We’re happy to announce that our team has begun the process of integrating the six newest arrivals with the three individuals in who arrived in 2019.
This development means that, if all goes according to plan, we’ll be forging a new social group consisting of nine chimps: Cy, Dora, Gordo, Honey B, Lucky, Mave, Rayne, Terry and Willy B.
This will not be easy. As others have explained here in the past, chimpanzees are not biologically predisposed to accept strangers into their group. Although free-living chimpanzees have fluid social dynamics with other members of their community, they can be brutally xenophobic towards outsiders. Males stay with cohorts of related males who frequently wage war on rival communities. Meanwhile, females can only transfer between communities during the brief window of young adulthood when they are sexually mature but have not yet conceived their first infant. Therefore, asking a chimp to become friends with an unfamiliar neighbor is challenging, and asking entire groups to do so is nearly impossible.
With all that being said, merging two groups of chimpanzees is possible in captivity, and it’s often worth the effort; Large, mixed-sex living arrangements give chimps more social partners to choose from, thereby giving each individual more freedom to regulate their social relationships as they wish.
Although it would never occur in the wild, most captive chimpanzees have undergone some sort of social integration at least once in their lives and are somewhat familiar with the process. Because of this, chimps who were raised in labs, zoos and sanctuaries are often more welcoming of new partners than their free-living relatives tend to be. Even so, they’re still generally skeptical and nervous about interacting with chimps outside of their usual configurations and even the best integration methods can go awry.
Many of you probably remember that, in late 2019, we unsuccessfully attempted to integrate Honey B, Mave and Willy B with the group of seven long-time residents that now live on the other side of the building. At that time, we employed an approach that has been successful at several other facilities: we opened the doors, let some chimps into a big room, and hoped for the best. Merging two groups in this manner allows for them to have lots of space during the initial meeting and keeps each chimp close to their established social partners. When this method works, it works well and it works quickly. However, this also creates situations where multiple chimps can form coalitions against their rivals, occasionally leading to chaos and injury for the chimps involved. Unfortunately, that’s what happened here, so we abandoned those integration efforts until circumstances changed.
This time around, we’re going to utilize a slower approach that will likely involve dozens of short, controlled introductions between pairs of chimps while they are separated from their respective groups. First, the participants must be separated from their current partners and shifted into a quiet, restricted space (e.g., the new front rooms). Then, they can have a supervised “howdy” at the caging. If this goes well, caregivers can open the doors and let them interact for a short amount of time before they return to their existing groups.
In these situations, individuals are more likely to behave in a friendly manner because options for forming coalitions and inciting conflicts are both limited. Over time, the chimps will become familiar with each other’s tendencies through these regulated meetings, thus facilitating a smoother transition to a mixed, cohabitating social group when the time is right. Doing these quick introductions is a repetitive and tedious process, but we believe that such a gradual transition will be better for these individuals given their unique personalities and backgrounds.
To coordinate the integration of the two groups, we’ve brought in our friend and colleague Jen Feuerstein as a consultant. Jen is a biologist with twenty years of experience caring for and socializing captive primates, so she’s exactly the person we want to guide us through ambitious endeavors like this one. This week, Jen traveled to Washington from her Florida home to help us with the first round of introductions (which began this afternoon).
Both introductions that occurred today went smoothly!
For the initial icebreaker, we isolated Mave and Lucky in the new wing of the building and then let them meet in new front rooms. These two “hit it off” relatively quickly and spent a good chunk of time hugging, grooming, and playing with each other. Mave was clearly the best chimpanzee to pilot the introduction strategy as she exhibited patience and tenderness at each moment. Lucky was also her usual sweet and goofy self.
When Mave and Lucky appeared done with the initial meeting, we rotated Lucky out and allowed Terry to come in. Terry is a testosterone-driven bruiser of a male chimp, and we weren’t shocked when he immediately barreled around the room and drummed on the caging. Even so, Terry simmered down and showed his gentler side by inviting Mave to meet him at the barrier. She approached and they inquisitively touched each other through the mesh before Mave grew anxious and retreated.
At this point, Jen gave us the signal to open the hydraulic door between the chimps and let them interact freely. Terry charged in and displayed again before settling. Mave kept squealing and jumping back but the two gradually calmed down enough to investigate each other. after a few minutes, Terry began to playfully stomp and skip around, beckoning for Mave to chase him. She hesitantly joined in, and it was only moments before they were laying on the floor grooming each other. This session went on for another thirty minutes or so before we broke it up; Terry didn’t want to leave her side but Mave seemed ready to meet the next chimp in the queue.
These two meetings went well, but we have an arduous road ahead. We expect to do more introduction sessions over the next few days and not all of them will be this easy. Even by conservative estimates, we’ll continue introducing pairs and trios for several weeks before we begin assembling these individuals into larger subgroups. Given the sheer amount work that we have to do, it’s unlikely that we’ll be posting comprehensive updates on a daily basis. Of course, we’ll continue to share the highlights when time allows, but it may be some time before we can share a definitive progress report.
Thank you all for caring about the chimps and for being as invested in their emotional well-being as we are! Feel free to leave comments and ask questions below. 🙂
I was wondering — and worried — about the relatively posting of today’s blog. Now i understand
the delay. I wish all of the chimpanzees and their human caregivers the very best as this process of introductions begin. It looks as if Mave and Lucky have made a new friend in each other.
“relatively ‘late’,” I meant to write.
sorry about that, Tobin! I often stay late into the evenings to write the blog because I get so easily sidetracked during the afternoon hours.
Plus, this blog wouldnt have been complete without a lengthy video of Lucky and Terry’s ridiculous facial expressions. 🙂
I’m glad the beginning has begun!
fYI, Anthony, this didn’t push to my email, I had to come looking for it
I had just sent the emails out a couple minutes before you commented, so its just my fault for being a slow writer! 😉
This made my day! What a fantastic start to new adventures and new acquintences for the Chimps! I’m sure, I like others were so dissapointed by the other attempts that this is fabulous news. Thank you for all of your hard work in making their lives as furfilling as humanly possible. looking forward to updates as things progress.
thanks, Emma! we look forward ti sharing our progress with you when the time comes!!!
So glad this went well today. How nerve-wracking it must’ve been. Mave was probably the best choice from among the Californians. My heart stopped when she seemed hesitant. I so hope this process proceeds well and successfully and without injury to anyone. For sure Honey B’s introductions will be be interesting. So glad you have an expert in this style of integration. I’m blathering. Excited. And interested. And scared. Best wishes to all of you, human and chimp alike.
Aaaand….now I see there’s a video!
I’m happy to see that the professionals concur-Terry’s play face is “weird”, haha!
Really happy to see Mave and Lucky hit it off right away, but Mave is easy. Fingers crossed for the males and Beezus
oh, yeah… Terry’s face is super weird. 🙂
And now we know that “weird” is the technical term 😉
This is so exciting ! So smart to let even tempered sweet Mave lead the way.
I remember her hugging, and reasurring Jamie last time around, she won my heart that day. 🙂
in Mavis we trust! seriously, she’s so good at keeping everyone calm! it was great to see her hold it together enough to approach Terry, even when he was on the edge of a big display.
Hi. I have a question. I have always been interested to know how you get the chimps to seperate from the others and go to the front rooms. Do you just call them and they come? Do they think uh-oh what do they want me in here for? Do the others think what are they getting, I want to come to? For example, Burrito when he was bitten the other day, does he understand that he will be helped if he goes to the front rooms? And thank you for all the extra work you do keeping us informed through your blogs.
I have often wondered the same thing, Karen, although I feel like Burrito, with his love of human company, is probably pretty easy
Hoping all will go as planned – so far so good! :slight_smile: Exciting times…thank you for sharing. :hugging:
So exciting, and terrifying, too! Bless dear Mave, the peacemaker, she’s a wonder. Good luck to you as you start this new chapter at CSNW.
Thank you for sharing these videos. Introductions scare me. Remebering when our boy Burrito didnt fare to well with one of the ladies from the second group. My heart broke for him.
Very happy that Jen is here to help with the process.
It will come together in due time.
how absolutely fascinating to see. I am curious about Terry’s raspberry blowing, any idea what that meant?
Hey, Leonie! Sorry it took me so long to double back to the comments on this post. Like many captive chimps, Terry seems to use the “raspberry” vocalization (which is formally called a sputter by some scientists, I think) to advertise that he is waiting impatiently for something. He does it when he is waiting to be served, to interact with a caregiver, or even to get another chimp’s attention!
Are you keeping a list so you can track who’s met who? I would think 1-2 meeting each other all the way down the list of each chimp would be important before any possible complete joining of the groups, yes?
I’m sure they are. I expect it’s a bit like air traffic controllers managing flights on a runway. I envision a chart with each chimp marked in a different color and lines showing who has met whom and when and who else was in the room etc. I expect they have it well thought out but fluid so it is re-assessed after every meeting. It’s not going to be quick. Which is good.
even then, it’ll be tricky. when scuffles break out, old alliances tend to hold fast, and it could easily be 6 on 3. Let’s hope it all goes as smoothly as possible
I apologize for the late response! Yes, we’re keeping a list on the whiteboard and we write daily summaries in our welfare database!
Dear Mave the peacekeeper….Glad she and Lucky got on well.
Terry and Mave; they do look like brother and sister don’t they?
I am glad it has begun, and am very excited and hopeful you ( humans and chimpanzees alike ) will pull it of.
Wishing you all positive and trustful attitudes for the days and weeks ahead….I believe in all of you !!!
I am assuming Burrito is doing well?? ( no news etc…).
I apologize for such a late response! It took me a while to get to these.
In case you missed it in subsequent blog posts, Burrito is doing great!!!
Thank you for sharing this amazing process of introductions. This aproach seems exactly right too. Since Mve
Thanks, Kathy!
Thank you for sharing this and all the amazing videos. Your write-up was fascinating. Since Mave is such a peacmaker, I wonder if she should be present when HoneyB meets one of the Californians to help HoneyB. I think the longer, slower approach to the introductions is great. Thank you as always for sharing the lives of these wonderul beings with all of us !!!!
Whoops! I realized you continued your initial comment here! 🙂
Using Mave as a “broker” between less social chimps is a possibility. It’s actually more likely we’ll use a chimp from the opposite group so that Honey B is pressured to behave in a friendly manner rather than start trouble with a potential for support.
Hopefully all goes well! Thanks for following along and supporting us.
mave is a wonderful chimpanzee! At the end of the video i thought there was a fly in my house on my phone. lol-as i swiped at it i realized it was inside the chimp house. Boy do i feel nuts…
I saw it, too, but realized I’ve seen so few in all of the videos that I’ve watched
Haha, we do have a fly or two in here…
oh my gosh! This is wonderful, I was wondering if you would try to integrate them with eachother, I’m so glad it went smoothly. Fingers and toes crossed for the meetings to come!
Thanks, Caroline!
Another day for the CSNW history books! Welcome Jen Feuerstein. Thank you for taking time out of your life to help our chimpanzees friends. How long will Jen stay in beautiful Cle Elum assisting in the integration?
Best of luck to everyone involved as you slowly move forward with the sensitive endeavor of forming one big group of nine. Since you have such a large following cheering on your success, I hope all this positive energy forms a force the helps the process. No need to worry about keeping us up to the minute in daily details. It is understood that all of your focus needs to be on the chimpanzees. It must feel scary and thrilling all at the same time as you watch this unfold.
I too was curious over Terry’s facial expression. To my inexperienced eye it looked like a playface shifting into anxiety as it to say “ok maybe this is too much”. System overload! haa haa. But Mave handled herself like a champ. Way to go Mave! I am sure that the chimps feelings must be mercurial as they go through the intros. Minute by minute, second by second even, and day by day. I assume their emotions can/will change as you move forward.
I keep trying to place myself in their skin and imagine what they must be experiencing. I know I will never ever know what they think or feel, but your videos and photos and excellent descriptions get me as close as I can dream of being there. Thank you for this ongoing opportunity to learn more about each individual as they blossom under your care. Thank you so very much!
Good luck and much love as you methodically move onward!
Sorry it took me a long time to circle back to this post and its comment threads.
Thanks for the kind wishes, Kathleen!
Terry’s face looked like a hybridized play face… perhaps crossed with a sneer? I’ve seen chimps sneer when they are nervous or anticipate conflict (much like Foxie’s lip-flip sneer when she walks through tall grass and finds it uncomfortable). It was odd, but we expect the unexpected when we put chimps in unusual situations!
Best of luck to all the primates involved – and I mean ALL OF THE PRIMATES.
thank you for the update, and good luck!
Thanks, Don!
What a beautiful, inspiring, splendid post I woke up to this morning! Thank you
for your artful words, video, and photo showing Ambassador Maeve winning over two newcomers, and their winning her over in return. There’s no better news we could have hoped for. Whoever chose Maeve for first contact was a genius. A huge thank you to ?Jen Feuerstein for traveling across the country to advise and assist. What a fabulous team you all are! Thank you thank you thank you for undergoing the slow and patient process of integration. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, and you and The People have begun in the most graceful, safe, effective way!
Thanks, Lin! Mave was the unanimous choice after a quick group discussion. 🙂
You must all be so very apprehensive and a bit (or a lot) rattled as you start this. It’s a delicate task requiring so much patience, as you say. And amidst all of that you need to keep the meal routines stable or that causes its own problems, and somewhere in there keep the cleaning going. Yikes! A gargantuan task! I wish you much luck and success that your careful planning pays off. The chimps deserve it, as you all do.
Thanks, Francoise! We were a bit nervous, of course, but also excited to get underway. 🙂
Thank you Anthony for your great post. I have always wondered how you go about isolating a particualr chimp since humans do not enter the enclosures. How do you manage to coax just one if the others wish to follow?
Hey Pamela! Sorry it took me so long to circle back to this post. It’s been a crazy few weeks and I’m just catching up now!
I replied to a similar question on another post, so I’ll paste that reply here if that’s okay.
Basically, it depends on the chimp and the context. To set up an introduction session, we usually try to use their natural curiosity to get two eligible individuals into the preferred rooms by themselves. In our current setup, this means getting individual chimps to willingly return to the front rooms or mezzanine after we clean them. [We give them access by remotely opening the hydraulic doors between the enclosures.] By doing so, the chimps are voluntarily leaving the playrooms and greenhouses behind, so it’s not always easy! Still, there are usually at least a couple of chimps who want to enter the intro areas and potentially make new friends. Sometimes they all rush in and we have to wait until they sort themselves out. We sometimes offer food as a reward for shifting into the preferred areas, but this isn’t always necessary (and can actually make them more suspicious in some instances).
reciprocal altruism-pedicures&manicures for all! A spa day for Jen,on me. Thanks for your patience.
I told Jen you offered a spa day and she traded it in for a brewery visit and a short hike after work!
They are off to a great start! I’m glad Jen is there to help.
Thanks, Nancy! Jen is amazing! 🙂
All of this is fascinating and wonderful. Thanks for all the updates that keep us in the
eager audience so engaged. Anthony, “Terry is a testosterone-driven bruiser of a male chimp”
instantly became my quote of the day. What a delightful turn of phrase. Wishing all of you success with the intros.
Thanks, Trish!!!
Dear Anthony:
I want to compliment your, exceptional, writing skills, and, your, easy, flow of words which anticipate the reader’s questions, and, proceeds to address them. Your command of the English language, and, your vocabulary, are superb. I enjoyed reading your, well-organized, synopsis of the chimpanzee introductions which was thorough, and, geared to the sentiments of us, who love these chimpanzees.
Thanks, Diane! I try my best to put out a compelling and detailed post each time, but this topic made it easier than usual to do so! Hopefully it makes up for the weeks that I post parodies, puns and photos without much context! 😉
Thanks so much, Anthony! I ditto all the lovely comments above. I can only imagine the excitement and trepidation that goes into letting the individuals from the separate groups intermingle for periods at a time. Ok, I acknowledge my next question/comment is “personal” so I apologize if it seems intrusive or inappropriate but I really am curious about this — It appears Mave is in estrus given the size of her swelling. And I recall Terry’s testosterone-drivenness has led to some attempts at mating or similar from a blog posting shortly after they arrived, unless I’m remembering it incorrectly. So…question is, how do those complexities get considered during these integration attempts? Or do I have my biology wrong?
Hey Marya! There’s no shame with asking about this topic. Sexual behavior is a significant component of chimpanzee society and we discuss it casually among ourselves.
You’re correct that Mave’s swelling was partially inflated when the video was posted. A fully inflated swelling is an indicator of likely ovulation. (Note: chimps experience menstruation like humans, not estrus like most other mammals.)
In general, male chimpanzees are very interested in female genitalia and this fascination grows with the swelling itself. This can be helpful during social integrations. We gave all the intact females birth control to minimize the risk associated with any unexpected copulations during group integrations.
Of all the sanctuary’s male chimps, only Terry seems to know how to copulate with females. They’re also all vasectomized to mitigate the risk of pregnancy. Terry knows the basics of copulation (he often solicits and engages in this behavior with Dora) but there are many subtleties of sexual relationships that he doesn’t necessarily understand. So far, we have not seen him make a serious attempt to copulate with any other individual besides Dora. In this case, Terry seemed somewhat interested in Mave’s backside but did not attempt to mate.
I hope that clears up some of your questions! There have been some good blogs written on this topic by other staff that I could send along if you wish.