• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

  • Our Family
    • The Chimpanzees
    • The Cattle
  • Blog
  • About Us
    • Visiting the Sanctuary
    • Philosophy
      • FAQs
      • Mission, Vision & Goals
      • Privacy Policy
    • The Humans
      • Staff
      • Board of Directors
      • Founder
    • Annual Reports
    • The Future of CSNW
    • CSNW In The News
  • You can help
    • Donate
      • Be a Chimpanzee Pal
      • Be a Bovine Buddy
      • Sponsor-a-Day
      • Personalized Stones
      • Transfer Stock
      • Bring Them Home Campaign
    • Leave A Legacy
    • Volunteer
    • See Our Wish List
    • Events
  • Resources
    • About Chimpanzees
    • Enrichment Database
    • Advocacy
      • Apes in Entertainment
        • Trainers
        • Role of the AHA
        • Greeting Cards
      • Chimpanzees as Pets
      • Roadside Zoos
      • Chimpanzees in Biomedical Research
      • Conservation
        • African Apes
        • Orangutans
  • Shop
    • Merchandise Store
    • Bookstore
  • Contact
  • Donate

Archives for October 11, 2014

Grooming is so cool

October 11, 2014 by Diana

We’ve talked about the importance of grooming among chimpanzees before, and it’s pretty well known what an essential aspect of life grooming is for most primates. Below is a video of very good friends Burrito and Foxie grooming, with Missy (off-camera), occasionally also grooming Burrito.

There’s a lot of cool things about grooming. In a comment on a post back in 2009, I mentioned some of the following:

The basics: aside from the social aspects, grooming is the removal of dirt and debris and the tending to wounds (licking and picking scabs). It’s why chimpanzees don’t need baths – they do a really good job of cleaning themselves and each other – no water necessary.

The debris found on the grooming partner is not necessarily consumed, even though the lips are usually involved in grooming because chimpanzees use their prehensile lips, almost like another set of fingers, for many activities like inspecting objects, turning the pages of a magazine (in captivity), and especially in grooming.

Increased grooming often occurs after a conflict to reassure and/or “make up” with one another and to cement social bonds. Grooming has a calming affect, which is easy to see when you observe chimpanzees grooming one another. A study of wild chimpanzees that used non-invasive methods to collect urine samples after grooming bouts found that oxytocin (sometimes referred to as “the love hormone”) levels were higher in bonded grooming partners than in samples collected of chimpanzees who had not been grooming or had been grooming with a “non-bond partner.”

Regarding lip movements during grooming: it is common for chimpanzees, as well as other primates, to “lip smack” or “teeth clack” or make other “sympathetic mouth movements” when grooming (also when performing other fine motor behaviors – like many of us who move our tongue a certain way when we’re really concentrating on a task).

Each chimpanzee does his/her own thing, Burrito is a lip smacker (he may teeth clack on occasion too), Foxie is a teeth clacker, and Annie makes raspberry sounds with her lips. The intensity of the mouth movement/noise will increase if something (especially a wound or scab) is found during grooming.

Some scientists have hypothesized that these sympathetic mouth movements were an evolutionary step towards spoken language. Our friend Gabriel Waters and [former] Central WA University professor Dr. Fouts published a study on this theory a few years back: http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1349990, and there was a book with this premise called Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language, which I admittedly still need to read, that argued that gossip for humans is what grooming is for chimpanzees and other non-human primates.

So, with all that information, here’s the video of Burrito and Foxie strengthening their friendship through grooming today:

 

Filed Under: Burrito, Chimpanzee Behavior, Foxie, Free-living chimps, Friendship, Grooming, Sanctuary Tagged With: behavior, bonding, chimp, chimpanzee, csnw, evolution of language, friendship, groom, Grooming, northwest, primate, Sanctuary, shelter, sympathetic mouth movements

Today is for Kim Young

October 11, 2014 by Katelyn

Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Craig Young for his wife, Kim! Craig shared this beautiful message for Kim:

“Happy “First Date” Anniversary to my darling wife, Kim – the brains, beauty, brawn and awesome of kimpluscraig. Sometimes Kim doesn’t get the recognition she deserves for the inspiration she is, but every place we’ve traveled, every cause we’ve embraced, everything that is important to the both of us comes from a heart filled with warmth and love, and I for one know I’d be lost without her. Lucky stars in your eyes, sweetie.” 

Craig and Kim, thank you so much for all that you do to make the chimpanzees’ days and lives better! It means so much to us that you would choose to share your special day with them.

Jamie snuggling with one of the loves of her life:

web Jamie eyes closed use boot as pillow sleep nest blanket PR IMG_4587

Filed Under: Sanctuary

Primary Sidebar

Archives

Calendar of Blog Posts

October 2014
M T W T F S S
« Sep   Nov »
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Categories

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Footer

PO Box 952
Cle Elum, WA 98922
info@ChimpsNW.org
509-699-0728
501c3 registered charity
EIN: 68-0552915

Menu

  • The Chimpanzees
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • You can help
  • Resources
  • Contact
  • Donate

Proud Member of

Connect With Us

Search

Copyright © 2019 Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. All Rights Reserved. Site by Vegan Web Design