Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Jody

Checking out the construction process

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Many of our supporters have asked how the chimps feel about the construction that is happening at the sanctuary this summer. In general, they have been pretty calm and curious. While the chimps have a view of a lot of the action, they can’t always see all the changes that are happening. They did get a good look at the construction process today when we opened the barn doors to do some work in that area.

Here are Foxie and Jody watching from the greenhouse windows (please excuse the sub-par quality phone pictures):

This is their view (also you get to see a dirty playroom):

Early morning excitement

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The chimpanzees’ open-top outdoor enclosure always changes a bit overnight. We do a daily morning check to make sure nothing has dramatically changed (like a broken fence wire) or a stray animal who can’t quite find their way out, but there are inevitably little changes that occur each day. This morning the sanctuary was cool and calm. The chimpanzees were eager to eat their breakfast that was being served in the greenhouse. Then through all the peace, came a noisy rustle in the brush above Young’s Hill. Having already done my perimeter check of the fence line, I knew that our neighbor’s horses were grazing the top pastures and consequently making a bit of commotion. The chimps needed to see the cause of the disturbance for themselves, so upon receiving access to their outdoor enclosure, all of them (minus Negra) raced up the hill to investigate.

Missy had no time to finish her watermelon, so she took it to go:

Jody led the charge to the top of the hill:


After determining that the all that noise wasn’t actually a threat, the chimpanzees relaxed and decided to head back in and resume their meal service.

On her way back to the greenhouse, Jody discovered a real threat:

I couldn’t see what she was looking at, but she hustled away immediately after this photo was taken:

A quick zoom in on the previous photo, shows a swarm of wasps. No Jodys were harmed in the making of this photo!

Unwind

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We had a nice relaxing day here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest!

Burrito was following Jody around a lot today (on the Hill, in the Playroom, and laid close by her side in the Greenhouse):

But Jody was still able to make sometime for herself:

Annie, Burrito, & Foxie all went off to venture out on the Hill. Everyone eventually went on a walk with Jamie, except Neggie who stayed in her nice warm bed:

Annie did quite a bit of solo walking on Young’s Hill (maybe taking in the nice view or the gentle breeze):

Afterwards Annie was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open:

Jamie was watching the volunteers clean the Playroom in the utmost comfort:

However, Jamie also became so sleepy she couldn’t keep her eyes open:

Chimpanzees and Cattails?

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The Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees and their relationship with cattails goes way back. In fact, I can’t think about cattails without thinking about Burrito covered in cattail fluff way back in 2008.

We have a couple of big ponds and some wetland areas around the property and the cattails look just beautiful right now, so Anna chopped some down to add to the chimps lunch forage on the hill today.

Jody in particular likes fresh cattails and she eats both the long green leaves and the brown flowers that remind me of corn dogs. After foraging for the lunch veggies, Jody collected as many cattails as her mouth could carry and headed for the greenhouse.

 

Meanwhile, Negra had the escher structure to herself and was enjoying all of the food I had scattered from top to bottom.

In fact, Negra climbed up higher than I’ve ever seen her go before!

 

Today, Negra brought a friend with her on her adventures – a green-haired Strawbery Shortcake doll.

 

After a good long time foraging, Negra too went back to the greenhouse. When she spotted Jody’s cattails, she decided she should take a couple. Being the Queen, Jody allowed this theft to happen.

Negra really has been a new chimpanzee lately. Not the food-stealing – that’s been part of her repertoire for a while, but climbing up high and staying out on the hill for a long time is new. She’s also been very playful with us caregivers. There is absolutely nothing better in this world than seeing Negra laugh and be happy and relaxed. She just continues to remind us that everyone grows into themselves on their own timescale. Welcome to the sanctuary, New Negra.

Lazy Play

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These warm summer days have generally been keeping the chimps in reclined positions. Jody and Foxie were calmly grooming and relaxing before lunch, but suddenly Foxie’s toes went rogue and started a mini-play session.

Beat the Heat

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The chimps were proactive this morning to beat the heat! First they got all their strenuous tasks out of the way. For example, today was a whopping 96 degrees and tomorrow is only going to get hotter. So Jamie decided to get her walks in right away in the morning:

Second we kept everything closed off to keep it cool all day, but before we crawled into our dark den (we have all been there on a hot day) we got some grooming done:

Missy, Annie, and Jody thought they should groom in the Greenhouse early:

Annie grooming Jody:

Missy:

And Burrito decided to have a lazy day and just watch the volunteers clean:

In the playroom we set out water in buckets (the chimps always have access to water but sometimes drinking water out of buckets is fun!) and in between cleaning areas I would serve water out of the hose or spray our handled mister/fan (really only Jamie like that…).

However, as our third way to stay cool we had a vote and the chimps decided to have watermelon shaved ice boats. So that’s what we did!

Staff caregiver Katelyn was kind enough to help me with this task (Foxie observing closely):

Jamie:

The watermelon was so juicy:

Burrito:

Burrito was so excited you can see how pilo his hair is:

Annie:

I don’t think anything is more refreshing than watermelon shaved ice!