Wednesday was an eventful day. The drain for the front rooms was clogged, so J.B. rented a plumbing snake to try to clear it. Jamie is always interested when there’s equipment around, so she was watching J.B. as he worked on the drain. Maybe she felt a little left out, or maybe she had been thinking about this for a while, but, for whatever reason, she decided to do some surface destruction to part of the wall in the playroom.
And there went J.B.’s plan for the day.
Volunteer Kailie was serving lunch in the front rooms when Jamie was doing her redecorating. With the added incentive of a few grapes, I was able to convince Jamie to come into the front rooms along with everyone else so that I could close off the playroom for J.B. to patch the wall. He wasn’t sure how long it was going to take to patch things up, but it was likely going to be a few hours.
They still had plenty of places to be – the front rooms, the greenhouse, and Young’s Hill (it was a mild, sunny day). But there had been some tension in the group lately, so I immediately started thinking about activities that might keep them busy and maybe out of each other’s way. I had a couple of things in mind and decided to see what they were up to so I could assess the situation.
Lo and behold, I found all seven chimpanzees occupying just a few square feet on the top of the structure of the green house! Negra was in her spot on the corner napping (she’s the only one you can’t see in the photo below), and the rest were huddled up in pairs grooming.
Perhaps Jamie had some sort of master plan to cause an incident so everyone would bond and work out the tensions they were having with one another. Probably not, but isn’t that a nice interpretation?
The chimps were not bothered at all by being locked out of the playroom. At one point, Annie and Negra were in the front rooms playing. Luckily, I was able to grab a camera and get some of their play session, which is one of the funniest things I’ve filmed in a long time. Be prepared to laugh out loud.
J.B. got the wall patched up in a few short hours and the playroom was ready for the chimpanzees to go back into after their dinner. They weren’t the least bit anxious to get back to that space – even Jamie, who I would have thought would want to inspect J.B.’s handiwork asap.
It just goes to show that the chimpanzees are not predictable, and sometimes an unexpected change to the routine can result in wanting to playfully push all of the air out of your friend (see video above).
Amy M says
Could Annie have been practicing her CPR technique lol?
Diana Goodrich says
Ha ha! Perhaps we should recruit Annie for medical emergency preparedness training.
lisa says
honestly, i didn’t like that one very much. it looked to me like after a bit that annie was “bullying” negra. there was a point where annie was going to gauge negra’s eye out and after that it looked like negra was protecting her face and doing what she had to not to get hurt.
i have never-ever-never seen a video that y’all have shared with us that i have not loved. in fact, there are times that i watch them two, three, four times. i so love them !!!
this one, i watched twice to make sure that i was not making this up in my head. perhaps it was not bothering negra as much as i perceive it to be, but that is what i saw.
and that’s why i am not a primatologist. i am wondering if anybody else saw / sees what i did.
in any case, i thank you so much – as always – for one of the highlights of my day . . . watching the seven chimps in Washington do . . . all the different things that they do.
most sincerely,
lisa
Diana Goodrich says
Hi Lisa, thank you for your comment. It’s definitely some rough play. There are clear signals that Negra is a willing participant in this play session. Negra has a “playface†(dropped lower lip, top teeth covered) throughout a lot of the session, and she returns the slapping and other play behaviors. She is also laughing. Also, Negra really doesn’t take bullying behavior from others, and her own style of play is often rough. For us primatologists/people who know these particular chimpanzees, this mutually fun interaction is a joy to watch. Maybe with that information, it will be for you too!
Kathleen says
I wish you had taken a photo of the damage, or should I say redecorating, that Jamie did to the playroom wall! How did she cause so much destruction that it took poor J.B. a few hours to repair? What tool did she use (her fist, ha ha ha!!), oh I am so curious. But I believe 100% that Jamie had a master plan to pull the group together and ease the tension. She is the Boss after all.
It is always fun to see the rare videos of my dear Negra having a play session! I don’t believe I’ve ever seen her being so goofy. And it was “weird” to see Negra’s reaction to Annie’s silly belly pushing. The way Negra stretched out her hind leg as she was scooted backwards, what was Annie up to?! Nice to see both girls laughing and having a good time. Thanks for capturing that one!!
Diana Goodrich says
Jamie’s redecorating was similar to this: https://chimpsnw.org/2011/02/taking-things-apart/. The challenge is always trying to fix things so they stay fixed for a while. She did have a spaghetti spoon with her, but she ended up relying on brute force.
I don’t know what that belly pushing was about! I’m just glad they both found it amusing.
Kathleen says
So perfectly stated Manuela! It is so wonderful to see posts from people all over the world, like the post on New Years Eve (wish I had a translation of that post, I believe it was in Italian?) Amazing when you stop to think about it, seven little chimpanzees deeply touching countless hearts far and wide. Reminds me of this quote…..
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” ~Leo Buscaglia
elaine reininger says
This video did make me a little uncomfortable–I felt Negra was being abused and I wished a human had come in to save her. But Diana’s pointing out the facial expressions indicated she was having fun and I will take Diana’s word for it…but this was not my funniest video ever.
Shirley says
What characters they are!!
Julie says
That was hilarious! I actually spit my coffee put laughing! I loved seeing Negra engage in play! But, oh, the loooooong push! Thank you for sharing this!
Jackie says
Happy Birthday Manuela! How kind of you to share your day with the chimps. Have a wonderful day and all the best in the coming year!
Diana says
Good eye, Tobin. That was Jamie lurking kind of awkwardly while Annie and Negra played.
Gabi Ford says
I have spent a little more time on your web site….and discovered that I can while away many hours reading in the archives. Oh boy!! 🙂 Every entry is valuable, informative and so insightful. Really enjoying myself. How have I missed out on the CE Seven for so long?
DIANE M KASTEL says
How absolutely fascinating that Jaime would find a way to eat her nut snacks, plan a functional use for her wagon, and, look at her picture books at the same time! It certainly shows that these very bright animals can plan ahead, multi-task, and, actually view pages in a book by turning the pages! Is Jamie the only one of the 7 chimps who looks at picture books?