Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
After the lunch forage the other day, Jamie brought in her haul and casually ate at her leisure. Pretty leisurely too, I might add, with her arm just resting on the ladder. I think we can all relate… I know I love to just sit back, relax, and enjoy a snack. Usually that snack isn’t raw onions, but Jamie’s palate must be more refined than mine 😉
Nightbags, or night bags, are the post dinner treat for the chimpanzees here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. Jamie, Jody, Missy, Annie, Negra, Foxie and Burrito all love these nut-filled bags and each has a preferred practice for how to get the most out of these small but delectable treats.
The sound of the chimpanzees crunching on nuts and seeds is, in my opinion, the sound of satisfaction and a job well done. No other noise is more evocative to me of hope, love, home, and sanctuary. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Listen for yourself and decide.
Jamie and Foxie show us how it’s done.
Yesterday, Jamie received a package in the mail with new cowgirl boots from our long time supporters and friends, Don and Karen Young (for whom Young’s Hill was named thanks to their generous contribution to making it possible). When we arrived at the sanctuary this morning, Jamie was watching us from the greenhouse and as soon as we got out of our cars she immediately gestured that she was ready for a walk with her new boots. I think that’s something we can all relate to.
A wonderful article, featuring the chimpanzees, was posted today on One Green Planet speaking to the many ways in which chimpanzees and humans are alike. And today at the sanctuary was another simple example of that. We are getting some much needed rain to the area and the chimpanzees and humans alike are kicking up their heels a bit more with the cooler temperatures. And although Jamie was ready and waiting for an early morning walk, due to intermittent thunder showers, we had to wait for the voltage on the electric fencing surrounding the chimpanzees’ outdoor area to come up before we could give the chimps access to the hill. So just as we humans do when we are waiting for stormy weather to pass, Jamie reluctantly made a nest, holding fast to her new boots, and waited it out.
Finally, after lunch the voltage on the fence was high enough to give them access to Young’s Hill. Jamie immediately had J.B. put on some boots and they set off for a perimeter walk. While Jamie and J.B. were busy walking, everyone else (well, except Negra who chose to take an after lunch nap) raced out onto the hill to enjoy the brief break in weather.
Missy, being Missy, made several laps up and down, and back and forth, only stopping to occasionally check out the view:
But it wouldn’t be long before she was off to race across the hill, or chase her friend, Annie, again:
Jody, marched out onto the hill with purpose, clearly on a mission. A mission to forage for a rather large piece of bamboo to bring back to enjoy in the comfort of her nest before the rain began again:
Even Foxie felt adventurous and explored the platforms on her own. Well, not exactly on her own as she had Dora with her, of course.
While these moments captured seemingly simple joys for the chimpanzees that we as humans can relate to, there is no denying the countless ways in which chimpanzees experience the world and their lives just as we do. For me, I just consider us to be different cultures who still have distinctly similar thoughts, emotions, and desires. Who still want the same things in life. Just like all beings we share this planet with.
We’ve often described Jamie as a complicated chimpanzee. She seems to identify more with the humans than with being a chimpanzee, but at the same time, she’s very socially manipulative and runs the show around here. As the boss, there’s no doubt she always has a lot on her mind. Most of the time, Jamie is pretty serious about things, even when she’s playing with the humans. She will ask to groom our shoes or wrists, play chase, or walk around the hill—and we will usually get a head nod from her as acknowledgement that she’s happy about that moment, but rarely does she laugh when playing with humans. Foxie, however, seems to be the one individual who can really get Jamie to be silly. The other chimpanzees are occasionally able to get Jamie’s silly side out, but not as much as Foxie.
The other day I posted the first part of this video on our Instagram account—if you’re not following us there, you should be! Today I got Foxie and Jamie playing again and laughing pretty hard. It wasn’t long before Jamie caught me, the paparazzi, and shifted her attention away. She looked toward my boot so I played a little tickle game. You’ll be able to see her briefly head nod, but not laugh the way she does when she’s wrestling with Foxie.
I’ve always found it interesting that though Jamie is very human-oriented, she seems to really only let her guard down when playing with other chimpanzees. Jamie is certainly an interesting and complicated chimpanzee, but we love her all the more for it.
When Jamie gets a new pair of boots, they become an object of obsession for awhile. She carries them everywhere, and if she’s separated from them, she grows anxious. She often incorporates favorite boots into her nests along with her blankets. This morning she took a nap in the front rooms and snuggled up with her most recent favorite pair.
Ok – the title of this post was maybe a bit of a stretch to reference James and the Giant Peach.
I do use the nickname James for Jamie, but, as you’ll see in the photos below, it wasn’t really a giant beet, plus one of the photos is of Missy’s hand, but still – pretty great photos of a pretty great chimpanzee REALLY enjoying the beets that volunteer Patti brought.
It is in the high 90s today, so most of the chimpanzees quickly foraged for their lunch on Young’s Hill and brought their haul into the cooler greenhouse to enjoy, though Jamie made multiple trips to make sure she had found all of the beets.
Missy’s hand:
back to Jamie:
