Games of tug of war happen pretty frequently between humans and chimps here at CSNW (any guesses as to who always wins?), but extended bouts of chimpanzee-chimpanzee tug of war are less common.
Animal Welfare
Day of the Troll
Thank you to everyone who made today so special for Foxie. It’s difficult to believe that this is her second birthday in sanctuary. We hope she has many more days like today in her future. We couldn’t do it without the support of so many. Check out her celebration last year. And take a look at part of today’s celebration below
Happy Birthday Foxie
Thank you, sponsors!
Thank you individual sponsors Barbara Lauterbach, who is a Play Face Sponsor (her sponsorship certainly made me produce a play face!) and an anonymous Play Laugh sponsor! Please consider joining the ranks and sponsoring the Oct 2nd Celebrate the Seven auction so all money raised will go to the sanctuary. I’d love to have a Food Squeak Sponsor – I will post a new video of Burrito food squeaking if someone sponsors at that level. See August 4th’s blog post for more info on the sponsorship levels.
We have three business sponsors so far as well: our wonderful printers who do so much for us – Abbott’s Printing, and two other awesome businesses who are helping to make the auction great: POM Wonderful and Theo Chocolate. Keep checking our events page for the latest.
Thank you to all!
Best friends
It seems these two never tire of each other’s company.
Photo Contest Results!
Thanks to Clocktower Media, we are getting a new look to our website! We asked you to participate in the redesign by choosing your favorite photos of the chimps to be featured on their profile pages. We’re also going to make prints of these photos available for purchase through our online store. Check out the winning photos below:
Annie
Burrito
Foxie
Jamie
Jody
Missy
Negra
Conflict
Here are a few photos that I took at the end of Saturday’s conflict (I first made sure that no one was upset that I was there with a camera – on the other side of the caging, of course!). Fighting is a normal part of chimpanzee life. They are capable of inflicting a lot of damage on each other, but most fights are a lot of vocalizing and a lot of posturing. This is really the end of the fight with screaming, fear grimaces, and seeking reassurance. Sometimes those only peripherally involved in the conflict display towards the end. Missing from this photo is Negra (not surprisingly, she was inside away from the action), Burrito (not a main participant, so he let the girls finish it off) and Jamie (who was nearby). Things happen really quickly, so the descriptions below are my interpretation of what was happening, but I might not have fully understood each person’s role and interactions. After everything had pretty much ended, Jamie did get the last word in – a pant hoot and display that ended in swinging from the boat bumper and hitting the plexiglass covering the window.
Missy sitting down, Jody displaying (bipedal), Annie screaming while looking at Foxie. Annie is the lowest ranking and therefore seeks reassurance more than the other chimps. I think she is seeking reassurance from Foxie. Jody is showing her higher rank by displaying (this is probably a side of Jody you haven’t seen before!)
Both Annie and Foxie looking at Jody, seeking reassurance from her. Seeking reassurance can mean “I’m sorry” or just “I get that you’re higher ranking and I will submit to you.” It can be a way of de-escalating a conflict or a way of trying to get someone on your side in the middle of a conflict.
Foxie fear grimacing while looking at Jody
Annie (fear face) seeking reassurance from Missy after Foxie left
