Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Nesting

Let the Countdown Begin!

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Eleven more sleeps until Jamieween. Though this blog isn’t really about Jamie, the Jamieween countdown has begun! As many of you may know or even agree, Jamieween is known as a staff and volunteer favorite for chimp celebrations! Not only do we get to celebrate Jamie and all her amazing-ness, but there is always an amusing pumpkin heist too! Not to mention Halloween is some of the staff’s favorite holiday. The gifts for Jamieween have been rolling in and we could not be more grateful. This is just a handful of items for Jamie’s haunting celebration! Personally, I can’t wait for Jamie to get her anatomy apron.

I don’t have much content for today because it was rather uneventful and eerily quiet today. So quiet that I had to check and make sure there were chimps in the building! But I do have lots of photos of Cy and Rayne.

I mean come on! How handsome is he?

Rayne and Cy sharing a bench.

Rayne is the absolute best! She is the type of person that when you see her she instantly warms your heart.

Rayne enjoying some rose hips.

I have a few extra photos to share with you all, as well.

Same bench, same sitting position, can you tell these two are related?

Honey B enjoying a leek in the green house.

Blankets and Nests Type of Day

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As part of today’s daytime enrichment we pre-made nests for the three groups of chimpanzees. They are clearly capable of making their own nests with the special modifications to meet each of their personal needs, therefore our pre-made nests might not be up to their standards. We won’t get offended if some rearranging and redecorating occurs, if anything it makes for good enrichment. For example, Jamie likes to incorporate boots and books to hers so tomorrow morning we might see some boot or book additions in them. In the wild their night nests are complex and are made by arranging tree branches and lining them with leaves, while their daytime nests are usually closer to the ground and less time consuming. Just in case, we made some in all areas of the enclosures to allow the chimps to pick and choose where they want to rest, after alterations are made. We mostly used blankets and different fabrics to design them today but other days we provide the chimps different materials to make their evening or daytime resting nests like paper, plant material, clothing, silk scarves, etc.

Last week was busy with introductions so as caregivers were making nests in the different enclosures, some had the same thought I had: let’s just lay down here for a bit.

Caregivers Kelsi and Sam testing out some nests in the front rooms.

What do you guys think about this pre-made nest?

This morning I saw Negra nesting while enjoying squash browse that Dr. Erin brought yesterday.

Jamie on one of the pre-made nests caregivers prepared today in the green house.

Annie nesting in the greenhouse. Note how she is holding her hand and foot.

Missy and Jody on the greenhouse platform, Jody arranging blankets for her nest.

Enjoy some extras:

Burrito sitting peacefully on the platform of the greenhouse. Don’t be fooled, this guy does not let us skip our daily cardio.

Foxie in the greenhouse looking straight at the camera.

Honey B chilling in the playroom.

Missy looking towards the hill on this chilly and cloudy day.

Dora about to eat the raisin she successfully retrieved from the raisin board using a chopstick.

Rayne carrying around a chopstick after going through most of the raisin board enrichment.

PS. Check out our Amazon wish-list for a list of books for this years Jamieween celebration!

Everybody Loves Dora

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Humans and chimps all really do love Dora, who wouldn’t! As I walked by the front rooms I found Rayne and Dora playing. Eventually, Lucky wanted to join the fun. Dora may be teeny tiny, but she can hold her own if she needs to! Dora may be small, but she sure is mighty!

After the play session Lucky needed to rest.

Cy guy <3. I think Cy has stolen everyone’s heart in this chimp house. I truly have never met a chimp sweeter than Cy.

Missy spying on the neighbors, while wearing a stylish grape sock.

Burrito being his perfect self!

And Jamie! She built this incredibly cozy, comfy, HUGE nest and then tucked herself in.

 

 

Shut Up and Blog

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Today was pretty busy day for the humans, but the chimps made sure to fit in some fun. Of course, Burrito played with everyone! Jamie had a lovely day napping in a extravagant nest full of book pages and boots. I loved watching her sort through her big bag of enrichment too.  Honey B and Mave had a blast unrolling around in the raffle tickets! Cy flipped through magazines. I wasn’t able to capture much from Lucky’s group, but they were busy inspecting one of the security camera JB just set-up.

Today’s blog was going to be my favorite type of blog, a smorgasbord of photos! But, throughout the day I was able to get some fun video clips of some of the chimps. So why not do it all! It made me start thinking. What are all of our blog followers’ favorite kinds of blogs? Do you like blogs that are interactive like games or educational? Do you like blogs with lots of content or are you like, enough already I want to see the photos. Maybe you’re more into the videos where you can see the chimps and get more familiar with the building. Personally, I love photos with descriptions! Whatever you are into, I will stop talking so you can enjoy these photos!

Annie and Jody:

Honey B with her raffle tickets:

Jamie looking through her giant enrichment bag:

And a series of photos of Jamie nesting:

Mave unrolling her raffle tickets:

Queen Negra and Missy:

  

 

Theme Scheme

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There is no real theme for today’s blog. Who needs a theme anyways! I just have these great photos I wanted to share with you all.

The beautiful, sophisticated, and distinguished Rayne.

Terry, Terry, Terry. He is too much!

Dora! Dora is so sweet. I posted this photo recently on our Instagram, but I thought it needed to be shared here too.

Mave with her legs crossed, giving that laid back feeling.

Yesterday was pretty warm. Honey B looked as though she was melting into her nest.

And of course Honey B shredding on her skateboard.

This morning as I let the seven onto Young’s Hill they all immediately race out to get a glimpse of the new neighbors.

Jamie spying.

Burrito standing bipedal so he could get a better look.

This guy Cy is the whole package! He is sweet, playful, a big goof, well read, and quite handsome.

Tiny a.k.a Foxie.

Negra was pretty silly today. She even let me snap of few close ups of her!

We are truly lucky to be able to spend some time with Lucky.

Don’t forget to check out the Amazon wish list. We have added a lot of books. The Lucky 6 seem to enjoy reading books and magazine just as much as Jamie!

The Queen

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So much is going on this week! We have Honey B’s birthday in a few days and Negra’s birthday on Sunday with our biggest event of the year, The Queen’s Brunch. Not to mention 6 chimps will be making their way over here! It is hard to believe! This morning as I observed Sam giving the seven access to the Young’s Hill we found Negra in the greenhouse. She looked very comfortable, so I can’t blame her for not wanting to get out of bed quite yet. When I think about Negra and who she is, I feel lucky. Negra is a person that if she wants to go outside of her comfort zone she will and she has grown to have the confidence to do it. But Negra also knows exactly what she does not want to do either. A quality in Negra I really appreciate, but personally am not good at.

Don’t forget to check out all the awesome auction items! I am really looking forward to the Brunch After Party where you can join us live from the chimp house. So make sure to bid on that item, you won’t want to miss out and don’t forget your drink ;).

 

Burrito’s Barrel

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Last week I mentioned in my blog about Burrito playing on top of the barrel while Foxie was below him. Burrito spends a lot of time on that barrel in the playroom. Having Burrito’s kind of energy can be a blessing and a curse because not all of his chimp friends want to go go go all the time. We can often find him on the barrel playing by himself or peeking over at the neighbors waiting for a chimp or human to play. From time to time Jamie and Burrito share the barrel, which is probably the best thing I have ever seen! And the other day I found him dragging the giant wolf blanket onto the barrel with him. Please enjoy this video of the different stages of Burrito on the barrel.

*Important Note* Queen’s Brunch is around the corner so don’t forget to mark your calendars and put a reminder in your phone, June 13th! I have to share with you all that the Royal-Tea Box this year is amazing! Not only do you get a chance to win a virtual visit to the sanctuary, but there is a special tea blend, delicious vegan tea cakes, and so much more! Please do not miss out on Negra’s Royal-Tea box!

Bonus Foxie photos!