Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Seeing the chimps check out the GoPro camera still hasn’t gotten old… especially when it’s the boss who’s checking it out.
Jamie hasn’t inspected the GoPro like many of the other chimps have. It’s unusual because normally, as soon as we add something new to her environment, Jamie immediately does all that she can to try to tear it apart. But the other day, she decided it was time to get down to the bottom of this “strange object we keep putting in the enclosure”.
Jamie decided that she would start Year Two on Young’s Hill by trying some new things. She started by testing out a small structure we built this summer.
Then she moved on to the bamboo. I don’t know if it’s a difference in skill or just a difference in weight, but Missy made it much higher before the whole thing toppled over.
Either way, she seemed to be having fun.
Earlier this summer, when Ben and the Boy Scouts were building the new bridge, I put up some log posts around the enclosure. Some of the logs were far too heavy to lift with our tractor, so I cut them up into smaller pieces and made little stumps for the chimps to sit on. Brilliant idea, J.B., I thought to myself, as I patted myself on the back. And then three months went by without the chimps even looking in their direction.
Well, today was the day that stumps became cool. Everybody was doing it. First up was Foxie:
Then Annie:
And then, farther down the hill, Missy and Annie together:
The chimps are funny that way. They require you to be patient.
When we built Young’s Hill, I had dreams of the chimps going out in the morning and not coming back until evening. But they weren’t ready for that. To them, Young’s Hill is an exciting playground, a wide open space that is both exhilarating and frightening. But they can only take so much excitement before they retreat to the greenhouse to relax in the comfort of something more familiar to them.
Over the last year, they’ve pushed their boundaries and conquered some of their fears. Each day they try something new.
This morning, a year and a day after going outside for the first time, the chimps went out onto the hill in a group and many of them didn’t come back until lunch time.
That’s progress.
If you were on Facebook this morning, you might have noticed that I posted a link to the video from the chimps’ first day out on Young’s Hill—exactly one year ago today! I can’t believe how quickly this year has gone by—I remember that day like it was yesterday. A lot has happened in the last year and we’ve seen so many changes in the chimps. Burrito hasn’t been the most confident in the open air but he is going farther and farther. Missy is a fearless running machine. Annie has gotten to walk through grass that she hadn’t seen since her infancy in Africa. Jody and Foxie were both hesitant in the beginning but will now spend hours exploring the hill. Jamie never showed any hesitation to exploring every inch of the hill, and protecting it from intruders (deer on the other side of the fence). Negra still doesn’t spend too much extended time out there, but she goes out most days first thing and soaks in some sun before heading back in to her favorite spot in the greenhouse or inside the playroom. Today, she was the first one out when I opened the door! She quickly grabbed some forage and went back in before I started filming, so I don’t have any Negra footage, but I caught shots of all the others enjoying their anniversary forage.
I can’t wait to see what changes and growth this next year will bring. Any ideas?
First of all, I would like to direct your attention to the right side of this page. If you scroll down, past the announcements and look just past the e-newsletter sign-up, you will see a newly added feature to our blog! You can now plug your email address into that box over the “subscribe” button, click “subscribe,” then check your email. You should receive a notice from wordpress.com very quickly (check your spam folder if it doesn’t show up in a few minutes), then you just follow the directions in that email and, voila – you’ll receive blog posts by email as soon as they are posted! And there’s a button right at the bottom of the email when you get a blog post to click in order to comment on the post. It’s pretty cool. You should try it out.
Now, I’d like to direct your attention to Jamie…
Jamie’s love of boots shows no signs of fading. As we’ve mentioned before, her favorite pair switches frequently. Because I’ve had a cold, I haven’t been in the chimp house much in the last couple of weeks, so I wasn’t sure which pair were at the top of her favorite list. When I saw the tall wooden heel of a new pair, I suspected those were her current loves. I was correct, as you can see by the photos below:
Lots of laughter today.
Annie made a cozy nest this morning in the greenhouse. She was so content there, she had no interest in going out on the hill while other chimps were headed out. Instead, she watched them explore from the comfort of her bed.
But after she abandoned her nest, Jamie decided it was the perfect place to take a nap.
Today is Annie’s honorary 38th birthday and we celebrated in style. Since we don’t have actual birth dates for Annie and some of the other chimpanzees, we asked some supporters to select meaningful days to celebrate the chimps. September 10th was selected by Margaret and Karen (two of the Cle Elum Seven’s most devoted and lovely friends) in honor of their anniversary. Additionally, Marcia Douthwaite, a longtime friend of Annie’s, sponsored today in honor of Annie’s birthday. We’re so touched that Annie has the love and support of so many special people on her big day.
We set up Annie’s party in the greenhouse this morning with gift bags full of new toys from Robbi and Dick and amazing homemade papier mache balls from supporters Kim and Lee, which we filled with shredded paper, peanuts, and crabapples from Executive Director Sarah’s backyard tree. The chimps also foraged for tangerines, kiwis, and chow (Burrito’s favorite).
The birthday girl enjoyed handfuls of chow:
Negra liked the crabapples:
Missy checked out a gift bag:
Burrito and Jody:
Jamie loved the papier mache balls:
Jody likes to inspect new toys intimately:
This red cloth block seemed to interest several folks.
Jody:
Negra:
Jamie (also with a new boot):
We also “planted” some veggies on Young’s Hill for the chimps to harvest. The carrots are courtesy of Keith, Felicity, and friends and the onions are straight from the chimps’ garden. We’re having some strong, cool winds in Cle Elum today, so the chimps all ran out to gather the veggies as soon as the door to Young’s Hill was opened, and then quickly returned with their haul to the warmth of the greenhouse.
Annie:
Jamie:
Jody:
Negra:
Sincere thanks to everyone who made today special for Annie and the rest of the gang!
