The routine of each chimp house day that we’ve established with the chimpanzees allows them to know what to expect, and allows us to do the eight+ hours of work efficiently. But it’s not just the humans who have their routines. I’m always delighted to participate or witness a chimpanzee-created routine, like Jody’s morning greeting or Foxie’s after dinner, casual “give and take the troll” game.
Jamie’s routine of walking around Young’s Hill is probably one of the most written about aspects of our chimp-driven activities, but there’s one aspect of the walks that I really love because it seems to give Jamie so much pleasure. She doesn’t always do it, but more often than not, when Jamie takes me on a walk (which is really the way it goes), there’s a spot on the far side of the hill where she will veer away from the perimeter. She’ll walk on the log bridge over there or wander in the bamboo. I usually walk a little further and then wait. When she’s done with her lone exploration, she comes barreling out, heading directly toward me. She doesn’t do this in an aggressive manner, though it was somewhat intimidating the first time I witnessed this; and I’m glad, for her sake and mine, that she is secure behind two tall electric fences. She just really seems to find it great fun to come out of hiding and run quickly towards her walking companion, and then continue the rest of the way around the perimeter.
I got a few photos of this today. They’re not award-winning images, but hopefully with the story behind them, you’ll have a better sense of what they are about.
Here’s an establishing photo to show what the landscape has looked like around the property for the last week or so. It’s not snow, it’s hoarfrost, the rather pretty cause of our power outage the other day. The cold temperature did not stop Jamie from walking around the hill twice today. These photos are from our second walk
Here’s Jamie leaving the perimeter:
and here she is bursting out of hiding:
Great exercise for both you and Jamie!
There’s a psychological dynamic in being able to leave, hide, wait, and then come back that she never got to do before now. She can make you wait for her. She can be where you can’t see her, but she can keep an eye on you. And when she comes back, she can do it with great energy and enjoy the shock value. These seemingly small choices probably mean so much more to her than we can every imagine.
Lida,
So true! It’s clearly fun for her to play this game, and certainly not something she was able to do in her previous life.
I am curious what the signals are that show that it’s not aggressive? (As a person who’s never been around them I can imagine it being kinda scary if you don’t know what to look for.)
Good question! Aggressive displays are accompanied by a chimpanzee’s hair standing on end (piloerection), often a bipedal stance, and usually with vocalizations – all things that make the chimpanzee appear larger and more menacing. Sometimes in play we’ll see the chimps bipedal, and Jamie can be piloerect when playing with humans too, especially when she initiates chase. In the photos from yesterday, she is not displaying any of these behaviors.