northwest

Portraits

October 10, 2014 by J.B.

As volunteers at CSNW advance in their training, there comes a point when they are tested on their ability to identify the chimps. Understandably, this can cause some anxiety. After all, when you are new to being around chimps, you can’t help but focus on how different they look from us, instead of how different they look from each other. At first you look for prominent features and try to put them together like a puzzle:

Missing ear + Big belly + Bald head = Negra

Missing toes + Heart shaped brow ridge + Hairless forearms = Jody

Perfect posture + Intense gaze = Jamie

Notch in ear + Kind of looks like Shrek = Annie

Slight build + Troll in hand = Foxie

No neck + Silvery back = Missy

Testicles = Burrito!

But then one day it all comes together, and instead of seeing individual features, you see personalities. Instead of seeing parts, you see people. And you wonder how on earth you could have missed it before.

Missy:

Jody:

Negra:

Jamie:

Annie:

Burrito:

Foxie:

Best of today

October 6, 2014 by Keri

There were so many good photos of each of the chimpanzees that I had to share them all on today’s blog. It’s really hard to pick a favorite.

Annie’s beauty is beyond words.

Missy actually sat still long enough for us to get a few photos.

Foxie enjoyed her pears at breakfast. Perhaps they taste better by the mouthful.

Burrito spent part of the afternoon playing with his wooden blocks and his own arm.

Jamie took a moment to pose for the camera before going for a walk on Young’s Hill.

Jody took some time to groom herself and ponder her surroundings.

Negra in her favorite nesting spot on the catwalk.

Watching the sunset

October 4, 2014 by Debbie

Jamie has been really enjoying the slightly cooler fall evenings lately and has stayed out late pretty much every day this week! Staff (especially Katelyn and Elizabeth!) have been walking around the hill during these late evenings so much! Jamie normally heads in as the sun goes down, which this time of year is a quarter til 7 o’clock. However on Thursday night, she stayed out long past the sun went down and didn’t come inside until 7:30! Those walks were lit by just the moonlight. Thursday evening Katelyn got this photo from her phone which captured the moon shining down on Jamie.

Last night Jamie came in before it got really dark, but not before she contently watched the sun go down, while holding her current favorite boots.

Once the sun went behind the hills, she climbed down the platform and carried her boots in with her for the night.

But then she had to steal just one last glance at the sunset.

Negra Light and Bonus Play Video!

September 27, 2014 by Diana

*Note – due to feedback on Facebook this post is basically a two-for-one. Photos AND video of Negra on the hill AND a bonus treat -a video of Jamie and Foxie playing. Just a fraction of the great things that happened at the sanctuary today.

Please let me know which was your favorite part of this post in the comments below and on our Facebook page, and share your favorite photo and video on your own Facebook, Twitter, Ello (are you on that?), etc. page or email a link to the blog to your friends. Spread the chimps’ joy!

We’ve had rain for the last few days, which was a nice change. Today, however, was back to sun, but with a definite autumn feel. There’s that bit of crispness in the air and the ambient light seems to have suddenly changed overnight with the sun lower instead of directly overhead. I might just start referring to this light as “Negra light” because it made for some beautiful photos of the Queen this morning.

The change back to sunshine prompted us to set up a breakfast forage on the hill. Negra doesn’t always join foraging on the 2-acres, but I made sure to make a pathway of lettuce to encourage her to come out. To our surprise, Negra not only ventured onto Young’s Hill, but spent quite a bit of time foraging, and was the last one back in. Not only that, but she demanded that Debbie serve her two cups of smoothie, which she often is not interested in – perhaps the workout of foraging on the hill made her a bit more hungry.

In any case, please enjoy the (many) “Negra light” photos and the video below, don’t forget to watch the Foxie and Jamie wrestling video at the end of the post and let me know what your favorite part of today’s post was (one of the videos, a particular photo, the eclectic content…?).

Thanks for reading and learning more about the family at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest! Your support and donations make all the difference!

“Negra Light”!

And here’s the bonus video, which doesn’t need much explanation. What a happy pair!

Hierarchy

September 26, 2014 by J.B.

Yesterday, during the party, Negra and Jody found themselves eating from the same pinata.

Negra, being dominant to Jody, decides that she’d rather not share. As Negra pulls the pinata away from Jody, Jody gets upset and begins to just slightly bare her teeth out of fear. Negra then displays a facial expression known as a full open grin. As you can see, her upper and lower lips are drawn all the way back, exposing all of her large and powerful teeth. This is a sign of fear or excitement, and is often seen when social conflict breaks out.

Jody responds with a full closed grin. Her lips are drawn back like Negra’s, but her jaw is closed. She is upset that Negra has pulled rank, so she goes to Burrito and Foxie for reassurance.

After being reassured by Burrito and receiving a kiss and a hug from Foxie, Jody returns to Negra, who offers her an extended arm in reconciliation. Jody accepts.

And the Queen gets the pinata.

As it should be.

This is all very similar to the conflict we showed a couple of weeks ago, but in this case all of the behavior was ritualized and no one was harmed in the process. As aggressive as they may be, chimpanzees are also very good at negotiating peaceful settlements to their disagreements. Part of this is due to their dominance hierarchies, which can help predetermine the outcome of smaller skirmishes without the need for fighting.

We mentioned before on this blog how difficult it can be to describe the dominance hierarchy at CSNW. One reason is that these seven chimpanzees had little social experience before coming to the sanctuary. They had to start figuring out how to be chimpanzees when they were already well into adulthood, with no role models to emulate and no culture to absorb – just seven misfits trying to figure things out as they went along.

But another explanation is that the majority of the Cle Elum Seven are female, and in the wild, the hierarchy amongst females is often less linear than it is for males. In some communities, the females seem to be ranked in broad groups rather than by the individual.

I would say that is true for the Cle Elum Seven. It’s clear that Jamie, Negra, Jody, and Burrito are dominant individuals, but among them, it’s not always clear how they are ranked. The hierarchy is complex, fluid, and context-dependent. For example, Burrito’s dominance displays are respected and tolerated by all of the females, but Jamie can steal his lunch with impunity. Jamie gets upset when Jody gets a hold of prized food, but she is not always successful in her attempts to steal it away. Negra always submits to Burrito, but she steals from Jamie and Jody. Honestly, it can get confusing.

Nevertheless, we refer to Jamie as the alpha of the group because she regularly fights for dominance and usually gets her way. Negra, on the other hand, seems to earn respect without trying.

All she wants is her night bags, a quiet nap, and occasionally, someone else’s pinata.

Lips

September 22, 2014 by Keri

I’ve recently been asked about how we receive kisses from the chimpanzees. The simple answer is that the chimpanzees extend their lips through the wire caging toward us and we put the back of our hand up towards their lips. But, words can only describe so much; pictures actually show it. So, today I tried to capture that through photos, but none of the chimps offered kisses to me (perhaps because I had the camera in hand?). So, I had to resort to the next best way of showing how the chimpanzees extend their prehensile lips towards us to give us a kiss. Meal time is the perfect opportunity to capture the chimpanzees extending their lips through the wire caging.

In the following photos, volunteer caregiver Becca served breakfast to the chimps this morning. On the menu were red pears and oranges, along with a watermelon, banana and protein powder smoothie. Each of the chimpanzees are also given fiber pills and vitamins every morning. You will notice in the following pictures that Becca’s fingers never penetrate the caging. For safety reasons, we consider the caging to be a barrier between our space and that of the chimpanzees, therefore we never stick our fingers into the enclosures.

Annie takes her fiber pill at breakfast.