Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for October 2014

Jamie After Hours

by

Jamie has been making the staff earn their keep this summer and fall. After the other chimpanzees have made their nests and settled down for the night, and just when it’s normally time for the caregivers to go home, Jamie decides she would like some more time outside. She takes walk after walk after walk around Young’s Hill, always requesting the company of a human friend. While her morning and afternoon perimeter walks are often all business, these evening walks are more leisurely. Jamie meanders and explores and stops to take in the view.

Despite the extra long days, we’re all happy to oblige. It’s nice to see Jamie making up for lost time.

web_Jamie_sit_log_view_top_hill_peaceful_afterhours_yh_dg_IMG_3140

web_Jamie_on_climbing_structure_out_late_evening_YH_ek_IMG_3888

web_Jamie_walk_on_logs_out_late_evening_YH_ek_IMG_3880

web_Jamie_on_logs_out_late_evening_YH_ek_IMG_3882

Grooming is so cool

by

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:

 

Today is for Kim Young

by

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

Portraits

by

As volunteers at CSNW advance in their training, there comes a point when they are tested on their ability to identify the chimps. Understandably, this can cause some anxiety. After all, when you are new to being around chimps, you can’t help but focus on how different they look from us, instead of how different they look from each other. At first you look for prominent features and try to put them together like a puzzle:

Missing ear + Big belly + Bald head = Negra

Missing toes + Heart shaped brow ridge + Hairless forearms = Jody

Perfect posture + Intense gaze = Jamie

Notch in ear + Kind of looks like Shrek = Annie

Slight build + Troll in hand = Foxie

No neck + Silvery back = Missy

Testicles = Burrito!

But then one day it all comes together, and instead of seeing individual features, you see personalities. Instead of seeing parts, you see people. And you wonder how on earth you could have missed it before.

Missy:

web_cropped_Missy_eat_grapefruit_in_mouth_hand_look_toward_camera_GH_ek_IMG_4732

Jody:

web_cropped_Jody_drooped_lip_YH_IMG_3660

Negra:

web_cropped_Negra_good_profile_close_up_GH_ek_IMG_2768

Jamie:

Jamie_cropped_close_up_profile_YH_jb_IMG_3976

Annie:

web_cropped_Annie_bamboo_wadge_in_mouth_GH_ek_IMG_4926

Burrito:

Burrito_cropped_YH_look_near_camera_jb_IMG_3931

Foxie:

web_cropped_Foxie_troll_in_mouth_YH_jb_IMG_4111

 

Today is in memory of Deborah Silber

by

Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Anne Woodward in memory of Deborah Silber. Anne shared that Deborah was someone “who loved all animals and left the earth too soon.”

Anne, thank you so much for choosing to include the chimpanzees in your wish to honor Deborah and her life. What a beautiful way to be remembered. And although Deborah is no longer here, it is so lovely that she continues to inspire others through her compassion for animals. We’re honored that you thought of the chimpanzees in her memory.

Beautiful Annie:

web_Annie_close_up_pretty_GH_ek_IMG_3572

Picture of contentment

by

It’s been a pretty quiet day in the chimp house today. We are having some incredibly beautiful autumn days and everyone seems to be enjoying them in their own way. Jamie has, of course, been busy walking Young’s Hill with all her available caregivers and almost everyone else has joined her for a lap or two, or to collect some bamboo for munching and nesting. But for the most part, there is a lot of resting, relaxing, and napping going on.

Earlier this afternoon I found beautiful Annie, dozing contentedly on her own from the top platform of the greenhouse as she gazed out at Young’s Hill (in between blowing an occasional raspberry at me):

web_annie_rest_gh_II_kd_IMG_4841

web_annie_sleepy_gh_kd_IMG_4845

web_annie_nap_gh_kd_IMG_4838

web_annie_eyes_closed_gh_kd_IMG_4839