Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

young's hill

Fun, Sun, New Experiences, and a Nickname

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It was a brisk fall day today, with periodic and most welcome appearances from the sun. In addition to the patrol that Jamie graciously invited Amanda and I on (after we figured out the proper footwear, of course), we decided to take advantage of that warming orb in the sky and set out a forage in both respective outdoor habitats.

If you aren’t quite sure who Amanda is, she introduced herself in last night’s Comfort & Joy Virtual Gathering presentation, which you can watch here!

Staff member Amanda and volunteer Amanda (we are doubly blessed with Amandas on most Mondays of late) prepared the forage, which consisted of a bunch of scrumptious fall-themed leftovers, including pumpkin, corn, and pomegranates. I suggested to the Amandas that they make a separate bowl for Negra because I doubted that she would venture outside in the windy 46 degrees.

I should know better than to doubt our Queen. Negra was lined up in the Raceway and was the first one on Young’s Hill. Her food grunts could be heard from all of the caregivers watching in delight as she happened upon the pumpkin and corn:

Missy made sure to check the forage hiding spots on high:

On the other side of the sanctuary, Terry was the first out on The Bray, quickly collecting a personal bushel of onions and demonstrating with his posture why J.B. has given him the nickname Meatball:

These days when the sun outcompetes the murmurs of winter-to-come are some of my favorite days at the sanctuary, and I think the chimpanzees feel the same.

 

New Traditions

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Holidays can be hard when loved ones have passed. Though Jamieween is a celebration of Jamie’s birthday and Halloween, for all of us (staff, volunteers, and supporters) it is the day of the great pumpkin heist. Where we watched Jody end up with the pumpkin whether she was sneaky about it or just plucked the pumpkin off the Hill and walked right in with it, obviously paying the Negra tax. It was a day we all looked forward to, Jody stealing the show, which is hard to do on a day all about Jamie :). Altogether the chimps still had an amazing Jamieween filled with so much good food, laughter, play, enrichment, and pumpkins, it wasn’t quite the same without Jody’s dinosaur groans and her carrying a pumpkin as big as her.

With change sometimes comes new traditions. Everyone in Negra’s group was much more modest with the pumpkins this year, including Negra having to get her own pumpkin. Yesterday, the day after Jamieween, I let Jamie’s group out onto Young’s Hill. Jamie seemed to be in a very happy mood and sprinted out wanting to go on a perimeter walk/run with me. While Jamie was walking, Annie, Missy, and Burrito went up to Jody’s pumpkin. Annie eventually took some of the pumpkin, still leaving a little behind. Annie also found other forage items that was missed yesterday. To our surprise Jamie did not get mad when Annie had a handful of mini peppers and a mouth full of pumpkin. Instead, Jamie seemed excited to go look for her own leftover forage items. To me it seems like Annie is the winner of the great pumpkin heist this year.

Jamie the day after Jamieween. Nesting with some of her new boots:

Jamie today nesting, still recovering from her party:

Jamieween 2023

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Happy Jamieween, everybody! The time has finally come for us to celebrate our boss, Jamie Chimpanzee! Today, Jamie turns 46 years young! We celebrated today with some of her favorite things: pomegranates, leeks, bell peppers, pear cider, and new boots and books!

We also included two new items! Inside the cups of pear cider were ice skulls with “brains”(raspberries)!

The second item was “Chow for Brains”! A gracious donor purchased silicone brain molds from our Amazon Wish List to help us make brains out chow dust, banana, pomegranate juice, and apple sauce! With so much commotion and excitement from today, I completely forgot to take photos of them. You can catch a small glimpse of Terry eating one here:

For us caregivers, this Jamieween was bittersweet. It is the first Jamieween we celebrated without our celebrated Great Pumpkin Thief: Jody. But with Dia De Los Muertos beginning tomorrow, we decided to honor our beloved Jody by decorating her burial site and to offer her some of her favorite forage foods, this included big leafy greens! You can watch the video to see the set up and who stopped by to visit. Interestingly enough, everybody left that pumpkin where it was. This is probably just a huge coincidence, but I am choosing to believe they left it there for her.

We hope you all have a happy and safe Jamieween!

Here are some photos from today!

Missy

Burrito

Terry

And Annie (leaving Jody’s site)

Mora excited for today’s menu

Postponing Winter

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Despite the sudden cooler temperatures (it was a crisp 33 degrees arriving to the sanctuary this morning), the sun was out and shining today. The sun felt so good and warm, that I thought it’d be a perfect day for a forage on Young’s Hill. Jamie, Missy, Burrito, Annie, and Foxie agreed with me and were happy to do a lunch forage out on the Hill. Negra requested her meal to be inside for a lunch party of one, presumably so she can be where it is warmer.

One of the highlights of the morning, as you will see pictured below, is Jamie drinking from her tiny teacup. We made up a Gatorade pool, which is one of Jamie’s favorite things, in their Playroom. The entire group usually sits down and drinks up. Jamie loves using a cup to drink from, but today it was especially funny to see her use the tiniest cup possible to drink from.

On the other side of the building, Cy’s group is also soaking up the sun in their Greenhouses, their chute, and the Bray.

Rayne:

Cy:

Annie:

Burrito:

Jamie:

Missy:

Rayne:

Drawing on a package we received from a donor 🙂

a special request and the human climbing structure

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First for the request:

We are working on the Comfort & Joy online auction and virtual gathering (more details to come), and we’d like to include short (30 sec or less) clips from YOU telling us which chimpanzee at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest brings you joy and why! These are super informal videos you can just take on your phone in selfie mode and send them to me [email protected] using WeTransfer or some other file sharing service of your choice. Feel free to email me with any questions!

This can be your platform to express your love of a particular chimpanzee!

Speaking of platforms, we have a physical (wooden) platform, above the seated observation area, where staff only can access to get photos of the chimpanzees.

I climbed up there today and wondered if the chimpanzees below thought of me as being on a climbing structure, similar to the structures they have in their outdoor habitats. Maybe we should have a human forage up there some day.

 

This time of year serves up the potential for some contrasting photos, with the dark hair of the chimpanzees standing out against the muted yellow and beige tones of the grass.

 

Here’s Burrito, coming back down the hill after looking for leftover breakfast forage food:

And Foxie, who brought along a blue-haired friend as she traversed Young’s Hill:

Missy, as she was slack-lining across the fire hose:

I looked over to my right, and spotted someone on the Escher structure on The Bray. I did a bit of a double-take because I was not expecting the chimp to be Lucky! Look how relaxed she looks up there. She’s really embraced The Bray these last few weeks and continues to show off her adventurous side.

Is your favorite chimpanzee one of these four or someone else? Let us know by sending in your video clip!

Night Walk

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Last Friday, we held a small, intimate memorial for our dear friend, Jody. While we had the service, it only felt right that Jody’s family have access to Young’s Hill. However, very unlike Jamie, she was no where to be found and slept through the entire thing. Apparently, all the chimps went to sleep after we left the Chimp House and left door Y (Jamie’s group access door to their outdoor space) open. Jamie must have thought, we, her humans, were so stupid and made a mistake. Eventually, around dusk, the event was winding down and caregivers tried to close the Hill off, Jamie finally noticed the service and came sprinting out. A few of us tried to catch up with her to join in on the walk, but she was going so fast! She was amped! Once it was fully dark and the service had come to an end, I had the pleasure of going on one last night-walk with Jamie. Thank goodness I brought a head lamp to light the way for both of us! It was so dark that I was starting to scare myself, so I apologize if the video looks a little like the “Blair Witch Project”.

Jamie on her nighttime stroll:

Rayne is so cool:

Rayne grooming Mave:

Teeny Tiny Terry:

Teeny tiny troll dolls for a teeny tiny Foxie:

Annie:

Missy:

A Gordo photo series:

 

Portraits & Pop Quizzes

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Today is the epitome of PNW moody, cloudy, drizzly, & brisk weather. I know there are quite a few of us that are bummed about being at the tail end of summer, but I cannot express how excited I am for cooler weather, hot apple cider, snow, and all the other fun things that come with fall and winter. And after a day like today, I don’t think I’m the only one!

One of the first things that we do in the morning after we arrive is safety checks for both Young’s Hill and The Bray, so that we can give both groups access to their respective outdoor enclosures. When I gave Jamie’s group access, everyone immediately left the greenhouse to explore the hill. Even Negra went out to her cabin right away and they all enjoyed the bit of sunshine that was coming through the clouds. And as soon as Chad gave Cy’s group access to the Bray, I heard him call out that Cy and a few others were going on a patrol! It seemed that everyone was enjoying the brisk morning.

A little bit later I went out to serve Jamie’s group breakfast and found Negra and Annie out by Negra’s cabin, foraging for what looked like prickly lettuce. They chose to stay out on the hill during most of breakfast, but eventually made their way inside. As soon as they came in, Missy and Foxie went out. Then Missy came in, only for Burrito to go out. Then Foxie came in, only for Jamie to venture back out. It was a test for my memory as I tried to remember who had their carrot, who got their pears, and if someone had already turned down peanuts or not.

After we wrapped up breakfast, which took a good deal longer than normal, Katelyn and I started to do safety checks to enter and clean the playroom for Jamie’s group. Most everyone was easy to find, but we couldn’t find Missy. After searching and searching, we finally located her in Carlene’s Tower at the *very* top of Young’s Hill. By herself. With her chow bags. Happily munching away.

The theme for today seemed to be perfect weather + tricky ID tests, since everyone was exploring so far from the chimp house. So, keeping with theme, I have two ‘pop-quiz’ photos for you! 🙂 A bit of background: before staff members unlock and enter any enclosure, we have two trained caregivers complete safety checks. This includes identifying each of the chimps in that group, without relying on the process of elimination. Sometimes this is easy and sometimes (like today) it’s tricky.

Let’s start with The Bray, which Cy’s group has access to. I walked outside the greenhouse to see this which I caught on one of our cameras (with some zoom). Can you identify who is in this photo, from left to right?

Next, let’s go over to Jamie’s side! This was taken as everyone was hurrying to enjoy the lunch forage on Young’s Hill. From left to right, who do you see?

How’d it go? 🙂 If you want to see how you did, scroll down to the very bottom for the answers (but no cheating!).

It also seemed to be a good day to get some portrait photos. I hope you enjoy these snip-bits from throughout the day!

Annie, nested in the Greenhouse:

Cy, watching his caregivers down the hall:

Foxie, being her beautiful self:

Gordo, enjoying an apple (or two) from today’s lunch forage:

Jamie, on a mission during the lunch forage:

Missy, with a coveted cherry tomato during today’s lunch forage:

Terry, also enjoying an apple (or two, maybe three, or perhaps four?) during the lunch forage:

 

Photo A, Cy’s Group on the Bray, from left to right:

            Rayne, Lucky, Terry (on the log), Gordo.

2. Photo B, Jamie’s Group on the Hill, from left to right:

Burrito (running away), Missy, Foxie (back center), Jamie, Annie (closest to the camera on the right).