Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Willy B

Shut Up and Blog

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Today was pretty busy day for the humans, but the chimps made sure to fit in some fun. Of course, Burrito played with everyone! Jamie had a lovely day napping in a extravagant nest full of book pages and boots. I loved watching her sort through her big bag of enrichment too.  Honey B and Mave had a blast unrolling around in the raffle tickets! Cy flipped through magazines. I wasn’t able to capture much from Lucky’s group, but they were busy inspecting one of the security camera JB just set-up.

Today’s blog was going to be my favorite type of blog, a smorgasbord of photos! But, throughout the day I was able to get some fun video clips of some of the chimps. So why not do it all! It made me start thinking. What are all of our blog followers’ favorite kinds of blogs? Do you like blogs that are interactive like games or educational? Do you like blogs with lots of content or are you like, enough already I want to see the photos. Maybe you’re more into the videos where you can see the chimps and get more familiar with the building. Personally, I love photos with descriptions! Whatever you are into, I will stop talking so you can enjoy these photos!

Annie and Jody:

Honey B with her raffle tickets:

Jamie looking through her giant enrichment bag:

And a series of photos of Jamie nesting:

Mave unrolling her raffle tickets:

Queen Negra and Missy:

  

 

Morning Greetings

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Even though today is Sunday, it’s my “Monday” and I always look forward to coming back from my weekend and seeing the chimps again. We are so lucky as caregivers to be able to greet and be greeted by these amazing individuals. I love seeing how they all spend their mornings and what we can find them up to.

Some mornings are full of greetings and today was one of those days. Jamie was in a playful mood and wanted to play chase! We ran back and forth a couple times and then it was on to a short game of chase with Burrito. As everyone knows, he is ALWAYS ready to play. Negra was still lounging in her nest in the Greenhouse, but sweet Jody was waiting to greet me. As I moved along, Honey B was ready for a long game of chase! She wanted to play chase from the ground floor up to their Mezzanine. The Mezzanine is located above their front rooms and involves us climbing a ladder to get to the top level. Since I had to take the long route, Honey B would patiently wait until I got to the top and then would run back down.

As I was walking around the outside of building, Terry was excitedly waiting to say hi from a distance. Cy gave me a quick greeting from above, but went back to reading his morning magazine.

Each morning before we let the chimps onto Young’s Hill we walk around outside of the fence line to make sure everything still looks intact. Not only are we greeted by the chimps in the morning, but sometimes the cattle as well! I found them along my walk this morning and here are some photos.

Honey

Betsy

Nutmeg

Meredith

Here are some photos from the rest of the day!

Missy on the hill.

Jamie making sure things are in order.

Burrito making everyone’s heart melt.

Honey B always watching.

Willy B enjoying his night bag.

Willy B with his PVC peanut butter tube.

A photo of Rayne from last week using a box as a foot rest.

Gordo making good use of the same box.

Light Reading

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Cy’s reaction to magazines still catches me off guard. Is someone food squeaking? Alarm barking? Oh, it’s just Cy looking at magazines again. We’re going to need a name for that vocalization.

Willy B continues to be the center of attention at the sanctuary. When he goes into the courtyard, the Seven hoot and holler, which causes the Lucky Six to respond, which in turn causes Willy B, Honey B, and Mave to call back. And around it goes. Eventually they all settle down. But it’s quite the soap opera.

Speaking of soap operas, that little Dora continues to look for Willy B wherever he goes.

Once and a while they meet across the hallway…

While I was on my perimeter check this morning I came across Meredith grooming her buddy Nutmeg.

Then Betsy came over to groom me.

Dora’s Got a Crush

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Willy B must be feeling pretty good about himself these days, as he seems to be setting some of the new girls’ hearts a flutter. The first time they laid eyes on him, Dora and Rayne pant-grunted towards him and then turned to each other and hugged. And now, each time Willy B goes outside, Dora rushes to the greenhouse bench overlooking the courtyard to watch him.

For now, we are trying to regulate any close interactions between the groups, even ones that are consistent with our quarantine protocols, so that none of the chimps are able to direct dominance displays at any other individuals in particular (which could complicate potential future introductions if allowed to go on too long). The windows directly between the two areas they are currently separated into have been semi-permanently covered with thick plastic sheets and we’ll do the same to the cage walls dividing the playrooms and the greenhouses before quarantine ends and the groups live side by side. But there’s one area where two windows sit across a small mechanical room from one another and in there we simply covered one over in paper, meaning we can easily give the groups a peek at one another. So today we tried that. It was surprisingly mellow!

Mave, Willy B, and Honey B all came down to Front Room 7, the medical enclosure, to see what was going on.

They were greeted at the opposite window by Rayne, Gordo, and Dora.

As soon as Willy B approached the window, Dora stood up, smiled, and swayed back and forth. She had never been so close to him before. Terry joined her as well.

Cy then strolled in carrying one of his magazines.

Now we see what he’s been so interested in.

Lucky somehow missed out on today’s excitement but she’ll get a chance to see them soon enough!

 

Corn in the USA

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Happy Fourth of July everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your day. I know we did here at the chimp house. The first part of the celebration involved all of the chimps receiving a mid afternoon treat of dixie cups scattered around their enclosures. These were filled with blue Gatorade, strawberries, and blueberries to follow the theme of the day. This was a big hit and Rayne was sooooo excited! She was the fist one over to get as many Gatorade cups as she could.

All of the chimpanzees enjoyed a celebration lunch of corn, tomatoes, and heads of Romaine lettuce. The corn was a huge hit all around! A few of the Lucky Six were a little weary of the corn at first until they got a taste of it. Then it was pure excitement. There was a nice breeze today and it was “cooler” than last week, so the seven got to enjoy their lunch as a forage on Young’s Hill. During forages I like to see what each chimp searches for first. Today it was everything! They were gathering as much corn and romaine as they could carry in their arms and mouth! The tomatoes went very quickly and Missy was quite happy. A lot of the chimps take their findings back to the Greenhouse and eat in the shade.

Cooler weather and celebrations make some pretty happy chimps and that makes us caregivers happy as well.

 

Blue Gatorade with strawberries and blueberries in each one.

Jamie enjoying the Gatorade and fruit.

In the excitment before their forage on the hill I caught Burrito and Negra in a play session.

Burrito enjoying the first head of Romaine he found.

Negra went straight to this spot.

Jody usually wins the award for most food she can carry.

Foxie climbing to grab more corn on the platform above.

Annie enjoying her corn back in the Greenhouse.

Look at Missy’s pile!

Jamie found lots of corn to keep her occupied for awhile.

Diana helped get photos of the three while serving lunch. They were also super excited about the corn!

Mave

Willy B

Bonus photo of Rayne that JB was able to capture yesterday.

Hot as tater tots!

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Summer is here! We are definitely feeling the heat today. We have been trying to help keep the chimps cool and passed out some shaved ice in the afternoon. They love ice! Even if its just a regular old ice cube they are excited for the snack. We have also been giving out extra hose drinks to the chimps who have been requesting it while we are cleaning. Even though they always have access to a water source, drinks from the hose always taste better! Katelyn was fanning/misting Jamie and Annie today. In the photo below you can see them enjoying this. Annie kept putting her head up to let Katelyn mist her forehead.

Jamie needs all that extra water and fanning today from her adventures last night. Since the heat was starting to rise during the day yesterday she didn’t go on as many walks as normal. She wanted to save that for when the sun started to go down. Jamie didn’t want to let go of Youngs Hill for the night after dinner and we went on multiple walks around the hill with her, in a variety of ways. It was fun to see how many different ways she wanted to walk around! First, I went around the hill driving the gator. Then she was ready for Anthony to drive the gator while I rode along. After that, Jamie wanted Chad to follow in the gator behind us. After a couple more variations of walks throughout the evening Jamie decided on one last final walk. This included Anthony, Chad, the gator and I. Missy also came out to join us and Annie was resting on a platform watching. After this final walk Jamie was inside ready for her book and boot bundle. We usually pick out a couple different books and boots to give her before we leave to make sure she has what needs for the night.

Jamie enjoying a walk around the hill, while I drove the gator.

 

Here are some photos from around the chimp house today!

Mave relaxing in the Chute.

Honey B sitting in the doorway of one of the new Greenhouses.

Willy B being groomed by Mave.

Annie being her sweet Annie self.

The cattle were even avoiding the heat today. Chad found them relaxing in the shade by the creek.

Meredith and Honey hanging out by the creek.

Nutmeg and Betsy cooling off in the mud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warm, sunny and grassy!

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Just in time for some warm weather, Honey B, Mave and Willie B have had full access to their new and very refreshing green house enclosures for three days now. They have been very busy exploring the new areas, from lounging way up in the platforms to get a good view of the neighbors, to figuring out what the grass is all about. While Honey B has sprinted from side to side through the grass multiple times, for the moment the three still opt to use logs, structures, blankets or chimp furniture to move around.

Here is Honey B, using one of the logs to move around in the Green House

Honey B holding a small cleaning brush to brush the grass, cleaning is her thing

Honey B perched in one of the windows, taking it all in

Willie B measuring how to get to the chimp furniture for his next step

Mave would agree that there is always time for some relaxed lounging and sun basking

On the other side of the Chimp House, Jody was seen enjoying some forage she found in the hill

Warm days equal “chill” days, Missy approves