A few people have commented asking questions about George’s lack of hair in places, particularly on his lower arms. This is due to a combination of over-grooming himself and others in his new group enthusiastically grooming him.
Because George came from West Coast Game Park Safari, a roadside zoo that was open to anyone who paid the entrance fee, we do have some photos of him when he was younger. Some of them were found on the internet and some were sent to us by caring people when they found out that George had been moved to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. These older photos show varying states of hair loss in the same pattern. This indicates that he over-groomed himself starting at a very young age. Here are a few photos:
He had this same patterned hair loss when he arrived at the sanctuary, though it wasn’t as pronounced.
Now in his group of seven, all six other chimpanzees also groom him, and some of them like to pluck hair when grooming others. We’ve written before about grooming being a crucial aspect of chimpanzee social behavior. Chimpanzees especially love to groom scabs, which are much more visible on bare patches of skin.
George has a particular ingrained habit of self-grooming his shoulder with his opposite arm crossed over his chest. He’s doing this in almost every video that I’ve seen of George at the roadside zoo. He still does that here, but not as often as he did when he first arrived. You may have noticed there was a small sore on George’s shoulder from the video on Friday of his 1-year arrival anniversary party. That little wound has healed multiple times, only for the scab to be groomed off and the sore opened up again. It’s a very minor wound, but we are keeping an eye on it, just as his chimpanzee friends are.
Over-grooming / hair plucking can be a sign of anxiety, discomfort, or boredom, and it can also be a self-soothing behavior that developed during a particular period in life and persists as a habit throughout a chimpanzee’s life, well after the original stressor that prompted the behavior is gone.
Annie has a similar over-grooming pattern on her forearms, which is more pronounced some times than others.
Research has found that hair plucking is a very common behavior in captive primates. This study, for example, found that hair plucking was observed in 75% of the primates within the study group. This is part of the reason we don’t feel that chimpanzees belong in captivity. It’s impossible to give them an environment will all the opportunities to live as they evolved to as a species, even in the most enriched captive setting.
Thank you for asking about George’s bare arms. I hope this helps provide an explanation. We’re certainly interested to see if he will still be over-grooming or be over-groomed by others a year from now. Hopefully we will see him reciprocate grooming with his chimpanzee friends in the near future – that’s still something he hasn’t done!
Thank you, Diana for such a fast reply to the concerns over George. If we look back at the rescue and first videos of the others, their hair was in most cases, really bad and just look at them now! So hopefully, George will follow the same path. Any anxiety should go…..indeed, his integration and the wonderful life he has now proves that, but like all of them living their early years in such terrible conditions, there may be habits that will take a lot longer. He’s so cute and we love him regardless!
You’re welcome, Carol. It’s nice to know there’s such a wonderful group of George fans rooting for him!
It breaks my heart to see those pictures of George before he came to the sanctuary, but now knowing he’s having the time of his life with his new group puts a big :grin::blush: smile on my face.
Thanks, Diana.
I trusted he was fine.
Happy Sunday!
Thank you Diana.
I have been noticing the hairloss for some time now, and had visions of that poor Naked Chimpanzee who lives in a zoo somewhere ( UK I think) to be the future for GEORGE.
let’s hope George will take on other habits and leaves his hair on his body. ( and so does his family ).
Jambo at Twycross and a couple of his (related) troop mates have alopecia
Yes! Alopecia is very noticeable in chimpanzees. It shows how much muscle they have! There are also cases of chimpanzees almost grooming one another bald with their over-zealousness.
Hope you don’t mind if I post this here. As the person who took this video of Jambo says, his alopecia gives us an opportunity to see their muscles in action, and help us better understand the difference between a chimp’s bite force and our own.
https://youtu.be/zW9iY2gkNvg?si=o4mYcDIkiifRlsye
Thanks for the post on George. After you integrated Willy B’s group with Cy’s group someone within was a serious groomer-hair-plucker, so much that some of the floofier chimps looked half plucked. Can’t recall who the enthusiastic plucker was. Because of this, I’ve been assuming that friendly grooming was connected to George’s “bald” patches. I didn’t realize he is a self-overgroomer. Makes perfect sense considering his background. (If I was contained in a small room with people staring at me, I’d be a chronic nail-biter pulling my hair out!) And now that you’ve mentioned it, I do often see George with arm across chest grooming his shoulder.
I do hope that one day George will try grooming his companions and enjoy the reciprocal experience of connection. George has so much time in front of him to continue discovering countless new experiences. Thank you for giving him these moments.
I don’t know that we ever figured out with certainty who the over-groomer was, but some of us suspected Mave, who remained pretty floofy herself. There are likely more than one who pull out hair while grooming each other.
I love that sentiment that George has so much time in front of him. Thank you for that.
Appreciate your thorough response to our question about George’s bare arms, etc. I had understood this to be an issue at other sanctuaries as well. I had heard boredom given as an explanation, but your suggestion of self soothing seems even more likely and critical. I look forard to George making the developmental step of grooming others, and I am sure you will let us know when he does! Ever a case when a chimp does not groom others, they stop grooming the chimp? You all do such a great job, and my hat off to Cy who continues to cooperate with integrating and looking after George’s welfare.
You are welcome, Penelope. We will certainly let everyone know when we see George reciprocate grooming with other chimpanzees. He’s so much more relaxed now than when he first integrated, I hope it’s only a matter of time.
I know Jamie plucks a spot in her belly, does she still do that? I think captive chimpanzees also just have more time for grooming, so they tend to spend a lot of time doing it.
Eli – I was thinking about Jamie’s belly while I was writing this. Her plucking comes and goes too, but I haven’t noticed signs of her doing that lately. Of course now that I said that, she may start up again. 🙂