Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Contact with the Chimps

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Every time I meet a new person and explain my job to them, it is inevitable that they ask about how much contact I have with the chimps. Lots of questions come up, such as, “Do you hug them?”, “Do you hold them?”, or “So you just sit and hang out with them?”. If you are new to our blog and our sanctuary’s mission, the quick answer to all previous questions are NO. At all times, caging separates the chimps and the humans (unless they are under anesthesia). This is for everyone’s protection. Chimpanzees, on average, are 3-8x stronger than humans. Unintentionally (or intentionally), a chimpanzee could easily hurt us.

Any physical contact we have with the chimps is done in a safe manner based on strict protocols.

One example, is grooming. We often let the chimps groom us as it is a natural behavior for them to strengthen relationships and remove debris or parasites from one another. To groom with them safely, we will allow them to groom the back of our closed hand, with the chimp’s fingers fully extended, or use a tool from a safe distance.

Grace and Rayne demonstrating this perfectly:

Jamie grooming Grace with a tool:

We often also let the chimps groom our shoes. We have a few chimps (like Terry, Jamie, and Lucky) who absolutely love footwear. To let them groom our shoes safely, we will present our shoes to them from a safe distance (where they can only touch, not grab or pin). We do not put our feet up against the caging, but only close enough where they can touch the boots with their fingers extended.

Terry grooming boots:

Another way we may physically interact with the chimps is through play.

Burrito’s favorite game is to poke the back of our hands, as fast as he can. I’m sure you have seen many videos of this over the years. Again, to do this in a safe way, we ensure our fingers are tucked and Burrito’s finger is fully extended. We also make sure to not push our hand against the caging but only where he can reach us from a safe distance.

J.B. and Burrito:

Chad and Burrito:

Playing tug of war allows us to hold onto the end of a blanket or scarf from a safe distance, while still being fully engaged with a play session with a chimp. We make sure to not wrap the material around us in any way, to avoid unexpectedly being pulled close to the caging. We also ensure we are fully balanced on our feet before beginning to play. If the chimp pulls hard on the blanket to win the game of tug of war, we immediately let go so we don’t get too close to the caging.

Dr. Erin and Burrito playing tug of war

Food

We hand-serve all of the meals to the chimps. This is the best way to ensure each chimp is getting their own food portions. To serve the food in a safe way, we use two fingers to grab the item at the furthest point, and then push through the caging where the chimp’s hand awaits. That is quite hard to explain. Here are some pictures that show this process!

Grace serving Cy:

Anthony serving Foxie a smoothie (with his hand at the bottom of cup only):

Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT)

Positive reinforcement training is a wonderful tool to allow the chimps to participate in their own medical care. While doing PRT, we can do everything at a safe distance and we never put our fingers inside the caging.

Chad taking Mave’s temperature:

J.B. asking for Burrito’s foot during PRT:

So while we limit our direct physical contact with the chimps, it is for both parties safety, to respect their space, and to let them be chimps! If you do see content online or in-person where the humans are directly next to a chimpanzee without caging, you should be questioning the type of facility the chimp is in. It is not an accredited zoo or sanctuary if you are seeing this type of content.

A gentle reminder, primates are not pets.

Contact

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As part of our ongoing Q&A series, I thought I’d address one of the most common questions we get: Do we ever wish we could have more physical contact with the chimps?

As many of you know, we strictly limit the ways in which we interact with the chimpanzees out of concern for our safety. Chimpanzees are incredibly fast and powerful animals with large, muscular jaws and massive canine teeth. Estimates vary, but it’s safe to say that chimpanzees possess at least twice the upper body strength of humans, pound for pound. And for chimpanzees, aggression is not an aberration but rather a normal part of the way they interact with one another and the world around them.

It was then that the troll realized he had made a terrible mistake.

Compounding the risk posed by their strength and natural behavior is the frustration they experience in captivity. One of the profound ironies of caring for chimpanzees is that you are far safer strolling through an African forest amidst a community of over a hundred free-living chimpanzees than you are standing near the enclosure of a captive chimpanzee. In fact, when Jane Goodall, the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees, lost the tip of her thumb, it was not to one of the chimpanzees of Gombe that she had spent decades living among but rather to a chimpanzee in a laboratory cage. Frustration is not limited to chimpanzees in laboratories, however. Even in the best zoos and sanctuaries, we deny chimpanzees control over their lives and the ability to make choices for themselves. To put it bluntly, all captive chimpanzees are prisoners to varying degrees and we should not be surprised when they occasionally act as such.

So if we are concerned with safety, we’re left with a cautious and largely hands-off approach to caring for captive chimpanzees. In those times when we do have contact, we do so through the mesh fence in very controlled ways. We like to use the term protected contact, which originated as a way to describe the safe management of elephants from behind a safety barrier. At CSNW, this means that our bodies never penetrate the caging. If the chimps want us to touch them, we do so with the tip of a knuckle while the chimps press their bodies against the mesh. If they want to touch us, they must extend their fingers all the way out and we limit their reach to our bare elbows or wrists. These methods, along with countless hours of training, help limit opportunities to get bitten or grabbed.

Kelsi playfully knuckle-rubs Burrito.

All of this eventually becomes second nature for both caregivers and the chimpanzees and I can honestly tell you that I rarely desire to have more contact with my chimpanzee friends. That said, I do remember feeling differently during my first summer spent around chimpanzees. In 1998, I was an apprentice at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute, and my fellow apprentices and I would spend five or more days per week recording observational data on the chimps, cleaning near them, and coding videos of them. Our lives were consumed with chimps but we were not trained to a level where we could have any contact with them at all. It was killing us. So much so that when we’d be out on the town at night, we’d inevitably mob some unsuspecting dog and frantically pet them until they managed to break free and run for help.

There is one particular situation where it is relatively safe for us to have free contact with the chimps and where we do sometimes indulge ourselves, and that is when they are under anesthesia for medical care. In these moments, in between the IV prep and the blood pressure readings, we sometimes find ourselves holding their hands. Maybe it’s in the hopes that somewhere in the deep recesses of their subconscious they can sense that we are there with them. Or maybe we are looking to them for comfort.

Diana holds Burrito’s hand during an echocardiogram.

It’s important to remember that in normal circumstances the chimpanzees in our care get all the hugs, snuggles, play slaps, and tickles they desire from their chimpanzee friends, and the chimps and their caregivers are able to develop rich and full relationships despite the physical separation. It’s only natural to want to have more physical contact with them, but eventually you come to realize that a raucous game of chase across the mesh barrier is a perfectly fine way for two friends to play. No physical contact needed.

And in those times when we need a good ol’ hug…well, that’s what dogs are for.

Wilson is always available for hugs.

Reassurance

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To follow up on Elizabeth’s post yesterday, here’s a good example of Burrito’s other side – the testosterone-filled Tasmanian Devil side that leaves a path of destruction and screaming girls in its wake. This is the side we usually see when we arrive to work in the morning.

As you’ll see in the video, Annie was the victim of one of Burrito’s drive-by displays this morning. Being a chimpanzee is stressful, but they have some pretty good ways of dealing with that stress. Like hugs, for example.

One thing you might notice in the video is that Annie also seeks reassurance from me and I don’t offer it to her. As hard as it may be to resist in these instances, we make a conscious decision to avoid inserting ourselves into their social conflicts. If Annie was startled by a loud noise, we would gladly offer her a touch with the back of a wrist to help comfort her. But when she’s involved in a social conflict, we risk upsetting the delicate balance in the group if we inject ourselves, even if it’s just to offer reassurance. At these times, the chimps aren’t just looking for emotional support – they may also be looking for political allies or even backup for an ensuing retaliatory fight. So we try to limit our involvement to a polite acknowledgement in the hope that they will work things out amongst each other. And they usually do.

Besides, no one can comfort a chimpanzee better than another chimpanzee.

Contact

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Chimpanzees engage in close physical contact for a variety of reasons. They might be seeking reassurance, playfully tickling one another, or quietly grooming. If two chimpanzees haven’t seen each other in a while, they often embrace each other just as we would. But what I love most is seeing chimpanzees hug, kiss, or hold hands out of sheer joy or celebration. For the Cle Elum Seven, just being on Young’s Hill is still reason enough to celebrate

Jamie encounters Foxie on the hill and puts her arm around her friend:

Foxie responds by giving Jamie a “soft bite” on her back (this is a friendly behavior):

Foxie and Jamie run off with big smiles on their faces:

Later, Jamie walked by Jody, who was eating grass near the bamboo. Jamie stops and gives Jody and quick kiss:

Chimpanzee kisses are slightly different than human kisses. A chimp kiss usually involves a soft bite, often with the lips covering the teeth, and some breathy panting. When Jody moved to a different bamboo grove, she received a kiss on the arm from Foxie:

A dominant male chimpanzee usually accepts submissive greetings from subordinates like a king is greeted by a commoner. The subordinates are made (or choose?) to grovel, and the dominant male acts like he is being generous by allowing the subordinate to be in his presence. Burrito, however, is not dominant, and he lacks some rudimentary chimpanzee social skills. Rather than submit to the females or accept their submission, he usually closes his eyes and acts like he doesn’t even see them when they approach him. But sometimes Jamie won’t let him get away with that, and in this case she ran after him and grabbed his feet. While foot-grabbing is usually an invitation to play, in this case Jamie seemed to be forcing Burrito to simply acknowledge her friendly greeting.

Sometimes greetings are preceded by a lengthy introduction. Jody often greets Burrito in this manner – there is a lot of pant grunting and bobbing (bouncing up and down on all fours), and in Jody’s case even some soft pant-hooting, before the two ever make contact. In this clip, Annie waits for Foxie to approach and gives her an extended greeting: