We’re nearing the end of the chimps’ ninth winter here at CSNW and while chimpanzees aren’t naturally cold weather animals, they have adapted quite well. When the first snowflakes fall each year, the chimps food grunt in anticipation of the endless snow and ice snacks that winter brings. As temperatures begin to plunge, they make cozy nests on the heated playroom catwalks and bask in the radiant warmth of the greenhouse.
This winter, however, is really testing the patience of the chimps and their caregivers alike. While most of the country is enjoying an early spring, our tiny little corner of the Pacific Northwest has been stuck with temperatures 15-20 degrees below average for months on end.
But that just makes each glimpse of spring that much more enjoyable.
As the snow melts, more trails are uncovered. The chimps launched out the door this morning knowing that more of Young’s Hill would be open to exploration. Burrito always knows how to make an entrance.
Females often greet male chimps with a submissive crouch, particularly when those males are exhibiting signs of physiological arousal like piloerection (hair standing on end). This, I believe, is not so much a sign of respect as it is self-preservation. You don’t want to get run over by a male chimp in full display.
For chimps, emotional moments are almost always shared through touch. As Robert Yerkes once said, “One chimpanzee is no chimpanzee.”
Missy and Jamie learned to navigate the hill using the fire hose vines years ago, but now others like Jody and Annie (pictured here) are joining in.
After touching nearly every fire hose and climbing almost every structure on the hill, Jamie seemed thoroughly satisfied.
Foxie and Burrito were not content to only freeze their butts off in the snow, so they made snowballs and ate them too.
One of Annie’s favorite places to sit is high up on the edge of a beam looking out over the Yakima River valley. Sometimes she closes her eyes and tilts her head up to the sun. I imagine that she, like us, enjoys feeling the warmth of the sun’s rays on her skin and seeing the patterns that the light plays on the back of her eyelids.
Jo says
Thank you so much for this!! It is a spectacular post and I enjoyed your characterizations very much! They are such special chimpeople, each in such a distinctive way! You all give us such a wonderful window into their lives and I am grateful to you all. Hugs to you all!
Kathleen says
I so enjoyed this post. Great photos accompanying your story. The last two photos might be my favorites. I feel cold just looking at Foxie and Burrito in all that snow! Burrrr and brain freeze. Annie looks as if she is in a total zen moment. Couldn’t be happier to see her looking so content. Thank you all for giving each chimp great joy, even in a season they would never have experienced if it weren’t for Sanctuary.
J.B., is Jody actually crouching submissively for Burrito in that photo? I can’t say I have ever seen the Cle Elum gang do that before (but I have seen similar greetings in videos of chimps in the wild). Very interesting, and Jody looks so relaxed with her droopy bottom lip so she must be comfortable around Fuzzy Mr B?
J.B. says
Yes, she was. All of the females crouch or exhibit similar submissive gestures, but Jody and Annie probably do it most often. Sometimes they bow by lowering their head and upper body, other times they bob by repeatedly lowering and then raising the their head and upper body, and sometimes they even “crouch-bob” where they essentially jump up and down in a crouch position. These gestures are usually accompanied by submissive vocalizations such as the pant grunt. In the first photo, Jody has a drooped lip which is a relaxed face, but Burrito hadn’t made his entrance yet. In the photo where Jody is crouching, she is in the middle of pant grunting, which is why her mouth is open like that.
Kathleen says
Thank you J.B. This was all very fascinating to me. As I said I have seen this behavior in chimps in the wild in other videos but wasn’t Aware of it happening at the sanctuary. Do the ladies always bow or show respect to Brito when he is aroused? Do any of the ladies show this submissive behavior to each other, such as towards Jamie? There is always so much to learn at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and I feel like a sponge wanting to absorb all the wonderful knowledge you shar with us. Thank you for your time and patience to explain what took you a long time to study and to break it down into tiny digestable bits for my little pea brain! Much appreciated !
J.B. says
The girls don’t always submit to him – sometimes they just get out of the way. I’m having trouble thinking of an example of the females showing this kind of overt submissive behavior to one another. They do submit, like when they turn over food to a dominant individual or relinquish a spot, but they don’t exhibit the showier forms of submission like crouching and bobbing to one another.
Diane DeVeaux says
#Jody & #Burrito. Happy to see that after so many years of isolation Chimps are still able to exhibit typical
Chimpanzee behavior.