Excitement spreads fast in a chimpanzee group. All it takes is for one chimp to get excited or upset, and the whole group is on fire before you know what happened. The chimps respond to each other’s vocalizations even when they’re not in the same room. If someone starts pant hooting in the playroom, you can bet that someone will answer with a pant hoot of their own from the greenhouse. It makes sense that it would benefit a chimpanzee – maybe especially a captive chimpanzee – to be responsive to others’ emotions and moods. I know that if I lived in an enclosure with whirling dervish Burrito, I’d be on guard at the first sign that he was getting worked up.
Today shortly after we let the chimps back into the playroom after cleaning, there was a very brief and mild scuffle. You’ll see how quickly Jamie and Annie respond.
Okay, I have to ask, who was in the scuffle and do you what caused it? Did Annie actually go all the way upstairs to look into it? She was swift in her response. And do all the chimps hoot and respond vocally from where they sit when something like this happens — even Negra, would she respond from under her blanket nest?!
And I love the shot of Jamie from the back of her beautiful head, so yummy, her hair looks so soft wispy. : )
Sorry for the late reply to your questions, Kathleen! The scuffle occurred in the playroom loft where I didn’t have a direct line of sight, so I’m not sure who was involved. I do not know what caused it, though I’m guessing something edible. 😉 It was very brief – over before it started. Annie did continue up the stairs but I don’t think there was much to see once she got there.
Most of the chimps do offer their 2 cents vocally from wherever they happen to be, and if the situation escalates, everyone rushes to the source of the excitement. Negra is an anomaly. She tends to stay put in her nest, and when she’s decided enough is enough, she gives one final “Cut it out, guys!” pant hoot.
“Hey…knock it off up there!”
I think it so wonderful that the chimps are living together and their lives are filled with interaction and companionship, as it should be. With that however comes the thought, every time, of how awful it must have been for them to be without this for so long. Decades of solitary confinement. It still astounds me that humans can so selfish and shortsighted that they firstly could not understand the intelligence and emotional capacity of chimps, and secondly, even if they do know that, not give a damn.
But then I take comfort in knowing that hundreds of chimps are now “free” to live rich lives among their own kind, and well-loved by those who care for them. As happy an ending as we could ask for.
THANK YOU for all you do. Hugs and kisses to the Cle Elum Seven.