Last week Katelyn posted about Jamie’s reaction to a relief from the rainy days of May. I have to admit, I’m right there with her! I, too, have anxiously been awaiting the warmth of the central Washington summer. Working here brings an added satisfaction to each sunny day as I have the pleasure of anticipating and watching the joy of the chimpanzees as they forage and spend time on Young’s Hill. Never having been deprived of the sky, the wind, the grass, and the sun I simply can not imagine what an amazing contrast this is to the chimpanzees today but I appreciate every opportunity, every day that gives them one more gift of freedom. Here is Missy, enjoying Young’s Hill in the sun.
young's hill
What a difference a day makes
We have been having many days of much needed, but seemingly never ending, rain here at the sanctuary. And let me tell you, Jamie has had a bee in her bonnet for days. And when Jamie’s not happy she makes it well known. I can’t really blame her as it’s hard to be stuck inside after we have had so many beautiful days recently. As caregivers, it is always first in our minds as to how we can make the days better for the chimps, particularly when they aren’t able to go outside. Yesterday, despite our best efforts, Jamie was a grouchy lady and let it be known in no uncertain terms that she wanted nothing to do with any of our suggestions. But today the humans and chimpanzees finally awoke to sunny skies. Everyone was in a good mood and JB even got a laugh from Annie, who typically reserves those for her raucous games of chase with her best friend, Missy. We put a breakfast forage on Young’s Hill to make the most of the day and the chimps were all lined up waiting for the door to open. They immediately all filed through the raceway together with Negra (!) in the lead. Everyone spread out, foraging through the now significantly taller grass, food squeaking with joy (we are hoping to have some great footage of this from the GoPro camera on the hill soon). And then much to our surprise, we spotted Jamie trying her hand at tightrope walking across the fire hose bridge! While this is usually a classic Missy move, I’d say Jamie is giving her a run for her money. And the best thing yet? That bee that’s been in Jamie’s bonnet seems to have flown off.
I love Jamie’s face in this last picture. It almost looks as though she’s giving herself a little congratulatory cheer. I would look like that as well if I had just been able to do a tightrope walk across the fire hose bridge!
New bamboo on the hill
The site that we now call Young’s Hill was once just an empty horse pasture. Here it is in 2010, before we started construction:
A wide open pasture may be great for horses, but it’s awfully boring for chimps. And growing a forest from scratch takes a long time. Thankfully, we were introduced to Jackie Heinricher of Booshoot Gardens (now Provitro BioSciences) and she found a solution for us: bamboo!
We initially planted two groves on Young’s Hill and just recently planted some in the chimps’ greenhouse. It’s a great source of shade in the summer, and it’s also great for climbing, nesting, and eating.
Yesterday, we planted three new species of bamboo on the hill, including Phyllostachys nigra, which has beautiful black culms. All were generously donated to us by Provitro.
The chimps were really excited, though I admit it may have had a little to do with the corn, leeks, onions, and carrots that we spread around the hill.
We’ve never heard the chimps so vocal on the hill before. As they foraged, everyone was pant-hooting with excitement.
Foxie is always suspicious of new things, so at first she and Dora kept kept their distance from the new bamboo:
And Jamie wasn’t quite sure what to make of it either:
But soon everyone took a turn sitting under the new plants:
Yesterday was a great day for all of us and Negra must have gotten caught up in the excitement because she did something we have never seen her do before: she climbed up onto the shaky bridge!
Negra has lost over 10 pounds since coming to the sanctuary, and probably gained a lot of muscle, but she is still not in good enough shape to keep up with the activities of some of the other chimps. If she keeps this up, though, she may soon be giving Missy a run for her money!
We built a few of the structures on Young’s Hill specifically for Negra – they are close to the building and can be accessed without a lot of climbing. Maybe they’ll come in handy when she’s older because for now, Negra has decided that the whole hill is hers.
Changes
In my home I have a wall where I’ve hung each of the chimpanzees portraits. I chose photos that reminded me of each of their personalities. But I look at those photos now and they almost seem like different people. It seems that the chimpanzees are changing and growing by leaps and bounds each day. Sometimes it’s big differences like Negra venturing so far out onto the hill that we lost sight of her for a couple of hours this morning.
And sometimes it seemingly smaller things like finding Jamie covered up in her usual morning nest while we clean the playroom but with the huge difference of having (and keeping!) her eyes closed, sound asleep. Jamie is typically always on alert, even while “resting” and in the past typically kept her eyes open, keeping track of what was happening around her. From my perspective, it would seem that Jamie is finally feeling safe and comfortable enough to let down her guard long enough to rest peacefully, if only for a brief time.
And there is Annie who no longer rocks anxiously in the doorway to Young’s Hill, waiting for Missy to return to the safety of the greenhouse. Now she is fast on the heels of Missy wherever she goes on the hill and can even be found foraging on her own.
And much to my surprise and delight, Jody engaged in a brief game of tug-o-war with me this afternoon and then turned around and presented her back to me for a knuckle rub. Again, this may seem small but in all the time I have been at the sanctuary I have not seen Jody play like this. I cannot tell you how happy this makes all of us. Not because we want or need them to change of course, but because it seems the natural result of their healing. And I cannot wait to look at my wall by the end of this summer, this year, and beyond and see who’s there.
Always on the go
We all know that Missy is a bundle of energy. She’s got one speed when she’s on Young’s Hill: FAST. She brings a smile to our faces every time she darts back and forth and up and down the hill, because she’s able to exert her energy in a space larger than she ever would have even imagined of in the lab. It’s so hard to try and think of how she was able to contain that energy in the confined space she had for decades. Now, she’s able to run as fast as she can, climb every structure and post, do her acrobatics on the fire hoses, and if she wants, to sit still. Missy is a very great example of how the chimps now have choices.
Honoring Jody and All Mothers
Mother’s Day at CSNW is always bittersweet (see J.B.’s fantastic blog post on this topic here). In addition to honoring motherhood, we celebrate Jody’s birthday on this holiday in tribute to the nine babies she had during her time in laboratories. Unfortunately, Jody (like most lab chimp moms) wasn’t allowed to raise her babies; they were taken from her immediately after birth and put into research themselves. Had Jody been a wild chimpanzee, she would have been inseparable from her children for their first five years of life. While we can’t make up for what Jody has endured in her past, we can and do celebrate her today.
Since Jody is all about comfort, her birthday parties usually include mountains of fluffy blankets and fresh straw to nest with.
Jody also loves to eat flowers, so Debbie and volunteer caregiver Stephanie brought lilacs from their gardens.
Jody spent about twenty minutes lying on her back in this nest and holding these lilacs over her head, plucking flowers with her lips like they were grapes.
The rest of the CSNW mamas enjoyed the day, too. Annie loved the lilacs.
Missy’s day was all about adventure, as most of her days are.
Foxie spent the day with her Dora the Explorer and troll dolls.
And Negra enjoyed some quiet solitude.
Happy Mother’s Day to all moms, and happy 38th birthday to the best Jody we know.