The many faces of Annie

Annie is like that naturally beautiful girl who takes everyone’s breath away, but has no idea how pretty she is. You know the ones, they are all the more special because they are so dear and down to earth and the first ones to pull a face or make others smile. Annie isn’t always keen on having her photo taken, though she has become much more comfortable with it over the years (much like she is with things in general) and she will often engage by making playful gestures during her photo shoots. Half way down this series of photos of the lovely Annie you will notice a seemingly mischievous look in her eye and then…bam, she does a “lip flip”!

Chimpanzees are extremely expressive in vocalization, body posture and facial expressions, all of which they use to communicate with each other. A lip flip is a facial expression chimpanzees sometimes exhibit and will often appear in times of stress or anxiety, but will just as often appear for reasons more associated with individual stereotypical behavior (a repetitive behavior brought on by captivity) and for seemingly no apparent reason. Foxie does this frequently and while it’s sometimes during times of stress, it’s more often when she’s just sitting quietly and hanging out. Annie used to flip her lip often when she felt anxious, such as when there was an argument going on in the group. We don’t see her do it very much anymore, and while we can’t know what she was thinking today, given how relaxed and playful she was being she seemed to just be practicing her repertoire of faces. And every one of them a beaut!