The big charmer at CSNW is no doubt Mr. B (I mean, just look at his face!) but Foxie has a charm of her own, and she’s able to use it to socially manipulate the chimp in charge, which is no small feat. Jamie is not easily persuaded by anyone. However, Foxie tries to keep the peace when she can, and if she sees Jamie getting upset about something, she will stomp playfully in front of Jamie to try and change the context. Get her mind off of being upset, and instead, get her to play. Foxie uses her playful charm as a sort of “cease fire” signal.
Foxie decided to use this special ability to her advantage. Sometimes when she and Jamie are playing, Jamie will take one of Foxie’s beloved trolls, which will occasionally make Foxie whimper. It’s all part of the game though, and soon enough they are wrestling and tumbling and Foxie does eventually get her troll back. (Read more about that dynamic here). She seemed to be treating the coconut in this situation as one of those trolls. First she whimpers as if to say “please, I’d really like this coconut” and when that doesn’t work, she starts to play with Jamie.
In the end, Jamie held on to the coconut and was able to crack it open using a plastic chopstick and sheer force on the stairs. However, when it broke into a bunch of pieces, Foxie was able to grab a big chunk and Jamie had no problem with her taking her piece.
Foxie is a good example of how a low ranking chimp can still have power.
I loved hearing the laughter.