Yesterday, Krissy posted a video of Rayne getting snow snacks following our first snowfall here at the sanctuary on November 17th.
You can tell in that video that the sky was a bit overcast. With a few notable exceptions, that’s how the sky has looked for most of this winter so far. The appearance of the sun receives a great deal of excitement from the humans these days.
And today, it was visible!
Perhaps Missy and Annie were equally excited for the sight of the sun because Ellen spotted them on one of the climbing structures on Young’s Hill.
I was able to climb up to the top of the observation deck and snap some photos of Missy walking back inside.
There was a path shoveled from a couple of weeks ago for the chimps to follow, but, still, they had to get their hands and feet in the snow some.
When I was looking at the photos I took, what came to mind is the way chimpanzees move.
Most often, when on the ground or a flat surface, chimpanzees are quadrupedal. That means they walk on both their hands and their feet. Their particular quadrupedal walking utilizes the flat part their feet, like humans, and the knuckles of their hands.
Chimpanzees can also walk bipedally like humans, just utilizing the bottom of their feet and allowing their arms to hang by their sides (or hold a bunch of foraged food like the photo of Missy below).
Their heads sit differently on their spine than humans and their hips are different, so bipedal walking is not as easy for them.
Missy, however, often does a “jump through” movement, especially when traversing the outdoors. In scientific circles this is known as “crutch-walking.”
You can see it in the photos below. Her arms are parallel and she pulls both of her feet through her arms at the same time.
After doing that once or twice, she moved on to the more common quadrupedal locomotion:
The crutch walk, also demonstrated by Annie jockeying for a good seat at the lunch service in the greenhouse, and Neggie when playing with just about anyone (if they move out of her reach).
Thank you, Diana!
Glad that the sun peeked out a tiny bit!
For more fun with how gorillas and chimps move (though not as well-informed as Diana), Andy Serkis on the Graham Norton show a few years back did a demonstration of how he moved for the “Planet of the Apes” films
One thing I know for certain, Missy knows all the moves! And now I have a name for this maneuver, thanks Diana.
This information and the pictures of Missy made me wonder, do any other chimps do the crutch walk? She looks so cute.
Nancy Yes! We do see several of the chimps doing it on occasion, though I think Missy does it the most while outside. Here’s a video from 2018 that includes Annie crutch walking in the greenhouse. It was nice to revisit this video, which I had completely forgotten about, to see Jody again. I love the way Jody came down the outside of the stairs in this video 🙂 https://chimpsnw.org/2018/10/breakfast-in-the-greenhouse/
Beautiful golden light for their patrol in that video, Diana. My favorite descent of that same stairway has to be Jamie’s. She came down sliding sideways on the railing. It might have been in one of the Christmas videos. It might have been a boot-themed video.
Linda – yes! Jamie often takes the railing instead of the stairs when coming down. Or she used to – I’ll have to remember to watch to see if she still does. She does it with such casualness – it makes me want to try it, but I imagine I would not be that graceful 🙂
Ha! I’ve thought the same…”that would be fun to try!”. Great minds…:slight_smile:
:cupid:Thanks for that link.
I noticed Missy sometimes does that “crutch walking,” but I never knew it had a name! I love how they all have slightly different styles of locomotion. When Annie goes bipedal, her way of holding her arms and her posture is very unique and endearing!