Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
In a previous post, I mentioned how it seemed like Missy was anxious for the other chimps to become comfortable on the hill so that she’d have someone to play with. Thankfully, Missy’s best friend Annie has decided that she’s ready to take advantage of her new two-acre playground.
Burrito is an all-around great guy. If he had it his way, he would always have large handfuls of food.
Burrito turns 29 tomorrow. If you adore this guy as much as we do, it’s not too late to sponsor his day, become his Pal, or just donate whatever you can to keep his hands full on his special day.
Sometimes, no matter how sweet you are, you just don’t get what you want.
It’s been a very merry Christmas here at CSNW. The chimpanzees started the day with a special Christmas breakfast of peanut butter rice balls, bananas, and smoothie. After the playroom was cleaned, the real party began – complete with whole pomegranates and tangerines, new toys and blankets from friends Robbi and Dick Brown, Leslie Sodaro, and Joanne Pierce, and a Christmas tree decorated with popcorn and peanut strings and troll dolls.
Aside from the pomegranates, the tree might have been the star of the day. Diana had the idea to suspend it a couple of feet off the ground, so it spun festively whenever someone touched it. Burrito, in particular, seemed quite taken with it, as you’ll see below.
The other day, we put a mostly empty plastic peanut butter jar in with the chimps’ enrichment, which is something we often do when we’ve used the bulk of the peanut butter- the chimps spend hours trying to get the peanut butter remnants off the insides! Foxie was the lucky one who found it first the other day, and she took it on quite the adventure. First, she had it in the playroom. Later, she took it out with her into the greenhouse, and then she and her peanut butter jar went on a hike on Young’s Hill.
She took it with her as she climbed up and down a couple of the climbing structures and then around the perimeter, enjoying the occasional snack. At one point, Jody decided to start a game of chase. She got in front of Foxie and started playfully walking backwards, encouraging Foxie to follow her.
They played for a little while, but then Foxie got distracted and put down the jar. I can’t say if Jody had an ulterior motive for starting the game of chase, but it definitely seemed to work in her favor.
Jody enjoying the peanut butter jar in the greenhouse:
Negra continued her playful streak this morning, but I think her real intention was to steal Jody’s bed.
There’s so much to celebrate this week, from Save the Chimps final migration to the NIH’s dramatic announcement about the role of chimpanzees in biomedical research.
Here at the sanctuary, the chimps celebrated another sunny winter day by running around their 2-acre enclosure.
