Burrito soaking up the sun
Foxie with troll and sweet potato
Missy fishing for treats with a grape vine
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Great photos…keep em coming!! 🙂
Great shots J.B.! I’m partial to the shot of Mr. B, but it still brings a smile to my face anytime they are on the hill just enjoying “being there”.
I’m puzzled about something: You show Missy fishing for treats, and, if I recall correctly, the chimpanzees at CWU also fish for goodies. But reading Goodall and watching some documentaries has had me under the impression that this is a learned behavior. If that’s so, do you know, or can you speculate about, how Missy learned to do this? Or did she just figure it out for herself?
By the way, I love your site, the photos, and the videos. Often the sheer fascination these wonderful apes provoke has brightened my day immensely. I always look forward to the next post!
Hi Richard – Good question, and thanks for the kind words.
You are correct that termite fishing and ant dipping are learned behaviors. It’s likely that many wild chimpanzees would discover these techniques on their own through trial and error, but because they are steeped in a culture where this type of behavior is commonplace, they are able to take a short cut to successful fishing by learning through observation. So it’s not so much that social learning is necessary to develop these behaviors, but rather that it makes it more likely that more group members will develop it, and that they will learn it sooner and become more proficient.
In Missy’s case, and in the case of other captive chimpanzees, I think they discover this technique through a combination of trial and error and learning general principles of tool-use through observation. Captives chimps are surrounded by tool-users from a young age – most notably the humans that spend hours cleaning their enclosures. Most captive chimps are proficient at using objects to fetch or manipulate items that are out of reach. So I think that treat dipping comes naturally to them because it is an extension of a behavior that they are already familiar with.
In Missy’s case, we left sticks hanging out of the treat rock on the first day so that the chimps would discover the treats quickly. The chimps, already familiar with using tools, pulled the sticks out of the holes out of curiosity and discovered that the ends were covered in peanut butter. At that point, it was a matter of trial and error to see which holes had the goodies in them and which techniques were best at extracting them.
Jamie and Missy are probably the best tool-users at CSNW. Jamie, especially, is more likely to use a tool to solve a task based on logic and intuition rather than trial and error or dumb luck. But the other chimps have learned from her, and now Burrito and Negra, who once showed very little interest or ability to use tools, regularly use them to solve food puzzles.
It is always interesting how each one of them finds joy outdoors in different ways. The photos are outstanding, love Foxie’s sweet potato and a troll! Many thanks, JB.
Is it just the angle or does Burrito’s hair look less smoothed down instead of in the usual pilo erectis stage?
I meant more smooth. Sorry : )
Yes, he did seem more comfortable than usual that day as he hung out with the girls outside.
Wonderful photos JB and thank you for the great explanation on tools. It always helps to hear more on how these guys do things and where they got their abilities.
The chimps sure are looking healthy in the sun!!! It is so good to see.
I can imagine that they were so deprived for stimulus for so long that observing, reasoning and having the ability to learn tool use is interesting to them, especially when an end result is peanut butter.