Grooming is an important part of chimpanzee culture and whether in the wild or captivity, chimpanzees spend a lot of their time engaged in this behavior. If you think about it, so do we humans! Chimpanzees will groom each other or themselves to remove dirt and debris, attend to wounds, during times of relaxation, and most importantly to build and maintain bonds with one another. Grooming is key to social interactions and is often used by chimpanzees to gain support and remain in good standing not only in the community, but with higher ranking chimps.
The chimp house was very quiet this afternoon before lunch so I went to check on everyone and found several people grooming Jamie, as she basked in her role as the boss lady. (Clockwise: Jamie, Burrito, Foxie and Jody):
Jamie being groomed by Burrito in background:
Jody appointed herself the paparazzi police and immediately positioned herself next to me, at the ready to poke the camera should I continue to take photos of the boss. Though she eventually decided it was more fun to play a game of tickle (a rare Jody happening!):
Lunch service arrived and after a lot of excitement everyone headed up to the top of the greenhouse. (L to R) Foxie, Annie, Jamie, Negra (barely visible in between the blue chairs) and Jody:
Each of the chimpanzees has their way of attempting to gain the server’s attention, especially when they see something they really want (or want more of). Because Jamie is the most dominant in the hierarchy we typically offer things to her first. And she has no problem gesturing if she wants us to serve something other than what’s being offered at the moment for something she prefers on the tray. She will also let us know if there is a particular piece, or color, of fruit or vegetable she wants. For example, she will ask for red peppers over green if she sees them in the bowl and she refuses carrots that aren’t peeled. She will even gesture for us to return any offending carrots to the kitchen for peeling.
Foxie blows incessantly loud raspberries, Negra claps and sometimes clacks her teeth on the caging, Annie blows raspberries and stomps her feet, Missy shakes her head vigorously, and Jody just positions herself in front of the server. If someone is being served something she wants more of, she will just move in front of them or reach across to take it from the less dominant chimps. (This is all part of a normal chimp hierarchical society.) And then there’s Burrito who shakes, rattles and rolls, with a soundtrack of raspberries for pretty much everything on the menu. Just so we don’t forget he’s there…
Annie above and Burrito below (hair standing on end with excitement):
Missy pulls up a chair for her lunch:
On the other side of the caging was their server today, Whitney, one of our volunteer caregivers extraordinaire, getting a workout. Chimpanzees make for a rowdy lunch crowd.
Burrito:
Foxie decided to eat her lunch with me and made her way back to me with each serving to sit in the sun as I took photos next to her.
First course: tomatoes!
Back again with the second course: green peppers!
And finishing up the meal with primate chow in to-go bags:
Burrito, very pilo (hair on end), is often high arousal during mealtimes. Food is just very exciting if you’re Mr. B:
Jamie headed back inside with her chow to make an lunch nest:
What a fabulous post! Love all the pictures and stories behind them. Thank you!
Wonderful post, very educational and fun to learn about each chimps approach to food and how to get what they want when they want.
I heartily agree with Jamie. Red peppers are infinitely tastier — and not bitter – than green peppers. I can handle unpeeled carrots however.
Can you please tell us how much food a chimp needs a day. To me, it doesn’t seem like a lot of food to fill up those big tummies ! Can you ever put trays of food in their enclosure and let them help themselves? Perhaps not enough sharing if given to all that way.
Hi Sherry, great question! Chimpanzees eat about the same amount of food that we do. We serve them three meals a day either by hand or forage. By hand allows us to make sure everyone is getting their share (as you mentioned), check for injuries, and maintain relationships, and forages are fun for them and allow them to engage in natural chimp behavior.
Breakfast consists of a fruit smoothie with protein powder, a variety of fresh fruit, peanuts and primate chow. They also receive their daily supplements at this time. For lunch and dinner we serve 3-4 different vegetables (sometimes, rice, beans or pasta), more primate chow (lunch) and a “night bag” full of nuts, seeds and dried fruit (dinner). They occasionally receive a small snack during the day, but usually their additional food comes with their evening enrichment of food puzzles after dinner. These are filled with a variety of nuts, seeds, dried fruit and sometimes peanut butter.
Chimpanzees, particularly in captivity, are susceptible to many of the same health concerns and diseases as we are, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and kidney disease, to name a few. In the wild, chimps spend the majority of their time on the go, foraging for food and patrolling their territory of many miles. As these guys don’t get the same level of activity being in captivity, in addition to being older, we want to take a preventative approach to their healthcare and maintaining healthy weights for them as much as possible.