Yesterday, during the party, Negra and Jody found themselves eating from the same pinata.
Negra, being dominant to Jody, decides that she’d rather not share. As Negra pulls the pinata away from Jody, Jody gets upset and begins to just slightly bare her teeth out of fear. Negra then displays a facial expression known as a full open grin. As you can see, her upper and lower lips are drawn all the way back, exposing all of her large and powerful teeth. This is a sign of fear or excitement, and is often seen when social conflict breaks out.
Jody responds with a full closed grin. Her lips are drawn back like Negra’s, but her jaw is closed. She is upset that Negra has pulled rank, so she goes to Burrito and Foxie for reassurance.
After being reassured by Burrito and receiving a kiss and a hug from Foxie, Jody returns to Negra, who offers her an extended arm in reconciliation. Jody accepts.
And the Queen gets the pinata.
As it should be.
This is all very similar to the conflict we showed a couple of weeks ago, but in this case all of the behavior was ritualized and no one was harmed in the process. As aggressive as they may be, chimpanzees are also very good at negotiating peaceful settlements to their disagreements. Part of this is due to their dominance hierarchies, which can help predetermine the outcome of smaller skirmishes without the need for fighting.
We mentioned before on this blog how difficult it can be to describe the dominance hierarchy at CSNW. One reason is that these seven chimpanzees had little social experience before coming to the sanctuary. They had to start figuring out how to be chimpanzees when they were already well into adulthood, with no role models to emulate and no culture to absorb – just seven misfits trying to figure things out as they went along.
But another explanation is that the majority of the Cle Elum Seven are female, and in the wild, the hierarchy amongst females is often less linear than it is for males. In some communities, the females seem to be ranked in broad groups rather than by the individual.
I would say that is true for the Cle Elum Seven. It’s clear that Jamie, Negra, Jody, and Burrito are dominant individuals, but among them, it’s not always clear how they are ranked. The hierarchy is complex, fluid, and context-dependent. For example, Burrito’s dominance displays are respected and tolerated by all of the females, but Jamie can steal his lunch with impunity. Jamie gets upset when Jody gets a hold of prized food, but she is not always successful in her attempts to steal it away. Negra always submits to Burrito, but she steals from Jamie and Jody. Honestly, it can get confusing.
Nevertheless, we refer to Jamie as the alpha of the group because she regularly fights for dominance and usually gets her way. Negra, on the other hand, seems to earn respect without trying.
All she wants is her night bags, a quiet nap, and occasionally, someone else’s pinata.
Given her usual gentle nature, I was surprised that she even wanted to pull rank on Jody. Always something new to learn!
Have never seen Negra that “mad.” Sorry that Jody didnt get more.
Negra still had her teeth showing when she extended her arm for reconciliation. Is there something that tends to communicate between the chimps?
Hi Leslie – We were just talking about this on the Facebook version of this post. My take on it is this: Negra wanted Jody to back down without a fight. When Jody came back from getting reassurance from Burrito and Foxie, there was a chance that she could have tried to steal the pinata back from Negra. So Negra had reason to be fearful until Jody clearly demonstrated that she would accept Negra’s dominance in this interaction. And the full open grin is a fear signal, more so than a threat signal (though it obviously advertises a chimp’s ability to bite with all those big teeth). As soon as Jody accepted Negra’s extended arm gesture (thereby capitulating to Negra), Negra’s faced relaxed and she carried on eating from the pinata.
Thanks, J.B.! As many have said, I find these breakdowns of behavior very interesting, and helpful to clarify what might I might anthropomorphize into something else otherwise.
I really enjoy these looks at the chimps interactions and the breakdown of what their different actions and expressions mean!
I learn something new everyday!
jb- what was the purpose of negra holding out her arm in pic#2?
One other thing that I cant stop thinking about, and being, I guess proud, is you saying “Burrito” and “dominant” in the same sentence. I think way back to a post, by Diana (I think), when the 7 were still in the lab and Burrito did his version of a display when you first arrived and none of the others paid any attention to it. Also, all of his uncertainties hes overcome that allows him to be a dominant fellow. I cant wait to see how this progresses over the next few years. Thanks so much for the great post.
Very interesting! J.B. I have a question or 2 (big surprise I know!). Was Negra still showing her teeth when reaching out to Jody because Jody’s turning to Burrito and Foxie formed an alliance between Jody, Burrito and Foxie? Meaning if Negra didn’t give up the piñata and Jody still wanted to pursue it, Jody had back up? That would be a triple threat to Negra right?
And can you explain in more detail the difference between Negra’s “full open grin” and Jody’s “full closed grin”. Is there significance or a subtle difference in meaning to the closed lips vs showing all the teeth and gums?
PS: And the human behavior on all this would be for Hallmark to take the photo of Negra and Jody fear grimacing and make a Happy Birthday card. Ugh. ; )
Hi Kathleen – Sorry for taking so long to respond. Reassurance can take different forms. Sometimes it can mean “we’ve got your back”, but other times it can simply mean “sorry you’re upset”. In this case, I think Burrito and Foxie were just looking to comfort Jody, and Negra probably knew that. But Negra was still upset about the potential for conflict, even just with Jody, so she grinned until Jody accepted her offer of reconciliation.
I think that the difference between the full open grin and the full closed grin is mostly one of degree. The closed grin is often silent, while the open grin is often accompanied by a full scream, or by a hoarse, raspy scream. The open grin usually indicates a higher level or excitement.
J.B. – Thanks for the wonderful description and interpretation of this series of behaviors. You are a good teacher!