Here’s some really sweet photos of Foxie and Negra grooming in the warm greenhouse yesterday. I especially like the one where Foxie is poking Negra’s ear!
Grooming
Groomin’ on a Sunday Afternoon
Okay, it’s not really Sunday, but I couldn’t help myself with the title.
We’ve talked about how important grooming is within chimpanzee society before (see this blog post from 2010 and this one from last year and you might as well check out this one about conflict and reassurance).
My favorite grooming to watch between chimps is when it’s a lazy afternoon and everything is calm and quiet. One chimpanzee will approach another chimp who is lying down or just sitting and chilling and start casually grooming them. The chimps often do their lazy grooming on the top of the climbing structure in the greenhouse. Often there are multiple partners grooming separately and sometimes they’ll move to a new partner or create a group of three or more chimps all grooming each other.
Below are some pics of Foxie grooming Burrito.
Foxie separates the hair on Burrito’s back with her fingers:
Foxie using her prehensile lips to groom Burrito (see this video with some other prehensile lip action):
Foxie becoming distracted from her grooming by the troll doll in her hand:
Missy’s grooming tool
Missy loves to groom herself using a tool. She often uses a piece of bark or straw that she finds on the ground, but if those aren’t doing the trick she will create a better tool.
Grooming Missy
Missy is such an avid groomer. On a quiet afternoon, we usually catch her grooming somebody. It’s nice to get groomed in return, though, and here’s some pictures of that.
Annie grooming Missy’s hand
Burrito grooming Missy’s face
Ladies’ Man
Burrito was intently grooming Jody this afternoon:
Jody was pretty relaxed after the grooming session, as you can see by her drooped-lip facial expression:
Relaxing Jody
I don’t think I’ve ever met a more professional relaxer:
Fighting and Making Up
Fights are really common among chimpanzees. Being a caregiver you get used to the intense screaming, which often occurs even during fights with no contact between participants. You also know by the sounds when things have escalated. There was a conflict about a week ago which resulted in some minor bite wounds between Foxie and Burrito. After a brief squabble this afternoon, this pair spent a lot of time grooming each other.
The wounds were the initial focus of the grooming – chimps will closely inspect injuries on themselves and each other and clean them up by removing debris. So, grooming is good for their physical health. It’s also important for the social health of the group. The act of grooming is the chimpanzee way of healing and strengthening bonds. (For more on fighting and making up, see also J.B.’s post Conflict and Reassurance with amazing photos of a reassurance hug between Burrito and Foxie from May 4th).
Burrito
Foxie
Foxie grooming Burrito
sometimes grooming turns into playing – another great way to strengthen social bonds
