Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

primate protection

Cy Solves a Fire Hose Puzzle

by

Cy has been trying out different ways of retrieving the walnuts out of the fire hose knot puzzles over the last few months. The last few times that I’ve been in the chimp house when Cy’s group has gotten fire hose knots, I’ve seen him chew the nut while it’s was still in the fire hose, then suck on the fire hose, I suppose getting some essence of walnut out of that process.

Last night, however, I was lucky enough to get this video of Cy’s new, and more fruitful, method of getting that sweet, sweet walnut reward.

Here for the Show

by

Burrito spends a lot of his time spying on the neighbors, especially when said neighbors are in the Chute, which is close to his playroom’s windows. But he can even get glimpses of other chimps when they are in Lupine playroom.

What was catching his attention this afternoon was a lot of displaying from both of the other groups.

You probably know Cy by now as more of the quiet bookish type, but he’s also a large male chimpanzee who is more than capable of putting on an impressive display:

It’s not clear if Burrito wishes he were in the mix or is merely entertained/enriched by focusing on the goings-on of the other groups.

He’s certainly not the only one.

Missy was also keeping a close eye on things this afternoon, bounding up and down as a greeting when she glimpsed Terry in the Chute.

While we won’t be doing any introductions with Burrito’s group in the near future, it’s clear just having neighbors has added a very enriching element to their lives.

Perspective

by

I didn’t have a blog post planned for today. Sometimes when I’m in this blank-slate situation, I look back on the blog at previous years of the same date to see what was happening in the hopes of inspiring an idea.

I chose January 15, 2019 to find out what was up. It was a literal walk down memory lane. Then staff caregiver/now volunteer caregiver Elizabeth gave an immersive behind-the-scenes view into what a morning was like at the sanctuary. The post featured then staff caregiver/now Chimp House Manager Anna with a supporting role from then intern/now Veterinary Assistant Sofía.

Elizabeth described the medical clinic trailer, explaining that it would soon be replaced by the stationary clinic that was a big part of the first phase of the expansion at the sanctuary.

Some things haven’t changed a bit from that post three years ago. Like then, the first thing the lead caregiver does is greet the chimps and work through a brief checklist while breakfast is being prepared. Negra can still almost always be found huddled under a pile of blankets.

Some things have changed a lot, though.

Burrito no longer displays every morning, but that’s not to say that he’s completely mellowed out. Today we witnessed a conflict where he swung and ran throughout his side of the building and chased after Foxie with an impressive amount of agility, determination, and energy (conflicts are a part of chimp life and everyone is fine).

The biggest change, of course, is the number of chimpanzees in this house.

Mave, Willy B, and Honey B arrived in August, five months after that 2019 blog post was written, and Lucky, Cy, Gordo, Rayne, Dora and Terry arrived in June 2021, almost seven months ago from today.

The building has expanded accordingly, with many more spaces for the new chimpanzees to enjoy and for the humans to clean up every day after they’ve been thoroughly enjoyed.

The new playrooms and greenhouses really are chimpanzee playgrounds, but it is quite challenging to get good photos of the chimps immersed in them.

Chimpanzees appreciate being up high, and their spaces were built with that in mind. Rayne in particular spends a lot of her time on the “leaves” of the artificial trees in the playroom.

Dora and Rayne were high up grooming on one of the leaves this afternoon. Normally, I would delete photos like the ones below, but I’m presenting them to show how difficult it is to get good photos of the chimps in these enriching spots.

Meanwhile, Honey B was inviting me to a game of chase in her greenhouse, where, despite the feet of snow outside, the grass and bamboo are still green.

I had to physically count on my fingers to verify that 2019 was just three years ago and to take a moment to appreciate all that supporters of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest have made possible. I’m in awe.

Included in this post is the featured (top) photo of Honey B that I also took today to demonstrate that the camera and the camera person is capable of taking a decent photo.

If the chimpanzees choose to be in private spots of their home that we can’t quite reach with our cameras, that’s okay with us. We can all be certain, even without frequent photographic evidence, that they value every  aspect of their home that’s been carefully designed and built to chimpanzee specification.

So This is Christmas 2021

by

We are very grateful to be able to throw such fun parties for the chimpanzees! It’s all because of the people in their lives who care – people who have personally known the chimpanzees for years and those who only recently were introduced to the sanctuary online.

A giant thank you to each and every person who makes sanctuary a reality for these incredibly deserving individuals, including the bovines who got their first taste of some new alfalfa today!

Lucky’s 30th Birthday Celebration

by

How lucky are we all that we have Lucky Chimpanzee in our lives now?! As Katelyn described, she is a gentle soul with an ineffable charm.

Her lunch forage, as seen in the video above, also included cherry tomatoes, of course, as we have noticed that is one of her favorite foods. We didn’t get a lot of video or photos of Lucky because she, Rayne and Dora enjoyed the party upstairs while “the boys” partied on the first floor

I love these photos that Kelsi took after the party because they are so sweet and because I know she had to go to some lengths to take the photos through the upstairs window to that playroom.

Lucky is the chimp puddle in the front of the photo below, with Terry far left, Dora far right, Cy behind Lucky, and Rayne’s foot in the right corner:

Lucky and Rayne:

Rayne sleeping off that oatmeal:

Thanks goes to Chad for the party plans, Dr. Erin for the oatmeal idea, Kelsi, Anna, J.B. and Lizz for pulling off simultaneous parties in different parts of the sanctuary, and also to Paulette once again for sponsoring Lucky’s special day.