J.B. has already applied his new welding skills by fabricating two new awesome benches for the playroom. Thanks to Barb from Ohio for aiding in the project by “adopting” J.B. and purchasing the workshop heater from our amazon.com wish list.
The video below mentions reassurance, which is really common among chimpanzees. This simplifies what can be complex behavior, but, in general, asking for reassurance can be a submissive or peacekeeping behavior, or it can be a way to ask, “are you on my side?” Giving reassurance can be saying, “everything’s okay between us” or “yep, I’ve got your back.”
In the first instance in the video, Jamie is submitting to Burrito and Burrito accepts her submission by doing a quick arm over gesture as he runs by. Looking at this 2 sec interaction in isolation, you might suspect that Burrito was dominant to Jamie, but looking at their interactions overall, that’s not the case. It could be that Jamie just wanted to acknowledge Burrito’s display but let Burrito know she wasn’t interested in starting any trouble with him, so she could get to work looking for food.
In the second instance in the video, Foxie is being submissive to Negra, probably not because Foxie thinks that Negra is going to start something, but because Foxie is respectful of those who are higher ranking and often plays the role of peacekeeper, keeping the group calmer by giving reassurance to whoever seems excited.
Chimpanzees are a bit tightly wound in general, and a high arousal situation such as a great food forage can quickly turn into a fight. So, in any high arousal situation, chimpanzees will be doing a lot of asking for and giving reassurance, even if the situation is a happy occasion. Sometimes the exchange of reassurance is more just a sharing in the excitement of the moment than a submissive or dominant behavior.
This is an absolutely, fantastic video!!! I think Diana is showing her pride in her husband, but I agree with her, wholeheartedly, but I’m adding a word “TOTALLY AWESOME.” JB, I think you should send this video to your welding instructor showing your first major project for CSNW.
I loved when Foxie was testing out the stability, just what I would have done. I chuckled when Jamie quickly scooted over the benches when the forage bell was rung, without noticing they were a different material, even though she did go back and take a look.
When I saw a video of an island release, at Save the Chimps, there were a lot of hugs and touching, I can’t even imagine what their reaction will be when they door opens to Young’s Hill.
another great instructional video for us chimp-nuts … thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us therefore making our ‘viewing experience’ more complete. and thank you to jb for his wonderful … and now chimp approved… benches
Oh, I love these instructional videos, very helpful! Great job on the benches JB! I love Foxie really going through the steps of testing out those benches….”good for walking and tapping on, good for laying down on, good to sit my troll on, good for biting”……this is great to see her do given the extreme yoga moves she was doing in an attempt to avoid touching the new wood chips!
I was watching a Jane Goodall video last night and saw a lot of similar reassuring behaviors during a period of high arousal over a banana fest. This really helps me understand their behaviors more easily. Especially for when I am at the chimp house and the chimps are getting very excited and I cannot tell if I need to be worried for them or not. Then maybe I won’t have to rely on staff so much to “reassure” me. 🙂
Love it!
such a good video and great info thanks you ! well done JB the new benches look brilliant and im sure you passed foxies testing ( she was like a health ans safety inspector 🙂 ) lovely how she acts as peacemaker as well x
The new benches and rungs look great, J.B.! I love how Foxie puts them through the test by knocking, stomping and even biting them. When she lays down I can just hear her thoughts. “Not bad, not bad at all.” LOL
J.B. looks like you got the ‘seal of approval’ from a very tough group! They benches look terrific and so do the chimps!!
Terrific JB and Diana. I too really learn a lot from your videos that have explanations with them. Foxie cracked me up with her inspection of the benches. And when she laid down I really laughed! Way to go!