Missy is a chimps’ chimp. She much prefers the company of her chimpanzee family to that of any of her caregivers. Once in awhile she honors us with some attention, but she is hilariously aloof in most of her interactions with humans. On the rare occasion that she plays with a caregiver, she typically has a “I’m a little embarrassed for you right now” look on her face. Which, of course, makes her all the more charming.
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
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Missy definitely seems to saying “I am SO not into this.” “i am not amused.”
Hysterical, really chuckled when she gives her little “jump” at about 1:46, her peek of excitement. ; )
Missy is definitely giving I’m so embarrassed for you look. lol The blog gives so much more insight to our chimp cousins,,,, identifying play face,, scared etc… Do chimpanzees interpret facial expressions of humans by their own chimp facial expressions,,, or do they ‘learn’ human body language,,,,, and recognize the different meanings, may still only see it through a chimp filter? Really is an easy question, just hard to explain. I’ll try again 🙂 So,,, do they see all human expressions from a chimp point of few only,,,, or (with a lot of human exposure) do they learn that human expressions are different than mine,,,,, but I still see them through a chimp reference point or do they ‘translate’ human into to chimp to understand? Thanks so much for your time.
Hi Holly. Yes, chimps who spend a lot of time with humans pick up on the meaning of our facial expressions and body language. When we interact with the chimps at the sanctuary, we use a lot of chimp behavior, just to be polite, but the chimps do understand human behavior as well.
While they look bored at times, they don’t LEAVE, which indicates that though they may not want to play they still like the attention they get. If they weren’t getting “something” out of this human contact they could just move away and into another area of the compound. Really enjoyed this clip.
Love this video. Missy doesn’t seem too interested in playing but she does not leave either. I like when she gives the caregiver the brush. She must know she is going to get a little massage:)