Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Nesting

Around the Corner!

by

Can you believe our favorite time of the year, Jamieween, is just around the corner? There is a whole bin filled up with new boots and books, all just waiting for Jamie’s big day. Thank you to everyone for donating gifts for Jamie’s 47th birthday! She is going to be very excited when she sees all her new boots!

With the big celebration coming up, Jamie needs her rest, so she snagged Negra’s nest in the green house:

A taste of what’s to come!

Bonus of Negra in her greenhouse nest this morning:

And DON’T FORGET!  We want you to help us choose the cover photo for our 2025 CSNW Calendar! You can vote once every 24-hours through the end of October, with the poll closing at 11:59pm PT on Jamieween!

Burrito in Low

by

If we know anything about Burrito chimpanzee, we know that this guy is busy!  So busy running, playing, grooming, chasing, leaping, scooting, bouncing, skipping, hollering, foraging…you get the picture!  This guy never sits still!

So here is your opportunity to enjoy a few low key moments with our favorite energizer bunny!  A little lounging, a little nesting, and a very little bit of play.

How much do we love this guy?

Shout out to Jerrol’s for providing huge bags of recycled paper for all the papery fun these chimps are having these days!

And DON’T FORGET!  We want you to help us choose the cover photo for our 2025 CSNW Calendar! You can vote once every 24-hours through the end of October, with the poll closing at 11:59pm PT on Jamie-ween!

Photo Roundup!

by

Today has been a busy day. As I was starting to put together my blog, Jamie started alarm-calling, which most often means a snake has found its way through our snake fencing and is in the chimpanzees’ space. We quickly jumped into action to recall her group, asking them to come off of Young’s Hill and into the Greenhouse and their indoor spaces, and thankfully everyone except for Annie and Jamie was already inside. Annie made her way in quickly, and everyone was rewarded with strawberries while we waited for Jamie to be convinced that the humans could handle the snake problem and come back inside. Everyone is back inside now and enjoying their strawberries as a reward for participating in recall. Dessert before dinner, what a day!

Here are some photos from the day:

Missy enjoying her nest (reimagined from Negra’s earlier nest) in the Greenhouse this afternoon

Foxie with her doll

Mave taking some time for self-care, and grooming herself

Burrito with a block in his mouth, mid play-session!

Moments with Annie

by

Is there anyone sweeter than Annie?  I think not!

Take a few minutes to share some moments with our beloved Annie.  From a play session with Burrito, to a lovely afternoon breeze in her nest, a drink from the hose (perfect for summertime!) and a shouting match with the neighbors!

Sounds like a pretty good day, to me.

Phantom Nesting and Coconut Cracking

by

I hope you enjoy the video above and think about the different ways that primates (including human primates) learn.

I was searching for other blog posts where we talked about phantom nesting and found this video from way back in 2010 that shows Burrito and Foxie phantom nesting. It goes with this blog post, which includes some interesting comments. Anecdotally, I’ve talked with a caregivers at another sanctuary who said that they see phantom nesting mostly in chimpanzees who came from the same laboratory where Foxie was born.

I find the phantom nesting fascinating, but also incredibly sad, so I thought I’d lighten the mood a bit with the coconut cracking.

Speaking of lightening the mood, one reason this blog post is a bit tardy is because I was tuned into the end of the Sweet 16 Online Auction. There were so many items in Bid Wars! To add to the excitement, there was an anonymous donor who put us well over our goal with a super generous donation to “top things off” as she said.

I am so grateful for all of the incredibly talented artists who donated items for this auction and to everyone who participated in the auction by bidding and donating. Big congratulations to the winners. I’ll be in touch about getting your art to you!!

Fair-Weather Chimps

by

As always, I apologize for today’s blog. All staff are arriving at the sanctuary to have our bi-weekly staff meeting. I think I was a little optimistic thinking powering through cleaning to have enough time to grab some photos or video before our meeting. Though we were able to get done with cleaning a little earlier than we usually do, it still wasn’t enough. Especially since it was during the part of day right before lunch, when they are all in the hard to reach spots napping or grooming. I readjusted my plan to get photos during lunch service today. This too was somewhat difficult. On one side, Honey B became a better door than window in my attempts to see/take photos of anyone. On the other side, Burrito just wanted to play, thus souring my attempts with a game of “Poke-the-Camera,” which he finds hilarious.

If you’re wondering why they chimps elected to stay inside instead of venturing out doors today, the answer is weather. There seems to be a little bit of everything in the forecast. It’s cloudy with some sun breakthroughs here and there. Strong gusts of winds are making the panels to the greenhouses rattle. On again and off again drizzles of cold rain are falling from the sky. To top it off, there is some snow that is currently in the forecast for later today. Though realistically (read hopefully) the snow part will change as the day goes on and just turn into rain.

Before the weather started to turn, Negra was demanding to be let onto Young’s Hill first thing in the morning.

Shortly after I opened the door to Young’s Hill, that’s when the weather decided to start. My tall tell sign? Just as fast as she went out, Negra came right back in.

Negra made a beeline straight back to her morning nest.

Negra and her family for the most part stayed in all day. The story next door wasn’t too much different.

Rayne resting next to her cabbage box

But even though outdoor weather wasn’t the most optimal, mealtimes are always exciting. I’m fairly certain I make the same face as Cy and Gordo when my food comes out from the kitchen at a restaurant.

Look how big Cy’s eyes got when the cart was being rolled out

And just as the day started, I will end with Negra in her nest at dinner

Plus Missy and Burrito!

Indoor Recess

by

Brrrrr! It has been cooooold. Luckily, it will start to warm up a little after today, at least in the afternoons. Since it has been so cold and the chimps haven’t been able to go outside, we have been trying to make sure the chimps have a lot of enrichment opportunities such as forages, food puzzles, and of course snow cones. As you will see in the video, Honey B has no problem keeping her friends busy! When watching the video I can’t believe all three of those girls can fit on that leaf, they have such great balance. I hope that you all are staying warm and this video warms your heart like it did ours. Also a special thanks to Grace for lending me the amazing video footage!

We have been using Stur (water liquid enhancer) to help spice up the snow that we put out as enrichment! We are getting a little low on the Stur as well as some other items, check out our Amazon Wish List if you would like to help us stock up. 🙂

Our current situation:

Jamie loved her “snow cone” was dragging the sandbox with her everywhere! Don’t worry we put out smaller snow cone buckets for everyone else:

Jamie snuggled up with her Lucy book in a cozy nest:

Rayne during the lunch forage:

Willy B:

Honey B picking through the forage in the green house:

Gordo with a whole lot of chow:

Mave:

Terry: