Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
This is the time of year when the “greenhouse” (the outdoor area converted to a solar oasis with lexan panels) really shines – literally and figuratively. Spring is really windy in Cle Elum and today was particularly blustery. But the greenhouse is completely protected from the wind. Since it was sunny, it was downright balmy in there. Perfect lounging weather.
Burrito, who once shunned the greenhouse, spent the entire day out there. Here he is getting every last morsel of food from an avocado peel:
Jody also relaxed outside in the greenhouse all day, enjoying the fresh straw:
It’s that time of year again – right around the time of our wine tasting event, the chimpanzees get to enjoy the bounty from Washington State wine growing too. Thanks to Phil Cline at NHV for letting us pick up a truckload of vine trimmings for the chimps! So far they don’t seem to have a favorite varietal, but just give them time.
I searched for a video to provide a comparison of Jody’s nesting behavior to what chimpanzees do in the wild. Here are a couple, in case you are interested: Female chimpanzee making nest from tree leaves at Gombe Stream National Park and bonobo making a treetop nest. They weren’t easy to find becaues if you do a Google video search for “chimpanzee nesting” – most of the results are videos from Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
Parties are so much fun here at CSNW. On today’s party menu was strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, apples, dried pears, bananas, beets, sunflower seeds and tons of mixed nuts. We received a plethora of decorations and new toys from our friends Dick and Robbi Brown, Felicity, Stephanie, and Kate. Food was hidden in all kinds of Valentine’s Day themed boxes, cups, and gift bags and the playroom was filled with awesome new toys, including at least 5 new Valentine’s Day troll dolls. Thanks so much everyone!
Step one= party:
Annie drinking pomegranate juice:
Jamie opening her “Valentine”:
Foxie checking out one of her new Valentine’s Day trolls:
Step 2= nap.
Negra in her festive Valentine’s Day nest:
Burrito getting in touch with his feminine side:
Needless to say, a good time was had by all! Happy Valentine’s Day!
Last week was the first time any of us had seen Foxie build a true nest. Today, I witnessed her doing it again and snapped a couple of photos. I’m so proud of how far she’s come.
We love sharing stories with all of you about the chimpanzees’ daily experiences at the sanctuary. This pleasure is all the greater when we have something particularly exciting or momentous to share, as we do today.
Our frequent blog readers are familiar with the saga of Foxie’s nesting behavior. When Foxie came to CSNW, she wanted very little to do with any enrichment. Blankets, in particular, seemed almost offensive to her. If a blanket occupied the space where she wanted to rest, she would often flick it aside before sitting down. While some of the other chimps were making giant, cushy nests out of dozens of blankets, Foxie would build a “phantom nest”, showing ritualized nesting behaviors but using very little actual nesting material. She’s made slow and steady progress: she’ll incorporate the occasional toy or fire hose into her “nest”, and once or twice we’ve caught her with her head resting on the very edge of a blanket. But overall, she’s remained pretty steadfast in her distaste for blankets (or anything soft, it seems). Here’s a review of past blog posts that have highlighted Foxie’s nesting progress:
April 13, 2009
May 15, 2009
June 2, 2009
June 6, 2009
December 2, 2009
January 23, 2010
February 3, 2010
December 24, 2010
Considering all this, she surprised and delighted us all the other day when she went full steam ahead and built her first big, multi-blanket nest.
