Valentine's gifts, wine tasting tickets, and enriching a captive environment

February 2010 News Brief

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Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
PO Box 952
Cle Elum, WA 98922
509-699-0728
ChimpSanctuaryNW.org

Shop: Unique Gifts for Your Valentine

Our online store is full of great gifts for last minute Valentine's Day shopping. From t-shirts to books to prints of chimpanzee-created art - you can't go wrong!

Or give the gift of a Chimpanzee Pal sponsorship. Pals will receive a tote bag, a sticker card with a photo of their pal, and postcards to send to friends. Order by 10am, Wednesday, February 10th and we'll ship priority mail for Valentine's Day delivery.

Events: Sippin' for the Seven

Buy Tickets Now! Tickets (just $35) are now on sale for the 2nd annual Sippin' for the Seven wine tasting in Roslyn, WA. Come taste a variety of Washington's best wines and beers (and purchase your favorites!), enjoy live music and nibbles, and learn more about the sanctuary from staff and volunteers. This year we will have a raffle at the event - the grand prize is a private visit to the sanctuary!

Sanctuary: Enriching a Captive Environment

Chimpanzees are native to equatorial Africa. In their natural habitats, they roam for miles a day, they make nests in trees and they use tools to obtain food such as termites and nuts. It is impossible to mimic the complexity and ever-changing environment of free-living chimpanzees, but we strive to provide an enriching environment at the sanctuary and allow the chimpanzees to express natural behaviors as well as obtain enjoyment from things they would never have encountered in the forests of Africa. It is important that the chimpanzees have a mentally and emotionally stimulating environment, whether that means giving Jamie a pair of cowboy boots, playing dvds for Foxie or scattering food throughout the playroom to mimic natural foraging behavior.

There are many individual differences among the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees. Foxie, for example, does not make the large comfy nests that Missy and Jody construct, but instead exhibits what we call "phantom nesting." Foxie has been using blankets and straw more and more, but only time will tell if she will ever make big nests. Experts we have consulted have offered this possible explanation of Foxie's phantom nesting behavior: she was deprived of chimpanzee models of nesting and physical nesting materials during the critical period of her development when nesting should have appeared, so just the "shadows" of the behavior emerged. It's possible that she missed the opportunity for this behavior to fully develop, but we will keep encouraging her and will keep you updated on her progress.

CSNW in the News: Seattle Times Op-ed

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest Executive Director, Sarah Baeckler had an opinion column published in the Seattle Times this weekend. This op-ed was written along with colleague Debra Durham about the Great Ape Protection Act. Read the article online and submit your comments.

Survey: Thanks for Participating!

Thanks to all who participated in our communications survey and congrats to April S. who was randomly selected to win a CSNW martini glass! The survey has helped us learn a little bit more about you and what you're interested in learning from us. We'll be making a few small changes to the e-newsletter, including a new design which will be unveiled this spring.