At the sanctuary, the chimpanzees have access to a daily changing assortment of toys, blankets, clothing and other items (all double checked by staff for safety). Clothing can be a popular item to add to sleeping nests, and we all know about Jamie’s cowboy boot obsession. Every now and then, a chimpanzee will take special interest in something specific that they may then choose to wear. I emphasized the “choose” part of that sentence, because we never force or demand the chimpanzees to wear clothing.
Today, Annie took notice of a stretchy ’80s style exercise headband. Instead of the more traditional forehead placement, she chose to wear it as a strikingly noticeable belt.
Very Creative!
So awesome. It would be interesting to see if Annie starts a trend…as in the fashion of “ear grass”.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/animal-fashion-some-chimps-are-putting-grass-ears-and-nobody-knows-why-180951888/
Well if my baby brother, like many a kid, can put beans in his ears for no particular reason, like the grass-in-the-ear chimps and like Annie, it’s just more proof of how human chimps are and how chimpanzee we are. Love it.
Sassy!
So funny! They are wonderful.
Why be conventional?
I can’t stop giggling over this. I’m with Rory, very sassy! Who knew Annie was such a style maven?!
I second this reply!
I think blue is her colour! Shows her beautiful figure off perfectly! Way to go Annie.
What a sweetheart. I’m curious to know if chimps in the wild would do this sort of thing. I mean, is she adopting items as “wearable” because of her exposure to humans?
That’s a great question, free-living chimps certainly have cultural transmission. You should check out the link posted in the above comment by Lucinda (about “ear grass”). Growing up around humans is definitely a huge aspect to why they show interest in wearing clothes, but you never know, she could just like the color and be putting it there for safe keeping!