Today’s enrichment theme was “lots of paper.” Burrito had no trouble at all making sure he celebrated the day properly.
Archives for August 2023
A Place Like This
On Thursday, I wrote a blog about grief. Today, I would personally like to thank each and every one of you. For an emotion that often leads to loneliness, it felt like so many of us brought comfort to each other. I am not sure if you all know how special you are to CSNW. While we may write the blogs for you to all learn about the chimps and fall in love with them as individuals, you all have created a community with a very supportive and positive atmosphere. It can be hard to find a place like this on the internet. So thank you for creating this wonderful place.
Today was a peaceful quiet day with slow morning patrols, chimps playing, Willy B displaying :), Jamie asking for grapes from the vine, Cy flipping through magazines, and chimps grooming in the warm greenhouses. Please enjoy some chimps selfies!
Willy B:
Jamie:
And sweet sweet Terry:
Calm Before The Storm
Hopefully by now you were able to read yesterday’s blog about Willy B’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde routine that happens in the afternoons. If not, you should go read it to get a little backstory of today’s blog.
Though this afternoon routine usually consists a chaotic scene of blurs zipping across the enclosures accompanied with ear splitting screams, the moments right before Willy B’s ruckus hour are filled with laughter. In today’s video, this is usually what is happening moments before Willy B decides to get a rise out of people. In fact, you can see him gearing for that specific time referenced in yesterday’s blog at the end of the video.
Here are some bonus photos from today!
The first morning patrol of the day!
Jamie
Burrito
Missy
Speaking of Missy, every so often she gives us some reminders that she is indeed Honey B’s mother.
Here she is thwarting my attempts to close off her playroom to clean.
And lastly, some photos from a couple weeks ago that I forgot to use in the blog!
Burrito and his nighttime peanut butter magazine!
A Natural History of Jerks
Male chimps can be jerks. True, females can also be jerks (see: Chimpanzee, Jamie), and not all males are jerks (at least not all of the time). There is an exception to every rule. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that chimpanzee jerkishness has a certain maleness to it, just as chimpanzee maleness contains a certain jerkishness.
But just as not all male chimps are alike, so too is it true that not all jerks are alike. While this is by no means an an exhaustive examination of the topic, here we will distinguish between two types of jerk: Those jerks who wreak havoc blindly, as if possessed, and those who inflict their jerkiness with forethought and intention.
To illustrate the former, let’s turn to our dear friend Willy B. Today I watched him sit peacefully in the shade beneath a climbing structure on the Bray, his 2-acre habitat, surveying the yard for remnants of a the day’s forage. When the forage was finished, he quietly returned to the indoor enclosures. It being mid-afternoon, however, this peaceful Dr. Jekyll was suddenly and inexplicably transmogrified into a raging Mr. Hyde. Apropos of nothing and with no other chimps in sight, he began to bang on the food chute with the back of his wrist. The noise and vibration shattered the calm of the afternoon and soon the others were up from their naps. With hair on end, they circled each other in the confines of the front room area. Some began to pant hoot, which in turn raised the tension in the room even further. Minutes went by. The banging was incessant. Others began to stand bipedally and swagger. Bang, bang, bang. The noise swelled and soon came to fully occupy the space where thoughts would normally occur, making it impossible to do anything but join in the chaos. Bang, bang, bang…
BANG! A fight breaks out. The swirling mass of chimpanzees, now screaming, races from the front rooms through the chute and out to the Bray. Willy B climbs to the top of the tower and, with a fear grimace, watches as the other chimps threaten and hit one another. But he is not angry. Instead, he is scared and confused. Because he is once again Dr. Jekyll, wondering what on earth could have caused such tumult below.
Interestingly, this fight contained within it, and was indeed amplified by, the actions of our second type of jerk. Are you familiar with the admonition, common in both comedy and politics, to never punch down? For male chimpanzees, punching down is not only accepted in certain circumstances but is in fact a right of passage. As Craig Stanford states in The New Chimpanzee,
[Adolescent male chimpanzees] don’t submissively pant grunt to one another, and dominance among them is hard to discern. But once a young male reaches adulthood, he begins to climb to higher rank by taking on and intimidating each adult female. When he has risen in status above the most dominant female, the young male finds himself at the bottom of the male dominance network. Only time and repeated jousts with higher-ranking males will determine his ultimate highest status. (p.42-43)
According to some researchers, adolescent male chimpanzees routinely harass adult females as a low-cost way method of honing their competitive skills before testing them in the much riskier world of male competitive dominance. Gordo is well beyond adolescence, but his actions are often reminiscent of a chimpanzee stuck permanently in the liminal space between the female and male hierarchies. While size does not dictate rank, his more diminutive stature makes it unlikely that would challenge Cy, Terry, or Willy B directly. His social skills are of little help, either. He is able, however, to dominate Honey B. Usually.
As the dust on the Bray began to settle, the chimpanzees worked their way through the chute and back to the greenhouse. The screams had subsided and all that remained was Honey B’s diminishing whimper. This, thought Gordo, was the perfect time to assert himself. As she approached him, he hit her across the back and ran straight back to the Bray, knowing that she was afraid of the outdoors and wouldn’t have the courage to follow him.
He reached the platform and turned to watch Honey B screaming at him helplessly from the end of the chute.
Is it any less indecent for Willy B to cause daily disruptions to the harmony of the group simply because they are born out of blind rage and not malice? I make no claims as to the relative moral status of these two varieties of jerkishness. Nor, again, do I intend to cast all males as irredeemably jerkish. But in my experience, they do seem on average to contain each type of jerkishness in greater proportion than their female counterparts.
And as to whether these same tendencies prevail in my own species, I claim ignorance.
Come on Down!
Animal exploitation begins with greed… They want to make money and they’ll make money at the expense of any kind of animal, be it a puppy or an elephant. It’s disgusting. ” – Bob Barker
Like a lot of Americans, I have spent some time curled up in a blanket, eating noodle soup, drinking 7-Up, eating saltine crackers, and watching Bob Barker on The Price Is Right when I was at home sick from school. Even though he always ended the show with his famous closing of “Get your pets spayed and neutered,” like clockwork, it wasn’t until I became older I found out how much of an animal lover he was, which in turn made me appreciate him even more.
As some of you know, he was very supportive of the plight of chimpanzees in the Untied States used as biomedical subjects, entertainment, or in roadside zoos. By now, you may have read some of the other accredited sanctuaries who have posted about the passing of Bob Barker and the amazing support he has given them. We are no different. Through his DJ & T Foundation, he has supported Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and our efforts, and we will always be grateful of him.
To honor what I personally think his vision was, here are some photos from today of the chimpanzees enjoying their day free from testing, abuse, and neglect.
Burrito at the start of our morning patrol/run
Jamie at the top of Young’s Hill walking amongst the trees
And Missy… Missy was really all over the place during the first morning patrol.
Trying to get a peep at the neighbors from a higher advantage point
Sprinting off to her next stop
Running down the log used to get to Jamie’s Tower to make it in time for breakfast
Rayne not letting a hole in a cup getting in her way of enjoying a Gatorade pool
And then there’s Gordo.
Handsome
Lovable
Uniq… Gordo… What are you doing?
Oh! Please don’t!
Okay! I get the hint! The photo session is over.
Joking aside, Gordo was just in a playful mood. In fact, he has been in a really good mood all day. Suspiciously in a really good mood. I’m starting to wonder what is up his sleeve for the rest of the day…
Whatever it is, it is his choice.
As Diana said in this 2017 post, “Choice. This, above all else, is what increases primate welfare the most. When you think about it, much of what we share on the blog are the choices that the chimpanzees are freely making on a daily basis.”
The freedom of choice is by far the greatest enrichment chimpanzees in captivity can experience.
Lucky to know her
Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT) with Rayne
Rayne is an absolutely beautiful chimpanzee. However, if you have not noticed before, she also has dry skin on her forehead. I believe it is just genetic, as I know entire chimpanzee families at other sanctuaries that all have the same dry forehead. While I’m not sure if her dry forehead skin bothers Rayne, she does scratch it often. My main role at the sanctuary, apart from being a chimp caregiver, is to work on Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT) with the chimps. PRT allows the chimps to participate in their own medical care, which is really amazing.
Lately, I’ve been working on PRT with Rayne, so that she would allow us to apply coconut oil/mixed with Honeysuckle lotion to her forehead. We have decided to avoid sprays because it is so close to Rayne’s eyes, so instead, I use a paintbrush to brush on the moisturizer.
As you will see in the video, I presented Rayne with the gestural and verbal cue for “head”, which she then presents her forehead by leaning forward to the caging. As soon as Rayne presented her forehead, I used my clicker to bridge the behavior, this is a way to tell Rayne she is doing everything correctly. I then presented my paintbrush to Rayne and say “touch” so she knows what I intend on doing. While Rayne is still presenting her forehead to the caging, that allows me to use the paintbrush to apply moisturizer to her forehead. I know Rayne doesn’t like for the paintbrush strokes to be too long, so as soon as I touch her forehead with one swipe, I use my clicker to let her know that reinforcement is coming, which is a blueberry. Rayne and I do this probably 15 times together until her forehead is coated. We will continue to work on her allowing me to use the paintbrush for a longer duration. However, a win is a win. We just want Rayne to be comfortable and make sure her forehead skin does not bother her.