Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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A walk in the rain

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I will never forget the first time the Cle Elum Seven chimps saw rain.

Central Washington is very dry in the summer, and a couple of months had gone by after their arrival without any significant precipitation. Every day was hot and sunny. Imagine this from their perspective. They had lived for decades in windowless rooms. Some hadn’t been outside since they were infants; others may have never seen the outdoors in their entire lives. As far as they knew, this is how the outside world was and always would be.

Then one day, the skies opened up and it poured.

The chimps were in the playroom at the time, and they ran to the doors and windows to see what was happening. Missy and Jamie started to alarm call, alerting the others to this frightening and confusing turn of events. Jamie was brave enough to go outside, but she immediately turned around and dried herself off head to toe with a towel. When it was over, they cautiously ventured out to inspect the aftermath.

It’s both heartbreaking and awe inspiring to watch a 35-year-old learn about basic things like rain. As the years went by, the chimps grew accustomed to the sight and sound of rain, but they still didn’t like to go outside in it. They’d spend rainy days indoors in their nests, and if they were unfortunate enough to get caught outside in the rain, they’d run as fast as they could to get back inside.

But this year, Jamie decided that a little rain wasn’t going to keep her from walking around Young’s Hill. And as I watch her walk, drenched from the rain but determined to carry on, I can’t help but admire her.

Veggie Grill Fundraiser Tomorrow!

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Help the sanctuary tomorrow by going to Seattle’s South Lake Union Veggie Grill anytime between 11am and 5pm, mention the sanctuary and 50% of what you spend on food and beverages will go to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest! If you go between 11am and 1pm, you can meet Jennifer, CSNW’s Executive Director.

Help us spread the word to all of your friends in the Seattle area. Share our event page and invite your friends via Facebook.

Or consider making a lunch donation if you’re unable to attend. The chimps appreciate your support!

Veggie Grill Fundraiser tomorrow

burrito eating a sandwich

 

 

Young’s Hill party forage

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I mentioned earlier on the blog that today is the second anniversary of the opening of Young’s Hill. Watch the video of their first day out here and check out the previous post for some photos of the chimps on that very emotional and moving day!

Today we wanted to celebrate the anniversary in the best way we know how for chimps—a big food forage! The chimps usually are served their meals (so we know that everyone is getting appropriate portions) but a few times a week we do put out a forage for them to do what chimps would do in the wild. In order to scatter the food around and make the forages last for awhile, we usually cut up the food into small chunks so it takes some time for them to find everything.

This time, we not only included a fruit salad of some chopped peaches, raspberries, and grapes, as well as baby carrots and green onions—but we also included WHOLE apples and tomatoes. The chimps were so excited as we headed out to spread the food around! Mixing things up like that keeps the chimps super enriched and happy.

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Everyone really loved all the whole apples and tomatoes! Jody was the first to get a hand (and mouth) full!

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Jamie collected at least four apples:

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Annie:

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Burrito searching for goodies:

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And then taking a quick rest:

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Foxie:

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Missy:

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Thank you so much to everyone who helped with Young’s Hill, and to everyone who has helped the Cle Elum Seven along this amazing and considerable journey!

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One track mind

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Burrito is known for is love of food, but there is one thing that has an even greater power to capture his attention…

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Girls.

Specifically, tumescent girls.

Female chimpanzees have a menstrual cycle that is very similar to humans, but with one important difference: they advertise their fertility. Throughout their 36-day cycle, changes in hormone levels cause visible changes in the skin of the anogenital region. As they approach ovulation, this area swells and the skin becomes taut and pink, a condition known as tumescence. Male chimpanzees find this very attractive and the tumescent females find themselves at the center of a lot of male attention.

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The females’ swellings have great power over the males, like an invisible tractor beam pulling them along. During the lunch forage today, Burrito got so distracted that he barely picked up any food.

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Normally, males would mate more often with the tumescent females. But Burrito doesn’t exhibit normal mating behavior. And sadly, this isn’t all that uncommon in captive chimpanzees.

Many chimpanzees born in laboratories are taken from their mothers shortly after birth, either because their mothers aren’t taking proper care of them (they themselves were probably stolen from their mothers), because hand-reared chimpanzees are seen as easier to manage, or because the labs intend on breeding the mother again shortly (the normal birth interval for chimpanzees is about 5 years, but if the baby is taken away the mother will enter into estrus again within months). Laboratory born chimpanzees are also denied the opportunity to grow up in a traditional social setting, where they would learn from family members, other adults in the community, and their peers.

The result of this unnatural upbringing is a chimpanzee that is culturally adrift and frequently frustrated. Not only do chimpanzees like this lack a knowledge of societal customs and traditions, but even basic biological functions are left undeveloped without opportunities for social learning.

Maybe Burrito doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. He finds other ways to deal with his urges, and life goes on. But it is a daily reminder that so much was stolen from these chimpanzees that they can never recover.

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How do you know where you are if you don’t know where you’ve been?

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I decided to do a little retrospective of the blog today and found the posts around this time for the last five years. It’s interesting what’s changed, what’s remained the same, and what’s entirely different.

Today I posted this photo on Burrito’s Facebook page and described him as handsome:

handsome burrito on deck.

And today volunteers Lynn and Patti staffed our booth at PAWSwalk. I worked in the chimp house with Debbie and Keith stopped by for a visit this afternoon with some friends.

Five years ago today, I posted about Keith and I staffing the PAWswalk booth and I posted a photo of handsome Burrito:

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Today was a drizzly day, but that didn’t stop Jamie from going all around the hill four times – twice with me and twice with volunteer Keri. On her fourth trip around, Jamie ran the whole way. She got pretty wet from the rain, but didn’t seem to mind at all.

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It was drizzly four years ago at this time too, so toothbrushes were the rainy day enrichment.

Three years ago we had the ingenious idea to fill troll dolls with treats and freeze them. We’ve probably done this 50 times since then. I love Jamie’s somewhat frustrated initial reaction:

Two years ago Young’s Hill was almost but not quite complete, and we were speculating about whether the chimpanzees might be hesitant to walk into the great wide open space.

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And one year ago, we posted this in-depth story that KOMO news did about the fire that burned the grass on Young’s Hill and damaged the caregiver house on the property: