Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

young's hill

Me and my shadow(s)

by

Jody is often the first to go out onto the hill when we open it up these days. She may not go out right away, but once she builds up the initiative, she goes! And often Foxie is right there with her. Yesterday, Jody waited a long time before going out but then she all the sudden came charging into the greenhouse from the playroom and walked right out there, with Annie and Foxie right behind her.

But, later Foxie took “following Jody” to a whole new level:

And when Jody decided it was time to go back inside…

Foxie was still right behind her…

and Annie came running after

The case of the droopy lip

by

Jody almost always has a drooped lip when she’s out on the hill. We’ve been referring to it as her “Young’s Hill Face”

Today, her droopy lip seemed to be mixed in with a bit of a sneer. Sometimes I sneer when I’m cold!

She sure does have a beautiful face though…

Cold toes!

by

It’s been an unusually mild winter so far. It’s been pretty cold, but we just haven’t had much snow. It’s been great in a way, because the chimps have been able to spend more time out on the hill (we can’t give them the hill if the snow gets too deep because it will drain the fence voltage). But we did get a little bit of snow last night, and since the chimps love to eat snow so much, I was eager to give them Young’s Hill as soon as possible today before it all melted.

Before we let the chimps out on the hill each day, the lead caregiver does a perimeter check by walking or driving the Gator all the way around to check for any issues with the electric fence. The chimps are very aware of this routine and usually get a little excited when we turn on the walkie-talkies and head out for our hike around the hill. Each morning, as I pass the east side of the building, I look into the picture windows to see what’s happening in the playroom. Usually I’ll see Negra curled up in her spot with a blanket over her head and maybe Missy and Foxie grooming and such, but today, I saw bouncy feet and an enthusiastic head nod. Annie (bouncy feet) and Missy (head nodding) were so excited to get out there! I looked at Missy and pointed towards the hill (assuming she wouldn’t be able to hear me if I spoke) and she started running towards the door to Young’s Hill.

But when I opened the door, no one went out. There was a long, long pause before finally, Missy, Annie, Foxie, Jody, and then Jamie went out. The sun was out but the wind had picked up and it was COLD! Even still, once they got themselves out there, they hung out there for 45 minutes or so. I was all bundled up in a sweatshirt, jacket, gloves, warm boots, and still freezing, so I can’t even imagine how cold their toes were!

Bipedal Foxie:

Jamie headed up the climbing structure (with Annie behind her)

when she got to the top, she wiped off her feet

and sat down for some snow

Most of Missy’s time on the hill today was above ground:

but she did manage to find a pretty nice ice chunk that she brought in to enjoy in the warm greenhouse

Celebrating another day on the hill

by

There’s so much to celebrate this week, from Save the Chimps final migration to the NIH’s dramatic announcement about the role of chimpanzees in biomedical research.

Here at the sanctuary, the chimps celebrated another sunny winter day by running around their 2-acre enclosure.

Decemburrr on the Hill

by

As J.B. mentioned in his post the other day, it has been really cold in Cle Elum, but we still haven’t had much snow. We have had significant doses of hoar frost though, which is beautiful! Maybe it’s not as exciting as snow to some, but Jody and Foxie have really been enjoying licking it off of things.

Jody licking hoar frost off of the log bridge:

Foxie was really enjoying licking it off of the climbing structure

And later, Jody joined her

Hoar frost on a tree

Mama Foxie

by

It’s really hard to say if Foxie would have made a good mother, but one thing is for sure, her babies would be getting lots of fresh air and sunshine these days!