Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.
The sanctuary is located in the Cascade mountain range near the base of a relatively small peak known as Lookout Mountain. Missy sees this as both an opportunity and a responsibility.
The chimps have two acres of outdoor space to roam but they spend much of their time on the elevated platforms taking in the view.
Railings on these platforms serve different purposes, depending on whether you are a human or a chimp. Do not try this unless you have opposable toes.
I saw this illustration of primate hands shared on social media recently and thought it was a great example of how diverse the primate order is.
The most unusual hand belongs to the aye-aye (Daubetonia). It taps its long, slender fingers on trees in search of food. After opening up a hollow with its rodent-like incisors, it uses its specialized middle digit to extract grubs. Think of them as the primate version of a woodpecker.
Some primates, like the slow loris (Nycticebus) and potto (Perodicticus), have evolved hands that allow for better arboreal grasping. Notice how the index fingers have become mostly vestigial and the thumb has rotated away from the other digits. This is part of a suite of adaptations that allow them to maintain a strong grip for long periods of time. It’s probably not a coincidence that they look more like birds’ feet.
In another example of form following function, the long digits of tarsiers (Tarsius) have rounded, frog-like pads, allowing them to cling and leap like…yes, frogs!
Many arboreal species, like orangutans (Pongo), have evolved small thumbs while others, like the spider monkey (Ateles), lack an external thumb entirely to aid in climbing. While it’s tempting to think of opposable thumbs as somehow better or more advanced (even the spider monkey’s genus name sounds judgmental – Ateles, meaning incomplete or imperfect, is a reference to their missing thumbs), this is simply not true. The ancestor to the spider monkey had opposable thumbs but in the course of adapting to their environment, spider monkeys got those lousy things out of the way so that they could grip and swing better. They are perfectly complete for the niche they inhabit.
Looking at a chimpanzee’s hand, you can see that they are far less specialized than those of many other primates, making them generally well-suited to both climbing and walking. While chimpanzees walk on the soles of their feet, they flex their hands and bear weight on the outside of the intermediate phalanges (the part of the finger between the second and third knuckle).
Thick pads develop on this part of the hand for protection.
Long palms and fingers and short thumbs aid in gripping large trunks and branches.
The trade-off, when compared to human hands, is less power and control in the precision grip.
The length of a chimpanzee’s hand and more limited rotation and flexion of the thumb prevent pad-to-pad gripping or pinching, but they are still able to grasp and manipulate objects between the thumb and fingers, allowing for the use of tools.
Missy and a few of the other chimps took their breakfast outside this morning.
Chimps will often eat many of the peels and rinds that we avoid, but only after they’ve finished the best parts. Annie and Burrito are the biggest scavengers of these less desirable bits.
After fueling up, Missy led her gang up to the Twister and then on a walk around the perimeter of Young’s Hill.
Jamie loves to run but humans are just too slow – that’s why she gets so excited to race us in the Gator.
Chimpanzee communication involves many overt and unmistakable expressions, from eardrum-piercing pant hoots to boisterous dominance displays, but much of what they convey is far more subtle. This morning, as the chimps were being invited to shift enclosures for breakfast, the routine ground to a halt. Negra would not come inside from the greenhouse, even when presented with bowl of peanuts. Jody kept glancing over her shoulder. And Annie sat in the doorway from the playroom, clearly interested in breakfast but unwilling to commit.
I looked towards Burrito. Sitting quietly on a bench with his hands folded in his lap, he was the picture of calm.
Or was he?
Here’s why chimpanzees would be terrible at poker. As soon as they had a good hand, their hair would stand on end and their skin would be riddled with goosebumps, betraying their excitement. Piloerection, as it is known, is the ultimate tell, a dead giveaway for a chimps’ internal state.
Behind Burrito’s otherwise calm demeanor was a simmering cauldron of testosterone, adrenaline, and pent up frustration (due in large part to Jody’s tumescent backside). The chimps could read this from a mile away. The fuse had been lit and everyone was waiting for the bomb to go off.
They were, of course, correct in their assessment, and we soon took a five-minute break from serving breakfast while Burrito rattled the cage doors and occasionally lunged at anyone nearby. Once he got it out of his system, everyone finished shifting and we got on with the day.
Jamie’s interest in architectural and western-themed magazines continues. You can get a little peak into her mind by observing which pages she lingers on…
A recent visitor to the sanctuary wore a pair of boots that really caught Jamie’s eye, so you can imagine how excited we all were when those very boots were included in a care package that arrived earlier this week. As is Jamie’s preference, we started by modeling them and she was instantly enamored. Did she remember them? I would bet money on it. She seems to have a photographic memory when it comes to boots.
