Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

young's hill

Foraging Strategies

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There was quite a bit of excitement around today’s forage on Young’s Hill. I mean, who wouldn’t be excited about raw kale, tomatoes, lemon wedges, carrots and primate chow? Once they saw what was on the menu, all seven chimpanzees headed out to the Greenhouse and anxiously awaited for us to open the door to give them access to the hill. As soon as I opened the door, Jamie lead the way. But, it was Foxie who stayed out the longest.

There seems to be a variety of strategies these chimps use to forage, as you will see in the photos below. Some of the chimps will eat the food items as they find them, while others seem to prefer to gather as much as they can before heading back to the Greenhouse to feast. Take Jody, for instance. Today she gathered so much food in her mouth and both of her hands that she has to walk upright (bipedally) in order to hold onto everything as she made her way back to the Greenhouse. And Missy went for the food items that were up high (on top of the various structures). And then there is Foxie, who took her time eating each piece of food as she found it.

Annie
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Burrito
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Foxie
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Jamie’s strategy was to put all her lemon wedges in her mouth in order to keep her hands free.
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Jody
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Look at her cheeks; they are completely full!
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Missy
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Negra
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The inevitable march of time

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The summers at the sanctuary begin with the grass and plants an almost unnatural neon green. The plant life boastfully emerges from the earth looking impossibly fresh. The photos we take during this period are beautiful with the chimpanzees’ dark hair contrasted against the bright green of the grass on Young’s Hill.

Foxie:

Foxie in the green grass

 

Jody with some wild plant she’s harvested:

Jody in the green grass

 

This period of lush green that comes on so strong, holding the promise of electrified life, sometimes feels like a fleeting moment. As soon as summer begins, the precipitation seems to come to a halt. The grasses release their seeds and begin to fade, but they remain tall and the chimpanzees can hide and explore in this more wild landscape.

Jody:

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Missy:

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Annie:

Annie walking in the tall grass

Annie profile walking in tall grass

 

Jamie in the foreground, Missy in the background:

Jamie and Missy walking in the tall grass

 

Jamie:

Jamie in the tall grass

 

With the threat of wildfire that arrives each summer, and to allow the chimpanzees to navigate the hill a bit easier, we (meaning J.B.) mows pathways that turn to amber streaks across the fading but stubborn green grass.

 

Annie (taken today):

Annie standing tall grass

 

Negra collecting her lunch from a forage set out on the hill (taken today):

Negra forage

Negra mouth full of food

 

While the rich and deep green of early summer imparts a contagious sense of renewed life, there’s definitely a beauty with the changing landscape of each season. Just as the grass turns gold, the established bamboo plants along the irrigation lines have produced ambitious shoots that leaf out and offer greenery for many more months, which Jody clearly appreciates:

Burrito and Jody with bamboo

 

There’s something for every season, and I think that the chimpanzees appreciate what this sanctuary environment has to offer year-round. Yes, even as the seasons inevitable progress into winter:

Jody eating snow

 

Today is in honor of family and freedom

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This Independence Day of sanctuary was sponsored by both Don and Karen Young, and an anonymous supporter, in honor of family and freedom.

Don and Karen have been instrumental in expanding the chimpanzees sense of family and freedom. They helped make Young’s Hill possible and in doing so, increased the chimpanzees’ possibilities exponentially. Don and Karen shared this message about today:

“In honor of our sons, Rob and Ryan, and our daughters-in-laws, Soo Mi and Helena, a big thanks to them for their love and support and for being amazing parents to their children, our grandchildren. They are exceptional people, and we are so blessed to have them in our lives. In honor of liberty and freedom of people and the Cle Elum Seven.”

An anonymous supporter also sponsored today “because it represents freedom from oppression.” A simple, yet powerfully appropriate statement knowing the lives the chimps lived for decades before arriving in their sanctuary home.

Thank you so much to all of you for making a difference in the chimps’ lives, including them in your celebration of family, and helping to ensure not only their freedom, but their hope, love, home and sanctuary.

Jamie and Foxie:

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Foxie leads the way: Annie, Missy, Burrito and Jamie.

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Foxie, was among the first to climb the new structures and take in the view:

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Snippets

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Some of the most important things we can provide the chimpanzees are choices. The choice to explore their outdoor area or to nest inside. The choice to play with their chimp and human friends or nap. The choice to play with enrichment or ignore it. The choice to stay in one area or not when we are trying to shift them for meals or cleaning. The choices are many and we particularly love it when the chimps take it upon themselves to engage throughout the day in what they find interesting as long as we provide the options.

Choices relieve the inevitable bouts of boredom these intelligent, curious and active people experience at times being in captivity. And choices of how the chimps wanted to spend their moments and days was not something they often received prior to living in sanctuary. Yes, they are still in captivity and ultimately, the humans control their environment and schedule, but we do our very best at all times to work cooperatively with the chimps and give them choices at every possible opportunity. We want the chimpanzees to feel as much as possible that they finally get to call the shots. And really, they do.

These photos will hopefully provide an idea of how the chimpanzees choose to spend their days, in snippets:

Negra, dozing in the morning sun in the greenhouse when I first arrived:

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Foxie and Dracula troll enjoyed a toothbrush while waiting for breakfast:

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After breakfast, Burrito headed up Young’s Hill to climb one of the structures:

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He is exhibiting a fear grimace here (notice it looks very similar to a human smile, but means quite the opposite for chimpanzees – when chimps smile they only show their bottom teeth). Burrito sometimes fear grimaces when doing new things on the hill until he feels more comfortable. He may be feeling a little nervous as he courageously walks out to the end of the plank:

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Feeling more comfortable back on the platform:

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Jody wasn’t far behind Burrito, but decided to survey the area for some wild greens instead:

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Success! And she decides to head back to the greenhouse:

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Annie chose to head straight for the new structure and enjoy a little quiet time and the view from Carlene’s Tower:

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Missy decided to take the swinging bridge over to the other side:

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Jamie decided to join Missy on Jamie’s Tower, but climbed the pole as opposed to taking the “simple” way up of the ladder:

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Foxie joined Jamie a bit later:

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While all this was occurring on the hill, Negra changed nests and took a post-breakfast nap:

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Back inside later in the day, Jamie was thrilled to find one of her favorite enrichment items out – her “kitchen sink” filled with water and paper towels at the ready. She immediately wiped her nose:

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And washed and dried her hands:

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In between lunch and dinner the chimps also enjoyed checking out their growing garden and sampling some fresh peas and green onions, playing chase and grooming with caregivers and each other, cooling off with an ice cube snack, and napping throughout the day. And Jamie went on to check out new boots and enjoy an evening of walks around the hill while the other chimps headed to bed in the cooler playroom after dinner.

Annie, utterly relaxed:

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As caregivers, continually providing the chimpanzees with new and interesting options of how to spend their time is one of our biggest challenges. And seeing them utilize all their options and sometimes create their own, is one of our biggest joys. And hopefully, one of their biggest joys as well.

Dora hitches a lift

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Much to our dismay, we reportedly have an extended heat-wave headed our way. But this afternoon we took advantage of overcast skies and a cool breeze and the chimpanzees enjoyed a lunch forage on Young’s Hill.

A great thing about forages is that it gives the chimpanzees enrichment for the rest of the day as they will all typically venture out throughout the day to see if anything was missed. Foxie decided to make a second pass and her good friend, Dora, came along. But Foxie ran into a challenge making room for carrots AND Dora.

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Foxie and Dora had a lot of ground to cover, so Foxie stopped and tossed Dora on her back. Chimpanzee mothers carry their young on their backs when on the go. Foxie mimics this behavior and often carries her dolls on her back, but while it’s particularly endearing and easy to read into, your guess is as good as ours as to why she actually does this. Regardless of her reasons, it’s pretty adorable.

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After such a long hike, Foxie and Dora came back to take a nap at the top of the greenhouse (you can just see Dora tucked in Foxie’s hip in the background).

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Important Rituals

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Jamie has trained her caregivers well. She has created an entire routine centered on her many-times-a-day perimeter walks around Young’s Hill, and her human friends are required to participate in this routine fully. (For a video of the entire process from start to finish, see this post.)

After a perimeter walk, she usually meets her walking partner in the greenhouse, where she gives him or her a thorough grooming. Jamie leaves no stone unturned.

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When she’s satisfied with her work, she asks us to put the boot we wore on our walk up against the caging so she can groom that.

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After this, Jamie’s done with us for the time being, and we get a short reprieve before we’re summoned to repeat the process from the beginning.

Carlene’s Tower

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Back in February, the sanctuary received an enormous amount of love as part of our Share the Chimp Love fundraising campaign. The original goal of $12,000 was surpassed and the extra money was used to help build a new climbing structure for the chimpanzees on Young’s Hill. Construction began at the end of May and was completed a few days later, thanks to the hard work of the sanctuary’s founder Keith LaChappelle, JB and long time friends of the chimps Nick, Josh, John, Bill and Marc. The structure is located at the top of Young’s Hill and is the highest of any of the structures on Young’s Hill; consisting of two separate towers with a swinging bridge that connects them.

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As part of February’s fundraising campaign, two generous families won the naming rights of each of the towers. The Garza family named the tower with the roof “Carlene’s Tower” in honor of Carlene Garza. And the other tower, which does not have a roof, was named “Jamie’s Lookout” by Joan and Pat Borders.

Today the Garza family visited the sanctuary to meet the chimpanzees that Carlene had grown to love and to see the new structure with their own eyes. Because it was such a beautiful day, we ended up spreading the chimps’ lunch all over Young’s Hill for them to forage. On the menu was bell peppers, onions, broccoli, tomatoes, red cabbage and primate chow. All of the chimps went out at various times throughout the afternoon to gather food and some of them enjoyed their food from the new towers.

Here is a photo of Carlene’s Tower.
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Missy enjoyed some of the food she found while foraging on Young’s Hill under the shade of the roof of Carlene’s Tower.
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Burrito also spent some time on Carlene’s Tower…
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…and below the tower. (Annie is in the background, also foraging for food).
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Jamie gathered some of the onions and peppers that were spread out around the hill as part of the lunch forage…
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…and made her way to Carlene’s tower to take in the views, while Annie stayed below Jamie’s Lookout.
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Annie (sitting on right) and Foxie (climbing the ladder) also spent some time in the shade below Jamie’s Lookout.
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Then, Foxie climbed the ladder for a higher view.
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To the Garza family, everyone here at CSNW thanks you for your generous support and continued love of this very special family. I have a feeling that Carlene has a huge smile on her face, knowing she and all of you are helping her dear friends here. Her love will continue to live on in the lives of everyone here. Thank you!