Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

shelter

Bill and Nicki Walters – more celebration!

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Mari and Adam Osuna are continuing the three day streak of honoring Bill Walters for his birthday, and they are also honoring Bill’s wife Nicki, who was the first to sponsor-a-day in honor of Bill’s birthday.

As Mari and Adam suggest: “let’s keep the party going for Bill’s Birthday!”

We at the sanctuary are more than happy to do just that.

If you missed the first blog and you’re curious who this couple is who obviously have some very caring and generous friends, you can read about Bill and Nicki on their business page.

Many thanks to Nicki, Kenneth, and now Mari and Adam for sponsoring the last three days in honor of Bill.

Parties are an important part of sanctuary life, too. Celebrating and having fun with friends is good for everyone. Burrito is often the most enthusiastic party-goer amongst the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees, and here are a few photos demonstrating his enthusiasm:

Burrito with easter basket

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burrito licking bottle

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with his friend Foxie:

Burrito with Foxie

What to write after 2,701 posts?

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I just checked – as of this morning, we have published a total of 2,701 posts on this blog! When we started to write about the chimps, even before they arrived at the sanctuary, I wondered if we would run out of ideas at some point. Would  the days become routine and after a few years, we’d be scrambling for something to share?

I laugh now at that thought. Today, I had no fewer then nine ideas for the blog, and I’m still not sure what to chose! Some are timely – our WA State Seahawks are playing in the Superbowl tomorrow, so it would be fun to share some photos of Seahawks parties, like this one of Burrito, who had the best Blue Friday with some streamers last year (video here).

Burrito with streamers

and we’re going to launch a super fun Share the Chimp Love campaign in just a couple of days, and I just happened to get a photo of Negra with a “love” blanket, so I could share that photo, even though it’s not the best quality, and maybe tease that there’s special perks involved with this campaign, one of which involves Negra.

Negra under love blanket

I also got some cute video of Annie and Missy playing on the catwalk earlier. I was thinking about learning how to make an animated gif file, or maybe use their play session for a vine video, but I’m running out of time – dinner is in less than half an hour.

I also thought about finding photos of the chimpanzees that have a particular “hopeful” look that I love so much and talking a bit about the State of the Sanctuary email/video we sent out to e-news subscribers a couple of days ago.

Then again, I was thinking I really wanted to do a post about Jody, because she doesn’t get quite as much attention as some of the other chimpanzees. And I just happened to get a few photos of her today.

The main reason we don’t post as much about Jody is she is more elusive. Jamie is always right there, and really the same with Foxie and Burrito – they are all so human (and/or food) oriented, that we just naturally interact with them more and therefore have move photos and videos.

Then there’s Negra, who doesn’t move around as much, has that amazing droopy lip, and is just darn photogenic. I almost forgot! that was another post idea – I have a few photos of Negra from last week that haven’t been posted yet (I think I’ll save them).

And let’s face it, Missy and Annie play so frequently, we could probably get video of them and their antics everyday.

But Jody is very independent. She does love meal time (and has an amazing “hopeful” look), but once the meal is over, she’s off doing her own thing. During the summers we sometimes “lose” her on the hill because she’ll just go off exploring alone. And she likes to be up high, making photos a bit more difficult.

She is so full of personality, just like all of the Cle Elum Seven, and I have a lot of admiration for her. She went through more than I could have endured during her time in biomedical research, but she is a survivor.

Today, after cleaning the playroom, Debbie and I thought that Jody might get to work right away taking apart the blanket forts that we put together, as she has in the past. Instead, she got some alfalfa cubes, laid down perfectly on the new bridge under one of the new playroom lights between two blankets hanging above her, and just relaxed.

Jody in triangle of blankets Jody up close

 

So, I don’t know – what do you think I should post to the blog today?

 

Forages and Serving – Variety is the Spice of Life

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Today I have for you a video of the chimpanzees enjoying food. Now, we all know that Burrito is pretty irresistible, especially when he’s excited about food (see exhibits A and B photos below):

Burrito with chow in mouth

Burrito with chow in mouth

 

But I think my favorite part of the video is Jamie’s look when she’s enjoying the last bit of smoothie from a dixie cup. See for yourself:

Taking some photos up a notch

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I really like black and white photos. I think it lends a more intimate feeling to portraits – you can really concentrate on the person’s facial features and wonder about their personalities and their pasts without the distraction of color.

We’ve been getting some great close-up photos of the chimpanzees lately plus I found a few that we hadn’t posted before, so I thought I would render some in black and white and sepia.

What do you think?

This is a close up of Annie’s eyes:

close up eyes of Annie

Annie:

annie close-up b&w

 

Foxie:

foxie b&w

 

Jamie (I just love this photo that Katelyn took – it’s great in color and sepia):

jamie sepia

 

Jody:

jody b&w

 

Burrito:

burrito b&w

 

Missy:

missy sepia

 

Last, but never least, Negra:

Negra b&w

Missy in winter light

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Today, the day after Christmas, was absolutely gorgeous! Clear skies and very little wind, which meant the chimpanzees got to spend some quality time on the hill. And a gorgeous day makes for beautiful photos of the chimpanzees.

Before taking a look at the photos below, be sure you’ve watched the video from yesterday’s holiday party. It’s our most shared video on Facebook, so you should probably check it out (and share it!) if you haven’t already.

I felt lucky to get these photos of Missy on one of my many walks around the hill today.

Missy was actually sitting still for a few minutes, seemingly taking it all in:

missy side view look away

missy side view

 

And, even more rare, she stood still for a few moments:

missy stand look left

Missy look right

Missy look camera

 

But just a few minutes – pretty soon she was off running, as per her usual pace:

missy run away

It still thrills me to witness how much Missy enjoys running, and to know that she can now run as much as she wants.

Are Chimpanzees Picky Eaters?

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People are often curious what foods the chimps like. The Cle Elum Seven as a group are not very picky – not nearly as picky as other chimpanzees I’ve known. The bulk of the food we provide for the chimps is raw (or sometimes baked or otherwise cooked) fresh produce, and almost everyone eats almost everything we serve. There are a couple of exceptions, of course.

Jamie, for example, eats almost everything, but really does not appreciate the skin of carrots, so we peel hers for her. She also will often turn up her nose if there’s raw spinach in the chimps’ morning smoothie, though I discovered the other day that cooked spinach (frozen and then thawed and blended up with some fruit and almond milk) is better than okay in her opinion. Foxie is probably the pickiest, and declines several different vegetables, preferring fruit. Surprisingly, she loves smoothie with either raw or cooked spinach, even though it’s doubtful she would eat spinach on its own.

Strangely (or maybe not so strange for those who agree with their tastes), as a group they don’t seem to care much for zucchini or summer squash, but they love pumpkin and they like spaghetti squash, so we’re always asking each other – do you know if they will eat this squash? This is what happened tonight when Elizabeth and volunteer Tania were getting dinner together. Elizabeth held up a butternut squash and asked if I knew if the chimps liked that variety. I really wasn’t 100% positive, but Negra gave us the answer with her food squeaks:

Negra eating butternut squash

Negra holding squash

It turns out they all loved it. Missy was probably the most excited, but was moving far too fast to get photos. We’ve learned it is always best to give things a try, even if there’s a chance that one of the chimps might not like one of the foods we serve. Sometimes tastes change, and, because we provide as large a variety of produce as possible and always have three or more choices in a given meal, there’s always something for everyone.

Snuggling up with blankets: A retrospective

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This post may reflect what I would like to be doing on this cold and damp day…

In any case, below are some photos – some oldish and some newish – of the chimpanzees getting snuggly with blankets. We give out at least 60 blankets a day. Sixty is a somewhat arbitrary number, but it’s based on the amount that we can successfully get washed in a normal day with our current washer. We (and the chimps) like fleece blankets, because they are very comfy and the wash and dry fast and easy.

As you probably know, Negra is never far from a blanket, and she often has one draped over her head and/or shoulders:

negra under red blanket 1

The photo above is on the holiday card available for purchase in our Zazzle merchandise store!

 

Negra blanket covering body

 

Missy sometimes “imitates” Negra’s blanket style, even nesting in Negra’s usual spots:

Missy under blanket

Always the athlete/acrobat, however, Missy incorporates interesting moves when she is nesting. For the full nesting sequence the  photo below was taken from, see this post:

missy headstand in nest

 

Jamie also occasionally sports a blanket over her head when nesting:

Jamie blanket over body

though she often chooses a sheet instead of a blanket for the job:

Jamie under sheet eyes closed

 

Jody is known for her nest making (she also likes straw nests – see this video from 2009 as an example):

Jody nesting

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jody with a blanket over her head, but she still looks darn cozy when she’s curled up in her blanket nest:

Jody sleeping

 

Annie is also a nest builder, and can frequently be found gathering nesting material and moving it to another area:

annie carrying blanket

Once she’s made her nest to her liking, she always strikes me as very satisfied:

Annie nesting

 

Burrito and Foxie are not much into building nests. Though nesting has a strong instinctual component, it seems there is a period of learning involved. Both Burrito and Foxie do mostly what we call “phantom nesting.” Once in a while, Foxie will actively nest with blankets:

Foxie in nest

but more often than not, she has a more passive relationship with all of the blankets we give out:

Foxie on blankets

 

Burrito is also more on the passive side of the spectrum when it comes to nesting, though he does like to snuggle up, particularly when someone else has done the work of making the nest:

Burrito on blanket

 

web Burrito nest paper tutu playroom DSC_0069

 

Let us not forget, blankets are not just for nesting, but can also be great props when playing too:

Burrito clutching blankets playing

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ghost play

Burrito blanket play

I hope this inspires you to get snuggled up in your own nest tonight, or maybe play a game of ghost with a friend?