Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Mave

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!

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!

It’s Complicated

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Mave and Gordo have a complicated relationship that usually involves Mave pressuring Gordo to give up his produce items during meal times. Gordo has figured out how to barter with Mave by giving her a piece of an item to appease her and she usually will go away for a time after receiving tribute. However, the more positive side of their relationship is harder to get a glimpse of and usually when we do see it it is very short lived. Well today was our lucky day and we were able to capture a fairly long play session between these two, with Dora supervising or course!

Unseen Bits

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As caregivers, we collect photos and videos on our phones constantly throughout the week. However, not everything makes it to the blog. Often when we get to our designated blog day, the chimps do something that inspires an idea or specific theme so we end up saving the content for later, or if we are nice, we share it with a co-worker if they are in need. The only thing about saving it for later is that it can get lost on our camera roll. Luckily for all of you, I have found some of the best unseen clips from the vault (aka my phone) and made a video to share! It would be a tragedy if these videos did not get shared with all of you!

Photos from the vault!

Terry grooming Honey B. It was such a tender and sweet moment between the two of them:

Rayne intensely grooming Mave:

Rayne striking a pose on the firehose:

A bonus photo!

This morning as we all arrive to the sanctuary it was very chill, but the morning fog looked so beautiful:

Jamie seemed to enjoy the fog and crisp air because she was so excited to go for a walk this morning. She came sprinting out of the raceway!

Mave’s 34th Birthday Party

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Mave and her family celebrated her 34th birthday today with a forage that included young coconuts. Initially, Mave did not get her own coconut but after some time foraging her best friend Dora placed an extra one by Mave’s side. Did she mean to offer it to Mave or did she simply not object when Mave picked it up? Either way, Dora is a good friend and it was the perfect gift.

Conflict on the Bray: the Day Everyone Went Outside

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We’ve been talking about it for a few days now – the conflict that led Mave, Dora, and Honey B to go onto the Bray habitat.

So, here’s your birds-eye view of most of the excitement! This is a video best suited for a bigger screen like your computer monitor or television.

I saw the middle to the end of the conflict in person. It was quite loud. It’s quite nice to be able to watch it without sound.

Even while I was watching in person, I had this thought that both groups seemed more similar to free-living chimpanzees than I had ever witnessed before. It was scary, to be honest, because we didn’t know what was going to happen, but the maneuvering was also fascinating.

Maybe, just maybe, it will help some of the chimps explore more, like it seems to have with Lucky!

A Good Distraction

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For caregivers, there are many different types of distractions in the chimp house! Often when cleaning, Foxie will ask you to play troll toss, or Willy B would like you to stop cleaning so he can look at videos on your phone, or Cy wants to play chase, and of course there is the possibility of perimeter walks of  Young’s Hill with Jamie. Often the best distraction is when the chimps are playing with one another. We always stop cleaning for a moment to observe. For example, Burrito is often the best at getting his group members to play with him, even if they didn’t think they were in the mood. Burrito is so good at distracting, he can even get Jamie to be off-duty!

Of course there are other types of distraction that aren’t as fun, like when a caregiver is trying to write a blog and there is endless displaying on Willy B’s side of the building which turns into a fight that required us caregivers to respond to. For Burrito’s group, that same fight on the other side of the building, turned into watching their favorite reality TV show: Mave on the Bray. That is right, MAVE was on the Bray today! Although, the reason Mave was on the Bray may have been because all nine chimps went outside screaming and gave caregiver Kelsi and Jenna a bit of a scare, but Mave, Dora, and Honey B looked good out there! When Mave returned, Honey B gave her a big hug and Dora also fully embraced her. However, terrifying as it was, it was spectacular to see everyone out there. It was the first time the entire group were on The Bray. I am not sure when Mave or Dora will go back out, hopefully soon but maybe under different circumstances. Miss Honey B, on the other hand, may only go out when she is screaming at people (that seems to be her personal pattern so far). More updates to come if Mave, Dora, and Honey B continue to go out on The Bray!

I had more content I wanted to add to this blog, but naturally I got distracted ;).

Mave on the Bray:

Jamie:

Jamie and her book:

Burrito:

Negra and Burrito foraging in Neggie’s Cabin:

Negra :):