Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

spring

Green makes everything more vibrant

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Spring, a season symbolic of renewal, growth and new beginnings. Now that spring has “officially” begun, the chimps’ daily routine revolves more on finding fresh green grass and new plants to eat, watching birds and inspecting any movement in the grass.

Plus, it’s the season when pictures of the chimps out on the hill look so much more vibrant!

Burrito took time to sit and eat the new grass.
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Annie (left) took in her surroundings, while Burrito (right) continued eating grass.
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Annie
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Missy (left) stopped by her friend Annie (right) before sprinting off again.
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Here’s a couple of photos of Missy dismounting from one of the structures on the hill, with the help of the fire hose.
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Jody
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Jamie (in front) led the way around Young’s Hill, as she usually does. Burrito (middle) and Foxie (last) backed her up.
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Plus, Foxie brought a friend for support.
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Unfortunately, I did not have the camera when Negra was out this morning. But, you can see plenty of pictures of her enjoying her time on the hill these past few days by clicking here.

And, have you heard the great news?? There is so much excitement in the air!

Another sign of Spring

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J.B. mentioned last week that the real first day of Spring at the sancutary is Negra emerging from the cozy indoors onto Young’s Hill. Well, Missy has her own way of indicating that it’s Spring.

Missy can be a pit preoccupied with having what we call the “barn doors” open – even during the winter months. The barn doors are the two wooden doors that cover the steel doors that open up to the playroom from the outside.

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We keep them closed during cold weather, but sometimes Missy will still ask for them to be open even when it’s chilly. If we oblige, she will usually just walk away.

But, when it gets warmer, we prop the wooden doors open and the chimpanzees can spend time in the sun in that spot as well as the many other sunny spots in the building, in the greenhouse, and on the hill.

Today, volunteer Denice came by to do some garden prep, and Missy was curious about her activities, overseeing Denice’s work and looking out the window where she’ll be able to see the tomatoes growing in just a few months:

Missy hanging on window

With the warmer weather and barn doors open more regularly now, Missy, for whatever reason, tends to initiate more interactions with her human caregivers.

Here are some photos of Missy enticing me to play by showing me a towel and pushing it through the mesh of the steel barn doors:

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Missy look at camera with towel

Missy pushing towel through caging

Missy pushing towel through caging

Missy pushing towel through caging

I responded by ditching the camera and running over to the barn doors where Missy was waiting, and she quickly whisked the towel away and waited by the doors where I had been standing inside the building, pushing the towel through there. This process repeated, sometimes with Missy allowing me to grab the other end of the towel and playing tug of a war for a few seconds.

To me, Missy initiating tug of war and having me run around from inside to outside is the final sign of Spring.

Thank you, Missy!

Missy sitting aginst wall

Missy looking up

The Real First Day of Spring

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March 20th may have marked the first official day of spring, but around here we follow a different calendar. It’s not truly spring until the ever-elusive Negra emerges from her playroom nest to bask in the sun and partake in the delicacy of fresh spring grass.

The first sighting is always accompanied by jubilant announcements over staff radios and a frantic search for cameras to document the occasion.

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Of course, Negra has already gone out on the hill for forages this year, but always with a laser-like focus on collecting food and going back to bed indoors as quickly as possible. When spring arrives, she savors her time outside.

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For a few short weeks, the grass will be sweet and tender. The cold winds of spring will begin to relent, and the scorching heat of summer will have yet to arrive.

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This is Negra Weather™, and we will all relish every minute of it while it lasts. For soon, she will disappear back into the pile of blankets from whence she came, only to reemerge when the conditions are just right.

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So, from Negra and all of us at CSNW, Happy First Day of Spring!

A Few of Negra’s Favorite Things

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Two of Negra’s favorite things are looking out over the view of the valley and eating fresh, spring grass.  It fills us with delight this spring to find Negra feeling more and more comfortable venturing outside onto Young’s Hill, often all on her own.  Despite being the middle of spring, we have been surprised by snow showers the past couple of days here in Cle Elum.  As a result Negra was very reluctant to get out of bed this morning and I can’t say that I blame her.  At one point I caught her looking out her window at the heavy snow showers and pulling the blanket back over her head.  It took JB reminding her that another favorite of hers, peanuts, were on the menu before she decided to join everyone for breakfast.  Thankfully it didn’t take long for both the sun, and Negra, to come back out again.

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Jody’s Spa Day

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We all know Jody knows how to relax (see this the old Lessons from chimpanzees post with Jody nesting outside and this classic photo retrospective of Jody’s yoga poses).

Well, a couple of weeks ago Jody took a serious liking to the sandbox in the greenhouse. The greenhouse must have warmed up the sand nicely. While Connie and I cleaned the playroom, Jody truly appeared to be in her own private spa, oblivious to the world.

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P.S. Don’t forget that we’ll be celebrating Jody’s birthday this Sunday – Mother’s Day!

Spring clean-up and planting

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The volunteers at CSNW have been busy lately! On Saturday, a large group of volunteers turned out to help clean up the property and to begin planting grass, shrubs and wildflowers. Dakota, our garden and compost master, and Jackie, our newest caregiver, have been working hard to get the garden beds ready for planting vegetables. Right now there are seven raised beds. The plan is for the chimps to each have their own garden containing their own favorite vegetables. I was too busy (and forgetful) to take pictures of the volunteers on Saturday, but I did manage to get a couple of Dakota and Jackie and the new gardens. Many thanks to everyone that has helped get this place in shape for spring.

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