Hi, Bestie!

There’s no doubt about it, Inky is in her “forest girl era,” using all her space to build cloud-like nest out of squishmellows, tucking stuffed animals into her hip pocket, and rocking a scarf like the mysterious, whimsical girl she is. When she wants attention, she’ll sit and blow raspberries until she gets it, and when she wants her alone time, she takes that too. She knows what she needs and she’s not shy about it.

Because Inky is such an outdoorsy girl, she can be hesitant when she’s asked to come inside so her caregivers can clean her outdoor space, but lately, she’s been much more eager to cooperate with her caregivers!

As you know, Inky is a Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT) superstar, and has shown real progress presenting body parts, which allows her to voluntarily participate in her own medical care. She makes learning look effortless because she’s naturally smart. She loves to give her hands and gaze off into the distance like she’s got bigger things on her mind. Next on her to-do list is working on Kardia Mobile training, which will help our caregivers collect a heart rate reading when Inky presses her thumbs to a monitor. She’s a natural with all the gadgets, so we don’t think it will take long for her to catch on.

Because of you, Inky has been living her best life — thank you for being her best friend.

Your best friend Albert is doing wonderfully!

He is, as always, his bright, cheery, happiest self, and is still the first one running up to greet everyone in the mornings. Albert loves a good game of chase and would play all day long if he could, with chimps and humans alike. You might also spot him carrying a toy around in his mouth, because why use your hands?

When new people come around, he screams with excitement because meeting someone new is one of his favorite things in the world, so with a couple of new staff members joining the sanctuary’s care team, he has been over the moon with new friends.

Albert has his quirks, and that’s exactly what makes him such a special and important member of his group. His groupmates and alpha, Pepi, are so good to him, and it shows. Nobody is ever mad at Albert, because it’s genuinely impossible to be. He is everybody’s friend.

Because of you, Albert has been living his best life — thank you for being his best friend.

Your best friend Austin Powers has been doing amazing this spring!

Between March Madness enrichment activities and an active social calendar, Austin Powers has been living quite the groovy Chimp Life. He’s been spending lots of quality time with his half-brother, Chester, playing and grooming, and making sure everyone in the group knows how tough these two boys are.

Austin is the kind of guy who always has your back, no questions asked. He will stand by you and back you up every time. He is very sweet with the ladies, and he will always step aside and let them go inside first, never pushing or rushing, like the gentleman he is.

Because of you, Austin Powers has been living his best life — thank you for being his best friend.

Your best friend Buster is doing great this year!

As alpha of his group, he keeps everyone in check and protects his groupmates from anything and everything, even if that means a very loud bullfrog by the moat in his habitat.

During a snowstorm earlier this year, Buster and his friends rode out the weather in a new enclosure, but now they are back in their forested habitat, and Buster is happy to spend his afternoons in the trees watching the sanctuary. Now that it’s warmed up, it’s perfect sunbathing weather, and Buster loves to stretch out on his structure and soak up the rays. (It’s hard work being an alpha!)

Buster has no shortage of things to keep him busy. He loves all of his enrichment activities, like National Geographic magazines, which he opened up and fanned all around him to look through. He is also keen on keeping up with his dental routine by brushing his teeth, which we think deserves some recognition.

Because of you, Buster has been living his best life — thank you for being his best friend.

Everyone’s favorite “fun uncle,” Jimmy Dean, is having a great spring at Chimp Haven.

As the days warm, Jimmy is spending quality time with his sweetheart, Natalie, and they love to hike down to the moat together and sun themselves on their cabana. Jimmy isn’t a fan of drama, so he’d much rather spend his days soaking up rays with one of his best friends.

But he’s not all play: Jimmy knows the importance of positive reinforcement training, and he’s always eager to have one-on-one training sessions with his behavior team. He’s made excellent progress on his body presenting behaviors, especially when asked to present his chest, which helps him participate more fully in his medical care. We are so proud of how many things he has learned and how eager he always is to learn more!

Because of you, Jimmy Dean has been living his best life — thank you for being his best friend.

Sophie is the highest-ranking female in her group, a take-charge mom with a fierce protective streak. She keeps a vigilant eye on her friends, but her biggest focus is her son, Gage—Sophie is the definition of a helicopter mom. Sometimes she decides that anyone paying too much attention to him deserves a little warning. Sometimes Sophie will decide that you’ve been looking at Gage too long and get upset—just because you were looking at him! Sophie hopes for her son to take on an alpha role someday, though he’s not quite interested yet. With her no-nonsense attitude, Sophie is a mama you don’t want to cross.

Your best friend Diane is living her best, unbothered life this spring — which, for the record, includes being a bit of a bad influence on little Carlee and teaching her some habits her mom continues to let slide. The younger generation is truly something else, and Diane is leading the charge.

The other day, staff witnessed a moment that fully encompassed Diane’s personality: While out in the forest, Diane spotted a giant branch at the edge of the woods and decided it was hers. High ranking lady Sara Soda took hold of the other end, and what followed was a tug of war that Diane refused to lose. She pulled and pulled until she finally wrestled that branch (which was easily four times her size) completely to her side.

Most chimps would have called that a win and moved on…not Diane. She picked up the enormous branch and went after Sara with it! A true sanctuary veteran and former alpha, Sara has seen it all and rolled her eyes accordingly (meanwhile Diane acted as though she was the victim in the situation she had entirely created). A wild child through and though!

Because of you, Diane has been living her best life — thank you for being her best friend.

Your best friend Riley has been doing amazing this spring! He is fully leaning into his alpha male era (and thriving in it!)

He went through a calm, drama-free stretch for a while, but we are pleased (or perhaps not surprised) to report that Riley is back to his old ways. His latest hobby has been following auntie Angela around doing absolutely nothing wrong — not touching her, not yelling, just existing right behind her like a little brother who knows exactly what he’s doing. (“I’m not touching you! I’m not touching you!”)

Angela has plenty to say about it. Poking and pestering is simply what Riley lives for, and he has mastered the art of it. When he’s not stirring things up, you can find him in his happy place (his hammock) often piled in with Slim and his mom, Nina, for a cozy hangout session. He doesn’t spend a ton of time with mom these days with all his important alpha responsibilities, though she is always keeping a watchful eye on him from a distance.

At the end of the day, he is still very much a mama’s boy (which means he gets away with everything) and he knows it.

Because of you, Riley has been living his best life — thank you for being his best friend.

Your bestie Onyx is doing wonderfully this spring! Onyx is a spicy lady, and apparently she appreciates the same from her friends. Tough girl Slim has become a new close companion, and the two of them have been inseparable lately, cuddling and grooming each other constantly in the sweetest way.

Since moving into a new play area, Onyx has been buzzing with excitement over her new neighbors, especially Xena, who she has taken a particular liking to. They’ve been playing through the mesh and riling up the rest of their groupmates to join in.

Onyx will still “chimp arm” caregivers who dare not give her their very best carrot, but they appreciate she holds such high standards for herself. She deserves nothing less.

Because of you, Onyx has been living her best life — thank you for being her best friend.

Your best friend Bryan is doing well! Despite his previous decision to retreat from alpha duties, he has recently stepped fully back into the role, and with his reclaimed title has come a whole new social energy — Bryan has been more engaged and more present with the group than ever, and it suits him.

He is a chimp who knows what he wants, and what he wants is treats. Bryan is very food motivated, and if he sees other chimps getting in on some Positive Reinforcement Training action, he will lock in and bring his best focus to the table (a little healthy competition goes a long way). He does like to see all the treats upfront before getting started, which feels like a very reasonable alpha request. These days, Bryan is working on presenting his ears for ear inspections, and while he is making progress, left versus right can get a little mixed up sometimes (we get it!). Instead of getting frustrated, Bryan takes a healthy approach and simply takes a break, takes a lap, and comes back fresh. He is also easily distracted, but it’s easy to be in a rowdy group like his.

His right hand man, Devon, remains one of his closest pals, who loves to sneak up and play with Bryan’s toes at every opportunity. Bryan has even warmed up to spicy Tessa, and it has been interesting to see their friendship develop. Because of you, Bryan has been living his best life — thank you for being his best friend.

Sweetie pie Melody is doing so well this spring! She is as sweet as ever, and this season she has been absolutely blooming socially.

Melody has developed a close relationship with tough girl Heather, and we can always tell when they’re having fun together somewhere in the forest because we can hear Melody’s signature happy raspberry blowing from all the way across the habitat. She’s impossible to miss with her cute quirks and dazzling personality.

As you may know, one of Melody’s very favorite pastimes is sunbathing, and instead of stretching out solo this spring, she’s recruited her pal Heather and the group’s alpha, Pepi to join her in the sunshine. The team recently spotted them all cuddled up together against one of their habitat walls that often gets warm in the sunlight, and they were soaking up the sunshine in a beautiful little grooming session – one of the sweetest things we have seen all spring.

Because of you, Melody has been living her best life — thank you for being her best friend.

Our favorite sanctuary veteran and your bestie Sheena is having a great year so far. She’s been spending lots of quality time with her friend Betsy grooming in the forest and eating their carrots together. Sheena is always a good friend to the older chimps, as well as the timid or more reserved ones.

You know Sheena, she’s a smarty pants! So positive reinforcement training is one of her strengths. She is so close to being at a maintenance level on all her basic behaviors, like presenting different parts of her body to her care team, which are a core part of her positive reinforcement training and allow her to participate fully in her medical care to keep her healthy.

Sheena has always been a chimp who likes to take her time with new things — she can get a little frustrated when something unfamiliar comes along — but lately she has been showing a new willingness to try, and it is really clicking for her.

The biggest breakthrough this season has been presenting her back to her trainer, a behavior that is more challenging than it might sound. With “back,” she has to trust the process completely, and because she is deaf, her trainer uses a tactile bridge to communicate with her so she knows she did a great job and earned her snacks, even when her back is turned.

During a recent Dr. Seuss themed enrichment day, Sheena was enthralled with her “reading material.” After an incredible 20 years at sanctuary, Sheena is thriving and showing up for herself every single day. Because of you, Sheena has been living her best life — thank you for being her best friend.

Henry has been loving warmer weather lately and throwing himself into spring activities with full enthusiasm. If we had to guess what he is most excited about as the season rolls on, it’s probably the persimmon tree coming into bloom — because Henry knows exactly when to start giving his caregivers those eyes that say it’s time to pick some for him, and his caregivers are powerless to resist.

He has been enjoying his group and absolutely loving his time up on his favorite structure, climbing as high as he possibly can — because Henry wants everyone to know just how cool and tough he is, and getting to the very top feels like the right way to make that statement.

That said, the moment his caregivers walk by, all that tough guy energy gives way to his endearing personality underneath. He always wants to walk alongside when his caregivers pass, keeping pace and just enjoying the company, and his scrunched-lip hello makes it very hard to take the “tough guy” act too seriously — though we would never tell him that.

Because of you, Henry has been living his best life — thank you for being his best friend.

With warmer weather arriving, Flora is fully in her element — loving the sunshine, enjoying moat side happy hours with her group, and taking warm spring hikes around the habitat with her daughter and the other youngsters. Every afternoon her group makes their way down to the moat for their beloved happy hour, grooming each other, playing, and sipping water from the shore.

Flora continues to be the cool mom of the group, hanging out with the kiddos while quietly keeping an eye on things to make sure nobody gets into too much trouble. She enjoys peaceful grooming sessions with her daughter Valentina Rose and her close friends, and remains a steady, caring, and wonderful presence in her group. Her relationship with group alpha Mason continues to be the definition of frenemies — they are close, they spend plenty of time together, and they have even been known to sit side by side during enrichment, but Mason does love to push her buttons. Good thing Flora is a patient mama.

With spring enrichment to look forward to, Flora is stepping into the season happy, grounded, and surrounded by her friends. Because of you, Flora has been living her best life — thank you for being her best friend.

Your best friend Valentina Rose is doing great! She is one of the most mellow and easygoing youngsters around, and she has been soaking up the warm season. Valentina Rose has been spending lots of quality time out in the forest with her bestie Carlee, and earlier this year, the two of them hung out together in a new area while riding out a snow storm, which turned into its own little adventure. She and her friend Arden loved hiking up to the top of the structure of the corral and spying down on everyone else. Now that the snow has passed and spring has arrived, they are back to the forested space they love.

When she is not hanging out with Carlee, Valentina Rose has been fully embracing the warmer weather by sunbathing on her structure and soaking up every bit of spring sunshine — and she has earned every second of it. Valentina Rose is still a positive reinforcement training whiz who loves her training sessions, focused and enthusiastic every time.

Because of you, Valentina Rose has been living her best life — thank you for being her best friend.

Your best friend Natalie has been doing great this year! Although Natalie is fairly reserved and prefers to watch the action from the trees, lately, we have seen her making some exciting social developments by hanging out with the group’s alpha, Mason, which is a big deal since Natalie is otherwise lower ranking.

When she’s not climbing the social ladder, she’s resting sweetly with her friend Jimmy Dean, or playing with the other youngsters in the group like Carlee, Valentina Rose, and Arden. They all love to climb trees together, so the returning green foliage has been great for their treetop browsing.

Natalie has always been a foodie at heart, and her love of extra snacks remains as strong as ever — she is never going to turn down a treat (or two, or three) and we respect that about her.

Because of you, Natalie has been living her best life — thank you for being her best friend.

Your best friend Jeff Lebowski is doing very well this spring, though we will be honest — our guy has had some feelings lately and he has not been shy about sharing them!

If there is something you need to know about Jeff, it’s that he is a lover of routine and doesn’t care much for unexpected changes. While the group had brand new play structures installed in their habitat, they were temporarily relocated to a corral, and it was clear Jeff had opinions about it. He became a bit moodier than usual and treated everyone to a lot of random displays just to make sure his feelings were on the record.

But here is the good news: Jeff is back in his habitat, the new play structures are ready and waiting, and the difference has been night and day. Our grumpy guy is settling back in, getting back to himself, and now has a brand new setup to explore and enjoy — which, knowing Jeff, he is very excited about. At the end of the day, Jeff just wants to be in his space, on his terms, living his life, and now he has even more to play with while he does it. Because of you, Jeff Lebowski has been living his best life — thank you for being his best friend.

Your best friend Hugo is doing great! He’s started to take a step back from being the alpha of his group and has been a bit more laid back and uninvolved recently. Though he is still very kind and a ladies’ man to the girls in his group, he doesn’t get as involved in the drama anymore — he’s really leaning into a peaceful retirement.

Hugo continues to love all different types of enrichment, especially fishers, and will always come right up and sit on a shelf outside to finish his morning food puzzles without any hesitation. One of our favorite things about Hugo is that his food bark is super high pitched and squeaky and very distinguishable. On Fridays when the group gets forage for enrichment, you can hear his squeaky food bark loud and clear, and it slowly gets more and more muffled as he fills his mouth with food. (We look forward to it every single week.)

Because of you, Hugo has been living his best life — thank you for being his best friend.

Your best friend Carlee is living her best life this spring! She is still very much the baby of the group and she leans into that role with her whole chest — but she is getting old enough now that she is starting to climb in rank, which is an exciting new chapter for our girl. It is a tricky balance though, because moving up means giving up some of those baby privileges she has always gotten away with, and that is a tough trade for someone who has spent her whole life charming everyone around her.

One of the sweetest moments with Carlee recently happened when the group got wood wool (a material the chimps love to use to build nests), and Carlee got straight to work. One of her favorite caregivers stepped away for a moment, but when he came back, Carlee had the proudest look on her face and was so excited to show him the nest she built.

Carlee is growing up, finding her place, and doing it all with that signature Carlee joy (and spice!) that makes her impossible not to love. Thank you for being her best friend.

Your best friend TJ is doing great!

We say this with all the love in the world — TJ is always the problem, and he owns it completely. He has a very specific way of doing things: he wants to be your friend and he’s an incredibly charming friend. But the moment he’s asked to do something he doesn’t want to, he will let you know exactly how he feels about that. That said, he has been making real strides in compromising and has gotten noticeably more comfortable with some of his newer caregivers who he’d normally give a hard time, which has been wonderful to see. He’s also been doing much better at cooperating when it is time to go inside and outside so his caregivers can clean his space, which we are very proud of him for.

TJ is a creature of routine and curiosity — every morning he likes to post up and watch his caregivers come in, keeping tabs on everything and everyone like the little supervisor he is. And when he is not running the morning report, TJ has been out exploring a new play space with his friends, making the most of every inch of it — especially the “cupola” at the very very top of his space, which is absolutely his favorite place to be.

Because of you, TJ has been living his best life — thank you for being his best friend.

Your bestie Maxi is having a great year so far. She is without a doubt one of the most charismatic chimps at Chimp Haven, and her dazzling personality shines through every single day.

Maxi is always up front and center for group activities, whether it’s enrichment, forage, or produce time (and she’s never shy about letting her caregivers know she would like seconds). But Positive Reinforcement Training is where she shines brightest. As a certified smarty pants and PRT superstar, and she is always ready to show off her skills (especially if there are snacks involved). She’s quick to come up front and center, and is always the most eager and excellent trainee when class is in session. She knows nearly all of her basic body behaviors and brings that same enthusiasm to every session.

One of the most endearing things about Maxi — and we say this with full affection — is her relationship with the cue “give.” She has taken this behavior and made it her own, offering it freely and enthusiastically whether you asked for it or not. She will hand over leaves, toys, enrichment, and even the tiniest little blade of grass that she will blow right off her lip in hopes of receiving a reward in return. It’s the sweetest thing, right up until your hands are completely full of leaves and miscellaneous debris that you did not ask for!

Because of you, Maxi has been living her best life — thank you for being her best friend.

Your best friend Taffy is doing well this spring! She is one of the fiercest, spiciest, and smartest ladies we know, and she uses every bit of that brain to her full advantage — often in ways that keep her caregivers on their toes.

When it comes to enrichment, Taffy is not interested in doing things the hard way if there is an easier option available. She has been known to roll a large ball or big barrel halfway across the yard just so she can sit on it while doing her enrichment puzzle instead of standing, which is a level of problem solving we must respect. She has also figured out that puzzle feeders contain a cap that, if removed, cause all the treats to fall out — completely bypassing the puzzle entirely. (Technically not wrong, Taffy.) When it’s time for her caregivers to collect her puzzle feeders, she will let them know in no uncertain terms that she will hand it back when she is finished with it and not a moment before — and she means it.

She never fails to get involved in the drama of her group, and it’s a good thing for some of the middle-ranked females like Maxi, who she cares about and protects fiercely. Taffy is a force — deeply independent, strong in her relationships, and absolutely never doing anything she does not want to do. She loves to train and put her brain to work, and she brings that same fierce energy to her sessions, including the occasional spit at her caregivers if the goodies are not arriving fast enough.

She knows what she wants and she is not afraid to say so. Because of you, Taffy has been living her best life — thank you for being her best friend.

Your best friend Sparky is doing wonderfully! He is always happy to see his caregivers and her buddies on the maintenance team — and more specifically, he’s always happy to see their boots. Sparky has a deep and abiding love for boots, and if you stand still long enough he will make sure yours are looking absolutely immaculate. He takes his grooming responsibilities very seriously and footwear is always in good hands with him around.

The big news for Sparky this spring is that he is now in a big forested habitat, and he has been loving every inch of it — the only downside, from his perspective, is that it means he has to run a lot farther to chase down his caregivers when he wants to play. But knowing Sparky, he considers that a completely worthwhile tradeoff. This habitat houses a pavilion with a big glass panel where he can get up close and personal with whoever is on the other side of it. Sometimes, our staff likes to go eat lunch in the pavilion, and Sparky is over the moon to have this *premiere* spot to see his people.

Because of you, Sparky has been living his best life — thank you for being his best friend.