Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
I don’t have a theme, but I have photos! Today was one of those days where I got some photos, but didn’t have a theme to tie them all together.
The seven enjoyed a cool morning on Young’s Hill, especially Burrito!
Burrito:
Jody:
Missy:
Cy, Rayne, and Lucky enjoying an after breakfast rest.
Here is how some of the chimps spent their afternoons.
Mave was enjoying the Greenhouse.
Jamie was keeping a close eye on Katelyn.
Terry was waiting for a game of chase!
This post is both about the great staff at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and about the chimpanzees who they care for; the chimpanzees who lead the way towards embracing challenges and demonstrating resiliency.
I’ve been incredibly impressed with our staff during the last few of years of challenges and uncertainty. We’ve done some hard things and been faced with difficult decisions, and the staff have embraced it all and moved forward with hope.
The most recent challenge has been starting introductions between the two groups of chimpanzees from Wildlife Waystation.
There are risks involved in introducing chimps to one another, risks we have experienced firsthand. It would be easy to decide to just not try, to keep things as they are. But the staff realize that the benefits to the chimpanzees’ welfare far outweigh the risks.
The chimpanzees themselves have already given us glimpses of these benefits – male friends for WillyB! So many new grooming partners for Mave! Half-sisters to play with Honey B! Lucky, Cy, Terry, Gordo, Rayne, and Dora could also benefit from living in a larger group with more choices for social partners.
I’ve been incredibly impressed with how the chimpanzees have reacted to the initial one-on-one introductions. Each of them have been able to overcome any anxiety in meeting those in the other group. In fact, they have embraced the opportunity, sometimes making it difficult to get the pairs we want because there are chimps who stay in the room, attempting to be the one who is next in line for an introduction.
Chimpanzees are amazing that way.
While we humans live in our heads much of the time, worrying and wondering, chimpanzees most often assess the situation and pretty quickly dive in. It’s not that they can’t think ahead – they certainly can. And it’s not that they never experience worry – for sure they do. But when something goes awry or they encounter something unexpected, they are usually able to quickly reassess and adjust, or just turn to the next good thing they know is coming, like pears for dinner.
While it’s true that Burrito is a very special being in so many ways, his ability to bounce back is a trait he shares with many of his species. Chimpanzees are tough, both physically and mentally. Sadly, that is one reason they were used so readily in biomedical research.
I’ve been particularly impressed with Rayne’s group and how they have so quickly adjusted to their new home. They marched in and claimed their space, quickly finding favorite spots and embracing the sanctuary’s routine.
J.B. shared yesterday that the new group was given access to the Chute for the first time this week. And he let you in on a secret: many (perhaps even the majority of) chimpanzees LOVE cage tunnels, choosing to spend time in them over larger areas that humans might describe as more “natural” looking.
This might be a good time to remind everyone of this blog post which is subtitled Caging is OK.
It’s not up to us to decide for chimpanzees in captivity what areas are their favorites; it’s up to us to provide them with variety and give them the choice to decide for themselves. For now, Lucky’s group has clearly decided that the Chute is awesome, even when they have access to the new beautiful greenhouses with grass and bamboo.
Today when we were cleaning, I snapped a couple of photos of all six chimpanzees in the Chute. I couldn’t even tell where one chimpanzee began and another ended. Gordo was the only one not in the chimpanzee puddle at the top of the Chute, instead laying claim to the spot closest to the end.
At another point during the day, I found brother and sister Cy and Lucky lying next to each other, facing opposite directions at the top of the Chute:
While Dora was trying out a small perch for a bed:
Thank you to all of the wonderful chimpanzees at CSNW who embrace change, find their thing, and power through the challenges towards the good times that may be just out of sight, but are surely there. Thank you to the staff who do the same. And thank you to all of you for reminding us, with your comments and support, what a special mission we have.
It will be a little while still before we are able to construct the two larger outdoor areas for Lucky’s group and Honey B’s group (we’re planning to begin this fall). In the meantime, Lucky, Cy, Gordo, Dora, Rayne, and Terry got their chance to explore “the chute”, which is a short tunnel that will connect their playroom, greenhouse, and other enclosures to the open-top enclosure to be known as The Bray. The chute may not seem like the most exciting thing in the world but any new space is fun to explore. And we’ll let you in on a secret – while people love to see chimps in large outdoor habitats, many captive-reared chimps seem to prefer overhead tunnels to almost anything else! That’s why we should always strive to provide them with variety and the ability to choose.
The two groups from the Wildlife Waystation are used to living near other groups of chimps – and lions and wolves, for that matter. So living within sight of a new group of chimpanzees is no big deal. But the chimps in Jamie’s group went without seeing other chimps for decades and as a result they react a bit differently at first. As in, they go a bit crazy. This is not the first they’ve seen of Lucky’s group, but it’s closer than what they’re used to and it was cause for some alarm and a lot of excitement. The group’s anxiety was short-lived and soon Burrito was angling for the attention of some new playmates-at-a-distance and Jody was flirting with the new boys in town.
The first order of business this morning was to patrol Young’s Hill. Negra, as always, stayed behind, as did Annie on this occasion. But the others set out as a group around the perimeter of their 2-acre habitat. Meanwhile, Lucky’s group took their breakfast to the top of the chute and wondered what all the fuss was about.
Pumpkin seeds are a regular part of the chimps’ diets. Earlier this summer we noticed that several seeds had gone unnoticed and sprouted into full pumpkin plants on the grassy floor of Greenhouse 2. We’ve been admiring the vines’ growth as they’ve spread out and blossomed remarkably well. Also to our amazement, the chimpanzees have been ignoring the foliage (if Jody’s group lived there we are certain the plants would never have made it this far).
However, as Sam reminded me the other day, pumpkin spice season has already begun. Almost on cue with the yearly debut of the autumn flavored latte, we caught Gordo and Dora snacking on pumpkin leaves in Greenhouse 2 this morning. Perhaps this is a trendy new way to enjoy an old seasonal favorite?
Dora (in a box):
Gordo:
My phone has been angry at me the past week or so. The memory is near capacity and it sometimes refuses to run some apps. The culprit of the memory consumption? Photos and video. Though I upload them to a cloud drive, I still have them on my phone because you never know when you’re going to need one to send to some one. It’s (personally) tough to purge the photos and video from my phone. As I delete 100, I take 100 more the next day I arrive at work. But, as I try to better myself at deleting things off my phone and trust the cloud drive, I found several videos of Burrito and I running around Young’s Hill over the past year. Watching these over again, I realized something. Every season is running season for Burrito! Please enjoy this montage of him running around Young’s Hill in the various seasons of Washington State.
Here are some bonus photos I took today and yesterday:
Foxie watching the produce delivery this morning from Young’s Hill.
Negra in the Greenhouse while the others venture out on their first patrol of the morning.
Jody foraging for some pine branches and wild roses on Young’s Hill this afternoon.
Jamie with her sweet pepper haul yesterday during Missy’s birthday.
Annie with her sweet potato haul yesterday.
Today, we celebrated Missy’s 46th birthday with a tomato-themed bash.
Paulette Wrisley made us smile by generously sponsoring this day of sanctuary in Missy’s honor. To make today even more special, our good friend Monica Best also sponsored this day of sanctuary for the same reason! Thank you for thinking of Missy, Paulette and Monica!
As many of you already know, tomatoes are Missy’s favorite food and she gets unashamedly excited about them. In fact, Missy’s love of tomatoes has single-handedly convinced the aforementioned Monica to give these odd fruits another chance (with some success).
Keeping this in mind, Enrichment Coordinator Chad created a chimp-friendly menu of fresh produce centered around whole beefsteak tomatoes. The meal even had an appetizer: a zesty gazpacho-like soup consisting of red bell peppers, celery, coconut milk, garlic, sweet onions, and tomatoes.
All three groups of chimpanzees enjoyed their own parties with the same menu, and the soup was an unexpected hit with some individuals while others ran around gathering sweet peppers and tomatoes. Of course, Missy seemed to have the best day of all. She zoomed around the Greenhouse and Young’s Hill, scarfing down dozens of treats and devouring several large beefsteak tomatoes on her own.
Chad took the following photos and I asked him if I could include them in today’s post! Even if Chad had said “no,” I would have stolen the images from him and taken credit anyway.
We’re so lucky to have such amazing supporters who make days like today possible, and we can’t possibly express our full appreciation for Paulette, Monica, and everyone else. Thanks you all for loving Missy and her companions as much as we do!
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P.S. I wanted to title this blog post Soups!… I Did It Again but I did some research and that pun is already in use. Apparently, there’s a Wisconsin company using that name for their brand. They actually make soups. I’ve been bested at my own game. Soups.
Now that it’s cooled off a bit, the chimps in Negra’s group are spending a little more time on the hill. We started the day with a breakfast forage, which lured Negra out of her nest and into the great outdoors.
After spending a considerable amount of time foraging, she decided to take the remainder of her breakfast to go and made her way back to the comfort of her greenhouse nest.
Burrito and Jamie also stuffed their mouths with fruit, including apples from our very own orchard that Diana picked the other night.
This is a good example of why we don’t forage all of the chimps’ meals – there’s just no controlling how much each will get! There’s a good chance Jamie’s got some food in her feet as well. I guess it takes a lot of calories to fuel all those walks around the hill.
Missy, who will turn 46 on Monday, set out to demonstrate that age has no bearing one’s athletic abilities.
Jody agreed, adding that she had never been very athletic, even when she was younger.
Nevertheless, she eventually made it to the top of Negra’s cabin to search for more treats.
Annie sought a bird’s eye view of the action.
Later, Jamie, Burrito, Missy, and I went for a walk around the hill, stopping momentarily to reenact the scene from the original Charlie’s Angels poster.
For a short while, Burrito led the way. Nothing keeps this guy down for long.
Jody caught up to us at the top of the hill, but broke away soon after to snack on a few wild rose hips.
We have a quick favor to ask: The chimps are once again running low on blankets, so we’d love it if you would consider donating a few from our wish list. Annie would be most grateful…and so would we! (Edit 8/21: The blankets have all been purchased off of our wish list – thank you all!)
