No matter how long you work at a sanctuary or how well you know the chimps, there are still moments that take your breath away. Jody, Foxie, Jamie, and Burrito spent decades living in isolation in barren laboratory cages. Today, they are free to patrol their territory as a family.
JB — Fabulous video! Is there any significance early on when Jody reaches back toward Burrito, and then Jamie comes back from her lead position to walk in front of him?
In the beginning of the video, Jamie reaches back and pokes Burrito on the head. It’s a gesture that I think is unique to Jamie and Burrito’s relationship. Submissive chimpanzees will often “dab” toward a dominant chimp – they curl their fingers in at the 2nd knuckle and repeatedly touch the other individual with their knuckles. It’s possible that this is some variation on a dab, but Burrito does not respond appropriately to submissive behavior, and I think Jamie knowingly uses it to get under his skin. This is all subject to interpretation, but that’s my guess.
When Jody comes back, I think it is her attempt to “greet” Burrito submissively, but he tries his best to ignore the effort. Burrito is a wild man, and there had been a few squabbles indoors earlier in the day so the submissive chimps have a tendency to greet Burrito to officially submit themselves to him, especially when there is tension, like when they are far from home at the top of the hill. No one wants a fight to break out at the top of the hill (especially me :). But again, it’s all in vain because Burrito doesn’t know how to respond.
Thanks, JB, and sorry I confused Jamie and Jody. 🙁
This may be a stupid question but why don’t you want a fight to break out at the top of the hill? Seems like it would offer plenty of room for the chimps to get away from each other.
Not a stupid question at all. If these chimps had grown up in an environment like Young’s Hill, it would be a better place to resolve a fight because of all the space to retreat and evade the aggressor. But they still don’t feel entirely safe when they are outside, especially when they are far away from the building. And when they are unable to quickly retreat their safe, familiar areas, they are more likely to panic and perhaps touch the fence. Which would, of course, add more stress to an already stressful situation.
That has not happened yet, but it seems to be on their minds. Interestingly, chimps and other captive primates have been shown to exhibit coping mechanisms when there is reason to avoid conflict. For example, when chimps are kept in holding areas overnight at zoos in close confinement, they tend to suppress all forms of behavior so as to avoid causing a conflict. They seem to be thinking “this is not a good place for a fight”. And we think we see the same thing on Young’s Hill – they seem to reconcile more quickly, avoid overly dominant behavior, etc. The few times we have seen fights break out on Young’s Hill, the chimps all clearly want to get back into the building as fast as possible. The worst conflict we saw involved all six girls chasing Burrito to the center of the hill. He climbed a structure and waited until they were all underneath him, and then jumped about 15 feet out and over the heads, landing in a full sprint and heading right back to the building.
What a picture that is lol!
Thanks, JB. Fascinating as always!
Thank you J.B. for this description. I too was curious about the “dad” Jamie gave Burrito. Your answer is surprising to me as I would have thought that Jamie would be the dominant chimp (Queen of The Hill and all) and Burrito the submissive chimp. But you are saying that in this situation Jamie is being submissive to Burrito correct? It is all so complex and I wish I could learn more. ; ) Perhaps in my next life!
I also notice that Jamie seems to grabbing Foxie’s foot? What is that about? Is it just a game or does that have significance if you had to guess. I am also impressed with Jamie’s size, her long strong arms as she walks side by side with the gang. I know Foxie is small but Jamie looks so much “taller” in stature somehow. A great video!!
Yes, this is the problem with describing dominance…it’s never simple 🙂 And to be honest, we often don’t understand what we’re seeing. We can only guess. I would say that in this instance, Jamie is expressing submissive behavior toward Burrito because of the situation they are in. Being in a group that far from the building is somewhat stressful to them, so she might be trying to keep everything together. The females are more likely to submit when Burrito is on edge and ready to fly off the handle. But she also does it in an aggressive way, which is just typical of Jamie and of her relationship with Burrito.
The foot grab is a classic chimp game! One of the universal games seen in all chimp groups.
Checking it out. Making sure there are no intruders!
that video may just be the very best ever. as you stated, seeing them be 10000% chimps
Who is that coming out below to join them? Looks like a perfect day, didn’t even hear any wind in the video! It is very cool seeing them all walking together. I cannot begin to comprehend the joy they must feel living in their sanctuary home at CSNW. Seeing them walking together makes me excited about the prospect that CSNW will be able to save other chimps like them and offer these chimps the same possibilities.
Annie and Missy came up the middle of the hill, and Annie was waiting at the tower structure while the others patrolled the fence line. Missy was just below Annie, waiting for the group to come around so she could race down the hill and beat them (you can just barely see her charging down the hill as the group rounds the corner).
Those have to be the hairiest Rockettes I’ve ever seen! ????
Thrilling. I just this moment finished watching Brother Against Brother which is about the Gombe troop in Tanzania. These are the chimpanzees that Jane Goodall studied for 50 years. So, amazingly we have records and film going that far back. To see clips in that film of brothers Freud and Frodo patrolling their territory, and then to see this clip from CSNW is just incredible, almost scary eerie. The chimps at CSNW are so very much chimps. The videos you share are often fascinating, almost always endearing, very often hilarious. But this one is utterly thrilling.
I forgot to say, thank you!!!
Thank you for the great video! It’s heartwarming to see these special beings enjoying life!
Yes thank you for showing them enjoying their freedom. Magnificent!
I also notice a doll (not sure if it’s a troll doll or not) hanging from Foxie’s mouth.
Yeah, Foxie’s famous for her Troll and Dora the Explorer dolls. If you take a look back at the older blog postings and YouTube videos, there are a LOT that feature Foxie and her dolls.
AND she was the recent subject of a tiny media frenzy. When Huff Post did an article on her and the sanctuary, there were a lot of rabid people who put the sanctuary under fire for not caring enough about Foxie to give her a baby, or, keeping her caged up which is just entirely inhumane (I think that’s just a funny word to use for animal rights issues because it means “not being human”) considering everything she’s been through…. It would’ve been a lot more comical if it hadn’t been just completely sad and pathetic. Everyone got their knickers in a twist because they weren’t set “free” back in their jungle homes of Africa after they were released from the biomedical research labs.
*face palm and snort*