Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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magazines

Bargaining

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Two things I know about chimps:

1. Whatever it is, they will find a way to break it.

2. If you want something from them, they will give it to you…for a price.

Ellen has been coming up with some really cool food puzzles lately. One, named the hanging holey lid, involves a 5-gallon bucket lid that the chimps have to rotate to reveal food beneath. The chimps discovered that the lids come with thin peel-off strips around their circumference, and they were very entertained by peeling them off and using them to floss their teeth. There’s nothing particularly dangerous about these strips of plastic but they weren’t meant to be given to the chimps so we decided to retrieve them.

Most chimps will trade for juice. But Cy had to raise the stakes…

The Key to Enrichment Part Deux

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Last week, I wrote a bit about enrichment and some of the challenges of finding enrichment that is safe and suitable for certain chimpanzees with a proclivity for chewing on all manner of materials.

Today I am expounding on that a bit as a thank you to everyone who gave towards the Media and Enrichment Fund in the Comfort & Joy Auction (I listed everyone below!).

Enrichment is fun – it’s toys, and friends, and structures, and food puzzles, but it’s one of the most serious and important parts of caring for chimpanzees in captivity. Chimpanzees did not evolve to live in captivity. Captivity limits their lives, and chimpanzees need things to do! I am sure that enrichment coordinator Ellen would tell you that coming up with and giving the chimpanzees enrichment is extremely rewarding.

Seeing a chimpanzee interact with and be entertained and engaged by their environment is a uniquely fulfilling experience. Like Cy with his magazines. It’s difficult to imagine him without them, to be honest.

It’s quite obvious when Cy has been enriched with a magazine. He leaves evidence.

Volunteer Sarah C. was commenting about such evidence today while looking at one of the security cameras in the Marmot Mountain Playroom.

Here is the before security camera shot:

During:

After:

Huge thanks to the following donors for giving to the Media and Enrichment Fund in Comfort and Joy to support not just Cy’s magazine habit, but also books for Jamie and enrichment for all of the chimpanzees: Monica, Vicki, Jamie, Shelly, Arlen, Anne, Linda, Diana, Nancy, Julie, Jessica, Jayne, Deborah, Sue, Jackie, Jane, Deborah, Kevin, Jennie, Debbie, Nancy, Ionna, Lisa, Elena, Amy, Susan, Debbie, Martine, Zoe, Marisela, Regina, Cheryl, Linda, and Dora!

I have good news for those donors – the bookmarks celebrating our resident bookworms have arrived, and I’ll be sending them out this week!

World Wide News with Cy

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We’ve covered Cy’s tendency to alarm call at scary things in his magazines a few times before so there isn’t much to say but enjoy today’s video of Cy’s range of emotions when he gets his new magazines for the day

 

Magazine Madness

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This week we received some interesting magazines in a donation package, Cy and Jamie have been enthralled with their new reading material in today’s video

Cy even had his magazine thoughout the day and brought it to meals with him:

Terry to Cy’s Rescue

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Despite Cy being the tough, alpha male that he is, he is easily frightened by random things. As you all know, Cy loves to “read” and consumes probably 5-10 magazines every day. Due to his reading obsession, we have discovered a decent number of things that frighten Cy and cause him to alarm call. Chimpanzees naturally alarm call to warn their group members of danger.

On the list of things that frighten Cy, is cows. Doesn’t matter the kind of cow, the look of the cow, any cow is enough to make him jump back and drop his magazine. Kelsi captured this exact scenario on video last year if you haven’t seen it already (click here)!

A few days ago, Cy was flipping through a farm magazine when he suddenly stumbled upon some photos of cows. We quickly knew what was happening as Cy began to loudly alarm call. Cy’s group members are used to this behavior from Cy, but they still always come to investigate in case it is more than a scary magazine. After several minutes of Cy alarm calling, Terry decided to save the day (or maybe he was annoyed with the endless alarm calls) and attempted to destroy the magazine that was causing Cy to be upset. He began ripping it apart with his teeth and even passed pages to me (who was sitting on the other side of the caging) because he knew I could throw them out.

We now have a theory that Cy must love the thrill of a scary magazine because Cy then reclaims the magazine scraps and tried to still look through them, while continuing to alarm call.

This isn’t the first time I have seen Terry try to save the day. Last October, I posted a blog about Cy alarm calling because of a giraffe in his magazine and Terry attempted to rip the pages apart for Cy but ultimately just threw them down the stairs. I will link that video here!

Back to Work

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I’m happy to report that our team of contractors have picked up where things left off last fall with regard to construction on the Bray. We don’t have a firm completion date yet but it should be fairly soon! While they complete their fence work, we’re taking the opportunity to build upon Ryan’s Lookout, the structure that will allow Cy’s group to supervise all the comings and goings at the sanctuary.

So far we’ve added three crow’s nests with fire hose vines strung between them and the main tower. Our poor bamboo took a hit during the arctic blast last Christmas. The existing culms may not grow new leaves this year but we’ll have to wait and see. The good thing is that it should be ready to send up new shoots in June.

The weather has been typically spring-like lately, meaning it is winter one day and summer the next. Last Thursday it snowed on us while working outside in the afternoon; by the end of the week it should hit 80 degrees. This means that some days the greenhouse panels are necessary, while on other days we have to run the fan to cool things off. The last few days have been perfect and the chimps are happy to bask in the warmth from their perch on the tree structures.

As always, Cy has been busy keeping up with the latest celebrity news when not managing his sometimes unruly family.

This photo didn’t turn out very well, but I thought I’d share anyway…I was just barely able to catch Lucky giving her friend Dora a hug to celebrate the arrival of the lunch cart.

On a final note, the sanctuary recently purchased a new (to us) farm vehicle. Surprisingly, Jamie is a bit intimated by it and still prefers to race the Gator. But Benny, who is licensed and required by law (so he says) to inspect all farm machinery, has given it his full approval. Benny lives at the sanctuary with me and Diana and our two other rescue dogs, and because of old injuries he can’t walk as fast or as far as his pack mates. Now he can leave them in the dust. He said the staff can use it too.

On the Sixth Day of Christmas…

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On the sixth day of Christmas

Donor Linda gave to me

New People magazines!

– Cy Chimpanzee, probably

We send our most heartfelt gratitude and warmest wishes to our supporters who have donated to the chimpanzees through the Comfort & Joy online auction! You can go directly to the event’s web page to see the numerous items that were purchased by our community on behalf of the chimpanzees who call the sanctuary home.

You’ve probably seen some of the earliest gifts unveiled on the blog recently, from Squishmallows On the First Day of Christmas to a Negra-themed blanket On the Fifth. Today’s surprise is another unconventional enrichment item, intended to excite one quirky individual in particular. Without further ado, we extend a special thank you to:

Linda M. for donating the subscription to People magazine (addressed to Cy Chimpanzee)

Indeed, the sanctuary’s biggest bookworm will now have a steady supply of celebrity gossip and pop culture trivia to entertain him when he needs a moment of peace apart from his companions. Today, Enrichment Coordinator Chad delivered the latest edition of People directly to Cy’s “mailbox” (a gap under the caging of the Marmot Mountain playroom). You can check out the included video to see how Cy reacted to the holiday surprise!