George recently spent a full day with Rayne. Rayne is a wise, confident, and well-respected chimpanzee who gives George a lot of grace but isn’t afraid to hold him accountable when he gets out of line. George and Rayne have had many short meetings before, and while a few of those meetings began with brief conflicts, they always ended on a high note. This longer meeting was no exception. After a bit of arguing through the mesh, the pair got together and settled down for a day full of socializing, eating meals together, and running throughout the 2-acre habitat (both with each other and with the chimps next door!). Learning the rules can be tough for someone without much social experience, but George couldn’t ask for a better teacher.
introductions
The State of a (forming) Union
We are continuing the process of introducing George to Cy’s group of 6, and are preparing for a very exciting next step. Now seems like a good time to provide you all with a synopsis of what we have done so far, and where we hope to go next. If all goes well, George will soon be living with other chimpanzees full-time.
We began our introduction process with short (~1 hour) afternoon meetings with George and each of the individuals of Cy’s group, first focusing on Cy, Terry, and Rayne as those that we thought would be the most accepting of George. We wanted to give George positive introduction experiences to set him up for success before introducing him to others who may be more difficult. George did very well with Cy and Terry to start, and over the course of multiple meetings had some misunderstandings, all of which they were able to navigate. In these initial intros, he struggled the most with Rayne, which we later saw to be a trend with other females when he met Lucky and Dora. With the males, he was often quick to engage in play, and later would allow himself to be groomed, whereas the females seem to find him to be more of a threat (understandably – his displays are impressive!) and often sought reassurance or to groom, which he seems more uncomfortable with than play. George was also uncomfortable with being groomed in certain areas, and would quickly disengage when individuals tried to groom him in those areas. The females were generally less accepting of this behavior, and would become upset.
Cy grooms George
Once George had met Cy, Terry, and Rayne on multiple occasions, we started to include individuals from the remainder of Cy’s group into the introduction schedule. George met Gordo and we were happily surprised by how well they did together, and how calm Gordo remained even when George displayed repeatedly. George met Dora, then Lucky, and as we went, we changed our introduction plan to accommodate what the chimps were showing us that they needed. We introduced George to Mave to help him learn how to interact with females, as Mave is generally more confident than Lucky and Dora, and Mave showed us she was willing to hold George accountable when he acted inappropriately. We lengthened the time of the introductions, and let misunderstandings and conflicts play out more without closing the door to separate the chimps, though we were prepared to do so if needed. This is difficult to do as the human observer – we want to protect our chimpanzee friends, and conflict feels scary. But conflict is an important part of chimpanzee life, as is the reconciliation that follows. We needed George to learn (or show us he knows) how to reconcile after a conflict, before we could feel confident in future integration into a larger social group. These longer introductions allowed the chimpanzees time to reconcile, and George showed us that given time (and without the option to just ignore the other individual because they were no longer sharing space), he can do it.
During this stage, Terry and George had several conflicts during their introductions, but were given time to reconcile and by the end of their time together were again playing and grooming. This is promising for George’s future as he joins a larger social group, as he was able to navigate each of these situations successfully.
Terry grooms George
From there, we moved to all day introductions of one individual of Cy’s group with George (for Terry, Cy, Gordo, and Rayne). We chose to continue afternoon introductions with Dora and Lucky, as we thought they would be more successful in all day introductions down the line, with Cy there as well to lessen their anxiety. During these all day introductions, they got to experience more of a normal day together. They ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner together and were given access to the chute and The Bray. They spent more time without direct supervision of the humans (though we were monitoring them from afar via video monitors).
Gordo grooms George
The next step? Cy comes to live with George, and we will begin to build the group around them. Before adding in more individuals, we will give opportunities for Cy to assert his dominance over George to help him understand where his place will be within the larger group. A lot of this will come simply from living together full time. Cy may demand first access to his favorite foods at meal time (like corn), to get the first look at the newest magazines, or to be the first one to interact with the humans. From there, we will continue to follow the chimps’ lead as we navigate the introduction process. I’m excited for the opportunities ahead, and hopeful for George as he begins another big step in his journey here.
Lost in Thought
Lucky loves to groom and socialize with her caregivers, but she is often more reserved when it comes to her fellow chimpanzees. During an introduction with George this afternoon, she ignored him for a full 2-1/2 hours before finally agreeing to the briefest of play sessions. Having fulfilled her social obligations, she then returned to her nest and her cherished solitude.
Some introductions result in conflict, others in newfound friendships. And then there are those, like today’s, that result in two chimpanzees sharing the same space at the same time and nothing more. Which is all you can ask for sometimes. After all, Lucky never signed up to be on the welcoming committee.
Preparing for an Intro
Yesterday, Kelsi shared Cy and George’s all day intro from last Saturday. She talked about how challenging it can be to isolate a chimp when preparing for an introduction.
“Setting up introduction days is a lot of work. Behind the scenes, getting the chimps to shift and move where they need to be can be quite challenging. Not everyone is always eager to cooperate (cough, cough — Honey B, Terry, and now Rayne). Sometimes, if the chimps don’t shift, it can really affect the whole day, and we have to get creative with our shifting plans. Mentally, it can be extremely taxing.” See the rest of the blog here.
Today, you get to see a glimpse of what it can take to separate a chimp. Some days are better than others, and some days we need to get creative. This was one of those “let’s get creative” days. In today’s video, Ellen’s goal is to isolate Cy into the chute, which connects to George’s front rooms. She has already separated Cy from his group, but Gordo tagged along and they are both now in Greenhouse 3. Ellen now needs to distract Gordo so she can move Cy into Greenhouse 2 and then into the chute.
Ellen decides to recruit some help, come along to see how it goes.
Oh! Jamie’s birthday is right around the corner! Check out our wish lists if you’d like to help us with the biggest celebration of the year…JAMIEWEEN! We’ve also added some fun items for Willy B’s birthday and Christmas. Thank you!
George’s Progress
George has now been at CSNW for 3-1/2 months and he is finally in the thick of the dyadic introduction process, which means he is having one-on-one meetings with his potential group mates in controlled settings.
So far, George has done best when meeting other guys. He has now cruised through multiple intros with Cy, Terry, and Gordo. He’s engaged in lots of playful roughhousing, a few bouts of grooming, and some of the cutest hand-holding you’ve ever seen. More importantly, he has shown that he can adjust his own behavior to meet the needs of the chimps he is with. For example, if another chimp is too nervous to roughhouse, he will give them space and exaggerate his play signals to put them at ease. When Terry became overwhelmed with anxiety during an intro, George sat patiently in the middle of the room and beckoned Terry to come back, all the while nodding his head to provide reassurance. The amount of self-control he exhibits and his attention to the emotional state other chimps are both remarkable given his social history.
His meetings with the girls have been hit or miss. He’s had several great meetings with Rayne, but also a couple of minor conflicts that led to brief bouts of screaming and chasing, with a few slaps thrown in for good measure. The first may have just been the result of George not knowing that some females actually stand up for themselves in the face of typical male intimidation (you’re in Rayne’s world now, George!). The second was almost certainly a misunderstanding during play. Thankfully, neither of them were hurt in these encounters (outside of George’s pride, perhaps) but subsequent meetings have been a little more tense. Dora has only met George at the mesh and the intro didn’t proceed any further than that at the time due to Dora’s reluctance. We decided to have George meet Mave as an “easy” female intro, and it was—until Mave got a little personal with her grooming and George panicked. It was the typical Why are you screaming? Because you’re screaming! You started it! I thought you did!
None of this is all that unusual or unexpected, even for chimps with lots of social experience. But one important skill that George hasn’t demonstrated yet is the ability to reconcile. Chimps have conflicts all the time but they go to great lengths to quickly repair any damage to their relationships and move on. When the girls have attempted to reconcile, George has given them the cold shoulder. That’s not going to cut it.
But he’s showing himself to be a quick learner and he’s got plenty of time. While we’re all eager for George to join a group, it’s more important that he has some time to test out and hopefully improve his social skills in one-on-one settings. George may be in good with the guys, but when he joins the group and the girls get mad at him—which they inevitably will—some of those boys will immediately remember which team they are really on (hint: it won’t be the one with the new guy).
With these new relationships being as critical as they are, we’re also hopeful that George will become more comfortable grooming. The other chimps are eager to groom him and he does accept, but with all the enthusiasm of a hostage (though I swear he was asking Gordo to groom him at one point this afternoon). He has only briefly groomed other chimps, even with Terry lifting and manipulating his hand to get him started. Grooming is currency in the chimp world. George does show interest in grooming humans, so hopefully he’ll start showing that same interest in his chimp friends soon enough.
One area where George has really surpassed our expectations is the speed at which he adapted to the outdoors. Some chimps take years to become comfortable walking on grass or venturing far away from the indoor spaces that tend to feel safer and more familiar. But George walked straight to the top of the Bray on Day 1 and he has only become more comfortable since. He has yet to climb the towers at the very top, but it’s only a matter of time now. While I know that many people are eager for George to be joined by a friend or two on his Bray adventures, we’d like for his play dates to be a little more predictably uneventful before sending them off into the habitat together.
Three and a half months may seem like a long time, but just imagine the world from his perspective—the changes he’s endured, the fears he’s had to overcome, and the amount that he’s had to learn. It must be overwhelming. Thankfully, he’s off to a great start.
Bray & Play – George Continues to Make Progress!
When rescued chimpanzees arrive at the sanctuary, there’s a lot to be intimidated by: unknown caregivers, wide open spaces, and unfamiliar chimps all around. So we try to take things one step at a time. This morning, George went on the Bray at the same time that his neighbors were outside for the very first time and he handled it like a champ! PLUS: Bonus footage of George’s 2nd meeting with Terry!
We also celebrated the anniversary of Honey B, Willy B, and Mave’s arrival today. Can you believe it’s been six years? Actually, when Willy B wakes us all up in the middle of the night with his cage-rattling displays, it sometimes feels like he’s been here for 60. But for the most part, it seems like they just got here yesterday. The party forages included pasta with veggie sauce, Dixie cups filled with juice-soaked chow, berries, tomatoes, figs, and endives. I wasn’t able to to snap too many photos of the guests of honor, or anyone for that matter, but here are a few.
Terry:
Cy:
Gordo:
Beans (Honey B):
Terry Grooms George
Both Terry and George did so well with each other! It’s really interesting to watch George sit still while Terry is grooming him. Generally, chimpanzees reciprocate more readily. He did the same thing when we introduced George to Cy for the first time.
George does groom his human caregivers, so he’s not unfamiliar with it overall – grooming seems to be pretty hardwired in chimpanzees.
It’s hard to say what George is thinking. Maybe he’s playing it safe and making sure he doesn’t send the wrong signal or maybe being groomed by a big male is intimidating.
He’s really doing remarkably well for a 21-year-old chimpanzee who hasn’t had much social experience, and probably no social experience with adult males! Go George Go!
