Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Friday Fun at CSNW

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Despite the gloomy day with the occasional rain showers, the chimps have been playing, reading, grooming, and relaxing. The perfect day at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

If you haven’t watched the video yet, can you guess what activity we caught Burrito engaging in today?! It’s an activity that many of our other chimps enjoy, but something Burrito does not participate in unless we add peanut butter to it… any guesses? Check out the video above for the answer!

Gordo and Cy (window). Their group is currently doing a reintro so these two boys aren’t together, yet!

Dora:

Gordo:

We also wanted to thank everyone who participated in our Comfort and Joy auction! Thank you for supporting us, year after year! We couldn’t do this without you! ❤️

Gordo: Awkward Social Butterfly

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We don’t often see Gordo playing with his friends.  Gordo is a bit of a loner.  He often spends time near his friends, but not in a pile-o-chimps like we see with many of the others.

Today, we got to see Gordo’s playful side, and we simply had to share with you!

Do you have your eye on anything special in the Comfort & Joy auction?  Do tell!  I am bidding on many of the ornaments.  Don’t outbid me! 😉

Nowhere to Hide

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There’s a drive-up window in Burrito’s playroom where he can order up play partners any time he wants. Even if no one is in the kitchen we’ll catch a glimpse of him on the security monitor, so he knows we won’t leave him waiting long. It certainly makes getting things done difficult at times but what could be more important that keeping Bubba entertained?

As I followed him out to the hill, I was happy to see Honey B and Terry hanging out together on the Bray—and even happier to catch Terry doing not one but two of his patented gorilla displays! He was really feeling his oats this afternoon. As he should, now that he is the (temporary) dominant male in his group.

Have you checked on our Comfort & Joy Online Auction lately? You can pick up some cool stuff for yourself or bid on items that we can give to the chimps and cows, like this cool Easy Swing Cow Brush!

Dora the Acrobat!

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It was a busy day today, in the chimp house.  I didn’t have any blog content, and I was worried.

Jenna and Dora to the rescue!

Jenna spied with her eagle eye, a little Dora chimpanzee person whooping it up in the playroom, while her family napped all around her!

How cute is she??

And, don’t forget!  Giving Day for Apes is just around the corner on Tuesday, October 8th. We need your help to reach our fundraising goal and every dollar goes to the care of our deserving residents.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Mercurial Males

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Male chimpanzees can be pretty cruel to the females in their group. Why are some of them such jerks sometimes?

From an evolutionary perspective, this aggression is thought to serve two functions. First, it may serve the purpose of establishing dominance. This is particularly true for adolescent males, who rise through the ranks in their communities by establishing dominance over each of the females before working their way into the adult male hierarchy. But it may be true for adults as well, as these displays of dominance can signal their fighting ability to other males in the group without the increased risks associated with directing aggression towards those other males.

Second, research suggests that, in adults, female-directed aggression by males also serves as a form of coercion. In some communities, males that exhibit more aggression towards females have been shown to sire more offspring by either increasing the probability that a female will mate with them or decreasing the probability that she will mate with someone else.

Most captive male chimpanzees, Willy B included, don’t even exhibit copulatory behavior, since they were raised in such atypical physical and social environments. It’s interesting then, and unfortunate, that this predisposition towards female-directed aggression nevertheless persists.

These same adult males and females can at other times be quite playful with one another. In wild environments, this appears to be more evident when resources are abundant, which suggests that play—known to have significant social and developmental benefits in adolescents—also benefits adults when time and energy are available. This may be why we see so much play in adult captive chimpanzees—after all, in better environments, most of the nutritional resources they need are all provided to them. Of course, some forms of play can be a mechanism to ease an underlying tension, which may be why play is so common before feeding times. But in most cases, it’s hard to see it as anything other than two chimps having fun.

When we study other animals, we don’t think in terms of “good” and “bad” behavior. Instead, we try to describe what is and develop explanations for how it came to be that way. Living with chimpanzees on a daily basis, though, can challenge this kind of impartiality. You cheer when you see them playing together and film it so others can share in their fun. And you become frustrated and upset with them when they fight. And before long you find yourself—biology be damned!—rooting for Honey B, who would sooner die than give an inch to any of those dumb, bullying boys.