Jamie and Burrito are undeniably the most human-focused of the chimpanzees at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. They seek the attention of humans frequently, as evidenced by the many videos of humans walking around the hill “with” Jamie or playing tug of war with Burrito.
It’s probably no coincidence that both of them grew up in a human environment when they were very young. Burrito was a “pet” and Jamie was owned by a trainer. They may not have had the experience of having other chimpanzees around them until they got older.
All of the chimpanzees at CSNW, when compared to their wild counterparts, could be considered misfits. None of them grew up in a large family group in equatorial Africa, clinging to their mothers and playing with siblings. For Jamie and Burrito, though, they are even greater misfits because they identified with the humans.
And yet, they are still chimpanzees, and they now get to live with others of their species.
Burrito and Jamie don’t have the friendliest of relationships. Every once in a while, however, like today, I’ll find these two misfits just being chimpanzees and grooming each other – showing no interest in the humans in that moment, even when one appears with a camera in hand.
It’s a reminder that they are capable of knowing and understanding one another in ways that we humans will never be able to access.
And that is a beautiful thing.
Kathleen says
What a sweet moment. As you always say, it’s all about choice. The freedom to do as you please when you please. Thank you for giving Burrito and Jamie a safe place where they can explore and discover who they are and where they belong in their chimpanzee and human family. They are home, that’s the beautiful part.
Linda says
Good to see another of those moments! Thanks, Diana!
We all know Jamie’s “The Boss”…..what’s roughly the order with the rest of them? Who’s “lowest” on the chain? I often feel like it’s Burrito, though I know no one’s expecting Neggie to give them back up……but at the same time, I don’t imagine Jamie taking food from Neggie, either (lol, usually the other way around). So I always wonder what the pecking order is, or does it shift a bit from day to day?
Diana says
We consider Annie to be the lowest in the hierarchy, but there’s fluidity and it depends on what the context is. We have been calling Negra the queen of the group for a long time because of her status – she’s not the leader, but she has a respected status in the group. There was a graduate student who collected data to take a look at their social networks. It was interesting to see our general impressions were reflected in the analysis, but also that social networks are complicated! You can see that article here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0191898
Linda says
Thanks for the response, Diana! I was thinking it might have been fluid……Wow, never imagined Annie near the bottom! I did intuit that place of respect for Negra, as they all seem to share and take care of her (I don’t recall any food fights with Neggie, for example). And I’ve often wondered if Missy’s running upstairs to eat every course alone came from being someone who “had her lunch stolen” on the regular. I’ll be sure to take a look at that article this weekend! Thank you!
Francoise says
Animals can teach us how supposedly more developed humans, like acceptance and compromise, even if it is often selective. The more I learn about chimpanzees and elephants the more I’m embarrassed and sad to be human.
Kim/San Francisco says
Love this! You guys do the best job of bringing us into the lives of these precious friends. I miss so many posts, but every one i do have time to see, I love and appreciate. I got to set one day where all Indo is read your posts! Thank you all for what you do.
Jordan Bower says
I love these photos. Thank you. How often do Jamie and Burrito interact like this?
Diana says
It’s fairly rare, when compared to how often the other chimpanzees groom one another, but it’s probably more often than we give them credit. When Jamie is grooming within a group, Burrito is often her partner.
Tobin says
Thank you, Diana, for yet another elucidating post. As I think that you wrote a few months back, the chimpanzees at CSNW may depend on their human caregivers for their food, shelter, and other material needs; ultimately, though, they need and depend on each other for companionship more than they do the human primates. As much as I love seeing, say, Foxie posing for the camera or watching Jamie motion to her human companion which boots to wear for their walk, the chimpanzee’s interactions with each other take primacy over their encounters with humans, and that is the way it should be.
Edie Bruce says
These are such beautiful, intimate portraits. They all have amazing faces, and show such a variety of emotions. It seems like they know so much more than we will ever know. Thank you.
P.S. I am totally obsessed with Burrito!