As caregivers, we all love to write and talk about the best aspects of chimpanzees. We celebrate each chimpanzee that we know as an individual and of course cannot help but compare them to ourselves. Like humans, chimpanzees form deep friendships, they play and laugh, grieve their lost love ones and generally display the same wide range of emotions that we do. It’s no wonder that we all find them to be so deeply fascinating and relatable.
This brings me to today’s blog post, the other side of the chimpanzee “coin.” When we talk about both humans and chimpanzees, we cannot always separate out the good facets of our nature from the negative ones. The truth is, chimpanzees (like humans) fight. They have disagreements, hold grudges and can sometimes appear to be incredibly irrational to outside observers. They can also hurt each other (even those that they are incredibly close to). When we watch the chimpanzees fight and argue, we see them express themselves in the most intense and dramatic ways possible. They scream and they hit, they bite and they kick. Despite the perceived drama, most arguments at the sanctuary do not end with an injury. But sometimes they do. Yesterday, good friends Burrito and Foxie got into a fight. While the conflict was resolved relatively quickly, Foxie lost a large part of cartilage from her left ear. Luckily, the injury appears clean and she doesn’t seem to be particularly upset by the loss (chimps are TOUGH). Apart from some pain and swelling management (using oral medications), we shouldn’t need to do any medical intervention. As you might imagine, Foxie does look a little different now.
Here she is exploring Young’s Hill with her new troll doll this morning:
You may also have noticed that having missing portions of ears is not unique to Foxie. Negra and Burrito have also sustained similar injuries in the past. We have always known them to look this way:
Quick fights that end with injuries like these ones are also great reminders of why chimpanzees make terrible pets and why humans never go in the enclosures with the chimps. They’re also great reminders of how forgiving chimps can be. Yesterday, Diana spotted Foxie and Burrito grooming together probably 10 minutes after the fight was over.
“Forgiveness is the final form of love.”
― Reinhold Niebuhr
Poor little Foxie,
I wish I could give her a kiss.
Same…..?
That was supposed to be 🙁
An excellent post, thank you. It never hurts to be reminded that these adorable chimpanzees still show innate behaviours.
Glad Foxie is okay and I send her, and all the others, tons of love xxx
Poor Foxie. It does appear that tension and emotion is greatly heightened since the arrival and especially visual spotting of the new three. I can see why you have to be so very careful introducing them. I hope for all the chimps sake that everyone survives it with all body parts still in tact. Hopefully Foxie’s ear will be the only casualty.
Question: Are Mave, Willie B and Honey B showing heightened tension as well? You haven’t mentioned it regarding them. Could it be that new chimps in their territory are something they’ve experienced while at the way station, while the seven have been just the seven for so many years? This must be truly rocking the seven’s world!
Interesting question…let’s see what they say……but I thought they said WW had 42 chimps, and this isn’t their territory, so I see why the 7 are more wound up than the 3 are (or seem to be from our outsiders’ perspective)…still, no need to go all Mike Tyson on your good friend…..sigh! Her perfect little ears…..
Ha ha, Mike Tyson. Her perfect little ears is exactly what I thought. I’m an artist and have been thinking about drawing them. Do I draw the before or after?
The before! Sitting in the window of the greenhouse, staring into the playroom window at you, with her legs extended and a doll on her lap! I think it’s my favorite Foxie photo!
I lied, there’s no troll, but her toes are rubbing together. Dec 29, 2018 post, for Tracy’s birthday
Oh that one is a great one. Her face is so open and sweet!
Yes Foxie did have a quite perfect pair of pretty ears. Alas. Still love her, of course. But I will at first miss seeing her perfect face framed by her perfect ears.
The new 3 are much more familiar with having noisy neighbors than the original 7, but it’s hard to say what really caused the fight. Injuries like this one, while uncommon, still happen from time to time (even before the new chimps moved in).
Poor Foxie. At least the best part (99.9%) of her remains intact. And, yes, a few months ago when I dreamed that she had showed up inside of my apartment, I was/am glad that my cerebral cortex was only playing tricks on my mind. As the saying goes: “The wild belongs in our imagination, not in our homes.”
I am just catching up after traveling and I see I missed this post. Poor little Foxie. Emotions seem to be running a little high, I am so sorry Miss Foxie lost a portion of her perfect little ear in the process. I am grateful that’s all that occurred and she’s back out on Young’s Hell chauffeuring her purple haired friend about.