Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

young's hill

Neighborhood watch

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Jamie called me into action this afternoon.

We needed to quickly get to the top of the hill to investigate and hopefully chase away our neighbors who had come by. Don’t they know we are in the middle of a pandemic?

Also, she brought along a carrot leftover from lunch.

Carrots aren’t at the top of of her vegetable list but she’s not always willing to give hers up. A funny side story about Jamie, she occasionally gives us back food she doesn’t want. She purposefully pushes it outside the caging, instead of dropping it so a group mate can easily grab it. Jamie can be *ahem*… a touch malevolent from time to time.

But back to the tale our nosy neighbors! Burrito and Missy briefly joined our investigative adventure.

And Jamie successfully surprised our neighbors a little bit, which must surely have been gratifying.

But in the end, all is well that ends with a friendly equine photo shoot.

As you are simultaneously stared at by a carrot toting chimpanzee.

 

The First Fall Harvest

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Happy Fall Equinox, everybody! Though today was the first day of fall, it still felt like summer. It was a pretty mild day with clear skies. With conditions like these, we are trying to capitalize on as many forages for the chimpanzees we can fit in before the colder weather starts to creep in.

On today’s menu were kale, sweet potatoes, carrots, and oranges.

Missy:

I know we think of Missy as Fake Negra, but I almost had a moment where I thought there was a Fake Jody.

Annie:

Jody (the REAL Jody):

Negra:

Burrito:

Jamie:

Foxie:

On her way down from the Escher, Foxie came across one of her nemeses: Grasshoppers!

After their forage, it was perfect weather and timing for naps and relaxing!

Jody resting while still nibbling on some of her greens from the forage.

Foxie about to nod off for an afternoon slumber.

On the other side of the building, the Three were treated to leeks for dinner.

Willy B:

Mave:

Honey B decided to take her food and run, literally. She demanded her portions (especially the leek) and ran into the Chute.

Summer’s last sigh

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The end of summer. How can it be? I am an autumn person through and through. If there were nine months of autumn and one month each of winter, spring, and summer I would be pretty happy with that. But this year, no one I know, myself included, feels ready to let summer go.

Given the many days of Burrito’s recovery (now thankfully healed and returned to his family), followed by the many days of hazardous, smoke-filled air (now thankfully cleared away), we are all beside ourselves with gratitude at the sense of ease, joy and freedom we’ve been having this week. The chimpanzees’ have continued to enjoy lunch forages on Young’s Hill and we’ve all been basking in the final gifts of summer, each of us sighing along with summer’s last breath:

Jody holds her reign as “Farmer Jo”:

Negra enjoying her lunch with a view:

Foxie:

Burrito:

Jamie:

Annie:

Diana mentioned on Saturday how we’ve been anxiously awaiting the chimpanzees’ grapes to ripen and have finally been able to harvest these beauties. Can you believe these gorgeous things?!

I went out to harvest some for dinner, but Annie, Jody and Burrito insisted they should be served immediately, garden to belly:

Everyone squeezed (politely, somehow) into the raceway (the chute that gives the chimpanzees access to Young’s Hill from the greenhouse) and lined up for their serving. Bunches of grapes aren’t the easiest things to serve through the caging so apologies for all the caging shots. But, their faces! A fleeting summertime gift.

Jo!! My favorite photo, look at her eyes! 🙂

Foxie:

Burrito’s tactic is just shoveling them in as fast as he can, naturally:

Missy and her sweet little runner’s legs:

(And fiddlesticks, I just realized that my photo of sweet Annie with her grape cluster didn’t take, and Negra chose to stay in her nest, though she did receive a few grapes via delivery).

Meanwhile, I could hear Willy B blowing raspberries from the other side of the grapevines, in the chute, where he and Honey B were anxiously waiting for their serving:

Honey B:

In the past couple of days that we’ve been harvesting the grapes we’ve learned that Mave in particular LOVES them. She chose to wait inside for hers and when I rounded the corner with them her hair was standing on end in sheer excitement (pilo-erect) making her glorious fluffy self even floofier! Here she is gazing adoringly at them:

Somehow the grape feast, being a hot ticket event, went off without a hitch. For the most part that is. Turns out the seven were not in a sharing mood and had a lot to say about the three partaking in the feast as well. That’s alright. I don’t like sharing, say, my cookies, so I get it. 😉

A bonus photo of Jamie enjoying her beloved boot book in her nest:

It’s been such a beautiful day. It’s nearly dark already and as I type this I hear geese flying overhead and the raspberry patch is a chorus of frog song – I suspect from the little guys I rescued and put in there earlier today. Betwixt and between. Wherever are you, and whichever season you happen to be saying farewell to in your part of the world in welcome of the next, I hope there’s beauty there. I’m convinced it’s there for all of us in one form or another. We just have to keep an eye and an ear out.

A Tale of Annie and the Twister

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There once was a chimpanzee named Annie who lived on a beautiful hillside with nine of her chimpanzee friends. One day Annie and her friends were all out on the Hill. Everyone went inside to their cozy warm Green House. Annie decided to stay out and go on her own adventure, this time without her very best friend Missy. As Annie walked around she came across a very tall tower, known as the Twister. Annie climbed and climbed until she reached the tippy top. After a moment of taking in the smoky view and feeling quite proud of her accomplishment. Annie quickly realized she would have to climb down this very tall twister. Feeling alone without her dearest friend Missy, she began to worried and let out a few big screams. She screamed out to her friends in hopes that they would hear her. Annie being the brave chimp she is, mustered up the courage to climb down. Meanwhile, Missy zipped up the Hill as fast as she possibly could to find her dear friend Annie. After Missy found Annie and gave her reassurance they went back inside to unwind after Annie’s solo adventure.

This is my personal interpretation of this story. Only Annie really knows why she got scared at the top of the Twister. For JB and Diana who could only hear the screaming, thought snake, and came to make sure this was not true! While JB and Diana came sprinting up Chad and I observed the events unfolding while eating our after cleaning/we served lunch Popsicle.

Here is what we know:

1. Annie climbed to the top.
2. She seemed at peace for a moment
3. Annie began to exhibit nervous behavior
4. Annie started screaming
5. Missy sprinted to Annie and all was fine.

Here are some scenario that could be why Annie reacted the way she did:

1. Maybe she saw a snake from that bird’s eye view (Annie hates snakes)!
2. Maybe the cattle startled her.
3. Annie could have been nervous to climb down.
4. She could see any animal or heard any sound from up there!
5. Maybe she just felt like it.

We will never actually know. But I guess what we do know is that us caregivers are still a little on edge, insert emoji smiling and sweat drip on face.

Annie on top of the Twister.

Annie becomes pilo.

She starts hooting.

And begins screaming.

On a side note, Burrito is also doing very well and is enjoying his Jody hangout sessions very much. Have a great night everyone!

For Carlene

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Joseph Garza sponsored this special day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in memory of his lovely wife, Carlene Olsen-Garza:

“My late wife Carlene, became an admirer of CSNW in 2010 with hope of one day being a part of the movement to save and support these noble creatures. Unfortunately her life was taken from us in 2014. So on what would have been her 63rd birthday, we honor her by helping our friends at the Sanctuary do what they do best.”

Joseph, you and Carlene are a permanent part of our chimpanzee family and we’re honored to be part of her beautiful legacy that you continue to share so graciously and generously. We are so thankful to you both for the lasting difference you’ve made, and continue to make, in the lives of these amazing chimpanzee people. We’re sending you and your family all the good thoughts and wishing you comfort and peace as you celebrate Carlene’s life and memory.

Jamie:

Burrito:

Foxie:

Jody, Foxie and Annie taking in the view from “Carlene’s Tower”:

Cabbage for Breakfast

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Volunteer and friend of the sanctuary, Krissy, recently dropped off some garden-grown cabbage for the chimps. Some of you might not consider cabbage to be breakfast food but the chimps would beg to differ. In fact, it may have been more popular than the oranges, apples, and primate chow.

A rare photo of all seven chimps together on Young’s Hill.
Annie in the foreground, with Jody and Missy behind her
Negra, pre-cabbage
Negra, post-cabbage
Jody, gathering all the cabbage and apples she can hold…
…and making a beeline to the Greenhouse.
Burrito, trying to conceal the fact that while the others found cabbage leaves, he found an entire head. Just play it cool and don’t make eye contact.

In addition to everything she personally does for the chimpanzees, Krissy also supports the chimpanzees through her business, The Whole Pet Shop (in Woodinville, WA and Roslyn, WA), which is a Chimpanzee Champion-level sponsor of Hoot! 2020. Have you checked out all of the incredible items up for auction now through September 12? Your support will not only help keep Negra up to her ears in cabbage, but it will also help us provide a home for even more deserving chimpanzees.

 

Mmmm larvae

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Most of us have probably seen the many photos of chimpanzees in the wild using tools to fish for termites.  As a general rule, chimpanzees that have grown up in captivity don’t have the same taste for insects that you see in wild chimpanzees. I would bet lots of money if you tried to serve Honey B a termite she would be totally disgusted with you. The chimps seem to find fishing for peanut butter to be a more ideal situation.

Here’s Jamie fishing for peanut butter in a PVC tube attached to the outside the caging:

I think we all have a tendency to forget that some of the chimps at the sanctuary actually do occasionally eat insects (but only wasp larvae, so far as we’ve seen). The wasps are most prevalent this time of year and  we try to remove any nests we find near the chimp enclosures to prevent both humans and chimps from the almost inevitable summer stings. Since the outdoor space is so large, we sometimes miss the ones being built on Young’s Hill. If you watch the above video you will get up close and personal with Jamie as she dissects a wasp nest she found on the hill.

Watching Jamie reminded me of a blog Diana wrote 5 years ago on the topic. In the blog she wrote: “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.” After seeing Jamie’s careful deconstruction of the nest from a much closer vantage point (through a window), I’ve deduced that she seems to eat only the squishy larva stage of the wasp and not the older, more developed pupa stage. Don’t worry though, Missy was right behind her to finish off the rest of it.