Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Chimpanzee Photography Experience & Online Auction Opening Soon

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I mentioned the other day that some 2013 HOOT! auction bidders had cashed in their photography experience at the sanctuary that they won at the gala.

Right now, we are gearing up for our Summer Biddin’ online auction. While we don’t have a photography session, we do have a really amazing and unique experience to bid on: a Backstage Pass to the Sanctuary!

Bidding for all items opens Thursday morning, and items are still being added, but you can and should (right now) check out how you can help us throw a spectacular Summer Lovin’ Party for the chimpanzees and get some perks for yourself in the process.

Back to Saturday. Martha and Susie were the first winning bidders for the photography session. They had a great time at the sanctuary learning some new photography skills from photographers Karen Ducey and Dean Rutz. They set up photography camp on the observation deck and learned the ropes of the professional equipment that Karen and Dean generously loaned.

Martha and Susie taking aim

Martha and Susie practicing

Martha and Susie happy

And they got some really amazing photos!! Below are just a few.

Annie:

Annie on young's hill

Foxie:

Foxie pull up

Foxie on platform

 

And birthday-girl Missy, looking like her athletic self:

Missy on fire hose

 

Not only was it Missy’s birthday on the day they visited, it was also Martha’s! Karen was kind enough to bring a birthday cake, which of course we adorned with some CSNW style:

Martha's bday cake

 

Martha and Susie also took a walk with J.B. around the hill with Jamie of course following on the inside of the fence. Ellie the elk was hanging around the property and joined them too:

Ellie, J.B., Martha, Susie

 

You just never know what adventures await at the sanctuary, especially on a party day, which is why you should get ready to bid on the unique Backstage Pass experience and help us throw a great end-of-summer party! You don’t have to wait until Thursday to make your Summer Lovin’ party donation – do it today!

Missy Chimpanzee’s 39th Birthday

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Today was Missy-centered. The theme was tomatoes, slinky toys, tomatoes, socks, tomatoes, cattails, tomatoes, socks, and kongs with peanuts in them – all favs of Missy.

At our HOOT! gala in May, one of the more interesting items we auctioned off during the live auction was a photography session at the sanctuary with professional photographers Dean Rutz and Karen Ducey. There were two lucky winning bidders, and one of the winners cashed in their session this morning – we can’t wait to share a few of their photos with you!

In the meantime, here are some that the staff took today of the birthday girl, a flashback to one of my favorite videos of Missy, and a few photos of the other chimpanzees enjoying Missy’s birthday.

Missy spent the day, as usual, in action and elusive to the camera.

In the photo below, Missy is climbing one of the tallest structures on the hill during the breakfast forage, which included a lot of – you guessed it – tomatoes!

Missy climbing

 

Here she is at the top with a mouthful:

Missy behind post

 

Later, we handed out cattails. Missy decided to take hers inside:

MIssy biting cattail

 

Missy escaping the watchful eye of the camera, climbing to the bridge in the playroom to enjoy her cattail:

Missy climbing stairs

 

Missy in a nest playing with a slinky on the catwalk of the playroom:

Missy with a slinky

 

MIssy removing a kong from a sock:

Missy sit window kong sock

Missy sit window with kong

 

We put the kongs in socks for the nighttime enrichment in homage to Missy’s own invention, and one of my favorite videos of Missy, taken in 2010 (see below):

 

The other chimpanzees also had a great time with all of the birthday festivities today.

Jamie explored some new enrichment in the greenhouse:

Jamie with recorder

 

Jamie cleaning some plastic glasses with a sock:

Jamie with glasses

 

Negra foraged on the hill for breakfast:

Negra forage on the hill

Negra with a strawberry

Negra with chow

 

And Annie, proudly, got the tomato piñata during the playroom forage:

Annie with pinata

 

I posted a little video on Facebook of Missy playing what looks a lot like a thumb war with Negra while they lay next to each other on the catwalk. All in all, it was a pretty great 39th birthday for one of the most athletic, full-of-life chimpanzee people that I’ve ever met. We love you, Missy!

Missy's birthday portrait

Time on the hill

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The chimps are enjoying their forages on Young’s Hill so much more now that it’s cooled down a bit.

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This morning, Annie was searching high and low for something in particular. Turns out it was the primate chow she was after.

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Jamie almost always smells her food before putting it her mouth. A chimpanzee’s sense of smell is not much different than our own, so this is more of a personality quirk of Jamie’s than a species-typical behavior. We jokingly say that she must think we’re trying to poison her, because she always looks so suspicious when she does it.

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When Burrito is in a fight, he demonstrates an unbelievable combination of speed and athleticism. He can jump from the second story of the playroom down to the first, land on the concrete floor, and then take off running without skipping a beat. He’ll leap across the greenhouse and catch himself with one hand. But for some reason, when he’s not fighting he’s capable of tripping over his own feet.

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Last night we had the pleasure of hanging out with Jamie past sunset. Most of the chimps voluntarily go to bed around 5:30, just after we serve dinner. This is just as true in the winter when the sun goes down at 4:30 as it is in the summer when it stays light until 10:00. As soon as they finish their after dinner food puzzles, they start collecting blankets to make their nests around the playroom. But summer nights in Cle Elum are beautiful, and Jamie sometimes wants her caregivers to stay out with her for a few extra walks. This was the last of Jamie’s four after dinner walks around the hill, just before 8:00. When she decided she was done for the day, she gathered her cowboy boots and a pile of blankets and headed for the playroom.

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Negra, troll dolls, and overcoming anxiety

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If you read J.B.’s blog post yesterday, you know that we’ve had quite an interesting development at the sanctuary. Negra, who normally ignores enrichment, has taken a shine to troll dolls, which up until now have been Foxie’s “thing.”

An unrelated fact that you may have noticed if you’ve been with us for a while is that Negra is not as often pictured participating in forages on Young’s Hill as the other chimpanzees. Sometimes Negra decides not to join the group on the hill for forages. We are not entirely sure why this is, and we are trying to figure it out right now (more on that later).

The new development today is that Negra took a troll doll with her to forage on the hill!

It certainly seems that Foxie is able to get comfort from her dolls that she carries everywhere – a kind of security blanket, and perhaps Negra is experiencing something similar with the dolls now.

This is a not-very-good photo of Negra, with the troll doll in her right hand as she is walking back to the greenhouse with a mouthful of lettuce:

Negra holding troll on young's hill

 

Here is Negra passing Foxie (her inspiration?). I like the way that chimpanzees, even when there is lots of room (like 2 acres), will go out of their way to have physical contact:

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I was excited to get this photo – you can see Negra’s hand around the troll and Foxie’s around a Dora as they walk in opposite directions:

hands holding dolls

 

One of the many things that I love about Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest is that all staff caregivers meet twice a month to talk about the chimpanzees and raise concerns or even just share stories. One of our recent topics has been Negra’s reluctance to participate in forages. For a while, every time that Negra did not forage with the group, we would give her a meal in the greenhouse or inside the building. But then it seemed that she wasn’t even considering going onto the hill, perhaps because she knew she would get her own private picnic. She does sometimes show anxiety about going on the hill, and we don’t want to cause her to miss lunch if she is responding out of genuine fear.

However, we do want to encourage all of the chimps to experience everything that the sanctuary has to offer, to get exercise, and to work on overcoming situations that might cause a little bit of anxiety. So, a few weeks ago we decided to try not giving Negra a private meal if she didn’t at least make a move to participate in the forage. This may be providing her the encouragement that she needed to join the group in foraging.

Negra eating lettuce

At our last meeting we decided to start recording the different factors that may be influencing Negra to choose whether or not to participate in forages on the hill. But now we might just have to add one – whether or not she has a troll doll with her!

Some things you just can’t explain

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When Foxie first came to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest in 2008, she had trouble adapting. She was cautious when it came to developing relationships with new people, though given her history that wasn’t an unreasonable approach. But she was also wary of her new surroundings, especially in larger spaces. Each time she was allowed into a new area, she would cling to the walls or walk in circles around the edge of the room. She was also uneasy with all the enrichment we provided to the chimps each day. She would go out of her way to avoid walking near the piles of toys we put in the playroom, and while the other chimps would make nests each night with fresh blankets, Foxie would push them out of the way to clear a spot for herself on the bare concrete floor. Weeks passed, and while the other chimps reveled in all the new opportunities available to them, Foxie continued to find comfort in the emptiness that was all she had known for 31 years.

Then one day she met Trixie.

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It was just a doll, but Foxie was immediately drawn to it. Her reasons for choosing this troll doll, in all its pink-haired, pantsless glory, will remain one of life’s great mysteries. But we look back on that moment now as a turning point for Foxie. She hung onto Trixie and carried her everywhere she went. Supporters started sending in more dolls, and Foxie’s collection grew into the hundreds. The dolls were a source of entertainment for Foxie, but they also provided comfort and seemed to instill in her a sense of confidence and purpose. And they helped ease her into this new world filled with new people and things.

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Whatever the reason for Foxie’s obsession, we thought it was uniquely hers. The other chimps would pick up trolls from time to time, but mostly just to initiate games of chase with Foxie. They didn’t seem to get it. This type of deep and lasting connection between chimp and troll was limited to one quirky chimpanzee at one quirky sanctuary in the mountains of Washington.

That is, until Negra decided it was time to get in on this whole “troll” thing.

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For the last couple of weeks, Negra has been carrying around troll dolls everywhere. She takes them to bed and sleeps with them in her nest. She shows up at meal time with them tucked into her “pelvic pocket.”

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We have no idea what makes a chimpanzee decide, at age 41 and after six years at the sanctuary, to adopt troll dolls. Maybe it’s like the chimpanzees at Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage in Zambia who all decided that it was cool to stick grass in their ears. Maybe she’s watched Foxie carry these things around for so long that she’s finally decided to see what the fuss is about. Or maybe Negra just realized that, after having her own children stolen from her in the lab, it felt good to care for someone, even if they are made of plastic.

Some things you just can’t explain.

 

Hellos and Goodbyes

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One of the greatest talents of the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees is their ability to attract amazing people into their lives.

Unfortunately, they can’t all stay with us forever. In one week, we will be saying farewell to Lisa Schuster, who has served as a part-time caregiver for over a year and as a volunteer for many years before that. In all of her time at CSNW, Lisa has worked tirelessly on behalf of the chimpanzees, from cleaning enclosures to serving meals and everything in between. But most importantly, she has been a true friend and companion to Jamie, Foxie, Jody, Missy, Annie, Burrito, and Negra. So thank you, Lisa, for all you have done for the sanctuary and for chimpanzees everywhere. We know that Jody will be anxiously awaiting your visits.

Though we are sad to see Lisa go, we are also excited to welcome CSNW’s newest team member, Keri Heniff. Keri has been a volunteer at CSNW since 2012 and has been training for the last six weeks for her new role as a part-time staff caregiver. In addition to caring for the chimps, she will be sharing her experiences right here on the blog. You can learn more about Keri here, and you can reach her by emailing [email protected].

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Lisa and Keri

 

Tomatoes from the Garden

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Included among the vegetables currently ripening in the chimpanzees’ garden (thanks to volunteer Denice), are many cherry tomatoes:

Tomatoe plant in garden

 

This has not escaped the notice of one Missy Chimpanzee. The chimpanzees have a great view of the garden from all of the windows of the playroom. While many of the windows are bullet-proof glass, we do have some that have window caging over them, which allows us to open the window on the other side of the window cage for air flow. It also allows the chimps to climb on the caging. Here is Missy clinging to the window caging, gazing at the tomato plants:

Missy hanging on window caging

 

Missy may be of the opinion that the windows open so that we can give her those tomatoes she has her eye on, and that’s fine with us – it’s fun and satisfying to be able to give the chimpanzees exactly what they are asking for. Today, volunteer caregiver Connie and staff member Debbie served Missy some tomatoes.

Connie giving Missy a tomato

 

Jamie joined in on the spontaneous treat:

Debbie serving Missy and Jamie tomatoes

 

I can not emphasize enough how much Missy loves tomatoes:

Debbie serve Missy tomatoMissy being served a tomato