous habitats around the world.”

“I AM, I AM Project’s mission is sharing half the proceeds for much needed funding with sanctuaries around the world. Sanctuaries are amazing places, innocent beautiful lives, the spirit between humans and great apes. They are home to individuals, each unique from the next with different names and faces rescued from laboratory research, the entertainment and pet industry, the bushmeat trade and loss of habitat. They provide life time care, rehabilitation, companionship, shelter, protection, even sometimes reuniting family members, bringing new meaning and desires to life.”

Alison, thank you so very much for thinking of the chimpanzees and giving them a special day as you honor your friend, Harry, and celebrate his life!

Harry, we are so grateful to you for the work you do to advocate for great apes and sanctuaries worldwide. Thank you for sharing your talent and compassion by bringing awareness of these incredibly special beings to so many others and helping to make a real difference in their lives.

Jamie, always living her life to the fullest:

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Christmas in July

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The day after a big party can sometimes be pretty mellow as the chimpanzees “recover” from all the excitement that comes with celebrating a birthday or holiday. But, thanks to Jeani Goodrich (who sponsored today in honor of her family) and her friend Tora, today was filled with more excitement as the chimps celebrated “Christmas in July.”

Celebrating Christmas in July is similar to celebrating Christmas in December. Stockings were hung, presents were wrapped and a lot of red and green streamers, decorations and blankets were spread throughout the enclosures. We also made sure to include foods that kept with the red and green holiday colors. Green onions, tomatoes, red peppers, brussel sprouts, kale and radishes were spread out in the Greenhouse and Young’s Hill for the chimps to forage at lunch.

The party setup in the Greenhouse just before the chimps entered.
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Annie went straight for the presents before taking her cup of ice out to Young’s Hill to forage for more food.
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Burrito doing what he does best…eating.
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Foxie enjoyed her cup of ice (a good substitute for egg nog when it’s 90 degrees outside).
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Jamie took her cup of ice to the windowsill.
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Jody, wearing her festive sock, searched through the various Christmas enrichment items.
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Missy searched through most of the Christmas stockings.
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Negra dined on peppers, tomatoes and green onions before grabbing her cup of ice.
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Snippets

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Some of the most important things we can provide the chimpanzees are choices. The choice to explore their outdoor area or to nest inside. The choice to play with their chimp and human friends or nap. The choice to play with enrichment or ignore it. The choice to stay in one area or not when we are trying to shift them for meals or cleaning. The choices are many and we particularly love it when the chimps take it upon themselves to engage throughout the day in what they find interesting as long as we provide the options.

Choices relieve the inevitable bouts of boredom these intelligent, curious and active people experience at times being in captivity. And choices of how the chimps wanted to spend their moments and days was not something they often received prior to living in sanctuary. Yes, they are still in captivity and ultimately, the humans control their environment and schedule, but we do our very best at all times to work cooperatively with the chimps and give them choices at every possible opportunity. We want the chimpanzees to feel as much as possible that they finally get to call the shots. And really, they do.

These photos will hopefully provide an idea of how the chimpanzees choose to spend their days, in snippets:

Negra, dozing in the morning sun in the greenhouse when I first arrived:

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Foxie and Dracula troll enjoyed a toothbrush while waiting for breakfast:

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After breakfast, Burrito headed up Young’s Hill to climb one of the structures:

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He is exhibiting a fear grimace here (notice it looks very similar to a human smile, but means quite the opposite for chimpanzees – when chimps smile they only show their bottom teeth). Burrito sometimes fear grimaces when doing new things on the hill until he feels more comfortable. He may be feeling a little nervous as he courageously walks out to the end of the plank:

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Feeling more comfortable back on the platform:

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Jody wasn’t far behind Burrito, but decided to survey the area for some wild greens instead:

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Success! And she decides to head back to the greenhouse:

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Annie chose to head straight for the new structure and enjoy a little quiet time and the view from Carlene’s Tower:

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Missy decided to take the swinging bridge over to the other side:

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Jamie decided to join Missy on Jamie’s Tower, but climbed the pole as opposed to taking the “simple” way up of the ladder:

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Foxie joined Jamie a bit later:

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While all this was occurring on the hill, Negra changed nests and took a post-breakfast nap:

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Back inside later in the day, Jamie was thrilled to find one of her favorite enrichment items out – her “kitchen sink” filled with water and paper towels at the ready. She immediately wiped her nose:

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And washed and dried her hands:

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In between lunch and dinner the chimps also enjoyed checking out their growing garden and sampling some fresh peas and green onions, playing chase and grooming with caregivers and each other, cooling off with an ice cube snack, and napping throughout the day. And Jamie went on to check out new boots and enjoy an evening of walks around the hill while the other chimps headed to bed in the cooler playroom after dinner.

Annie, utterly relaxed:

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As caregivers, continually providing the chimpanzees with new and interesting options of how to spend their time is one of our biggest challenges. And seeing them utilize all their options and sometimes create their own, is one of our biggest joys. And hopefully, one of their biggest joys as well.