Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Jody

Jody’s love of leisure

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Beautiful Jody has  been in the spotlight on the blog quite often lately. But what a treat, as we often don’t get to capture her closeup on camera. Jody is someone who has always taken her leisure and comfort very seriously since living in her sanctuary home. She loves nests heaping full of soft blankets, the warmest of spots to rest and enjoy her meals, and as much as she loves her family, she truly enjoys her alone time as well. One example of this is that she truly gives zero cares as to if we need to enter a certain area of the chimp house to clean if she happens to be enjoying that area. As she should, of course, but you have to smile at her complete commitment to do whatever she feels like doing. She’s an inspiration! I mean, what a wonderful thing seeing her, or any of the chimpanzees, making choices and claiming agency over their home and how their day runs.

If you’re newer to the blog you may not have had a chance to read one of our posts that give more detail to our cleaning routine (which we do daily), but whenever possible we like to try to clean the chimp house beginning with the greenhouse (since this is the area the chimps access Young’s Hill through and once they hunker down in there in warm weather it’s a feat to get them out for the rest of the day!). Of course this time of year that routine commonly switches to cleaning the playroom first because the chimps are indeed enjoying warmer sunlit mornings in the greenhouse and are understandably reluctant to leave so we often serve breakfast there before they head outside.

After we’ve cleaned the playroom, the trick with a toasty greenhouse is getting everyone to accept the invitation to come in for a forage snack so we can THEN hopefully close off said greenhouse for cleaning. Today I was relieved to see that everyone was pretty happy to come inside for a popular food puzzle of raisin boards (small pieces of wood with holes drilled in them that we put raisins inside). But as soon as I’d closed off the greenhouse Foxie sat by the door and continued to peer through the window and she and I looked at each other and I knew. “Foxie, Jody’s still in the greenhouse isn’t she?!” Well, even though I knew she was out there, despite multiple trips out to look for her and repeatedly calling her, I couldn’t find her! I even stood at the fence to Young’s Hill thinking maybe she’d gone on an adventure, calling, “JO! Jooooooo!!” Nothing. Finally, after scaling the ladder to see if she was at the very top of the greenhouse with one last, “Joooo??”, up went one tiny heel of her foot in the air. There she was alright, with zero cares about leaving her toasty nest. Classic Jody. So as I wrote this we were plotting and planning how to get in there to clean at the end of the day while the chimps had dinner inside. And we wouldn’t have it any other way. Because truly, what a gift to be at their service, bend to their needs, go with their flow. What a gift to see their hearts happy.

Morning people

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Mornings in the chimp house are a favorite time. The chimpanzees almost always wake up on the happy side of the nest, sleepy, yet playful, happy to see all their human friends and as excited for breakfast as if they’ve never had breakfast in their lives. Ever. It’s also usually the one time of day when those who are less inclined to spend their time engaging with us humans want to share a quick morning greeting before getting on with their day. I always have some grand plan to film them waking up or at least get photos, but that plan has yet to materialize.

When we arrive in the morning there is a least one person sitting in front room. The perfect place from which to monitor arrivals by the driveway and into the kitchen and they’re the first person we see as we enter the kitchen. It’s very often boss lady, Jamie, up and at it, ready for the day, naturally. But this morning she was nowhere to be seen, replaced by this fella (slightly blurry because he was stomping his foot and getting ready to sprint into the greenhouse with the expectation I’d chase him out there).

When I unlocked the door to the chimp area I spotted Jody, bedhead backlit in the window she nested by which overlooks the valley, fluffing up her blankets and not quite ready for the day to begin.

Then Foxie whizzed over, hair standing on end with excitement (pilo), her usual greeting of passing her doll to us and running off for a game of chase or a backflip or a pirouette or some other endearing Foxie-ism:

Low and behold, Jamie was sleeping in and I just spotted her raise her head from her nest, wearing a fabulous Olympic flags scarf tied with troll dolls that she had apparently chosen to sleep in. Jamie’s first order of business is usually to direct us to get a boot on tout de suite. But it always takes a few minutes during this process to determine what kind of mood she’s actually in. I think that’s true for most of us when we first wake up. 😉 So it’s always a delight (and yes, a bit of a relief) to see her joyful and silly as was indicated today, by her racing downstairs, climbing up on her barrel and kicking and flailing about:

With Burrito still running in and out playing chase, he was making the girls a little wary as they expected (understandably so) him to explode into his usual morning display at any moment. I found Jody and sweet, sleepy Annie, in the doorway to the greenhouse ready to make a quick getaway should he come flying their way:

This entire time, Negra was at the very top of the greenhouse with a purple blanket over her head, enjoying her usual slow morning until breakfast was ready. She pretty much sees zero reason she should get out of bed until you have a decent looking breakfast service in hand. Smart woman. That said, she always sends down soft hoots and a droopy lip to greet us.

Missy is another person who often likes to linger in bed a bit so she tends to stay up in the toasty loft until her best friend, Annie, rouses her from her nest when they engage in slow motion chase with the girls. But by breakfast Missy is raring to go and afterward is usually one of the first to race up Young’s Hill, ready to head off on her first adventure of the day:

While mornings are often a special time to spend with the chimps, the best thing is just seeing them wake up so full of joy. One of my most beloved memories was one summer morning when I was able to observe the chimps waking up and walking and swinging into the greenhouse. They didn’t know I was there and as I lay still on the outdoor observation deck, I watched each person sleepily following the other, yawning, rubbing their eyes, all the while engaging in half asleep games of chase and tickle, laughing with eyes still half in dream time. Seeing them wake up together so content and full of joy, excited to see what their day would bring, without being aware of the humans’ presence was one of the single most gratifying moments I’ve had. It confirmed what we all hope sanctuary means to them, what each of you provides for them. And that’s the best gift.

Reassurance

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Just like humans, chimpanzees have a complex array of emotions. Some things are so exciting that they elicit strong responses that one might not ordinarily expect.

As breakfast was being brought out to the greenhouse this morning, Foxie was so overwhelmed with excitement, she started to fear grimace.

Luckily for her, her good friend Jody was just within an arm’s length

Waiting to give her every bit of reassurance that she desperately needed.

A spotlight on Jody

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Jody Chimpanzee, AKA Jo
Age: 43
Favorite foods: Jody likes most food and is an extra adventurous eater. She loves to eat edible wild plants, flowers and other particularly fibrous vegetation.
BFF: Foxie
Special talents: “manager” of the sanctuary, master forager
Favorite place to nap: in a giant nest, usually built in the warm greenhouse
Favorite activities: making large nests, grooming in the greenhouse
Favorite food puzzle: PVC tubes with peanut butter!

Troll Scarves & Cowboy Magazines

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Did you guys ever have rainy day recess? That is what today felt like, except the chimps did have access to outside. Some people like Jamie went on a few walks (or sprints with the Gator) but in general the chimps kind of all decided to spend most of their day at the top of the platform in the Greenhouse or playing in the Playroom. Today, I got a few special moments caught on camera. My favorite is Jamie wearing a troll scarf and reading a magazine with boots in it. As Jamie is flipping through her magazine Jody approaches her. Jody has a loose bottom lip and is a little pilo. Jody looks longingly into Jamie’s eyes. Jody reaches out to groom and hesitantly Jamie accepts the offer and they groom for about 10 minutes. After, Jody comes over to us caregivers for some reassurance and then climbs up the Playroom caging to nest. Jamie casually goes back to flipping her magazine like nothing ever happened.






Here are a few extra photos I got today!

Jody cozy in her nest:

Burrito with one of his favorite toys:


Foxie was very excited about playing troll toss, which was what happened immediately after these photos:

Foxie later took a nap on the floor but she had no use for blankets:

An unusual day

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Today we messed with the chimpanzees’ routine. There is a tall structure in the greenhouse that needed some repair, so the chimpanzees weren’t able to get outside until J.B. and volunteer Chad finished their fix-it job.

All morning, Burrito alternated between his Tasmanian devil self and his adorable playful self.

Lest you think the change in routine or lack of outdoor access caused his Tasmanian devil self to appear, allow me to elaborate to explain that on pretty much any given day, Burrito alternates between these two extremes.

I only got a picture of the later, but you might be able to see a twinkle of mischief in those eyes.

Don’t let him fool you.

When the greenhouse (and the raceway that leads to the large outdoor habitat) was ready to be occupied by chimpanzees again, we decided to take advantage of the unusually warm weather and provide the chimps with a dinner forage outside. We spread and hid whole tomatoes, pieces of watermelon, and mini sweet peppers all over the enclosure.

Much to our delight, Queen Negra was as eager as everyone else to get outside.

Negra is not one to choose to exert much energy, but apparently the whole tomatoes were worth stretching to get:

Jamie utilized the coolest anatomical feature that separates chimpanzees from humans – opposable toes – to carry a tomato as she continued her foraging:

Jody demonstrated the large capacity of her lips by carrying three peppers stacked on top of one another other:

And now the chimpanzees are back inside, quiet as ever while making their blanket nests, to take a restful sleep and wake up tomorrow to another day of sanctuary life.