The chimps were in such playful moods yesterday! I could hear laughter coming from the playroom, so I grabbed the camera and caught Foxie and Jamie in a 10-minute long game of “steal the troll”. Thankfully, Foxie won in the end and the troll was returned to its rightful owner.
What a difference a day makes…when we came in this morning, the group had clearly been fighting and they had that look that says We can’t wait to take our frustration out on you, J.B., when you serve us breakfast!. Needless to say, I got drenched. But that’s what I’m here for!
JB — Do you think the fact that the chimps are confined causes there to be more conflict? I don’t mean that negatively, but it’s reality that they have only so much space. They have enough space to get away from each other but not far, far away. Or have they developed ways to work out their conflicts?
I hope this doesn’t come out wrong. You know I adore you all. I’m basically asking about the effects of captivity.
I feel bad that you were the target of their frustration, knowing how hard you work to make their lives the best that can be under the circumstances. With that said, I’m also very glad you were there for them to take out their frustration.
Thank you for all you do for the CE7.
Denice
LOL, I can truly understand the being soaked. It’s amazing just how much water they can fit into their cheek pouches. Been soaked by a few chimps myself.
Oh JB How truly wonderful of you to be the bulls eye for their target practice. I did love to see the play and laughter between Jamie and Foxie and was also glad to know Foxie won ( or should I say that Jamie let her win! 🙂
Amy – That’s a really good question. No need to worry about it being taken the wrong way 🙂 We’d be the last people to claim that captivity is OK for chimps! And if captivity is necessary (like in a sanctuary), more space is always better, for many reasons.
But I do remember some research on spatial and social density as it relates to conflict that I read a long time ago. According to some studies in other primates, the results are the opposite of what you’d expect. Fewer conflicts as density increases. The reason for this was interesting: Primates tend to reduce ALL levels of behavior when space is reduced. This behavioral suppression was thought to be a mechanism to deal with the increased potential for conflict (don’t make any sudden moves when things get tight). Of course, I don’t know how generalizable those results are. They mostly looked at short term increases in density.
I haven’t done any official comparison, but our levels of fighting and wounding don’t seem any higher than what you’d see in the wild. I think this is probably due to the fact that, even when chimps have more space, they still cluster into social groups, as opposed to dispersing evenly. So all of those potential sources of conflict are still there (it is difficult to live in a social group, whether you are a human or a chimp!). And I think, as you suggest, that primates are adaptable, and they do tend to find ways to maintain social order even when the environment isn’t what it should be.
JB — Thank you! That is absolutely fascinating. I’m much more familiar with elephants and their need for space. Not only because eles are built to move and are susceptible to arthritis, joint problems, etc., when they are confined in too-small spaces, but also because it allows conflicts to be defused when the eles involved can get away from each other.