Most of us have probably seen the many photos of chimpanzees in the wild using tools to fish for termites. As a general rule, chimpanzees that have grown up in captivity don’t have the same taste for insects that you see in wild chimpanzees. I would bet lots of money if you tried to serve Honey B a termite she would be totally disgusted with you. The chimps seem to find fishing for peanut butter to be a more ideal situation.
Here’s Jamie fishing for peanut butter in a PVC tube attached to the outside the caging:
I think we all have a tendency to forget that some of the chimps at the sanctuary actually do occasionally eat insects (but only wasp larvae, so far as we’ve seen). The wasps are most prevalent this time of year and we try to remove any nests we find near the chimp enclosures to prevent both humans and chimps from the almost inevitable summer stings. Since the outdoor space is so large, we sometimes miss the ones being built on Young’s Hill. If you watch the above video you will get up close and personal with Jamie as she dissects a wasp nest she found on the hill.
Watching Jamie reminded me of a blog Diana wrote 5 years ago on the topic. In the blog she wrote: “Watching her, it wasn’t entirely clear to me how much of the larvae she was eating, because she seemed to be selectively eating some parts and not others, but she was clearly enjoying the experience.” After seeing Jamie’s careful deconstruction of the nest from a much closer vantage point (through a window), I’ve deduced that she seems to eat only the squishy larva stage of the wasp and not the older, more developed pupa stage. Don’t worry though, Missy was right behind her to finish off the rest of it.
Yikes! Brave Jaimie, and how, pray tell does she not get stung going even near the nest?
Sincerely,
Caroline
hi Anna!
Mmmm…nature’s gummy candy!
It’s amazing how they know which things are safe for them to eat even though they didn’t grow up eating them!
And she seems to be very thorough about it!
Jamie, ewwwww !
About half way through, I just decided to pretend she was eating a pomagranite instead.
It helped me to watch anyway 🙂
lol, well, I hope it tasted good for her.
I’m more focused on watching how she uses her beautiful, powerful hands than on what she’s eating. The delicate way she’s handling the bits she’s eating is really wonderful. Thanks for sharing this video with us!
Hi Anna, the minute I read this headline I recalled that post of Diana’s from 1995! I was so surprised back then to hear that Jamie and Missy ate the wasp larva, something I had never (would never!) considered as a tasty treat that might appeal to the chimps. But I’d forgotten all about the larva. My first thought then and now is how the heck did Jamie make off with the nest and not get stung by the wasp keepers of the larva?! She’s sneaky. Just wonderful knowing the chimps can find all kinds of goodies out in the natural world. But yeah, fishing for peanut butter or foraging for a bag of chow is a much safer find. Thanks for the video, I enjoyed Jamie taking every bite.
she channels her inner Bear Grylls
She can come to my house. I have a nest 20 feet up a maple tree for her to get.
Great detail of her process. Very intentional in her actions.. and we’d expect no less! Thank you for the great post.
She dissects and eats it so carefully and delicately. I love it.
errrr…I’d rather eat a termite…Ha
Although it was quite interesting to see, at first I kind of shuddered as I watched Jaime enjoying her “snack,” but then I as I noticed her deliberately picking through the nest, clearly searching for “something” in particular, I was fascinated…She did seem to favor the “gooey” parts…HaHa…Like others have brought up, I’m also curious as to how she snatched the nest without getting stung at all…Anyway, she obviously was enjoying each bite, & I especially got a kick out of watching her savor each & every delicious bite…
I LOVE the closeup (profile) photo of Jaime working with such diligence getting to the peanut butter snack… That beautiful look of concentration & determination in the profile is priceless…
Thank you, Anna for the great video & photo…
Great video but looking at her so human-like hands, I wondered how do her nails look so manicured? Do you caretakers do that too? By the way, Anna, I copied down a few sentences of your very beautifully worded thoughts from a blog a few weeks ago: “Summer melted away like a popsicle we never got to enjoy. As this year ticks by at a maddening speed I try to grasp on to familiar landmarks in time like…. to remind myself that some things on earth haven’t changed.” I taped it on my frig and wrote on the bottom “I wish I had written that.” So well written and such profound thoughts.
I remember seeing Jamie’s nails, so long….shout out to Anjelah Johnson–“Honey! Why you got no boyfren’!?”
Fascinating to watch! So precise! Thanks for sharing.
Mitigating factor: one surmises that Honey B. Chimpanzee is a very devout vegan.