Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Nesting

Morning with Negra and Afternoon on the Bray

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Due to her mobility issues, Negra has been camping out by herself overnight in the front rooms. Just as she would do in her favorite spot on the playroom catwalk, she’s been building comfortable nests with her fleece blankets and pulling one blanket over herself to block out the outside world. When we come to work in the morning, she’s…not quite ready for the day to begin. But that’s nothing a little amateur tap dancing can’t take care of.

Our deer herds have been gathering lately into a mega-herd of as many as 40 individuals. Lucky took an interest when some members of this herd strolled by the Bray this afternoon.

My day began with George and Dora tickling, wrestling, and laughing in the front rooms. Later in the afternoon, George was in demand again out on the Bray. Gordo is so happy to have a new buddy!

Front Rooms of Fun

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If you’ve been following us for long, you may know that the front rooms are a beloved spot for both lounging and activities for the chimps living on Cy’s side of the building. There’s FR 7, which is the perfect spot for spying on the humans doing work in the foyer. FR 6 with a food chute to perch on and keep eyes on happenings in the clinic (if you’re Honey B, it’s also a fun activity to have your caregivers open the door to the clinic for you on command!), and FR 5 which connects to the chute and is slightly larger – meaning more room for activities! When George first arrived and into the initial steps of his introduction to Cy’s group, he was living in the front rooms with access to other areas on different days. Because George was occupying the front rooms, the rest of the chimps not being introduced to him weren’t able to visit the front rooms, until just recently! As the introduction group got larger, George and friends moved into a larger space (the playrooms and greenhouses), giving the rest of the chimps the opportunity to rotate through being in the front rooms. I don’t think anyone is more thrilled about this than Honey B!

In today’s blog video, see how Willy B, Honey B, and Mave are making the most of their time in their beloved front rooms!

Nesting and Mall Walking

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We don’t get a ton of video of the chimpanzees actively nesting. I can’t decide which clips I like the most. Honey B and Rayne both crack me up. I love their playful confidence. And I was so pleased to watch from the security cameras George joining the morning mall walking!

I have an update on the Christmas deadline for that extra $40,000 toward our year-end fundraising. The deadline was extended by the Seattle donor, and, as I type this, we only need $494 to reach that $100,000 goal.

We’ve been receiving donations in the mail that I will also apply to the total, so pay close attention over the next few days!

We still have quite a ways to go to reach the full $200,000 goal by midnight on December 31, but I believe in the power of Jamie and her supporters.

Jamie

 

Nesting with George

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When George first arrived at CSNW he seemed very hesitant to interact with any of the enrichment items we provided him. He’s come a long way from those early days and has shown interest in certain clothing items (like socks and headbands), paper towels, books/magazines, boxes with food in them, paper and crayons, etc. One thing that we finally got to see him do after about a month of living here was start to build nests!

Here are just a few of his nests:

A rare George in nest sighting:

Diana was recently able to capture this photo of George sleeping under a plaid blanket:

Bonus: George on the Bray today!

 

Nothing’s Better!

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The other day I found Jamie in this magnificent nest, with a bag of chow. As you will see in the video, Jamie seemed so content and a little silly. She was making me laugh because she would roll up the bag of chow and then put it in her pelvic pocket while she made these happy little grunts. She was comfortable in her nest so I brought her a new bonobo book, because nothing is better than cozying up to a new book!

Snug as a Bug

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Thank you Diana G. for the wearable nesting blanket! The blanket hoodie is so cute, the front is Honey B and the back has a picture of Negra. We thought it was only fitting for Honey B to receive this wonderful hoodie first. Before giving Honey B the hoodie, we showed her that it was more than just a blanket, but that you could wear it too! She seemed pretty excited. Honey B didn’t put it on, but she did nest with it right away.

Gordo playing chase and inspecting the hoodie:

Bonus of little Honey B:

To build a nest

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Our two washing machines have a full time job here at the sanctuary. Almost every day we run both machines from the moment we arrive at the sanctuary to the moment we leave, all in the name of a good nest!

Exhibit A (a few good nests):

 

Our hardworking volunteers and staff are well-acquainted with the laundry process at the sanctuary. There’s a lot of behind the scenes laundry that goes on to make just one clean nest. Keeping the machines going and folding all those blankets can be a daunting task. As you might imagine, it’s never fun when we have a washer that goes out of commission.

Good news though, you can help support all of our nest formation efforts by contributing to our commercial washer fund during our Comfort and Joy Auction, happening now! Thank you all for helping the chimpanzees create those big beautiful fluffy nests!