I am always fascinated by the dexterity of chimpanzees’ hands and feet. When I worked at the Fauna Foundation, Tatu, who uses sign langue, has these beautiful articulate fingers. So articulate, in fact, she had no problem telling you what your breath smelled like good or bad: “Coffee” or “Onion” or telling you “Hurry, go” “Milk, Cheese, Milk, Milk, Milk” “Drink, Milk, Hurry, Go”. As a going away present, I was gifted this beautiful photo by NJ Wight of Tatu’s hands. It’s a gift I have always cherished. For my non-signing friends, I adore hands clasped together or holding their toes.
So please enjoy a whole bunch of photos of chimps’ hands and toes!
Ha! I knew when I saw the title it was a Kelsi post! I love those pictures of Foxie with her feet up against the post in the greenhouse, troll doll on her belly.
All quite lovely, but how dare you omit She Who Has the Most Beautiful Hands of All!
i love Annie’s hands and fingers-so beautifully slender and long…think she would make a wonderful pianist!
You read my mind:smile:
I also love Gorditos stubby feet, and the way he grabs his toes. And this photo, which I’ve seen before, reminds me of the Abominable Snowman from the classic Rudolph. Something about the eyes:smiley:
Very nice, thank you for pointing out another beautiful feature of chimps.
All those toes!!! i could drink them up with my eyes all day! Adorable!
Wonderful post!
Thank you, Kelsi for the lovely photos of such expressive fingers and toes, holding on to one another and holding one’s own.
I just adore their hands and feet. Something about them is just fascinating. They feel so familiar.
It is amazing to see feet that so very much look like hands…
Thank you Kelsi.
Kelsi, what an incredible collection of photos to exemplify how magnificent and delightful chimpanzee hands and feet are! And like Linda and others, I think Annie’s hands are a work of art. She has beautiful long fingers, and they move so gracefully. Beyond their hands, it is always interesting to me, seeing chimpanzee feet grasping and carrying objects. Did early humans ever have that ability and if so, when did we lose it, or was it just a gift to the non-human primates only?
Since you mentioned Fauna and chimpanzee hands, a while back there was a wonderful article in National Geographic titled “Meet Tatu and Loulis—The Last of the Signing Chimps”. Worth the read (even if you have to share your email to gain access) :
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/chimpanzee-sign-language-experiments
ditto everyone above. Everything about chimpanzees are fascinating to me. But seeing them walk on their knuckles is painful! How do they do that??
Paulette, I think those chimp knuckles are much more gnarly than our own. Thank goodness we don’t have to walk on ours, otherwise it would be ouch ouch. I remember hearing an orthopedic surgeon say if we walked like they walk we’d have less back problems.
Beautiful pictures! I immediately thought of Ben Harper’s song “With my own hands” Thank you so much for this!
Correction: The title of Ben Harper’s song is “With My Own Two Hands”
Love the hands and feet of these amazing Chimps. I am curious, do their nails grow like ours? I have questions after every blog, it seems. Love me some Chimp Blog everyday!
Apparently, they do. According to a previous blog, Annie’s are on thr longer side!