J.B. and I were cleaning the playroom this morning, when we saw Negra, Foxie and Annie playing together. This is quite the unusual trio of playmates, and I’ve never seen Negra play this long in one stretch! There was more than what is shown in the video, but it was challenging filming conditions – through the glass window with the playroom filling up with steam from cleaning. J.B. caught some choice moments, and I know Negra fans will be thrilled.
chimp
Still time to get chocolate for your sweetie!
Just two more days to make a donation of $40 or more and in return receive a unique and delicious (believe me, I’ve sampled one) organic vegan Sjaak’s chocolate bar with a special label celebrating Annie and Missy’s love. Use our Valentine’s Donation form and give a Valentine’s gift to the chimps and your loved one!
Progress on Young’s Hill
Yesterday J.B. and volunteers Steve and Rick braved the cold to frame the climbing structures that will be on Young’s Hill. (To learn about our plans for Young’s Hill, a 2-acre outdoor habitat for the chimpanzees, watch this video.)
New benches! + What’s with all the reassurance?
J.B. has already applied his new welding skills by fabricating two new awesome benches for the playroom. Thanks to Barb from Ohio for aiding in the project by “adopting” J.B. and purchasing the workshop heater from our amazon.com wish list.
The video below mentions reassurance, which is really common among chimpanzees. This simplifies what can be complex behavior, but, in general, asking for reassurance can be a submissive or peacekeeping behavior, or it can be a way to ask, “are you on my side?” Giving reassurance can be saying, “everything’s okay between us” or “yep, I’ve got your back.”
In the first instance in the video, Jamie is submitting to Burrito and Burrito accepts her submission by doing a quick arm over gesture as he runs by. Looking at this 2 sec interaction in isolation, you might suspect that Burrito was dominant to Jamie, but looking at their interactions overall, that’s not the case. It could be that Jamie just wanted to acknowledge Burrito’s display but let Burrito know she wasn’t interested in starting any trouble with him, so she could get to work looking for food.
In the second instance in the video, Foxie is being submissive to Negra, probably not because Foxie thinks that Negra is going to start something, but because Foxie is respectful of those who are higher ranking and often plays the role of peacekeeper, keeping the group calmer by giving reassurance to whoever seems excited.
Chimpanzees are a bit tightly wound in general, and a high arousal situation such as a great food forage can quickly turn into a fight. So, in any high arousal situation, chimpanzees will be doing a lot of asking for and giving reassurance, even if the situation is a happy occasion. Sometimes the exchange of reassurance is more just a sharing in the excitement of the moment than a submissive or dominant behavior.
CareerBuilder Super Bowl Commercial
Join our Primate Patrol list to receive future action alerts and be sure to “like” the Primate Patrol page on Facebook.
Colin Redmon recently designed a new logo for Primate Patrol –
The alert copied below was originally posted on the Primate Patrol website December 14, 2010:
Primate Patrol has received the disappointing news that CareerBuilder plans to air another commercial during the 2011 Super Bowl featuring chimpanzees. CareerBuilder has already aired commercials in 2005 and 2006 that portrayed chimpanzees as misbehaving office employees. Despite a growing public awareness about the ethical problems with using chimpanzee “actors” in entertainment, CareerBuilder still plans on airing this new commercial.
Please send a polite letter to CareerBuilder asking them not to air this commercial. Your letters can make a difference – just this year, two large companies, Dodge and Pfizer, chose to alter their commercials that featured live ape “actors” and pledged to never use primates in advertising again after hearing from concerned advocates.
Let them know that chimpanzees cannot be trained for entertainment by positive reinforcement alone, and brutal training practices in the entertainment industry are well documented. Remind them that in addition to welfare concerns, using chimpanzees in the media seriously hinders conservation efforts of free-living chimpanzees.
You may send your letter to the CEO of CareerBuilder, Matt Ferguson at [email protected]
You can also view this alert on PETA’s action webpage.
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See also an alert sent out this week about a poll for the “Super Bowl Favorite Simian Spot.” You can comment on the poll’s page and add your vote for the sock monkey commercial (#6), which did not exploit any primates.
Foxie’s muscle man
Burrito expands his horizons
It’s always fun to catch one of the chimpanzees doing something he or she doesn’t usually do. Burrito doesn’t engage in much self-directed play with toys or objects. He’ll pick up a wooden block to chew on, or pass a scarf to a caregiver for a game of tug of war, but he doesn’t seem much interested in toys for their own sake. Today, though, he found a toy he couldn’t get enough of. I had to stop filming eventually, but he entertained himself for quite awhile.
