Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Going through the photos from this month, I found some gems that hadn’t been posted of each of the chimpanzees. There seems to be a yellow theme going on. Do you have a favorite?
As promised, here is the video of yesterday’s party.
The anticipation of the feast is always the best part. When chimpanzees are happy, they share their happiness with everyone around them. They hug and kiss each other and join together in choruses of pant-hoots. And they share pants and grunts of excitement with their caregivers.
It’s a celebration not just of food, but of the family they have become. And we are grateful to be considered part of their family in moments like these.
Each year, when the first cold spell hits, the chimps remind us that there is, in fact, a small upside to winter. Early morning frost lingers in the shadows on Young’s Hill, which the chimps rush to lick from every surface before it vanishes.
Tire swings hide thin layers of ice on the inside.
The chimps gather all of the icy treats they can find and head off to their favorite spots to enjoy them. Some return to the greenhouse.
Others carry their spoils to the tops the climbing structures.
These late fall mornings might be cold, but at least they bring snacks.
One thing that’s quite clear about the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees is that they are each unique individuals with different tastes, activity levels, and habits.
Though for most of their lives they didn’t have these things, it’s hard to fathom Foxie without her troll and Dora dolls, Jamie without her boots, and Negra without her blankets, which she puts over her head and shoulders – something she’s done from her first day in sanctuary.
Today I tried (fairly unsuccessfully) to get a photo of Negra as she lay on the heated catwalk with a Halloween blanket wrapped around her. Here’s the best photo I got:
As I was watching her, she got up suddenly. Curious about the suddenness of her motion, I followed her. She traveled down from the catwalk, across the playroom, and into the front rooms, then went out into the greenhouse.
She was clearly on a mission, and was still moving quickly as she climbed up to the top of the platform in the greenhouse.
And this was the result of her mission:
Apparently she knew of another blanket with her name on it.
Because she seemed to be in a black and white mood today, here is a black and white photo of Negra after she got the blanket just how she wanted it:
Long live Queen Negra. We hope she has many more years and many more blankets in her future.
It’s been seven months since we started our Positive Reinforcement Training program. In that time, both the chimps and the staff have learned a lot.
We, the staff, have learned that training is a difficult skill to develop. As we try to teach new behaviors to the chimps, we are often just as confused and frustrated as they are, if not more so. It takes a lot of patience, creativity, and most importantly, experience, to become a good trainer.
The chimps have learned dozens of behaviors that will make their lives healthier and happier, and they’re starting to discover that cooperating with physical exams and other medical procedures doesn’t have to be scary – it can even be fun.
For his part, Burrito still thinks this whole thing is too good to be true – getting praised and rewarded with food, just for showing us his teeth? He would have done that for free…
But Burrito is not the only one making progress – stay tuned for updates on Annie, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, and Negra in the coming months.
… that Burrito, Missy, Jamie, Jody, Annie, Foxie, and Negra were ever thought of as a means to an end in biomedical testing.
Thanks to everyone who has supported Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and allowed these seven chimpanzees to learn how to be chimpanzees, to learn who they are, and to be able to live in a home full of love and freedom. This video, as always, is for you!
Chimpanzees are endowed with unmatched grace and athleticism,
a combination of raw power and finesse,
with a dancer’s agility and a gymnast’s delicate balance,
their talents so great they border on god-like,
making even the most daring feats of acrobatics seem so effortless,
they can do them with their eyes closed.
Most of the time.
