Chimpanzees are not known for being delicate, but Annie somehow manages to be graceful and elegant, particularly when she is having a quiet moment to herself.
chimpanzee
Free to Be
Jamie was raised as a performer and then spent two decades in a laboratory. Here at the sanctuary, she is finally free to be a chimpanzee, but more importantly, she is free to be whoever she wants to be.
The Art of Grooming
Grooming is a standard activity here at the sanctuary. Usually, the chimpanzees groom one another. Some of the chimps enjoy being groomed by their caregivers. Jamie, though, likes to be the one doing the grooming. For safety reasons, the chimps don’t have the same level of physical access to their caregivers as they do to one another, so when Jamie wants to groom a caregiver she grabs a tool.
Jamie is fascinated by humans and often uses her tool to explore as much of us as she can. She removes dirt from the bottom of our shoes, checks our fingernails, and tries to remove buttons from our clothes or undo zippers or velcro. She pays special attention to any wounds, scars, or tattoos.
Incurring the Queen’s Wrath
Negra doesn’t pull any punches. She knows exactly what she’s willing to put up with and exactly what she isn’t and she has no problem letting you know where she stands. When we humans do something to displease her she typically threat barks at us, hits the caging, and if we’re in the greenhouse she throws (repeatedly and with force) bark mulch in our faces. If there is a chimpanzee equivalent to swearing, I am pretty sure we hear a lot of profanity directed our way. This in turn usually elicits the quick back-up of her chimp family against the offending human. What would we do to displease our beloved Queen Negra that would call for such reprimands you might ask? Oh, things like offer her something during meals that she already told you she doesn’t want. Serve something stupid when there is obviously a better choice right in front of us, like lettuce or night bags. And sometimes just hand her something she actually asked us for!
Over time, Negra has chosen to interact with her caregivers more and more. And given her particularly heartbreaking history, that’s no small gift. Negra loves us to dance for her and typically nods her head and taps the ground along with us. That said, if she suddenly decides our dancing skills aren’t up to par she gives us a disgusted wave of dismissal and turns her head away. Negra also frequently pushes her lips through the caging to offer us kisses and while we would never miss an opportunity to offer the back of our wrist for a Neggie kiss, it’s truly 50/50 as to if you’ll get a kiss or a sharp poke and a threat bark. As I type this Negra is clacking her teeth against the caging and clapping loudly to alert us to the fact that it is dinner time (and in her mind it has been for the last hour).
Negra is akin to the sharp-tongued, intolerant, sometimes a little bit scary older family member who tells it like it is and yet, you can’t help but love her all the more for it. And none of this means that Negra doesn’t have the most endearing, sweet side as well. Like most of us I suppose. We are thrilled she finally gets to have her say, speak her mind, and be heard with love and respect. Even if it does mean picking bark mulch out of places bark mulch has no business being for days afterward.
Beautiful Negra:
Jamie’s Weakness
Jamie does not exhibit vulnerability often. She is in complete command of herself and everyone else at all times, and what she sometimes lacks in confidence she makes up for in bluster. In her relationships with humans and other chimps, she rarely lets her guard down.
But Jamie has one weakness: men. Men make Jamie as close to googly-eyed as she ever gets. Our personnel at the sanctuary have always skewed heavily female. Out of our six staff members, one is male. Out of our 42 current chimp house volunteers, five are male (which is the most we’ve ever had at one time). Jamie’s behavior around these male volunteers would be recognizable to anyone who’s ever had a crush.
This morning volunteer Yuri was here and Jamie split her time between staring at him and trying to get his attention. Here she is trying to catch a glimpse of him working in the kitchen:
Missy’s Green Pepper Play
The chimpanzees have had many bell peppers donated from a local grocery store lately, so today we did an exciting whole pepper forage on the hill!
Missy made a play for two of the peppers:
Jody made an attempt to force a turnover:
But Missy drove to the end zone:
Once the play was complete, she checked for injuries:
And then sat back and enjoyed her touchdown:
This post was inspired by one of the new personalized stones that is part of the Dr. Mel Richardson Memorial Walkway!
Thanks Jordan Hill!
Distractions
Caring for chimpanzees is harder than you will ever know. All we want to do is work – we live to sweep, scrub, and spray down enclosures – but these chimpanzees keep coming along and distracting us. Here, Anna does her best to satisfy Jamie’s demands for some playtime so that she can return to her true passion, squeegeeing.
