Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

young's hill

All About Foxie

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Foxie, as you probably know, is quite the charmer. She is apparently also muse to several artists. Did you notice the Foxie theme in the Summer Biddin’ online auction? Take a look at the photo below that launched a thousand (ok, more like three) paintings:

foxie muse

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Original Foxie textured acrylic painting by Sandra Casti available in the Summer Biddin’ online auction: www.chimps.afrogs.org
Foxie watercolor in mat by Lynn Cornnish
Original Foxie watercolor in mat by Lynn Cornish available in the Summer Biddin’ online auction: www.chimpsnw.afrogs.org

 

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Print of Foxie from original painting by Laura Heggs available in the Summer Biddin’ online auction: www.chimpsnw.afrogs.org

 

In addition to those three Foxie-inspired art pieces, the below two pieces are also available for your bids!

Foxie Close-up
Foxie Close-up original watercolor in mat by Lynn Cornish available in the Summer Biddin’ online auction: www.chimpsnw.afrogs.org
This photo will go to the winning bidder printed on 16" x 16" metal by Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
This photo will go to the winning bidder printed on 16″ x 16″ metal by Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. www.chimpsnw.afrogs.org

 

And if that’s not enough Foxie for you (how could anyone have too much Foxie?), here are a few photos taken today, when Foxie was out with the gang foraging for lunch during a light shower. If you look closely, you can see the rain:

 

Foxie walking

Foxie in the grass

Foxie eating

Foxie by hammock

Happy bidding, everyone! The online auction ends Monday at 7:00pm PT

Time on the hill

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The chimps are enjoying their forages on Young’s Hill so much more now that it’s cooled down a bit.

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This morning, Annie was searching high and low for something in particular. Turns out it was the primate chow she was after.

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Jamie almost always smells her food before putting it her mouth. A chimpanzee’s sense of smell is not much different than our own, so this is more of a personality quirk of Jamie’s than a species-typical behavior. We jokingly say that she must think we’re trying to poison her, because she always looks so suspicious when she does it.

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When Burrito is in a fight, he demonstrates an unbelievable combination of speed and athleticism. He can jump from the second story of the playroom down to the first, land on the concrete floor, and then take off running without skipping a beat. He’ll leap across the greenhouse and catch himself with one hand. But for some reason, when he’s not fighting he’s capable of tripping over his own feet.

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Last night we had the pleasure of hanging out with Jamie past sunset. Most of the chimps voluntarily go to bed around 5:30, just after we serve dinner. This is just as true in the winter when the sun goes down at 4:30 as it is in the summer when it stays light until 10:00. As soon as they finish their after dinner food puzzles, they start collecting blankets to make their nests around the playroom. But summer nights in Cle Elum are beautiful, and Jamie sometimes wants her caregivers to stay out with her for a few extra walks. This was the last of Jamie’s four after dinner walks around the hill, just before 8:00. When she decided she was done for the day, she gathered her cowboy boots and a pile of blankets and headed for the playroom.

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The train

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There is a train that goes along the river that is in the valley below the sanctuary. Negra often likes to watch the train go by at her window spot from the playroom—the train can be seen on the south side of the building and Young’s Hill. Jody however, was on the north end of the hill this morning when the train started to go by. We don’t always hear the horn blowing (because there aren’t any large train crossings near us) but you can sometimes hear a slight screech of the wheels against the tracks.

When Jody heard that this morning, she got a little spooked, and approached Jamie for some reassurance by reaching out and hugging her back. Jamie grunted (sorry, the photos don’t show that!) to sort of affirm, “yes, I heard that, too, and it’s okay.”

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Still somewhat spooked, Jody retreated toward the safety of the greenhouse.

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But before she could reach the building, she saw the train passing by, and I think she was comforted in seeing that the strange noise was really coming from something quite normal in their lives.

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Jody and plants

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Jody loves plants, of all varieties. In the wild, chimpanzees are known as “frugivores” meaning the majority of their diet is made up of fruit. But they also supplement with leaves, bark, pith, seeds, nuts, honey, ants, termites, and in some communities they will even hunt small mammals. Though Jody loves the fresh produce we offer, she also likes to supplement throughout the day with plants.

Sometimes she forages for native plants that grow wild on Young’s Hill:
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or she also loves to munch on bamboo that we have planted in the greenhouse and on Young’s Hill:
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and other times she likes to collect plants we put out as a forage. The other day she collected some pea tendrils from our garden:
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Today she found a mouthful of cattails and took them inside to enjoy at her leisure:
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(and she even found some leftover pea tendrils from the other day, too!)
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New Horizons

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Negra doesn’t spend as much time outside on Young’s Hill as the other chimpanzees. She seems to feel safer and more comfortable inside. And when she does go out, she doesn’t venture far. So we’re always excited to see Negra explore new territory on the hill.

This morning we set up a breakfast forage outside, and included some lettuce (Negra’s favorite). Negra couldn’t resist, and she joined the rest of the group as they went out to forage for breakfast. As if that wasn’t exciting enough, she spotted some lettuce on top of a climbing structure. Negra’s not much of a climber, and most of the climbing structures on Young’s Hill have remained unexplored by her. This morning’s lettuce, though, was incentive enough to brave the unknown.

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What sanctuary means to Jamie

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Sometimes it’s hard not to look at the chimpanzees through our sorrow. We’ve spoken often here on the blog about what each of the chimpanzees have lost and endured. The ghosts of themselves they were when they first arrived. For me while Jamie’s “before sanctuary” photo is one of the most difficult to look at, I have always thought that her indomitable spirit can still clearly be seen in her eyes. Despite all she had been through, her strength and completeness was still there. But I sometimes think that in our intent to be compassionate, we must be cautious not to risk doing the chimpanzees a great disservice by seeing them only through the sometimes tragic circumstances of their lives.

There is no doubt that with each passing day in sanctuary we are able to see the chimpanzees becoming more and more their chimpanzee selves. As their stress, fear and anxieties fade into the background, their personalities are materializing in front of our eyes. Something I am learning to do more and more is not to hold each of the chimps to behaviors I have come to expect. I want to hold the space for them to grow and change in their own time and space. Provided with choices, an enriching environment, and a healthy, loving home, every day they show us another facet of themselves. And earlier this week Jamie gave us a perfect example of what sanctuary makes possible.

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Typically the chimpanzees’ evening routine involves dinner being served at 4:30 while the playroom is closed for evening spot cleaning. We put out additional blankets for nesting and a food puzzle for evening enrichment. We then return access to the playroom so the chimps can enjoy their enrichment while Young’s Hill is closed off for the evening. The chimpanzees know the routine and normally and are more than ready to come in and start building their nests for the night. Usually by the time we leave, the chimps are in bed and if we’re lucky, offering nest grunts to us as we say goodnight and leave for the day at 5:30.

But a couple of nights ago, Jamie had other plans. It was a beautiful summer evening and she made it very clear that she was not ready for the door to Young’s Hill to be closed. And so it wasn’t. All the other chimpanzees were enjoying their evening enrichment and preparing their nests. But Jamie decided we should walk. And so we did. Caregiver Lisa and I took turns walking the perimeter of the hill with her again and again. At 8:00 J.B. and Diana (on their day off) came up to relieve us and wait for Jamie to decide she was ready to come in for the night. Occasionally, a few of the other chimps would get up to see what was happening or step onto the hill. Annie eventually built a nest in the greenhouse seemingly wanting to wait for Jamie to come in. Jamie finally decided she was ready for bed at 9:15.

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While some people may not appreciate staying after work I think I speak for us all when I say I cannot think of anything that makes me feel as happy and privileged to do than to be able to provide the chimpanzees these choices. After all, isn’t that what sanctuary is all about? Loving them means respecting them and listening to them as the already complete individuals, with their own purposes, that they are.

In the well known words of naturalist Henry Beston, “For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.”