Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

northwest

Looking for adventure

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Missy was stuck in high gear today.

She tried joining Jamie on her walks but the walks were too slow, so she ran.

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Eventually she gave up on Jamie altogether and just starting running around the hill by herself in the rain.

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When the sun came out, all of the other chimps emerged from the greenhouse to spend time on the hill. She tried enticing Foxie to play by stealing one of her dolls, but Foxie wasn’t rambunctious enough.

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She tried getting Jody to chase her, but Jody couldn’t keep up.

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Missy is like an electron, orbiting around the other chimps as if they were standing still. But once and a while, she comes to a stop and starts looking around…

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…looking for something that will give her an adrenaline fix.

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And when she finds it, she can hardly contain her excitement.

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Look at that smile on her face.

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In remembrance of Pat Trotta

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This day of sanctuary was also sponsored in remembrance of Pat Trotta by a wonderful friend of the Cle Elum Seven, Wanda Trotta, and her family:

“A day in remembrance of Pat Trotta who when we visited the “7” a couple of years ago was also taken by them.  He, like Jamie, was a leader –  in his field of optics. He leaves an enormous hole in our lives but fills our hearts with a 1/0 of love.  Enjoy being whole again, Pat and we’ll see you soon.

We love you 1/0, The Trottas”

We’re so glad that the chimps touched your lives, and honored that you chose to remember Pat in this way. In memory of Pat, here’s Jamie, as she so often does, leading her family on a walk around Young’s Hill:

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Jody Harvesting in the Greenhouse

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As Katelyn mentioned in her post the other day, Jody is known as Jody the Harvester.

Though we have been having a very mild winter, there isn’t much new to harvest on Young’s Hill yet. Today, instead, Jody turned her harvesting attentions to the Christmas tree.

We’ve been getting a lot of use out of that Christmas tree – using it to hide goodies during various foraging parties. It’s in a big pot right now in the Greenhouse, and we are hoping to plant it on the hill in the spring, but we weren’t sure if the chimps would allow it to survive until we can plant it.

For the most part, they’ve ignored it, aside from getting treats out of it during parties. Every once in a while, however, Jody decides to take a few samples:

Jody harvesting the Christmas tree

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Jody eating tree bit

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Jody inspecting tree bit

Jody eating tree bit

Lazy forage

At the center of everything

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If you were to diagram the relationships between the chimps at CSNW, Foxie would be the one point at the center that connects everyone together.

She is by far the best friend that Jody has. The two like to take morning walks around Young’s Hill together and play gentle tickling and wrestling games while lying on their backs. When Jody is upset, Foxie is there to comfort her.

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She is one of Missy’s favorite play partners, and one of the few that can keep up with Missy’s breakneck pace.

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And while she got off to a rocky start with Annie, the two have come to understand each other better in the last couple of years and these days it’s not uncommon for them to play together or spend time with each other surveying the valley below Young’s Hill.

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Foxie is one of the only chimps that can get Jamie to let down her guard and play. If it weren’t for Foxie, Jamie would never get a break from being bossy. And that, frankly, wouldn’t be good for anyone.

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To be Negra’s friend, you have to learn to go at her speed. Foxie can groom quietly with Negra, but she also gets Negra to let loose once and a while. She does this by inviting her to play with big, exaggerated play gestures, knowing that she has to be clear with Negra and ensure that Negra still wants to play along at every step of the way. This gentle and understanding approach has really helped Negra come out of her shell.

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And I don’t know where Burrito would be without his 90-lb bodyguard. Whenever Burrito gets himself into trouble, she is there, trolls in hand, and ready to place herself in harm’s way to defend him.

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Primatologists often refer to a primate’s political skills as “Machiavellian intelligence.” Chimps with a high level of Machiavellian intelligence are able to work social relationships to their advantage. They form alliances and exchange favors in an effort to climb the social ladder. If I didn’t know her better, I might think that Foxie is a Machiavellian genius, the way that she has won everyone over. But I don’t think she has a cynical or manipulative bone in her body. She just likes everyone and wants everybody to get along. And they, in turn, like her. How could you not?

Nature documentaries tend to focus on the alpha males, and in many human societies, we deify the powerful. But behind all the brash, dominant types hogging the spotlight, there’s usually someone like Foxie holding everything together.

If anyone deserves our admiration, it’s her.

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When Jamie says it’s time to walk

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Jamie is a walking machine. All day long, she asks – OK, demands – for her caregivers to put on some cowboy boots and join her on patrol of her two-acre enclosure. How does a chimpanzee who doesn’t know sign language make such a complex demand? Part of it is that we just know Jamie well – over the years, we’ve figured out what she likes through a lot of trial and error and we’ve settled into a routine. But as you can see in this video, she also makes herself understood through a lot of pointing, gesturing, and stomping. And if you’ve ever visited another country and were forced to communicate through gesture (and maybe some stomping as frustration set in), you know that you can actually communicate a lot of information that way.

Jamie doesn’t care if we’re in the middle of something else, like cleaning enclosures or washing toys, when she asks.  When she wants to walk, we’re expected to drop everything and comply. But hey, you can’t say no to the boss…

Annie

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Annie and Missy have been best friends for years.

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In fact, their friendship was evident during our very first visit to meet them in the laboratory. But the relationship wasn’t always equal. Missy has very clearly always loved Annie, but for Annie, it was more than love. For a time, she was completely dependent on Missy. She would become visibly anxious if Missy even started to play with another chimp. And when Young’s Hill was built, it made it possible for Missy to go off on her own and not even be within Annie’s sight. When that happened, Annie would sit at the bottom of the hill, rocking, and waiting for her friend to return safely.

Thankfully, Annie has grown more confident since then. These days, she seems totally content to sit on the hill by herself while Missy is off patrolling with Jamie.

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It seems that Annie has learned to navigate the world on her own, even if it’s only for ten minutes at a time.

What to write after 2,701 posts?

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I just checked – as of this morning, we have published a total of 2,701 posts on this blog! When we started to write about the chimps, even before they arrived at the sanctuary, I wondered if we would run out of ideas at some point. Would  the days become routine and after a few years, we’d be scrambling for something to share?

I laugh now at that thought. Today, I had no fewer then nine ideas for the blog, and I’m still not sure what to chose! Some are timely – our WA State Seahawks are playing in the Superbowl tomorrow, so it would be fun to share some photos of Seahawks parties, like this one of Burrito, who had the best Blue Friday with some streamers last year (video here).

Burrito with streamers

and we’re going to launch a super fun Share the Chimp Love campaign in just a couple of days, and I just happened to get a photo of Negra with a “love” blanket, so I could share that photo, even though it’s not the best quality, and maybe tease that there’s special perks involved with this campaign, one of which involves Negra.

Negra under love blanket

I also got some cute video of Annie and Missy playing on the catwalk earlier. I was thinking about learning how to make an animated gif file, or maybe use their play session for a vine video, but I’m running out of time – dinner is in less than half an hour.

I also thought about finding photos of the chimpanzees that have a particular “hopeful” look that I love so much and talking a bit about the State of the Sanctuary email/video we sent out to e-news subscribers a couple of days ago.

Then again, I was thinking I really wanted to do a post about Jody, because she doesn’t get quite as much attention as some of the other chimpanzees. And I just happened to get a few photos of her today.

The main reason we don’t post as much about Jody is she is more elusive. Jamie is always right there, and really the same with Foxie and Burrito – they are all so human (and/or food) oriented, that we just naturally interact with them more and therefore have move photos and videos.

Then there’s Negra, who doesn’t move around as much, has that amazing droopy lip, and is just darn photogenic. I almost forgot! that was another post idea – I have a few photos of Negra from last week that haven’t been posted yet (I think I’ll save them).

And let’s face it, Missy and Annie play so frequently, we could probably get video of them and their antics everyday.

But Jody is very independent. She does love meal time (and has an amazing “hopeful” look), but once the meal is over, she’s off doing her own thing. During the summers we sometimes “lose” her on the hill because she’ll just go off exploring alone. And she likes to be up high, making photos a bit more difficult.

She is so full of personality, just like all of the Cle Elum Seven, and I have a lot of admiration for her. She went through more than I could have endured during her time in biomedical research, but she is a survivor.

Today, after cleaning the playroom, Debbie and I thought that Jody might get to work right away taking apart the blanket forts that we put together, as she has in the past. Instead, she got some alfalfa cubes, laid down perfectly on the new bridge under one of the new playroom lights between two blankets hanging above her, and just relaxed.

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So, I don’t know – what do you think I should post to the blog today?