Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Sanctuary

New Boot Goofin’

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It’s no secret that footwear here at CSNW is an important topic, one that is taken quite seriously. For example- a few months ago before I had my first shift, I had to pick out a pair of work boots online to be my chimp house boots. I am not normally that picky a person when it comes to fashion, but it took me longer than I would like to admit for me to settle on a pair of boots- I was way more concerned about whether Jamie and the other chimps would like my boots than I am about my normal day-to-day fashion choices.

A few weeks ago, a company named Planone reached out to us and asked if we would be interested in receiving a few pairs of their rain boots. They were super cute (and so shiny!) so of course we said yes! They came in the other day and the chimps have been very into them- Jamie, Honey B, Lucky, and Terry have been all about them since they saw them for the first time.

One of the pairs they sent us, a cream yellow short rain boot:

Check out today’s video for more on the chimps reactions! And thanks so much, Planone, for the gift! 🙂

Jamie, completely bliss-ed out about the new boots:

 

Mask Madness

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What I love about my job the most is that every day is never the same. You really never know what will be sitting in the foyer for the chimps when you come back from your weekend or what new interest they have. Through sanctuary the chimps get the opportunity to evolve and change, while also being able to have consistent steady things in their lives. For example, Foxie loves troll dolls! Because of our kind donors, she will always have troll dolls in her life, but she has also gotten the opportunity to expand that interest into other types of dolls. While her enrichment and opportunities have grown and evolved into new things, her dolls will always be there to comfort her and that will never change!
Recently, someone donated a troll doll mask! Foxie liked having her caregivers wear it for her, but to our surprise Gordo thought the mask was the funniest thing! The moment he saw it, he erupted into a game of chase! He would make us run all around the chimp house with it on (safely of course!). In between chasing he would playfully spit and bounce up and down while laughing! Donations like this are so wonderful, because even though it was terrifying for the humans to look at ;), it was an enriching opportunity for Gordo. Honey B really loved it too! She was playing chase and following me around while I wore it, she even gave out a sweet little kiss!

Be Right as Rayne

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There was some slight reprieve from the heat today. The sky is blanketed with clouds and rain has been on and off since morning. Personally, I have mixed feelings about this reprieve because though it is cooler, it’s still a “brisk” 97º out, making the day more humid. The chimpanzees didn’t seem to mind though.

During lunch, Rayne chose to perch herself on a pool of diluted Gatorade in the Riverview Greenhouse. She ate her entire lunch there, taking sips in-between bites. I was able to get some photos of here enjoying her chow biscuits. This series of photos is also a good depiction of how a wadge is made.

Some bonus photos from today:

Negra watching her group embark on their first patrol of the day.

Honey B watching me as I was taking photos of the Gatorade pool.

Jody taking it easy in her Greenhouse.

Burrito coming over to tell me to stop taking photos of Jody and to play chase.

Lucky patiently waiting for dinner service.

Foxie’s 46th

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I think that the title of this morning’s post (It’s Foxie’s birthdaaayyy!!) accurately reflected our staff’s enthusiasm for today’s big celebration.

It was a busy day for the humans, but the sanctuary’s chimpanzee residents seemed to enjoy every minute of it. First, this morning’s caregiving team prepared fruit-filled watermelon bowls and berry smoothies for both groups of chimps, sending them all into excited frenzies. While the chimpanzees were enjoying those in their groups’ respective greenhouse enclosures, Dr. Erin swung by with some fresh grapevine from a neighbor’s property which we passed out as forage and nesting material. On top of all that delicious food and browse, Foxie also received a unique gift from our supporters: a pile of new dolls from which to select her new favorites!

We hope you all enjoy the video showing some of the festivities. Thank you all for helping us to give Foxie and her friends another special birthday!

“Watermelon Bowls”
Missy, Negra, Burrito, Jamie, Jody and Foxie (L to R) foraging in Young’s Hill
Jamie snagging one of the last hidden bowls

Grooming with Honey B

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Since she was integrated into a larger group, Honey B has been making new friends, reuniting with old ones, and spending time with her half-sisters. Here she grooms with half sister, Rayne, and her old friend, Terry. Or rather, here she is being groomed. Honey B doesn’t do much grooming herself. Without knowing more you might think of that as an indication of dominance, but instead it seems to be more of a quirk. At least one study suggests that chimps with significant human interaction at a young age exhibit deficits in grooming behavior as adults, even when they are integrated into a group and engage in other social behaviors like playing. As far as I’m aware, Honey B didn’t have significantly more human interaction when she was young compared to the others in her group, but you would swear she was raised as a pet or performer if you didn’t know better. Perhaps some chimps are just more susceptible to the effects of human rearing.

In any case, it’s moments like this that make the integration process worth it.

Missy’s Big Harvest

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Missy harvested gold today! I was watching Missy looking around Negra’s cabin. She ever so slyly ran back into the greenhouse with something in her mouth. She had a good sized wasp nest! As Missy delicately ate the larvae her friends took turns food peering, except Jamie. Jamie found her own gold, leftover fingerling potatoes from a forage. She found a large handful and was quite pleased with herself!

Family Ties

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A few weeks ago, we asked you to submit your questions for us to answer. One question that was asked a few times by different people was if the siblings spend more time with each other than those not related to them.

In case there is anybody new, there are several siblings, full and half, in the group from the Wildlife Waystation. Cy and Lucky are full siblings. Rayne and Honey B are half siblings to each other as well as to Cy and Lucky. They all share the same father: Herbie.

Honey B:

Rayne:

Lucky:

Cy:

Dora and Gordo are also half siblings through their father: Les. Since Dora and Gordo were in the same group for several years and arrived here together, I assume the questions were based on the Herbie Clan. I will say that Dora and Gordo are great friends and spend a lot of time together.

Cy, Lucky, and Rayne arrived here last year with their group, while Honey B arrived here almost three years ago with Willy B and Mave. Though they are all related at least through their father, there is little to no indication they are aware of it. They all interact with each other at least once throughout the day in some way shape or form.

Lucky, for the most part, keeps to herself. Cy spends a lot of time keeping the group in order. Rayne is a social butterfly. Honey B interacts when and with whom she wants to interact at any given point.

Though Honey B shows the respect Cy deserves as the group’s alpha, they aren’t seen together that much. Honey B and Lucky do play with each other from time to time, but it’s not really a daily occurrence. Honey B and Rayne, on the other hand, do spend quite some time together almost every day with playing, grooming, or “mall walking.” I imagine they would be walking around their “mall” with coffees in hand if they had the chance.

Their is some physical resemblance between Honey B and Rayne, but it’s mostly if you catch them at certain angles. And if there is one thing all four of them have in common, they all can be very stubborn. (Examples: 1 & 2 ) It hasn’t been written about as much, but Rayne used to hold out when we tried to shift them out of an area early on when she first arrived. (Fingers crossed that was just a phase and I didn’t just jinx it!) Other than that, all four are very unique from one another. And ultimately, there is no difference between the time they spend with each other and the other unrelated chimpanzees.

If you still have some lingering questions, it’s never too late to submit them! You can still do so on the original post!

Rayne and Honey B:

Cy:

Lucky:

Some bonus photos of Burrito during today’s lunch forage: