Chimpanzee gestures carry different meanings depending on the context in which they are delivered. Here we look at the extended arm, or “reach” gesture, which can mean “hello”, “come here”, “give me that”, “hop on my back, it’s time to go”, or “it’s OK to approach me”, among other things.
Archives for June 2025
Introducing Introductions. Again!
A few years ago, when we were embarking upon introducing Honey B, Willy B, and Mave to the Lucky Six, Anthony (who is no longer a staff member but was coincidentally here today as a volunteer, meeting George for the first time) wrote a thoughtful blog post about the complications of introductions.
Because we are planning on introducing George to members of the Lucky Six in the coming weeks, it seemed like a good time to share Anthony’s blog post again, which you can read here.
I also thought it was important to set some expectations about how we may or may not be sharing the details of these introductions.
Introductions can be a challenge for staff and chimpanzee alike. We don’t want you to expect to be kept apprised of every pair-wise introduction that George is involved in as we embark on this process. For sure, we will share – it’s in our nature to do so and this blog certainly has gotten us in the habit of providing daily information.
In order to honor this process and George’s in-limbo status (no animal welfare charges have yet been brought against George’s former owner), we will be less synchronous with our updates, and trust that you will appreciate how taxing the introduction process can be. We will of course share updates in time!
Elephants Strike Back
Cy is scared of many things that he finds in his books and magazines. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’re no stranger to this. Elephants is one of the things Cy is scared of. When he sees a picture of one, he will alarm call.
Yesterday, he had a picture book of animals, which he thoroughly enjoyed. However, once he discovered the elephants, he began to alarm call. Chimpanzees do this naturally to warn their group of potential danger.
His group members always respond to his alarm calls, but quickly realize it’s a false alarm once they see him reading his book. However, they will usually offer him reassurance.
Terry, on multiple occasions, has ripped up the scary pictures for him and pushed them through the caging so Cy can’t bring them back in. This specific occasion, highlighted in today’s video, was no exception. Terry ended up identifying the scary image of the elephant and giving it to Diana when he saw her so she could have it.
Peace and Quiet
Working with chimpanzees is often a loud job. Whether it be pant hoots of excitement, loud foot stomps or banging during a display, food grunts and squeaks during a good meal, laughter during a bout of play, or even screaming during an altercation – things can get loud! The rarity of truly quiet moments just makes them all the more special. In today’s blog video, enjoy some moments of peace and quiet with the chimpanzees.
Here are some bonus photos from today!
Dora enjoys a sweet potato.
Willy B takes a nap.
A close up of Annie.
Terry enjoying a frozen pineapple top.
Happy Summer Solstice!
Thanks so much, Dylan, for always sponsoring a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in celebration of the wonder and beauty of our changing seasons! From Dylan:
“Happy Summer Solstice!”
And to you, Dylan, from all of us here!
Summertime forages are something we try to offer the chimpanzees as often as we can this time of year. It gives them the opportunity to engage in natural foraging behaviors, enjoy some exercise and exploring in their outdoor habitats, and the excitement of finding and enjoying favorite foods (like watermelon bowls!) without having to wait on the humans to serve them, while enjoying a little space from one another as well. We can’t wait to see what this one holds. And we’re so happy that George gets to take in everything his new life will bring his way during this beautiful time of year. (We’ve learned that he does love watermelon!). 🙂
Enjoy these moments of summers past:
Jamie:
Willy B:
Missy on a watermelon bowl forage:
Burrito:
Rayne:
Mave, Dora, and Honey B:
Deep Breaths!
Lately, George’s side of the building has been awash with busy energy as we work to get him acquainted with his new surroundings and make plans for his next steps at the sanctuary. Shifting the chimpanzee groups around to make our plans happen for George requires a sharp mind and extreme attention to detail. It’s a lot of rewarding work to configure that complicated shifting puzzle but it can also be a bit of a relief to take a break and work on the other side of the building with the generally consistent Jamie’s group.
Today, like all my lead caregiver days, I worked with Jamie’s group. It was really nice to take a deep breath and stop for a minute to watch their peaceful lunch forage.
Negra:
Foxie:
Burrito:
Portraits in Passing
As we move through our days, we often capture little moments in passing. By the time our lead day comes around and we sit down to make the blog post, we’ve usually gathered so much content that some images end up left behind. Sometimes they don’t quite fit the week’s “theme” and other times, there’s simply too much to include. Today, I wanted to share a few portraits I took today, along with a small collection that’s been sitting on my phone, waiting for their moment.
Cy:
Foxie:
Negra:
Neggie in a nest series:
It’s hard to get portraits of Missy, she is always on the go. However today I was able to catch a moment of her sitting still:
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