Bounty of trolls
This morning I watched Foxie gather what may have been the largest number of trolls she has ever carried at one time. She had a troll scarf, a sock full of trolls, and probably seven or eight loose trolls. It took her a few minutes just to figure out how she could hold them all at once.
In case you were wondering, she did it by holding the sock and scarf in one hand, a couple trolls in the other hand, one troll in each foot, and one in her mouth.
She seemed quite satisfied with her collection. She spent the rest of the day passing trolls to her caregivers and initiating wild games of chase throughout the sanctuary.
Ring Around the Foxie
Missy and Foxie played a long game of chase this morning. Later, Jody joined in, in her own unique way.
Nap time
Photos of the day
Sperm Competition
If you watched the video from the previous blog post, you may have some questions about a certain part of the male chimpanzee anatomy. Think of this post as Everything You Wanted to Know About Chimp Testicles, But Were Afraid to Ask.
Burrito is not unique – male chimpanzees have rather large testicles compared to other apes. And there’s a very interesting explanation for this. Most people are familiar with the concept of males competing for access to females. For example, male gorillas will compete for control over a harem of females – whoever controls the harem has primary mating access. But female chimpanzees will regularly mate with multiple males during estrus (see this recent article for an interesting take on chimp mating behavior). Therefore, much of the competition between males takes place between their sperm within the female’s reproductive tract.
If you think of mating as a lottery, with the prize being a fertilized egg, then whoever can produce the most sperm is essentially buying the most lottery tickets. And whoever has more tickets has a better chance of winning. There are also other forms of sperm competition besides this sperm “arms race”. Chimpanzees also produce sperm plugs (also called copulatory plugs). After mating, some of the semen will coagulate to plug up the cervix, so that sperm from future mating (with other males) will be less likely to reach the egg.
So for chimpanzees, it pays to produce a lot of semen, and that requires large testicles. Now you know!
Playful Burrito
Despite the rainy weather, the playfulness at CSNW continues!
