Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Lucky

Identifying Lucky

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It’s been a couple of weeks but it’s time to revisit my series on identifying the Lucky 6! In case you missed them, be sure to visit my prior blogs on identifying Cy, Gordo, Dora and Rayne. Today it’s time to highlight Lucky! Like her brother Cy, Lucky has a prominent brow ridge. She also has a few pink freckles on the inside of her ears and on her eyelids. She has a bit of a wrinkly belly with wiry hair on her shoulders. After you watch the above video, what features might you use to identify Lucky?

Perfectly Imperfect

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Picking and choosing which photos we include in the blog can be a daunting task. I can’t speak for my fellow caregivers, but there’s always some kind of embellishment that makes the photo unusable in my eyes. Whether it be bad lighting, a piece of poop center stage in the photo, a wound, caging getting in the way, a slow shutter speed which makes the photo blurry, etc. There is just always that one tiny thing that makes me call the photo bad, delete it, and move on.

Today is no exception. Between cleaning the enclosures to training new staff members, it has been a busy day here. When I finally got some time to go around and take some photos, I will admit I rushed it a bit. Mostly because though cleaning is over, training still continues into the afternoon as well as other Chimp House chores. I knew right off the bat that most of the photos I took were unusable (in my eyes at least) but I had some confidence there was at least a few decent ones in there some where.

Wrong! The vast majority I wasn’t a fan of. In fact, there wasn’t a single one I’m particularly attached to. There were, however, several that had potential to be great if it wasn’t for one thing or another I saw wrong in them. You might be wondering, “Why don’t you just Photoshop them?” Though Photoshop or any photo editing software is a great tool, we don’t use it in order to maintain our transparency to you all. Other than some basic color correcting, we don’t edit something out or in. Back in a former life as a photojournalist, our rule was simple as it relates to photo editing software. If you can’t do it in a dark room, then you shouldn’t do it in the software. We more or less follow that same basic rule.

That being said, here are some photos from today that had the potential of being great. Enjoy photos that would have been deleted on any other day.

Mave in mid-chew

This photo isn’t the portrayal of Mave I would want. Please trust me when I say she’s not scared here. She was just looking up and chewing snap peas when I took the photo

Honey B during a lunch forage

I forgot to reset the white balance on our camera which is why this and some other photos are either overexposed or have a orange/warm color hue to them. Plus she has a small scrape on her brow probably caused while chasing somebody

Gordo during the forage

I had the shutter speed lower than I thought, which is why this one is overexposed and blurry

Gordo again foraging

The caging got in the way which is why the center of the photo seems lighter than the rest

Gordo again!

The cause of lack of vibrant coloring is because the caging again was in the way. This means the caging was right smack dab in the middle of the lens’ focus

Also, I did spend some time trying correct that last one but it didn’t turn out like I had hoped for

Willy B and Honey B during the forage

This one isn’t terrible. I just took it with my camera phone, which the photographer in me thinks is cheating (I know. It absolutely is not and that’s a mindset that I’ve been trying to break for some time)

Honey B munching on some green onions

Again with my camera phone

Burrito during breakfast with his apples

Low shutter speed again is the culprit in this blurry photo

Dora and Lucky head-to-head

Camera phone again plus it automatically set to a slower shutter speed and blurred Lucky out just a tad

Cy perusing through a magazine after lunch

Caging is off to the side

Rayne watching me yesterday as I was cleaning the mezzanine

This was through a window that wasn’t cleaned yet. I tried to be creative with it, but it didn’t work out

Terry’s foot hanging off the platform in the one of his greenhouses after lunch

Though the caging got in front of the lens messing with the color scheme, this photo is still perfect because Terry is perfect!

Speaking of Terry, have you seen the Teeny Tiny Terry book in the Comfort & Joy auction? It truly is amazing and one of a kind! The auction is up and running through November 18th! Be sure to register and bid high and bid often!Good luck to everyone!

Lucky’s Birthday and Reaching New Heights

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Today we celebrated the 32nd birthday of the one and only Lucky! Due to the seemingly unending rain here in Central Washington, we held the parties fully indoors, which meant that Lucky was out of view of the paparazzi for most of the corn, cherry tomato, and gum forage (yes, gum is one of Lucky’s favorite things). But after the lunch forage, everyone in her group was given a mango and I managed to snap a few photos of Lucky savoring her special treat in the Oakwood greenhouse.

Many thanks to Paulette for sponsoring this day in honor of the birthday girl!

There are very few chimps as sweet as Lucky and her brother, Cy. Lucky generally prefers to be out of the spotlight, with the notable exception of when we are serving her favorite foods, at which point she leaps to the caging to tickles our wrists with her toes while panting excitedly. With her more reserved personality, I wasn’t sure how quickly she would take to a more adventurous life on the Bray. Needless to say, she surprised us all! These days she is often the first one out and among the most likely to be seen at the top of the tallest climbing structures. We often find her out there just soaking up the sun and taking in the view.

The view from the Bray, by the way, is incredible (a few power lines and the occasional parked train in the valley notwithstanding). From almost anywhere on the hill, the chimps can see their caregivers coming and going, they can watch the sun reflect off the Yakima River, they can keep an eye on the cattle, or the can spy on their chimp neighbors next door. But from the very top of the hill, the view across the Cascade Mountains is almost limitless. In order to take advantage of that commanding view, however, the chimps need a few more places to perch.

Building the Bray took quite a while and we didn’t want Lucky and her friends to have to wait any longer than necessary to enjoy it, so we chose to hold off on building some of the climbing structures we had planned. With winter approaching, it’s a good time for us to get back out there and finish what we started.

This past week, we welcomed a new part time Facilities and Grounds Technician, Jake, and we immediately put him to work setting posts that we had purchased last year for these new structures (a quick note of thanks here to Kelsi’s husband, Adam, who filled the same role until his firefighting job began to require more of his time). Now we need your help to finish them! If you visit our Comfort & Joy online auction, you’ll see an option to donate towards the construction of new play structures on the Bray and Young’s Hill, which will help fund the purchase of the framing lumber, decking, and fasteners we need to complete these new towers. If we can get the in-ground work done this month, construction of the decks, roofs, ladders, and swings can continue throughout the fall and winter. And in the spring, we’ll be able to wrap things up with additional irrigation and more trees and shrubs.

And before you know it, Lucky and the rest of her family will be starting each day with a hike to the top of the Bray, just like Jamie’s group does on Young’s Hill, to which we will also be adding new climbing structures in order to take advantage of all the additional space we added last summer.

As a little bonus, here are some photos of Lucky’s group enjoying Ryan’s Lookout, one of their favorite places to hang out.

Terry:

Rayne:

Rayne, again, retrieving a pomegranate from one of the crow’s nests connected to Ryan’s Lookout:

Rayne atop Ryan’s Lookout, with Gordo, Lucky, and Terry in the foreground:

Brrrrrrrr….itto

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It always takes me by surprise when there is a dramatic shift in the weather. Just a couple days ago we were sitting comfortably in 70º weather. Even just yesterday we were still in 60º weather. But the forecast today is a high of 45º and the rest of the week’s forecast is a little dimmer with the highs not expected to surpass 37º and the low expected to be around 15º by Friday night with some snow sprinkled here and there. This dramatic shift in weather doesn’t just surprise me, it surprises every one. I type this as J.B. is now running around winterizing the Chimp House to ensure the chimpanzees are warm and cozy.

Gordo watching J.B. putting up the winter panels to the Riverview Greenhouse

With the chimpanzees retreating to the warmest spots indoors, it was almost impossible to get any photos that weren’t worse quality than that one of Gordo. Or, on the flip side of things, trying to take a decent photo of a chimpanzee who is constantly in motion is also almost impossible.

Case in point: One Burrito Chimpanzee

The only decent photos I was able to get today are:

Dora and Lucky grooming

And the Marvelous Miss Mave

So to reminisce of warmer times, here are some photos from the past couple of days!

Terry sitting on a barrel and watching while Lucky grooms the back of my hand

Nutmeg and Betsy chowing down on some supplemental hay in addition to their grazing opportunities in the pastures

Ok. This next one to me is just the epitome of Dora and her relationship with others.

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Dora sitting above Mave and Honey B as they groom

Young’s Hill as I was leaving the sanctuary last night

After looking at that last photo again, in hindsight I should have seen the signs this kind of weather was coming up. We can only hope things get slightly better for Jamieween!

Speaking of Jamieween, there are still a couple of items left on our Amazon Wish List with just enough time to make it here for the party. But today is sort of the deadline for them to make it in time.

And lastly, a quick update! As some of you know, we use Tru Earth laundry strips. The people at Tru Earth were kind enough to gives our own fundraising page where 20% of sales will go toward the care of the chimpanzees and cattle. We just wanted to make people aware the link to our fundraising page has changed. Every purchase made at this link will have 20% of the purchase go towards the sanctuary!

a special request and the human climbing structure

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First for the request:

We are working on the Comfort & Joy online auction and virtual gathering (more details to come), and we’d like to include short (30 sec or less) clips from YOU telling us which chimpanzee at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest brings you joy and why! These are super informal videos you can just take on your phone in selfie mode and send them to me [email protected] using WeTransfer or some other file sharing service of your choice. Feel free to email me with any questions!

This can be your platform to express your love of a particular chimpanzee!

Speaking of platforms, we have a physical (wooden) platform, above the seated observation area, where staff only can access to get photos of the chimpanzees.

I climbed up there today and wondered if the chimpanzees below thought of me as being on a climbing structure, similar to the structures they have in their outdoor habitats. Maybe we should have a human forage up there some day.

 

This time of year serves up the potential for some contrasting photos, with the dark hair of the chimpanzees standing out against the muted yellow and beige tones of the grass.

 

Here’s Burrito, coming back down the hill after looking for leftover breakfast forage food:

And Foxie, who brought along a blue-haired friend as she traversed Young’s Hill:

Missy, as she was slack-lining across the fire hose:

I looked over to my right, and spotted someone on the Escher structure on The Bray. I did a bit of a double-take because I was not expecting the chimp to be Lucky! Look how relaxed she looks up there. She’s really embraced The Bray these last few weeks and continues to show off her adventurous side.

Is your favorite chimpanzee one of these four or someone else? Let us know by sending in your video clip!

Lucky Honey B

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If you have been following the blog recently, you probably have seen the videos of Honey B and Lucky playing hooky during cleaning to spend some time together. To my recollection, I remember during the introduction process they would play with each other, but when the full integration commenced, I haven’t really seen them together. But lately, with their play sessions while playing hooky, I began to wonder if there was a friendship we were completely glossing over.

Since the day when Anna posted the video of them playing in the front rooms, I began watching them a little more closely. Here is what I have noticed:

  • Honey B and Lucky do have some pretty epic play sessions. These play sessions aren’t exclusive to just holding out when caregivers are shifting the group. (I should have noticed this when I posted the video of Honey B literally pulling Lucky into an ongoing play session she was in with Rayne.)
  • During conflicts, Honey B has been seeking Lucky out first and foremost for reassurance, which Lucky always gives her. When the conflicts are over, they reconnect and groom (or play).
  • During some downtime, they can be found grooming with each other
Lucky and Honey B grooming

On the surface, this may seem like an odd pairing. On one hand, there is Honey B. Somewhat social. Not afraid to be scrappy with anybody. Loves to play. On the other hand, there is Lucky. Mostly found by herself. Isn’t too involved during conflicts. And only plays when she feels like it (though as mentioned before, Honey B seems to be her ticket). At the same time, this pairing makes sense in a weird way. There is a meme out there that says, “Introverts don’t make friends. They get adopted by extroverts.”  I’m not saying Lucky is fully introverted or that Honey B is fully extroverted, because they’re not. On some level to me though, this seems to be what is happening.

I’m not entirely sure when this budding friendship started, or even if it will last. I am, however, a person who likes to take time to just relish the now and I am all for this friendship pair. They are, in fact, two rockin’ sisters!

Here are some bonus photos!

Annie on Young’s Hill

Annie made a stop at Jody’s burial site this morning

Foxie in the morning

Gordo during breakfast and lunch

Dora helping herself to some of Honey B’s nightbag (Only Dora is allowed to get away with this!)

Lucky in the Riverview Greenhouse

Jamie on her morning patrol (That is a Troll doll in her hand! She is playing a game of keep away with Foxie)

During their morning patrol, Jamie, Missy, and Burrito would stop to eat the greenest of grass patches

Burrito!

A patch of bamboo beginning to grow in between Young’s Hill and The Bray

Lastly, a pair of unidentified track outside the top of Young’s Hill! We are unsure of who made these tracks, but we suspect maybe a badger?

Lucky on the Lookout

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The other day Kelsi wrote about distractions and how Mave ran out on the Bray, for the first time, during a fight that involved the whole group and ended with all nine chimps out on the Bray. During this skirmish Lucky somehow found herself up on Ryan’s Lookout for the first time and she enjoyed tapping into her adventurous side so much that she did it again later that same day. Then the next day when we were trying to serve breakfast to the nine we couldn’t find Lucky and turns out she was up on Ryan’s Lookout again, by herself, enjoying the morning! Today Jenna and I anticipated her journey up to the Lookout so we came armed with our camera’s and words of encouragement

Lucky, heading up the Bray, with some hesitation:

But being the brave soldier she is, she eventually made her way all the way up to Ryan’s Lookout:

And Rayne, just because: