What a special week this has been! Over the last few days, we’ve received tons of items from our Amazon Wishlist, we received our brand new, top of the line camera from our amazing board members (which produced the spectacular footage below), and today, the chimps had the most awesome party! Special thanks to Robbi and Dick Brown, Leslie Sodaro, Jeani Goodrich, Diane and Syd Marcus, Sue Elfing, and the GFWC-Battleground, WA for all of the enrichment and to all of our amazing supporters and volunteers, who make days like this possible. Happy Holidays, everyone!
chimpanzee rescue
Burrito’s favorite thing
A wintry perk
Like many humans, chimpanzees generally prefer warmer temperatures. For that reason, winter is not much fun for the Cle Elum Seven, but there is one big consolation: they are treated to an all-you-can-eat snow buffet.
You can’t always get what you want
Burrito and Foxie are great friends, but sometimes friends just aren’t in the mood to play when you are.
Snow
Greetings
Chimpanzee culture is very political. In order to rise to the top of the hierarchy, or to stay on the good side of those at the top, a chimpanzee must know who to rub elbows with (so to speak) and when, and to what degree.
One of the ways a subordinate chimpanzee can show respect to a more dominant chimpanzee is by offering an elaborate greeting. These greetings occur when the two individuals meet after being apart from each other for some time. Most greetings involve some sort of vocalization (a breathy pant or a pant grunt, as you’ll see in the video) on the part of the subordinate chimpanzee. Generally, the louder the vocalization, the more tense the subordinate chimp feels.
Many of the chimp-to-chimp greetings here at CSNW are directed toward Burrito. Although he is not the most dominant chimpanzee here — he doesn’t quite have the skills, probably because he lacked a proper male chimpanzee role model growing up — his displays are pretty effective at intimidating the girls, so they try their best to appease him whenever they can. You might notice in the video that Burrito often turns his back or squeezes his eyes shut when he’s bring greeted. As much as he tries to show the girls who’s boss, the truth is he’s pretty nervous in social situations. Failing to graciously receive the other chimps’ greetings is probably one of the things holding him back from the dominant status he seems to desire.
Chewing
Human culture has a lot of hang-ups. While they have their place, we have all of these “rules”, like keep your elbows off the dinner table, and always close your mouth while chewing. Don’t get me wrong here- chimp culture has rules too, but to me, there is something so satisfying about watching the chimps so openly smack their lips while they chew their food. Especially Foxie, who is by far the coolest chewer I know.