Foxie makes me smile everyday.
Foxie
Valentine’s Day fun
Parties are so much fun here at CSNW. On today’s party menu was strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, apples, dried pears, bananas, beets, sunflower seeds and tons of mixed nuts. We received a plethora of decorations and new toys from our friends Dick and Robbi Brown, Felicity, Stephanie, and Kate. Food was hidden in all kinds of Valentine’s Day themed boxes, cups, and gift bags and the playroom was filled with awesome new toys, including at least 5 new Valentine’s Day troll dolls. Thanks so much everyone!
Step one= party:
Annie drinking pomegranate juice:
Jamie opening her “Valentine”:
Foxie checking out one of her new Valentine’s Day trolls:
Step 2= nap.
Negra in her festive Valentine’s Day nest:
Burrito getting in touch with his feminine side:
Needless to say, a good time was had by all! Happy Valentine’s Day!
Foxie in a nest
Last week was the first time any of us had seen Foxie build a true nest. Today, I witnessed her doing it again and snapped a couple of photos. I’m so proud of how far she’s come.
Foxie, the nest-builder
We love sharing stories with all of you about the chimpanzees’ daily experiences at the sanctuary. This pleasure is all the greater when we have something particularly exciting or momentous to share, as we do today.
Our frequent blog readers are familiar with the saga of Foxie’s nesting behavior. When Foxie came to CSNW, she wanted very little to do with any enrichment. Blankets, in particular, seemed almost offensive to her. If a blanket occupied the space where she wanted to rest, she would often flick it aside before sitting down. While some of the other chimps were making giant, cushy nests out of dozens of blankets, Foxie would build a “phantom nest”, showing ritualized nesting behaviors but using very little actual nesting material. She’s made slow and steady progress: she’ll incorporate the occasional toy or fire hose into her “nest”, and once or twice we’ve caught her with her head resting on the very edge of a blanket. But overall, she’s remained pretty steadfast in her distaste for blankets (or anything soft, it seems). Here’s a review of past blog posts that have highlighted Foxie’s nesting progress:
April 13, 2009
May 15, 2009
June 2, 2009
June 6, 2009
December 2, 2009
January 23, 2010
February 3, 2010
December 24, 2010
Considering all this, she surprised and delighted us all the other day when she went full steam ahead and built her first big, multi-blanket nest.
Trolls
Jamie and Foxie spent some quality time with trolls today. I still can’t get over how integral troll dolls have become in the lives of these chimps…
Jamie and Foxie’s wild play
The chimpanzees all have different comfort levels when it comes to intensity of play. Jody and Negra, for example, engage in play less frequently and less boisterously than some of the other chimps. When Foxie and Jamie get together, though, they completely let loose. There’s lots of stomping, slapping, and (play) biting. This morning they spent about 20 minutes running around the playroom like maniacs.
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.
