Chimpanzees are very much “favorites comes first” kind of people. At Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, each chimpanzee has individual preferences in the types of food they like the most and they are eager to let you know about it. When they are served meals, they often request a different course to come before the one they are offered. Jamie will emphatically gesture for what she wants you to serve and Negra is infamous for her impatient love of night bags. Negra may even go as far as to avoid the rest of the evening meal entirely when she is too overcome with anticipation for the CSNW version of dessert, a small paper bag filled with nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. Caregivers will often hide the night bags until the very end so that the queen can focus on the produce part of dinner. After the excitement of the more desirable part of a meal dies down, many of the chimpanzees will revisit different parts of the meal they may have ignored before.

Today lunch consisted of green onions, baked squash, and beets (with the greens still attached). The squash, onions, and beet roots were quickly devoured, while the beet tops were cast aside. I entered the greenhouse just as lunch was finishing up to find Annie, Missy and Burrito playing cleanup crew and leisurely eating the leafy beet greens.

Annie:

Missy:

Burrito: