Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Missy

Intruder

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While no match for equatorial Africa, living in rural Cle Elum does afford the chimpanzees some interesting experiences. The other day a garter snake made its way into the chimp house, and the chimps let their feelings on the matter be known.

Monkeying Around

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I was commenting the other day about how many stories in the media about chimpanzees use some sort of monkey reference, often the term “monkeying around.”

This generally irritates primatologists, partly because it’s just silly and the stories themselves often are not, but mostly because chimpanzees are NOT monkeys. Chimpanzees are great apes like gorillas, orangutans, bonobos and humans. I might as well add that gibbons are called “lesser apes” and they are not monkeys either. There are a few distinct differences between apes and monkeys, the most notable physical difference is the tail – monkeys have them, apes do not.

When I was watching Foxie, Missy and Jody in the outdoor area today, though, I had to admit that “monkeying around” is pretty much exactly how I would describe what they were doing…

Grooming

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Missy and Annie spent some time grooming on the platform outside this afternoon. It had just started to sprinkle, so Missy covered herself up with a blanket to stay dry.

When chimps find something good during grooming (usually a piece of dead skin), they will often inspect it. Here, Annie is holding out her lower lip to check something out.