Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Today’s day of sanctuary was a gift donation for the Eilmeses in Colorado: Kurt, Erin, Isaac, Ace & Elyse with Happy New Year wishes from Kevin and Diane Eilmes. They gave this gift in the hope that their Colorado family enjoy the chimps as much as they do!
Thank you, Kevin & Diane!
Here’s a favorite video from the previous year that illustrates one of the most important aspects of sanctuary life for the chimpanzees – companionship:
And here’s a photo of Annie and Missy holding hands:
Burrito is so easy to shop for. All he ever wants for his birthday is food.
The other chimps were more than happy to help him celebrate.
Of course, it’s not a real party until someone gets upset. Even when there’s more than enough to go around, someone (ahem, Jamie) has to take more than their fair share.
Thankfully, Jody was mature enough to extend an olive branch to Jamie and move on. Jody should be awarded some kind of medal for what she puts up with.
Burrito managed to avoid the camera most of the day, but rest assured, he ate enough to last him until next January. Now, it’s time to sleep it off. Happy 34th, big guy.
Negra, the grumpy 43-year-old Queen of the Cle Elum Seven, plays differently than the other chimps. Usually, she plays at one quarter speed. You can often see her playing gently with Missy in the loft or greenhouse while they are waiting for breakfast. Missy does her best to play at Negra’s pace, and the look on her face indicates that she is more excited about the very idea that she got the sleepy old lady to play than she is about the game itself. Look everybody, Negra is playing!
But when Negra is feeling really playful, she is a different animal altogether. There’s no smiling. No laughing, either. And all the hitting and wrestling that chimpanzees usually tone down and smooth over when playing is dished out with full force. She slaps her playmates. She headbutts them. She slams them into the wall. She grabs them by the feet and refuses to let go.
Missy and Foxie are well acquainted with Negra’s style of play, but it often comes as a surprise to the other chimps. At these times, they look more like hostages than playmates. At one point in this video, Jody turns to the camera, seemingly hoping that someone will step in to save her. But alas, there’s nothing we can do. Playtime isn’t over until Negra says so.
What a day!
Thanks for giving these chimps a reason to celebrate. It is such a joy for us to see your support transformed into pant hoots, food squeaks, and hugs. Happy Holidays!
Foxie has been playing nonstop the last few days. From aerial acrobatics to wrestling to whatever the heck she and Jamie and Jody are doing in this video, Foxie sure knows how to keep her family entertained.
What’s more terrifying than a chimpanzee dominance display? A dominance display in slow motion.
The chimps have been crazy all day. Burrito can become very sexually aroused when the girls have their swellings, particularly when all three girls who cycle are in estrus at the same time. But because he was raised by humans (like most entertainment and research chimpanzees), he doesn’t exhibit normal sexual behavior. The result is a lot of tension, a lot of frustration, and a whole lot of chaos.
Jamie stepped out of the playroom during the afternoon to release some of that tension in the form of a dominance display. Displays are partly under conscious control and partly not. In this case, it seemed clear to me that Jamie climbed to the top of the platform with the intention of displaying. But at the same time she wasn’t fully in control of the display. We often liken displays in this way to sneezes. You know when you have to sneeze but you just can’t? And you can’t do anything else until the sensation either dissipates or culminates in a sneeze? That’s what displays can seem like for chimpanzees. Jamie stood on that platform for three minutes, rocking back and forth, softly pant hooting, and then repositioning and hooting some more, until she finally got everything out in a two-second display. When she was finished, she went about her business as if nothing had happened.
I think we’ll all be a lot happier in a few days when Burrito can start to focus on other things…
Go behind the scenes with a photographer at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and find out the secret of the “serious” photos taken of a chimpanzee named Burrito.
