It may be a new year, but Annie and Missy spent their morning in a good old-fashioned play session.
northwest
New Year’s Day Sponsored by Diane and Sherri
Today is certainly a very special day. You, supporters of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, helped us to really ring in 2015 in style by getting us beyond our goal of $65,000 in individual donations in the month of December. Wow!
Two people contributed to this success by making a sponsor-a-day donation and choosing this special day to sponsor. Thank you, Sherri Mudri and Diane Mattis!
Sherri’s gift message for today is “Happy New Year to the Magnificent 7!”
and volunteer Diane shared this lovely thought, “New Year’s Day is the beginning of another year for us all to celebrate what we have and think of what we can do in 2015 to make the world a better place. 2015 will be another year for the Chimps to be loved, kept safe and well and grow because of the dedication, kindness and love each person at the Sanctuary provides freely every day. Happy 2015 to the Chimps and the Humans.”
What more needs to be said?
Here are two photos to celebrate today:
This second photo is featured on the back of our 2015 calendar – hopefully many of you are hanging up your calendars today!
Happy Birthday, Tracy Headley!
Tracy Headley sponsored today with this message, “I celebrate my friends at CSNW on my 50th birthday.”
Tracy is an impressive supporter of the sanctuary. You may recognize her name because she has sponsored several days, has had days sponsored in her honor, is a Chimpanzee Pal to more than one of the chimpanzees, and donates literally whenever we have any kind of donation opportunity, including sponsoring the HOOT! gala.
Tracy is clearly an incredibly giving person and a friend to all of the primates at the sanctuary. I was so excited when she and her husband Bruce signed up for a Summer Visitor day this past summer and got to see Foxie’s birthday party – – because there’s not much that tops seeing a party thrown for the chimpanzees.
Here’s a photo of Foxie from that day as she scrapes every bit of watermelon out of its skin:
and here’s a bonus photo of Burrito, who’s always up for a party:
Thank you for all of your generous support, Tracy, including sponsoring today.
Foxie, Burrito, and crew wish you the best of all birthdays today and we hope you are throwing yourself a big party!
I know Tracy would want everyone to know that we need only five more sponsored days to reach our goal of 50 new sponsored days before the end of the year. Help us get there by picking a day to sponsor for yourself or a loved one.
Missy in winter light
Today, the day after Christmas, was absolutely gorgeous! Clear skies and very little wind, which meant the chimpanzees got to spend some quality time on the hill. And a gorgeous day makes for beautiful photos of the chimpanzees.
Before taking a look at the photos below, be sure you’ve watched the video from yesterday’s holiday party. It’s our most shared video on Facebook, so you should probably check it out (and share it!) if you haven’t already.
I felt lucky to get these photos of Missy on one of my many walks around the hill today.
Missy was actually sitting still for a few minutes, seemingly taking it all in:
And, even more rare, she stood still for a few moments:
But just a few minutes – pretty soon she was off running, as per her usual pace:
It still thrills me to witness how much Missy enjoys running, and to know that she can now run as much as she wants.
Possibilities
The chimpanzees access Young’s Hill, their two-acre outdoor habitat, through a doorway in the greenhouse. Missy is sitting in front of that door in this photo:
During the day, the chimpanzees spend a lot of time in front of this doorway looking out toward the hill. I think as much as they like being outside, they like the possibility of being outside almost as much. Today I caught some of the chimps taking turns sitting in the doorway and considering the possibilities.
Missy:
Jody:
Annie:
Are Chimpanzees Picky Eaters?
People are often curious what foods the chimps like. The Cle Elum Seven as a group are not very picky – not nearly as picky as other chimpanzees I’ve known. The bulk of the food we provide for the chimps is raw (or sometimes baked or otherwise cooked) fresh produce, and almost everyone eats almost everything we serve. There are a couple of exceptions, of course.
Jamie, for example, eats almost everything, but really does not appreciate the skin of carrots, so we peel hers for her. She also will often turn up her nose if there’s raw spinach in the chimps’ morning smoothie, though I discovered the other day that cooked spinach (frozen and then thawed and blended up with some fruit and almond milk) is better than okay in her opinion. Foxie is probably the pickiest, and declines several different vegetables, preferring fruit. Surprisingly, she loves smoothie with either raw or cooked spinach, even though it’s doubtful she would eat spinach on its own.
Strangely (or maybe not so strange for those who agree with their tastes), as a group they don’t seem to care much for zucchini or summer squash, but they love pumpkin and they like spaghetti squash, so we’re always asking each other – do you know if they will eat this squash? This is what happened tonight when Elizabeth and volunteer Tania were getting dinner together. Elizabeth held up a butternut squash and asked if I knew if the chimps liked that variety. I really wasn’t 100% positive, but Negra gave us the answer with her food squeaks:
It turns out they all loved it. Missy was probably the most excited, but was moving far too fast to get photos. We’ve learned it is always best to give things a try, even if there’s a chance that one of the chimps might not like one of the foods we serve. Sometimes tastes change, and, because we provide as large a variety of produce as possible and always have three or more choices in a given meal, there’s always something for everyone.
Summer in December
We set out a chow forage after cleaning the greenhouse this morning, but for some reason only Burrito went out when I opened the door. That was fine with him.
After breakfast, Missy and Annie sat in the doorway to Young’s Hill, trying to decide if it had warmed up enough yet to go out.
Jody was the first to go out. At first she seemed a little uncomfortable, but as soon as the sun came out she began to relax.
Jamie and Missy immediately set off around the hill.
Annie came out too, clutching her blankets.
Foxie hung out with her troll in her usual spot on the lower platform.
This is downright balmy weather for Central Washington in December and the chimps seemed eager to spend as much time as possible outside.
Everyone but Negra, of course. She took her time finishing her apple from breakfast and then made her way back to bed.
Later in the day, a light mist started to fall, but Missy and Jamie kept at it. We are at walk number six now, and there’s plenty of daylight left. Got to take advantage of this weather while we can.
