Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Jamie

Let’s Talk Body Language

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You may be aware by now that Jamie can be a pretty exacting boss. She knows just what she wants AND when she wants it. For example, as I type she insists that I should, instead, be taking a walk with her while wearing a cowboy boot. Right. Now. Seriously, NOW. Often people will ask about her specific requests (like wearing a boot while walking around Young’s Hill) “But how do you know that’s what she wants?”

The simple answer is she tells us. Chimpanzees rely heavily on the use of non-verbal communication to get their point across. Gestures such as foot stomping, play bowing, pointing, arm reaches, and hugs & kisses (just to name a few) are all part of the daily vocabulary of chimpanzee life. Additionally, facial expressions, body postures, and vocalizations all provide a potential social partner (whether chimpanzee or human) with important information to help understand the context for interactions. Sometimes those cues can be subtle and sometimes not. Often behaviors can be used in multiple settings (play and aggression, for instance) so it’s vital to make sure we’re paying attention to the full picture painted by someone’s body language.

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As I mentioned, Jamie is insistent about that walk. How do I know? She’s stomping her foot loudly and repeatedly while gesturing frantically towards the bin that holds her boots. If I pick one out and bring it to her (which I promised to do just as soon as I finish!) she will tell me to put it on by staring at my foot then gesturing to the boot and then my foot again. She usually won’t take off running for Young’s Hill until I have it on my foot. Then she’ll run faster than Forrest Gump for the entrance to Young’s Hill pausing every so often to to look back, make eye contact, and make sure I’m following along. For me, the question is not how I know, but how could I possibly not? The chimpanzees communicate their wants and emotional states as clearly as if they were speaking. In fact, I often wonder if life wouldn’t be less complicated without the use of spoken language confusing the matter at hand!

Life as Jamie’s assistant

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Jamie is the supervisor of all of us here at the sanctuary, chimps and humans alike, and today Jamie had many projects for me. Thank goodness I had her direction to structure my day. All of the chimpanzees are well aware of the daily routine and are amazing time keepers. And not just at mealtime. They typically know when it’s time for them to be given access to each area after we complete cleaning and if we are running behind, they start showing up to let us know. And as you can imagine, nothing gets by “the boss.”

Jamie followed me throughout the cleaning of the front rooms today, supervising my cleaning skills and making sure to request numerous drinks from the hose at each door. When it was time to give the chimpanzees access to the front rooms, I asked Jamie which door she wanted me to open first.  She immediately indicated her choice and we repeated this until all the appropriate doors were open.  With cleaning done, Jamie let me know it was time for a walk around the hill.  Immediately! Jamie typically has a specific boot in mind that she wants us to wear on our walks with her and sometimes it can take trying on several pairs in her collection before we find the one she wants. But you know have the right one when you put it on and she takes off running toward Young’s Hill!  Today, this was THE boot of choice:

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After taking several loops around Young’s Hill together, Jamie’s and my routine (per Jamie) is to sit together so she can groom the prized boot.  When she has groomed the boot (and me) sufficiently, she indicates she is ready to be given the boot by running into the front rooms where I drop it in a shoot for her. Once in her possession, she gazes adoringly at the boots, hugs it to her and kisses it:

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Jamie then let me know that she wanted to check out the chimpanzees’ garden (of course, with the boot in tow). Thanks to the hard work of volunteer, Denice, the chimps’ garden is in full bloom! Every day this week, Jamie and Missy (The Tomato Queen) have excitedly asked for cherry tomatoes which they can see growing outside the play room windows.  Here Jamie is watching me pick some for her:

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It’s hard to tell here, but I am serving her a few to try out:

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And while Jamie looks like she has a huge smile in this photo, she’s actually getting tomato seeds out of her teeth.  Nevertheless, I think she was still pretty pleased.

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Jamie is one of the toughest bosses I have ever had, but I can’t think of a more rewarding job, or anyone else I’d rather work for.

Jamie and Foxie vs the GoPro

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If you follow the sanctuary on Facebook, you’ll know that this is posting a bit later than usual because Jamie decided she wanted to take several post-dinner walks around Young’s Hill tonight.

It’s a beautiful end-of-summer evening, so of course I could not refuse the request. Once she was satisfied, I came back in to review the footage the GoPro captured this morning.

The GoPro revealed that Jamie had quite the day. She spent a good 30 minutes on the termite mound, then decided to check out the GoPro camera, which is securely locked in a steel casing (you’ll see why below). Foxie took her turn at the camera too.

Sill image Jamie reaching for GoPro

 

The Rainy Day

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The weather has been volatile today as you can see by the clouds menacing the sanctuary with the promise of rain.

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What better way to spend a rainy, blustery Sunday than curled up in a nest with some of your favorite things? I certainly can’t argue with that!

Annie nesting in the greenhouse:
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Missy in a nest on the catwalk in the playroom:
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Jamie inside with her boots:
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Jody peeking out from a nest on the catwalk:
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Negra from underneath the blankets:
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And while I personally would prefer the nap, I have it on good authority that although rain is threatening, that’s no reason to cancel a perfectly good walk around Young’s Hill!

The Chimps Take Manhattan!

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As most of us have mentioned this week, providing the chimpanzees (especially Jamie!) with an enriching and stimulating environment can be challenging. Thanks to Donna and Doreen’s sponsorship of today, we decided to use the theme of the “Big Apple.” It’s always fun to see how each of the chimpanzees choose to engage with new enrichment. Debbie and volunteer Deb spent a lot of time constructing a cardboard box version of the New York City skyline and we even made a Dora of Liberty statue on “Ellis Island” (aka the turtle wading pool). After scattering dried apples still warm from the dehydrator (courtesy of volunteer, Patty) about like confetti for the chimps’ forage in Times Square, the scene was set. Mind you, it’s sometimes difficult to say whether the chimpanzees or the humans are more enriched by these endeavors.

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Foxie “hearts” NY:

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Jody and Annie checking out the Dora of Liberty statue:

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As you can imagine, the chimps not only took Manhattan, but quickly toppled it. Here’s Jamie inspecting the ruins:

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And Jody found “Ellis Island” to be the perfect nesting spot (after getting that pesky Dora of Liberty out of the way):

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Donna and Doreen, thanks again for sponsoring the day in honor of Foxie’s birthday month and your anniversary in the Big Apple!

And tomorrow is the last day to vote for your favorite chimpanzee artist! Get your votes in now and help make a real difference for the winning chimpanzee and their sanctuary family and home!

 

A blog retrospective of Jamie

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People often ask me who my favorite chimpanzee is. I don’t really like trying to pick one—and to be honest, I can’t. Each of the Cle Elum Seven are unique and awesome in their own way and I love them all. But I would say that I have the best relationship with Jamie. Sometimes, there are just different people that you “click” with a little more than others.

So, I wouldn’t want to say that Jamie is my favorite, but I definitely find that we spend more time together. Perhaps this is because Jamie is more human-oriented than the other chimps, and so we end up liking the same things. We also happen to share a birthday, which I think is pretty cool.

She likes to check out all of the caregivers’ shoes and boots, and we are more than happy to oblige. She loves to write and draw and use tools. I was thinking today about all the interesting and awesome things Jamie does on a day-to-day basis and what we have featured on our blog over the years, so I decided to compile a “best of” list.

As Katelyn described yesterday, Jamie occasionally likes to wear scarves or other clothing accessories. I love this blog post from awhile ago called “How to ruin a perfectly good scarf.” Fashion is important to Jamie, but sometimes playing can take precedence.

Speaking of playing, Foxie and Jamie are pretty great friends. Foxie is a total goof! Here’s a video from awhile ago of the two of them wrestling in a giant box:

I like this post from just a few months after the chimps arrived. We were still learning about all their personalities, and this captures Jamie’s fairly well.

Jamie also really likes to help us clean up. She will sometimes sit and watch us clean, as if she’s evaluating our work. As the Boss of the sanctuary, I suppose that is her job!

She’s also really good about testing out new things and making sure we’ve done things up to her standards. You could say she’s in charge of the quality control department at CSNW. She loves to also take new things apart using tools!

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Probably one of the highlights of our day is when Jamie asks to go on a walk around the hill. This is the post where J.B. explains how we came to realize this is also Jamie’s highlight of the day!

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I also really love remembering the day we gave a ukulele to Jamie. She was thrilled! She treated it just like any of her other projects—investigate every possible piece of it!

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It is sometimes hard to describe Jamie, and maybe that just speaks to her uniqueness. I love this blog where Diana explains that Jamie is, well, a complicated chimpanzee.

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jamie on the rock

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Finally, as we all know, Jamie is an artist. Here’s some retrospective posts on a few of her artistic endeavors:

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Jamie’s an artist! (June 21, 2008)

Jamie’s paintings (August 20, 2008)

Scribbling (September 9, 2008)

Jamie’s dexterity (April 1, 2009)

Jamie, the artiste (November 10, 2010)

Art (August 24, 2011)

Jamie’s letter to you (March 22, 2012)

Jamie’s artistic side (January 11, 2013)

Lend your vote to support Jamie’s wonderful mixed-media art in the HSUS Art Contest going on now until Thursday. You are permitted to vote once per day, so please keep voting for Jamie!

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