Annie and Missy have such a strange relationship. They are nearly inseparable, but when Missy decides to groom or play with someone else, Annie appears to be jealous. Its very predictable – if you see Missy playing with another chimpanzee, you can bet that Annie is watching her every move from a distance. Sometimes Annie will sit back on her butt and tap her heels on the floor, which is a behavior she often displays when she is anxious. And while Missy likes to interact with the other chimps, Annie mostly keeps to herself when Missy is not around.
Today I was taking photos of Missy and Jamie grooming and playing together outside:
And sure enough, there was Annie in the doorway, keeping an eye on things:
aww sweet gorgeous Annie .. hopefully, sooner rather than later she’ll become more social & gregarious with the others
funny you use the word “appears”!
A girl’s gotta look out for her BFF!
That beautiful, Annie! I know how she feels! I’d like Missy all to myself too.
Not unlike human adolescent girlfriend relationships. It sounds like Annie found her “everything” in Missy and only feels comfortable hanging out with her. Annie is such a sweet shy girl. I love that last photo of her -watching. With all of the changes we have seen in the chimps this past year, perhaps eventually Annie will start to feel like she has more than one friend.
The look on Annie’s face made me sad…. I so hope she can overcome her shyness and reach out to others for friendship.
I think Annie will eventually come out of her shell and realize that she can be friends with other chimps besides Missy. Each chimp is an individual and after the trauma they went through will rehabilitate at their own pace . I believe Annie, like Negra, just needs more time and she will see she can make friends with the others too. Time heals all wounds.
I laughed out loud at what Margaret and Karen said. Yes, having Missy all to yourself would be heaven…and chaos all at the same time…and never boring, I am sure! 🙂 Judging from the many positive personality transformations that have blossomed at CSNW thus far, I also bet that by Feb. 12th next year we’ll be writing, “Remember when Annie USED to be too shy and scared to play with the others!?” I’ll keep my fingers crossed…
Dee – You make a good point! We normally describe the chimps’ behavior in very casual terms, as we would if we were describing human behavior. But sometimes I’m wary of sounding authoritative when really I’m just guessing. Saying that she “appears” jealous is a way for me to hedge 🙂
I personally have no doubt that chimps experience jealousy, but perhaps in this case Annie is simply anxious about being temporarily separated from Missy, without experiencing the other aspects of jealousy, like the fear that Missy will start to like Jamie more?
Per the “jealousy” appearance issue: we need not forget that typical chimp social interaction is based on hierarchy ranking and each individual is usually aware of dominant members ranking above themselves along with keeping a relationship with those more dominant members. Annie may be concerned with her own ranking and/or relationship with Missy when other chimps engage with Missy.
I don’t know if it is jealousy or not, but possibly Annie is a shy, yet motherly chimp. Maybe Annie likes to keep an eye on her “children”.
Regarding the use of “appears”, J.B., we were taught to write reports the same way in nursing training. So even with humans we were never to assume what a person’s behavoir meant. The only thing we know for sure are signs which are measured objectively and actual behavior. If we can’t know for sure what human behavior means we certainly don’t know for sure what chimpanzee or other species’ behavior means. Probably can make pretty good guesses but we should remain humble. We don’t know for sure.
I agree with a lot of the other comments. I see Missy as one friendly chimpanzee, plays with everyone. I think Annie does refrain from playing with others because of her ranking in the group. Hopefully with time and love, like Negra and Burrito, she’ll feel comfortable enough to play with the others.
I want to say that Annie is a beautiful chimpanzee. I’ve looked at hundreds of chimpanzee pictures and she’s one of the prettiest I’ve seen, she has a regal bearing.
I agree, Candy. Annie is beautiful. She has an elegance about her. I, personally, don’t think there is any such thing as an ugly chimpanzee though. They are all beautiful to me.
It is Annie’s eyes that get to me. She is so intense looking at whatever, this time Missy. Yes, I also hope over the next year Annie can be sure enough of her position in the Sanctuary that she will begin to enjoy being with the others. Annie you are beautiful, loving, and caring. Are you keeping an eye on Missy or wishing you could play too?
I’m glad you picked up right away what I was saying J.B. (you and everybody bring up good points)
and when you said that, it immediately reminded me of what I read that Jane Goodall said:
JG: “I remember writing something about one of the young chimps, Fifi, a very special chimp. When her little brother was born, other chimps would come to play with him and she would be very angry and chase them away. I wrote that she was jealous. My supervisor said, ‘But you can’t say that, you don’t know it.’ I said, ‘Well, I do.’ He said, ‘Well, this is how you must write it: Fifi behaved in such a way that had she been human, we would say she was jealous.’ And this is very clever, because nobody can dispute that.”
also, very interesting what you said Margaret & Karen