Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
It’s a birthday celebration. It’s a holiday. It’s….Jamieween!
Our thanks go to Jayne, Sherry, and Lisa for sending such amazing party supplies, and to Stephanie for continuing her annual tradition of carving a special pumpkin in Jamie’s honor. These chimps are lucky to have such incredible supporters.
Happy Jamieween!
Hank the hawk continues to use the sanctuary as his hunting grounds. But while the chimps were once scared of him, some of them are starting to enjoy having him around, if only for the excitement that he provides.
This morning, Missy was sitting quietly on a climbing structure on Young’s Hill.
Foxie was nearby, with troll in hand.
Missy approached Foxie and reached out her hand, holding it under Foxie’s chin.
Then suddenly, she stood up, climbed down the ladder, and swung on the fire hose.
She leaped off the fire hose and into a full sprint toward the top corner of Young’s Hill, where the hawk had been perched just days before.
As soon as she reached the top, she turned and ran back to the climbing structure.
And swung on the fire hose again.
The other chimps took notice of Missy’s antics and started to move towards the top of the hill. Missy continued jumping, leaping, and tight rope walking while they gathered.
They began to congregate on the platform closest to the top of the hill.
They all looked around for any sign of the hawk.
Finally, Jody walked toward the corner to get a better look.
But Jody, it seems, does not share Missy’s sense of adventure. Not yet, at least.
For now, she’d rather play it safe.
The chimps spent most of the morning inside due to the rain. When it finally let up, Missy ran straight for the far corner of the hill. Something was up.
Jody followed after her but seemed nervous about getting too close.
They both looked around for reassurance.
Annie was perched safely on the bridge, and showed no interest in putting herself in danger.
And Neither Foxie nor Burrito showed any willingness to come down from their platform to join the patrol.
Finally, Missy spotted Jamie at the bottom of the hill and asked for her help with an outstretched arm.
Jody’s hair was standing on end (also called “pilo erection”), showing her nervousness. She approached Missy for reassurance.
Neither seemed to have the courage to get any closer.
At one point, Missy got spooked and decided to bolt, leaving Jody all by herself.
Lucky for her, help was on the way.
With Jamie on the case, Missy decided to rejoin the group.
They headed toward the top corner of Young’s Hill.
As it turns out, the subject of their apprehension was a hawk that had been roosting on one of the fence posts. The chimps promptly scared it away.
Jamie is so cool in moments like these. While Missy ran around frantically and Jody looked on helplessly, Jamie calmly strutted her way up the hill, totally confident in her ability to protect her home from invaders. I guess there’s a reason why she’s the boss.
As volunteers at CSNW advance in their training, there comes a point when they are tested on their ability to identify the chimps. Understandably, this can cause some anxiety. After all, when you are new to being around chimps, you can’t help but focus on how different they look from us, instead of how different they look from each other. At first you look for prominent features and try to put them together like a puzzle:
Missing ear + Big belly + Bald head = Negra
Missing toes + Heart shaped brow ridge + Hairless forearms = Jody
Perfect posture + Intense gaze = Jamie
Notch in ear + Kind of looks like Shrek = Annie
Slight build + Troll in hand = Foxie
No neck + Silvery back = Missy
Testicles = Burrito!
But then one day it all comes together, and instead of seeing individual features, you see personalities. Instead of seeing parts, you see people. And you wonder how on earth you could have missed it before.
Missy:
Jody:
Negra:
Jamie:
Annie:
Burrito:
Foxie:
Yesterday, during the party, Negra and Jody found themselves eating from the same pinata.
Negra, being dominant to Jody, decides that she’d rather not share. As Negra pulls the pinata away from Jody, Jody gets upset and begins to just slightly bare her teeth out of fear. Negra then displays a facial expression known as a full open grin. As you can see, her upper and lower lips are drawn all the way back, exposing all of her large and powerful teeth. This is a sign of fear or excitement, and is often seen when social conflict breaks out.
Jody responds with a full closed grin. Her lips are drawn back like Negra’s, but her jaw is closed. She is upset that Negra has pulled rank, so she goes to Burrito and Foxie for reassurance.
After being reassured by Burrito and receiving a kiss and a hug from Foxie, Jody returns to Negra, who offers her an extended arm in reconciliation. Jody accepts.
And the Queen gets the pinata.
As it should be.
This is all very similar to the conflict we showed a couple of weeks ago, but in this case all of the behavior was ritualized and no one was harmed in the process. As aggressive as they may be, chimpanzees are also very good at negotiating peaceful settlements to their disagreements. Part of this is due to their dominance hierarchies, which can help predetermine the outcome of smaller skirmishes without the need for fighting.
We mentioned before on this blog how difficult it can be to describe the dominance hierarchy at CSNW. One reason is that these seven chimpanzees had little social experience before coming to the sanctuary. They had to start figuring out how to be chimpanzees when they were already well into adulthood, with no role models to emulate and no culture to absorb – just seven misfits trying to figure things out as they went along.
But another explanation is that the majority of the Cle Elum Seven are female, and in the wild, the hierarchy amongst females is often less linear than it is for males. In some communities, the females seem to be ranked in broad groups rather than by the individual.
I would say that is true for the Cle Elum Seven. It’s clear that Jamie, Negra, Jody, and Burrito are dominant individuals, but among them, it’s not always clear how they are ranked. The hierarchy is complex, fluid, and context-dependent. For example, Burrito’s dominance displays are respected and tolerated by all of the females, but Jamie can steal his lunch with impunity. Jamie gets upset when Jody gets a hold of prized food, but she is not always successful in her attempts to steal it away. Negra always submits to Burrito, but she steals from Jamie and Jody. Honestly, it can get confusing.
Nevertheless, we refer to Jamie as the alpha of the group because she regularly fights for dominance and usually gets her way. Negra, on the other hand, seems to earn respect without trying.
All she wants is her night bags, a quiet nap, and occasionally, someone else’s pinata.
Some of the best grooming sessions happen in the afternoon, in the “siesta” time between lunch and dinner.
Missy & Annie:
Foxie & Burrito:
Missy & Burrito:
Annie:
Last week, a squabble broke out during dinner. Since we’re always talking about how we never capture conflicts on video, I decided to sit quietly and record the whole thing on my phone.
I’m always amazed at how much is going on during a fight. Alliances are being forged, tested, and sometimes broken. Old grudges are being dug up and rehashed. Some subordinate chimps are engaged in proxy fights on behalf their superiors, others are playing mediator and trying not to harm the alliances they’ve worked so hard to build, and some, like Burrito, are doing all they can just to stay out of the way. And that’s just the fight – as soon as it’s over, it’s on to reconciliation phase.
It’s easy to miss all of these things amidst all the screaming, so what follows is my attempt at a play-by-play.
