Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Missy

What happened today?

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This morning while we were cleaning the Playroom I noticed that the chimps were pretty quiet in the Front Rooms so I went to check on what they were up to. Annie and Missy were on the ledge in room 2 grooming one another, while Burrito sat quietly nearby. Unfortunately, none of the photos I took of Annie and Missy turned out, but the one of Burrito I think is pretty cute.

Burrito
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Negra was on the ledge in room 3 in one of her blanket nests.
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Foxie and Jody were on the ledge in room 4. Jody was just out of camera view, so I couldn’t get any clear photos, but Foxie wasn’t camera shy as she showed me her dora doll.
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I kept walking back and forth looking for Jamie, figuring she must have been in the Greenhouse or on Young’s Hill gathering snow. I kept looking, but couldn’t find her until Katelyn said she was in room 2. I looked again and realized why I missed her. I initially thought it was a pile of blankets, but upon closer inspection, I could see her eyes and top of her head peaking out from her nest.

This photo was actually taken from the Playroom looking back into room 2.
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After we finished cleaning the Playroom, we set out blankets, various sized boxes filled with enrichment items (boots, dolls, paper, brushes, socks, wooden blocks and tools) and filled their new blue bucket with snow. We also put out lettuce as a forage food.

Missy trying to open one of the boxes.
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Sometimes you just have to put your whole body into it when two hands just doesn’t cut it.
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Foxie took some time to inspect (and lick) the box that one of our new office computers came in (thanks again to Diana Petri for purchasing the computers from our Amazon Wishlist).
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Jamie’s first mission was to gather lettuce before checking out any of the boxes or eating any snow.
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Annie sat and ate snow that she took out of the blue bucket.
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And Jody did her best at staying out of camera view by gathering the lettuce we had put out as a forage and heading up to the loft to make a blanket nest in front of one of the windows that overlooks the neighbors farm.

A look of contentment in their eyes

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Often times I catch myself gazing at these chimpanzees, wondering what they are thinking. It’s easy for me (and maybe for most people) to attribute my own human feelings of awe and wonder as I watch them explore Young’s Hill (their 2 acre outdoor enclosure) or sit quietly looking out the windows from the catwalk in the Playroom. It seems that there is a sense of excitement and enjoyment when they are playing with one another and a curiosity as they inspect new enrichment items.

Looking at the pictures below, I can’t help but think that there is a sense of contentment in their eyes.

Jamie
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Negra
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Burrito
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Jody
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Foxie
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Missy
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Annie
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Happy New Year!

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The chimpanzees have spent the last two meals welcoming 2016 in the only way we know how, with back to back forage parties! Last night they had a black and white themed forage complete with a sparkling pear cider “champagne” toast and today we broke out another bottle of cider and the chimpanzees had a New Year’s Day brunch forage.

The party meal..
Pear cider with black eyed peas, persimmons, kale, and a box of mixed nuts:
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The party attendees..
Annie:
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Burrito:
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Jamie licking out smoothie from a tiny glass:
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Jody:
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Missy stacked her plates to keep everything together:
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Negra lost a bit of her brunch on the floor:
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But she still managed to get some of it back to her upstairs nest:
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Foxie was on hand to vacuum up Negra’s lost black eyed peas:
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Foxie again:
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If you haven’t seen it yet, please enjoy this video as we look back on some of the best moments of 2015. Wishing you and yours, a very Happy New Year from all of us at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest!

Take-out or Dine in?

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Lunch time is usually a pretty peaceful affair for the chimpanzees. The morning cleaning has just finished and the chimps get to enjoy their meal in any part of their enclosure that they wish. Usually, most of the chimpanzees will linger in the area that we serve the meal so they don’t miss any of the lunch action. Some chimpanzees (especially Missy), will take their vegetables and eat them in a different area for privacy or comfort.

Today Missy took her vegetables to her nest upstairs in the playroom. She came back to the lunch service to grab the food she was interested in and chose to take it all “to-go.”
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The last course of lunch is small paper bags filled with primate chow (2 per chimpanzee). The bags signal that lunch is over and are convenient for each chimp to take their portions off to their own space. This way, the last part of lunch can be spent leisurely snacking.

Burrito took his portion up the stairs in the playroom.
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Negra saved a pepper to go with her chow bags today.
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Annie made a wadge in her lips with all of her chow.
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And Foxie savored each piece.
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Lunch With the Chimps

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The chimpanzees eat three meals a day, and at most mealtimes they’re asked to shift out of a certain area so we can close off that area to clean. (There’s nothing quite like food to motivate!) Lunch is an exception to this rule. Since we don’t do any cleaning at lunch, the chimps have free run of the entire sanctuary during the meal. The server chooses an area to serve, and the chimps come to that area to get their food, but they can then take their food wherever they choose.

Today volunteer caregiver Becca started serving lunch in the greenhouse, but the chimps quickly let her know it was too cold, so she came inside back inside the building to serve in the front rooms. Most of the chimps tend to stay put throughout the meal, but Missy – always on the move – likes to show up at the beginning of each “course”, grab her serving, and take it off to enjoy in the playroom.

Today’s lunch consisted of tomatoes, bell peppers, celery, and green onions.

Lots of enrichment to choose from

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Here at the sanctuary, mother nature seems to be making up for the lack of snow the past few years with an abundance over the past few days. This seasonal abundance provides great enrichment for the chimpanzees, who often venture out onto Young’s Hill (the chimps’ outdoor enclosure) to search for the snowy treats. But sometimes on days like today, it snows too hard for them to venture out to gather it themselves, so staff and volunteers bring it in to them.

Today, volunteer caregivers Patti and Stephanie discussed how best to present the snow to the chimps. After figuring out that the snow was not the best for making a snowman, they decided on making little snowballs with raisins inside of them. While they were doing that, staff member Elizabeth filled various containers and a new enrichment barrel with the newly fallen snow.

After cleaning, we brought the snowballs, containers and giant barrel inside and put them out in the Playroom (one of the chimps’ indoor enclosures). There were also large boxes full of paper as part of today’s “Lots of Paper” enrichment theme. We also put out lettuce as a forage item. Before giving the chimps access to the Playroom, we put bets on which of the items the chimps would go for first. Three out of the four of us here today voted that snowballs would be first, followed by the boxes of paper. Which one do you think the chimps went for first?

Jamie
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Well, we forgot to factor in the lettuce forage and that is what all of the chimps went for first, so we all lost the bet I guess. How did you do?

Jamie and Missy did peak into the barrel of snow, then the boxes of paper, but then went right back to foraging for lettuce.

Missy
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After all the lettuce was eaten, Jamie settled down to do some more thorough investigating of the boxes and barrel of snow.

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Much to my surprise, the snowballs were last!

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While Jamie was busy with the barrel and boxes, Jody sat on the bridge and ate snow from one of the containers.

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After all of the lettuce was finished, Annie, Burrito and Foxie stayed in the loft eating snow from containers but were out of sight and Negra relaxed under a blanket nest.