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treat

Hubba Bubba

October 20, 2023 by Jenna

The chimps love gum! We hand out sugar-free gum that is good for their teeth (not Hubba Bubba, that was just the blog title), to the chimps as a special treat or to reinforce a positive behavior. Lately, we have been passing out gum to Cy’s group when all 9 of them shift enclosures. Sometimes, we have stragglers, like Honey B, who doesn’t always shift to where we would like her to go. Which is okay! We are flexible with the cleaning schedule. However, the days she and the rest of the group shifts on their own, we try to reinforce it by handing out gum, a treat loved by all! Some swallow the gum fairly quickly, and some keep it for over an hour, chomping away (like Lucky).

Photos of the chimps enjoying gum from the past!

Honey B:

Terry:

Cy:

Willy B:

Dora:

Missy from 2011:

Burrito from 2011:

Photos from today!

Cy in a Greenhouse:

Burrito with a giant play face with volunteer caregiver, Krissy:

Jamie’s saved book page:

Filed Under: Enrichment, Food, Lucky Tagged With: bubble gum, gum, treat

Chimpanzees and insect eating

August 22, 2015 by Diana

When I started to write this, J.B. was leading a Summer Visit tour:

JB giving presentation

I’d be willing to bet that one of the things he explained is what we put in the termite mound / treat rock on Young’s Hill. Generally, what we say is that the termite mound mimics ant hills or termite mounds that chimpanzees encounter in the wild, and we provide the chimpanzees with tools to access the goodies inside. It’s great enrichment because it involves tool use and problem solving, and it taps into natural chimpanzee behavior.

The difference, we explain, is that chimpanzees in captivity do not appreciate termites and ants! They react to “bugs” the same way most industrialized human cultures do – as a nuisance, but definitely not as a source for food. And that is why, instead of insects, we put things like mashed up bananas and/or peanut butter in the mound for the chimpanzees to fish out.

The chimpanzees, however, have a way of proving what we say to be wrong. I still don’t think that any of the chimpanzees would appreciate it if we put insects in the pvc tubes that screw into the termite mound, but Jamie and Missy have recently discovered a surprising delicacy – wasp larvae.

This is doubly surprising, given that the chimps certainly do not like wasps, and Jamie has been stung before. Apparently, that risk is worth harvesting this new treat. I wonder how they even discovered that the nests contained something they would like!

Here are a few photos I managed to get of Jamie with a nest that she brought in from Young’s Hill:

Jamie with a wasps' nest

 

Jamie with a wasps' nest 4

 

Jamie with a wasps' nest 3

 

Watching her, it wasn’t entirely clear to me how much of the larvae she was eating, because she seemed to be selectively eating some parts and not others, but she was clearly enjoying the experience:

Jamie with a wasps' nest 2

 

I haven’t been able to capture any photos of Missy with wasp nests, so you’ll have to take my word that she is very excited when she has a nest, perhaps even more so than Jamie.

 

Speaking of Missy, it’s her 40th birthday tomorrow!!!

Missy on the hill

Above is a photo of Missy from today as she took a rest before running the perimeter of Young’s Hill.

 

I defy anyone to call Missy old – she has one of the youngest spirits I’ve known in a chimpanzee. Whether she is searching for wasp nests, running like mad, wrestling with her BFF Annie, or demanding garden tomatoes, she demonstrates, daily, a sense of freedom that she’s found in her second chance at life (read this blog post from 2014 about Missy’s quite literal second chance).

We will be having a big celebration for Missy 40th tomorrow, so be sure to check here on the blog for photos of the party and wish her a happy birthday!

Filed Under: Chimpanzee Behavior, Enrichment, Free-living chimps, Intelligence, Jamie, Missy, Sanctuary, Young's Hill Tagged With: chimp, chimpanzee, Enrichment, insects, larvae, northwest, Sanctuary, termite mound, treat, wasp nest, young's hill

The Wonder of the Season

December 26, 2013 by Diana

For Burrito, the wonder of Christmas includes Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest’s traditional hanging (and therefore spinning) Christmas tree. Just see the earnest look on his face in the photo below:

Burrito chimpanzee gazing at tree

Not surprisingly, the reason he is so enamored with this tradition is because it involves food. Today we stuffed the tree with mini-bananas and coconut covered dates. Jamie monopolized the tree in the beginning.

Jamie spinning tree

Jamie spinning tree

Jamie spinning tree

Missy, being Missy, tried a more daring approach

Missy stand xmas tree hanging

Foxie looked on from above

Foxie looking down at xmas tree from catwalk

Once Burrito thought it was okay with Jamie to approach, he joined her in the tree worshiping

Burrito looking into tree

Burrito gazing at tree

and spinning

Burrito spinning tree

Burrito and Jamie look at tree

Jamie and Burrito spinning tree

Later, someone decided to pull the tree up onto the catwalk, which provided some browsing – the chimpanzees like to eat the pine needles too, making the whole tree a treat!

Negra sit by tree

and it served as a nesting companion for Negra too

Negra lay by tree

 

Filed Under: Burrito, Enrichment, Food, Foxie, Jamie, Missy, Negra, Nesting, Party, Sanctuary Tagged With: Burrito, chimp, chimpanzee, christmas, Enrichment, gifts, Jamie, Negra, northwest, Sanctuary, treat, tree, xmas

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Cle Elum, WA 98922
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509-699-0728
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