A quick word of warning: If you do not wish to see footage of chimps being aggressive towards one another, please skip this video.
Recently, Grace posted to our social media accounts asking people to submit questions for Q&A posts on our blog. One of the questions jumped out at me: What is the best and worst part of your job? I immediately thought of dozens of things I like best about this line of work – we get to provide the chimps with life-changing and long overdue experiences like going outdoors and climbing trees, we help them form new friendships, we are treated on a daily basis to displays of intelligence and emotion that many people still believe are reserved for humans alone, and we get to do the thing we love with people we enjoy working with in a breathtakingly beautiful environment. Oh, and I get to drive a tractor sometimes. Maybe I should have put that first? Anyway, how could I choose just one “best” thing?
But when it comes to the worst part of the job, there’s no question in my mind what it is: it’s the violence.
Chimpanzees are naturally aggressive. Not all the time, mind you, or even most of the time. Aggression actually makes up a very small part of their daily activity and is just a tiny facet of their overall demeanor. Most of their waking hours are spent resting, quietly grooming, exploring, and playing. And most of their interactions with one another are overwhelmingly friendly and cooperative – and often extremely gentle, tender, and loving. But these hours upon hours of peace and playfulness are punctuated by boisterous displays of dominance and, on occasion, acts of real, raw violence – violence between the very people we have dedicated our careers, and in many ways our whole lives, to caring for. For us caregivers, it amounts to a lot of worrying about a thing over which we have very little control.
Which brings me to this video. I’ve been wanting to share it for a while, for a couple of reasons. First, when a chimpanzee gets injured here at CSNW, people naturally ask who was fighting and why. Our answer is usually some form of “I don’t know” and “I don’t know.” It’s not because we aren’t paying attention, but rather because the nature of chimp fights make them hard to interpret at times. They can happen quickly with little warning, they rarely occur between only two individuals, and the individuals who get into a fight in the first place are not always the ones who come away injured. I’m grateful for the many books and documentaries that have demonstrated chimpanzees’ remarkable capacity for strategic aggression, but reality is often so much messier. Yes, chimps sometimes exhibit coalitionary aggression for the purpose of social status. But in addition to being Machiavellian, chimpanzees are also xenophobic, insecure, jealous, petty, anxious, and just plain cranky, and any and all of these can serve as the impetus to bite someone’s finger off.
Second, it’s important for people to get an accurate picture of how chimps live. We don’t want anyone to think that life for chimpanzees is nothing but eating, playing, and climbing trees. While we often discuss their injuries, we aren’t usually in a position to show the fights in which they occurred. As you can see, however, we can occasionally capture them on our security camera system.
But perhaps most importantly, I want to show you how they make up afterwards. Chimp societies wouldn’t hold together very long if the individuals within them didn’t have the capacity to reconcile, and that is the saving grace for both the chimpanzees themselves and our own ability to care for them. Because no matter how bad things get, they usually find a way to move forward together.
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So…the video. For what it’s worth, I’ve made it unlisted on YouTube so hopefully anyone watching will find it here and will also be reading this for context.
In the video, which is from December, you witness the beginning of the conflict as Willy B and Terry run out into the Greenhouse. Terry is upset, which you can see as he screams and splays himself out on the catwalk before running back inside for reassurance. The video picks up again in the Playroom, where Terry and Willy B face off momentarily by the door downstairs. The group congregates upstairs and Rayne then approaches Mave who is at the top of the tree structure. As Willy B moves in, possibly to protect Mave (though that is certainly open to interpretation), he comes face to face with Gordo. And that’s when all heck breaks loose. It took me several minutes of playing over and over in slow mo to piece together what was happening. For a time, I even falsely accused Rayne of a crime she didn’t commit. Sorry, Raynie!
We often differentiate between minor chimp fights and more serious ones based on whether or not they “ball up.” Balling up occurs when they grapple and bite, as opposed to chasing and hitting, at which point the caregivers can no longer tell who is who in real time. When chimps ball up, we know that we are going to have to look for injuries afterwards – checking ears and counting fingers and toes as they tend to their wounds. In this case, the chimps ball up for only a brief moment. They leap down to the floor through the fire hose vines and Willy B escapes up the stairs only to find his finger caught in Lucky’s mouth. He somehow manages to withdraw his finger intact and escapes through Playroom 3 to the Mezzanine where the screaming and reassurance-seeking continues. Fortunately, everyone made it out with only minor injuries.
At breakfast the next morning, Gordo – who was uninjured in the fight and whose “side,” you could say, came out on top – approached Willy B to reconcile. Breathy panting serves to express friendly intentions, and Gordo offers both his backside and his fingers and toes to Willy B. Isn’t it ironic that the way to make up after a fight in which you tried bite each other’s toes off is to place your toes in each other’s mouths again? While Mave and Rayne similarly reconcile, Gordo asks Willy B to follow him upstairs to groom. And once again, all is well.
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So that’s a chimp fight and the aftermath. Some are more serious, many less so. Some last for only a minute or two while others have gone on for as long as 20 minutes. The boys fight the boys, the girls fight the girls, and the boys and girls fight each other. It happens in new groups and in groups like the seven that have been together for 17 years. They are loud and fast and frequently complicated. Serious fights are relatively rare but they’re part of caring for chimps and while you never really get used to it, you do come to accept it. Running a tortoise sanctuary would certainly be better for the ol’ blood pressure. But if you love caring for chimps, as I do, you can’t pick and choose which parts you get to experience.
I’m sure this post raises more questions than it answers, so ask away and I’ll do my best to respond below! And my thanks to all of you for allowing us to explore a more serious and fraught topic from time to time. Hopefully it helps present a truer version of sanctuary life for both the chimps and the humans that care for them.
Have you ever had to break up a fight and how would you if needed to? Has any of the chimps ever gotten out? Has anyone ever found themselves in a cage with a chimp?
When we are doing introductions, during which time we expect to see fights more frequently, we conduct them in smaller groups and in smaller spaces so that we have the opportunity to separate them when necessary. But when the group is all together in the larger spaces, there’s very little we can do to stop a fight. As for chimps getting out, we’ve never had a chimp escape an indoor enclosure or the seondary electric fence but when the chimps are first learning about electric fences we have had breaches of the primary fence. We have sliding doors in between the primary and secondary fences that can let a chimp back in when they find themselves in the dead zone between fences. Once they’ve actually touched or climbed the fence, they’ve never tried to do that again. And thankfully we’ve never had an incident where chimps and caregivers find themselves in a room together. We go to great lengths with our protocols to prevent situations like that. It doesn’t mean that an accident can never happen, but we do our best to build in mutiple reduncancies to protect the safety of the caregivers and chimps.
thanks for answering my question You all run this like a well-oiled machine very well indeed. It is very impressive how it all works, it must have been a massive think-through to have it come out so well. I wish we could read their minds to see what they think of their world. 🙂
one more question, sometimes when the floor gets more dirty than usual and it gets on them what do they do? Showers or do they wipe it off themselves just wondering I mean you never just hose em down 🙂 right.
Thry do not
They usually wipe it off on something – the edge of a stair, the wall, a cardboard box. etc. Bowels tend to let loose during fights and because they use so much vertical space, they sometimes get feces on parts of their bodies besides their feet and we will often give them paper towels to wipe themselves off.
No one likes to see a fight, but that was very interesting. And interesting the next day that the others were all keeping an eye on what Gordo and Willy B were up to, as if they were thinking – is this all good now or is it about to kick off again.
And yes it does bring up some questions.
Do the nine have disagreements as 3 and 6 or are the smaller groups finished with now?
Does anyone stick up for Willy B or is he generally the trouble?
And, is there a peacemaker in this group or is anyone less inclined to get involved?
Thank you for showing us this, its not something we want to see but it is your reality.
Just to clarify, stick up is Australian slang for defend or back someone up, sorry about that, I try not to type in Australian!!
We say the same, Karen! ?
Oh good, then no one was thought I was talking about a bank robbery!
Not at all!
There is still a tendancy to separate into 3 and 6 when they fight but the lines are becoming more blurry over time. Experts will say that it can take 1-2 years before those old allegiances die off and new coalitions and friendships form when under duress. Cy is Willy B’s main protector – when there’s tension between Willy and Gordo or Terry, Cy is often there in between them to prevent any escalation. Willy B, Gordo, and Terry are all known for causing trouble, but Willy B is the most anxious of them all so he tends to get restless at times. Cy is the peacemaker overall but he is much better at preventing conflicts than ending them.. Once a conflict starts, Cy usually runs around following them but he has very little control at that point. There’s no one that stays out of fights…as you can see from the video, everyone dives in when the troubles starts!
Thank you J.B. It’s very important for us to see the “bad” side of what you all deal with. It’s part and parcel with the joy we all get to feel that the chimpanzees of CSNW are so lucky to have this safe home. It’s also part of what makes their lives involve their own choices.. .not that we would choose the same for them but it is their way. Thank you for the narrative and the great blog of explanation. As always, thank you all for what you do every day in that stunninly beautiful location with the amazing, well-homed group of bovines and chimpanzees plus all others.
I concur. Both the texft and the video are elucidating if , also, harrowing to countenance.
So can you tell from the vocalizations that there is a fight going on? It seems like everybody was screaming although until the ball up it didn’t look like everyone was participating. Also, do you ever have any idea what has set someone off? I’m wondering if someone stole something from someone else, would that automatically cause a conflict? This was really interesting and it’s great that you share both the good things and the not so good things about caring for these guys.
Yes, there’s a change in the character of the vocalizations when fights turn serious. It’s hard to explain but all caregivers know the difference. We don’t usually know what caused any particular fight. Sometimes we see someone steal food, but usually fights are the result of simmering tensions and there’s no one moment that you could pinpoint as the cause.
Thanks, JB. Amazing that no one was hurt. Amazing that they decided to ball up while in the air between floors!
I had the same question as Karen–when these break out, do the 3 remain loyal to that group of 3 vs the 6? Or do tight relationships like Dora and Mave surpass those loyalties?
I’m also interested in seeing how Cy broke it up (if he did). Just as we loved watching Mave’s social skills at work, I’d love to see him in action (the way we saw, a couple of times, Jamie squelch a Burrito display back in the day–I’m thinking of that howdy door).
I imagine that there must have been a tense atmosphere for a while after amongst the staff, the air thick with the possibility of another scrimmage, everyone apprehensive.
Interestingly, Dora is known for going after Mave during fights. Dora has an incredible flying double kick, which she likes to practice on her best friend when things go south. Unfortunately, Cy isn’t able to do much after a fight starts. If the other boys are displaying and intimidating one another, Cy can often step in and prevent things from escalating. But once the fight starts, he’s pretty powerless.
Ouch!
So sorry for Marvelous Mave! That’s got to hurt in more ways than one! But it does be8ng to mind the expression “though she be bur small, she is fierce.”
Interesting that Willy B might be on the way to being Number 2. I guess size helps.
I couldn’t tell if the first one up to the second level, who ducked into the next room, was Gordo or Dora (that spot of gray on the back, like Missy used to have).
Thank you for sharing the knowledge, JB
if a chimp is injured, how do you isolate him/her to get them out?
Once the fight dies down, it’s not too difficult to get the chimps separated into different rooms. If we see a potentially serious injury, we persuade them to come into the front rooms where we can isolate them in a small area and anesthestize them if necessary. The only time we weren’t able to do this was when Burrito was seriously injured during an introduction. He climbed to the loft of Playroom 1 and after getting the others out, we had to anesthetize him with a pole syringe through a 2nd story window. We would never anesthetize a chimp when there is a potential for them to fall like that unless there is no other option. We prepared a catch tarp in case he went near the edge of the loft but he remained safely in place and we were able to treat his injuries.
i always appreciate the reality of chimp life. life is never smooth so being part of the transparency/reality makes for a wonderfully honest relationship between CSNW and supporters. thank you for the good, the bad and the ugly!!!
Thanks J.B., the video was very interesting and their vocalizations sounded very different then in other situations.
JB-As the “leader” what is Cy’s role when members of his group are in conflict?
I touched on this above but to sum it up, he is often able to deescalate conflicts before they get too intense but he is fairly powerless once they get serious.
Thank you, J.B., for for the detailed description. I almost didn’t need to see the video because it all played out, in slow motion, before my eyes as I was reading. What amazed me the most was how quickly the chimps move — lightening fast!! Even after your explanation, it was hard for me see anything! Wow, the action is swift.
As the ball up moved up the stairs I cringed and closed my eyes. I can’t begin to imagine how it must feel from your perspective as you watch conflicts unfolding before you in real time. Heart in throat, holding breath, and helpless are the feelings that come to my mind.
I vividly recall a breakdown of a conflict between the seven from a long time ago. It was more noise and moves for reassurances than anything else but fascinating because of the communication between everyone. This conflict was more worrisome to watch.
Do you choose to watch conflicts via the live cams (easy to track everyone all at once but small images to watch) or do you all spread out, upstairs and downstairs, to observe from a distance but at a better vantage point?
You have shared that chimps are tougher than we are, and they handle pain differently than we do. How difficult is it to know who is wounded, besides seeing a missing finger or toe or ear? That’s a broad question, sorry, but I would assume some injuries would be hard to see initially. And once noticed, with chimps in an aroused state, how difficult is it to separate the wounded players into a safe place so you can get a better look? Do they run to approach you for reassurance and help when they are hurt?
I thought this might be the fight where Willy B was hurt. Does he have problems fitting in sometimes with the other boys or does he end up in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Thank you for sharing this information and the accompanying video. Conflict is part of life even if we don’t want it to be so. I appreciate your openness with this. Beyond the dozens of questions I have regarding the group dynamics, it is also fascinating to see how similar we primates are. We may not bite, we have better weapons. Humans do not always reconcile as quickly as chimpanzees, we are good at holding grudges and as a group, I fear we might be loosing the ability to move forward together. Maybe we can learn from our friends. And you were so right, it was the reconciliation that was more interesting to watch. The worry, anxiety, tippy toeing about in the hopes amends would be made. So much going on in that moment. Oh to have your experience and wisdom! Thanks so much, J.B.
The chimps move between enclosures so quickly that I often watch them from the monitors. If there are multiple caregivers around, some of us will also go into the hallways to get a better look and possibly use a garden hose to spray them if they are balled up near the fencing. As I’ll touch on in a later response, I don’t think this has much effect but it certainly feels like you are at least trying to help.
So far we haven’t had an injury that wasn’t obvious right away from blood, swelling, or a missing digit. There is always the chance that they could break a bone during a fall, for example, in which case we’d see it in the way they favor that limb. If there were internal injuries, we simply wouldn’t know unless there were outward signs or behavioral changes as a result. Despite all of the injuries we’ve seen, I’d say we have been very lucky. Other chimps have died as the result of injuries sustained during fights and many groups are permanently separated because of the intensity of the conflicts. It’s funny to think that an amputated finger or two would be deemed as minor but in the grand scheme of things, those aren’t bad for chimp injuries.
Willy B certainly has some social challenges. We consider him to be socially anxious. He’ll have periods where he does great but then he’ll stir up some trouble out of nowhere. That’s not to say that Terry and Gordo don’t make like difficult at times, either. Is it all part of the back and forth over social status? Or is it just awkwardness and anxiety? Or a lack of social skills? These are things we debate at every staff meeting.
You know who cuase the most drama at meal times? Mave! She won’t let poor Gordo eat! I remember when he appeared to have a crush on her. I think that may be over…
This wasn’t the fight where Willy B got his nose torn up – that was one of the 20-minute fights I mentioned. In this fight, no one required any intervention beyond analgesics. But Willy was very close to losing that finger.
As follow-up question to Debra regarding Cy, has he ever started a conflict with any of the males? I hate to hear any animal cry out in distress but your explanation of their behavior is interesting. Thanks for taking time to discuss an unpleasant subject to those of us that love them unconditionally.
Cy doesn’t seem to start conflicts, no. He is pretty laid back and will usually display only after the other boys have started. His main job is to come in and tell everyone to shut up. He does steal food from the others from time to time but they appear to let him without putting up a fight, given his status.
Hello J.B, thank you for the wonderful explanation of both the fighting and the best part making up. I have the same question, i dont know if you are aware of Monkey World Ape Rescue in England, they sometimes use fire extinguishers to break up fights, do you do this or allow the fights to play out so they can release their pent up emotions and then make up? Like a lot of previous questions, i also have a lot but i will ask in bits and starts. So thank you.
Please tell me you mean hoses and not fire extinguishers with chemical foam
Yes, but not the chemical ones. They use the ones that spray water or a kind of spray that doesent have any chemicals in them. Its more the noise they react to.
Yes, we also keep two CO2 fire extinguishers on hand for that purpose during introductions. As you say, we wouldn’t spray it directly at them but rather over their heads to distract them with the blast of noise. We may also use the spray from a garden hose or “bear scare” darts that explode upon impact with the wall near them.
My own opinion is that these things aren’t usually that effective. It’s hard to know if spraying them with a hose broke them apart or if they would have broken apart naturally. And if the hose isn’t effective, are we making things worse my making the floor all slippery? We’ve had a few fights during intros when we’ve used all three methods, and I’d say it feels better to be trying to do something. Whether it helps or not is debatable. If I was in danger of having my finger bitten off, I probably wouldn’t pay much attention to a little water in my face.
I should clarify that we have these things at the ready during intros, but as groups get more established, we are more likely to allow their fights to play out. In addition, they are often in larger spaces at that point, in which we have less control to begin with. Our main goal, especially during intros, is to keep the wounding to a mimimum so that they all have time to learn to trust each other. And hopefully over time that trust results in less wounding overall.
As always i appreciate your transparency and you did a great job of explaining the play by play. Chimp fights and the resulting injuries can be truly horrific which is what makes the tenderness all the more special. Chimpanzees have such amazing healing capabilities….both physically and emotionally!
Wow, JB, thanks for all the descriptive detail about this important issue in the chimps’ lives! And thanks to all who have written comments that have also been really interesting. The whole dominance-submission area has always plagued me with humans and other primates. I guess the reality is that all species have various complications around territory, mating rights, food, and all the issues that underlie survival. I wonder about Terry’s new-ish presence as a strong male threatening Willy B’s former dominant role in his group of 3. I wonder about the submission afterwards of grooming butts (talk about vulnerability!). I’m relieved there’s not more actual harm given the fights and squabbles. Thanks again, JB, for helping to educate us about this important component of life in sanctuary.