Yesterday, Diana and I returned to the sanctuary after a week away. I came up a little early for our afternoon positive reinforcement training session to say hello and was treated to some wonderful greetings by Annie and Negra, who were resting in the playroom. Annie’s was a grand submissive gesture – a series of pant-grunts delivered while bobbing up and down excitedly. Negra’s was gentle and sweet – a long kiss on the back of my hand accompanied by soft breathy pants.
Then Jamie approached. She walked up, slid a book under the caging, and walked away. If it were any other chimpanzee I might been a bit disappointed by her reaction, but I knew exactly what she was saying: No time to talk, let’s walk.
There really is no one else like her.