Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
I love seeing the chimps on Young’s Hill with the forest as a backdrop. Though we can never return them to the wild, we can give them the next best thing. After living decades in the lab, I imagine it must feel pretty great to have open air, sunshine, and blue sky overhead. And the view isn’t too bad either.
Unless this is your first time visiting the blog (if so, welcome!!), you probably know about Jamie’s obsession with walking around the perimeter of Young’s Hill while one or more of her human caregivers walks around the outside of the perimeter while wearing a cowboy boot.
She has been doing this multiple times a day with all of her caregivers since the spring. While Jamie is quite demanding about taking these walks 4-7 times a days, it’s admittedly not a dreaded task for us humans. It’s hard to describe how great it feels to not only be making Jamie happy, which is pretty much a CSNW caregiver’s definition of a successful day, but it’s also just a very peaceful way to spend 15 or so minutes. It’s particularly great right now because the weather has been amazing this October, and the hill and the surrounding property is beautiful, even awe-inspiring at certain times of the day.
We actually dreamed of doing these perimeter walks before Young’s Hill was a reality. When it was in the design phase, we wondered if the chimps might patrol the perimeter of the hill, similar to the way chimpanzees in the wild go on patrol to check the boundaries of their territory. So when Jamie started doing this, it felt right.
While spending time with the chimpanzees one-on-one, like walking with Jamie while the other chimps do their own thing, is personally fulfilling, what’s 100 times more rewarding is observing the chimpanzees with each other and seeing their bonds strengthen and their friendships expand.
Which is why we’ve been thrilled that other chimpanzees have been joining Jamie on her walks lately. J.B. captured some clips on his phone and put together the video below.
Maybe, just maybe, one day the chimpanzees will go off on their own with each other to walk the perimeter of the hill, leaving us humans behind.
The chimps are most active on Young’s Hill right after breakfast. With a full night’s sleep and a belly full of food, they are often looking to burn off a little energy. This morning, there were plenty of balance beam exercises…
Foxie:
Jamie:
Missy:
Some tight rope walking…
Missy:
Some daredevil acrobatics…
Missy:
And to top it all off, a perfect dismount from the shaky bridge…
Missy:
Even the spectators enjoyed themselves…
Jody:
But no one was happier than the star of the show…
Missy:
Chimpanzees naturally are very territorial. This is something universal for both wild and captive chimpanzees. When we see territorial displays in the Cle Elum Seven, it’s really wonderful because it means that they are not only exhibiting what we call species-typical behavior, but it also means that they see this is their home and it is worth protecting.
In the wild, individuals within a group will split off from the main group and go on a patrol to check the boundaries of their territory. They move silently through the forest to make sure there are no intruders. In most cases, these patrols are exclusively males. Watch this video from the Jane Goodall Institute to learn about male patrols:
Burrito is the only male at CSNW, so we don’t see a lot of the typical social organization of chimpanzees groups that we learn about in school. In captivity, the same rules don’t apply, especially when the group is comprised of an unusually large percentage of females compared to males. It’s one reason why in the wild, males are always the dominant figures within a group, but in captivity many times females are dominant (which is the case at CSNW with our boss lady, Jamie). So even though we see natural territorial behaviors from all of the Cle Elum Seven, we don’t really see patrols.
Today however, we saw a troop of chimps band together and defend their territory against the neighbor elk, who decided to pay us another visit today.
You’ll never believe who was leading the gang.
OK, maybe you will. It was Burrito. In the wild this would seem obvious—dominant male chimps would definitely be front and center in a patrol. But Burrito is not a typical male chimp. He never had older males to learn from and was never in a typical social group. After being in the lab for over 20 years, it’s really not surprising that he never developed the same way wild male chimps do. So this is why it was especially exciting to not only see the chimps on a patrol this morning, but for Burrito to be in the lead. The chimps continue to surprise us as they develop into their sanctuary life.
First, Jody started to follow Burrito (with a cattail in tow of course!)
Jamie joined in, followed by Annie, and eventually Foxie as well:
Today the chimpanzees enjoyed a party sponsored by Felicity Wood and Redfin! The chimpanzees enjoyed lots of new enrichment to include a giant Lego castle and a fabulous red and white themed food forage. While the chimps are always up for a party, Jamie in particular seemed to enjoy today and much to our delight she found countless projects to engage in throughout the afternoon. And if you aren’t already aware, finding something to enrich Jamie is no small feat.
Here Debbie realizes her dream of adult size Legos as Jamie helps her with the directions to building the castle:
The finished result of Jamie and Debbie’s hard work and two amazing house pinatas:
Here’s Jamie investigating the castle:
Annie checking out a giant red crayon:
Jody as her beautiful self:
Jamie enjoying a cranberry raspberry “cocktail”:
Annie investigating a new bowling set:
Thank you so much for your time and effort in giving the chimpanzees a fun and interesting day, Redfin!
We’re continuing our series of blog posts on chimpanzee identification today with Jamie. (Did you miss the posts about Annie, Burrito, or Foxie? Click on their names.)
Jamie is the boss of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, and she takes her job seriously. One of the first things you notice about Jamie is her strut. She walks around like she’s invincible. She has a solid, muscular body and such perfect posture that she often looks like a table: `
Her size is also somewhat imposing. She’s one of the larger chimps in the group. Here she is with Jody on the left and Missy on the right:
and with Foxie:
Jamie’s face is a lighter brown overall than some of the other chimps’ faces (compare the color of her face to the color of Foxie’s in the photo above), and she has a little bit of white pigmentation around her mouth and chin:
And of course, she is often carrying or wearing one of her beloved cowgirl boots:
Outside of the entrance to the chimp house we keep one of the protocol cages that the chimpanzees lived in, in a windowless basement, during their decades being used in biomedical research. We must pass it each day as we unlock the door. It provides an opportunity for people who visit the sanctuary to envision to some degree what the chimpanzees’ lives consisted of before coming here. And it helps me remember every day why I’m here. It’s heartbreaking, of course, to look at. Imagine having spent every day of your life for over three decades living inside this (minus the scenery):
You never see the sky or green grass, you never feel the sun or the breeze, and for the most part you are unaware that anything exists outside of this view:
I spent several minutes today sitting inside this cage. I couldn’t stand up to my full height. It was hard to balance on the floor made of bars. And there is only a small, cold metal bench to sit on. The chimpanzees would not have had blankets to build nests with and no enrichment to engage their intelligent and active minds. I thought of my seven dear friends having lived every day this way in so much fear, uncertainty, boredom, and at many times, pain. You can imagine the wave of heartfelt sorrow and anger I felt for all they have endured. And what so many still do.
And then I looked out to the view of Young’s Hill from the cage:
Earlier today I told Jamie we would walk around Young’s Hill to her heart’s content. And boy did we. Around and around, up one side and turning to retrace our steps back down the other way. I lost count of how many times we went around. And for the first time that I’ve experienced, Burrito joined us in our patrol of the perimeter the entire way! Foxie and Dora, and even Jody came along for part of the way, while Annie and Missy chased each other up and down the hill. (It was cold today and Negra chose to stay in the comfort of her warm, cozy nest). Finally, after several laps around Young’s Hill, I suddenly lost sight of Jamie and had to go looking for her. This was a first! I eventually found her back in the front rooms, waiting for me to give her the cowgirl boot (which I had of course been wearing). I guess she had indeed walked to her heart’s content.
Imagine what it must feel like to these seven chimpanzee people to be able to see the sky above and feel the earth below, unobstructed.
Burrito:
And to MOVE for the sheer joy of moving like Missy:
Several days ago Jamie gifted me with an amazing moment. During a walk around the hill she had me wait while she foraged and climbed over every inch of the structures. At one point she suddenly climbed up a post, stood bipedally on the very top with her arms hanging at her sides and threw her head back as she stared up at the sky for several seconds. A simple, yet profound moment. Then she turned and looked at me, climbed down and raced me all the way back to the greenhouse with a huge play face. I am immeasurably grateful that the chimpanzees have the chance to call a sanctuary home. And I remember all those languishing in cages and labs who are still in need of their sanctuary.
Though that moment with Jamie will forever be burned into my mind, I unfortunately didn’t get a photo. But this is one of my favorites and I think it speaks volumes all the same.
