introductions

The Social Life of George

July 25, 2025 by Ellen Brady-McGaughey

As J.B. announced in his blog earlier this week, we have begun the process of introducing George to other chimpanzees at the sanctuary! This process is both very exciting, and a little nerve-wracking, as we all want the best for both George and his hopeful new friends. With this said, here are some great reminders to keep in mind about introductions with chimpanzees that J.B. shared earlier this week, which can help in understanding today’s video:

It can be difficult to integrate chimpanzees social groups because they are naturally hostile or fearful toward strangers and have the capacity for intense aggression
That said, sanctuaries and zoos do regularly integrate chimpanzees into groups, though not without challenges
We will be following a slow, methodical approach in which George repeatedly meets all of his potential group mates one-on-one over the course of months
These initial introductions take place in the smaller Front Rooms so that we can more easily separate them should they get into a serious fight (some fighting is to be expected)
Conducting them in the Front Rooms, with thick plastic sheets over the windows, also reduces the influence of the other chimps during these initial meetings
Dominance displays are common during introductions, as each chimpanzee tries to demonstrate their strength and agility. These displays actually help chimpanzees avoid fighting by exchanging information about the likely outcome of a physical altercation.
Intense play and grooming are also common as chimpanzee get to know each other.
We chose to begin with Cy because he has shown himself to be a gentle and caring leader who seeks to protect the underdogs in his group. Terry and Rayne were chosen as next partners due to their personalities and social skills, as we want to give George as many positive experiences meeting others before he faces potentially more difficult introductions.
Meeting other chimpanzees one-on-one is one thing; being fully integrated into an already established group is another. George will be vulnerable, so establishing good relationships with the others, and especially with Cy, will be critical.

George Makes a New Friend

July 21, 2025 by J.B.

Now that George has completed his quarantine period, become familiar with the greenhouses and playrooms, and explored the two-acre outdoor habitat known as The Bray, it’s time for him to make some new friends! If you are new to the sanctuary, here’s some information that may help explain what you will see in the above video:

It can be difficult to integrate chimpanzees social groups because they are naturally hostile or fearful toward strangers and have the capacity for intense aggression
That said, sanctuaries and zoos do regularly integrate chimpanzees into groups, though not without challenges
We will be following a slow, methodical approach in which George repeatedly meets all of his potential group mates one-on-one over the course of months
These initial introductions take place in the smaller Front Rooms so that we can more easily separate them should they get into a serious fight (some fighting is to be expected)
Conducting them in the Front Rooms, with thick plastic sheets over the windows, also reduces the influence of the other chimps during these initial meetings
Dominance displays are common during introductions, as each chimpanzee tries to demonstrate their strength and agility. These displays actually help chimpanzees avoid fighting by exchanging information about the likely outcome of a physical altercation.
Intense play and grooming are also common as chimpanzee get to know each other.
We chose to begin with Cy because he has shown himself to be a gentle and caring leader who seeks to protect the underdogs in his group.
Though George’s meeting with Cy went well, he will face a lot of challenges over the coming months. Meeting other chimpanzees one-on-one is one thing; being fully integrated into an already established group is another. George will be vulnerable, so establishing good relationships with the others, and especially with Cy, will be critical.

George is really something. Even after living on concrete, he’s exploring his grassy two-acre outdoor enclosure almost without hesitation. And now, after living with only one female for most of his life and living alone since 2023, he’s hitting it off with the alpha male of what may someday be his new group. I know I say this about every chimp I’ve met, but I really admire him. Whether this integration is ultimately successful or not, George is most certainly going to take advantage of his second chance.

Introducing Introductions. Again!

June 22, 2025 by Diana

A few years ago, when we were embarking upon introducing Honey B, Willy B, and Mave to the Lucky Six, Anthony (who is no longer a staff member but was coincidentally here today as a volunteer, meeting George for the first time) wrote a thoughtful blog post about the complications of introductions.

Because we are planning on introducing George to members of the Lucky Six in the coming weeks, it seemed like a good time to share Anthony’s blog post again, which you can read here.

I also thought it was important to set some expectations about how we may or may not be sharing the details of these introductions.

Introductions can be a challenge for staff and chimpanzee alike. We don’t want you to expect to be kept apprised of every pair-wise introduction that George is involved in as we embark on this process. For sure, we will share – it’s in our nature to do so and this blog certainly has gotten us in the habit of providing daily information.

In order to honor this process and George’s in-limbo status (no animal welfare charges have yet been brought against George’s former owner), we will be less synchronous with our updates, and trust that you will appreciate how taxing the introduction process can be. We will of course share updates in time!

Surrounded by Liars

February 17, 2025 by J.B.

Next time you wander around the woods, take a moment to appreciate the fact that you are surrounded by liars.

The natural world is filled with examples of deception: Opossums that play dead when cornered. Butterflies that mimic a predator’s gaze. Bugs that look like sticks. Flowers that look like bugs. Bugs that look like flowers. I swear, you can’t trust anyone out there.

Chimpanzees are not above such trickery and, given their social intelligence, may be among the most advanced practitioners of the art, at least when it comes to their behavior. In fact, there’s a considerable amount of evidence for chimpanzees’ abilities to consciously deceive other apes. But lately I’ve been obsessed with another form of deception that is almost certainly not under conscious control but which is nonetheless quite interesting and surprisingly understudied, and that is the female chimpanzee’s ability to falsely advertise her own ovulation.

It’s well known that female chimpanzees in the wild tend to time their emigration from their natal communities with the onset of their first sexual swellings. These swellings, in which the skin around the anogenital region becomes pink and engorged with fluid, are generally thought to be an honest signal of fertility. Peak swelling, or tumescence, tends to coincide with the maximum probability of ovulation, which occurs every 35 days or so. So a swelling is essentially a big billboard that says Mate with Me Now if You Want the Best Chance at Having Offspring. And the boys certainly take notice.

There are a number of theories to explain the benefits of such advertisements to the females’ own reproductive success. But one prominent theory holds that females use these swellings to their advantage in another way entirely—for their own protection. By delaying emigration until they are tumescent, the swellings can act as a “social passport” to facilitate their acceptance into the new group. It’s dangerous for chimpanzees to enter different communities—after all, they are largely unrelated to the locals but end up competing for precious resources, including food and mating opportunities. But the males just can’t say no to a young female with a big backside so they will personally welcome the newcomer and protect them from resident females that may feel less generous. How thoughtful of them!

The fact that female chimpanzees time their journeys so as to manipulate the boys in this way, consciously or not, is pretty cool in and of itself. But those of us who care for chimpanzees in captivity have noticed that social dynamics can actually cause changes in tumescence. Specifically, when there’s a sudden influx of unknown males and the risks of conflict increase, which is rare in the wild but happens regularly during social introductions in captivity, females have been seen becoming swollen spontaneously, regardless of where they are in their reproductive cycles. We’ve seen this in CSNW’s own females when new groups are formed during intros—the girls begin the day with flat butts and go to bed with big, bulbous backsides. Why would this happen? We don’t know for sure, and I can’t believe that no one has studied it in detail (ahem…incoming graduate students looking for a thesis topic!). But it’s not difficult to imagine these swellings serving a role similar to the social passport and building off the same two facts of chimpanzee life: First, males are easily manipulated. And second, at times of great peril, it pays to have a big butt—even if you have to lie.

Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself

October 28, 2024 by J.B.

The integration of Cy’s group and Willy B’s group in the spring of 2022 resulted in countless benefits to members of each: Willy B finally got to groom with the boys, Mave and Dora became instant and inseparable best friends, Honey B discovered the joys of morning mall-walking with her girl gang, and everyone found new opportunities for comradery and companionship in a larger social group. But it hasn’t been without its challenges.

Or should I say, without one particular challenge:

OK, it’s probably not fair to place all of the group’s instability at the feet of our friend, Willy B, but it’s not too far off. Willy B is a large, dominant chimp with little in the way of social skills. He’s well-tolerated if not always appreciated by the group’s alpha, Cy, and shown proper deference by the lower ranking males. The girls, especially Rayne, go out of their way to accommodate his occasionally idiosyncratic social behavior. He has playmates, grooming partners, and allies. In other words, he’s found a place in a real social group. And most of the time, things are great.

Except when they’re not. That is, when he’s compelled to cause chaos.

Here’s a typical scenario: It’s mid-afternoon and while most of the gang are resting and grooming in the Greenhouse, Willy B is napping by himself in the Front Rooms. He gets up and, as if checking his watch and realizing he is late for his 3:30 appointment, tracks down Terry and begins directing mild but persistent threats his way. Nothing serious, mind you—a pant hoot here, a thump on the glass there—but he knows it will get a reaction out of Terry. This continues until Terry or someone else in the group has had enough of the drama and chases after Willy. And this is when another socially inexperienced chimp would learn his lesson—in the chimp world, there’s nothing like a good pummeling to help you realize that you crossed a line. But instead, it’s where the small but fearless Honey B jumps in the protect her old buddy. And before long, Willy is standing back, watching other chimps screaming and chasing each other around and planning for his next chaos appointment. Which is always coming up shortly.

The precise timing of Willy’s provocations shifts here and there but the overall pattern is unchanging and resistant to any and all distractions. To be clear, Willy hasn’t really hurt anyone (if anyone gets hurt, it’s typically not by him) and the level of serious wounding in this group is pretty normal. But it’s more stress than we’d like to see and, just as importantly, a lot of missed opportunities for play, resting, and grooming without any real trend toward resolution.

After consulting with trusted colleagues, we decided to try a “reintroduction.” As the name implies, a reintroduction involves pulling the group apart and putting them back together again, but in a way that aims to elucidate and then reinforce the hierarchy and to allow bonds to form which may not have had the chance to form during or subsequent to the first introduction. Compared with other potential avenues, such as sub-grouping or moving chimps to another group, reintroduction is a relatively easy and low-risk strategy to mitigate group instability.

We began yesterday by pulling Cy and Willy B from the group and having them live together apart from the remaining seven. During this time, we’re watching for indications of dominance, such as priority access to food and physical displacement, as well as affiliative behaviors like play and grooming. Based on the outcome of this initial dyad, we’ll begin building the group back up. But instead of focusing on ensuring that everyone has allies to protect them from their new, unfamiliar group mates, which is a significant concern during initial intros, we focus on making sure that each individual is forming bonds in a way that conforms to and shows an understanding of the hierarchy. New members are added only after the reintroduction group has met certain benchmarks towards this goal.

In case you are wondering, Cy and Willy have been getting along great. And Cy is still the clear and undisputed alpha, as evidenced just now by his ability to take food right out of Willy’s hand without protest. While we didn’t expect anything different, we all breathed a sigh of relief. We need an adult in charge.

Reintroductions

August 12, 2024 by J.B.

We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog discussing group formation, or introductions, so you probably know by now that they are at once the greatest and most terrifying activity you can take part in as a chimpanzee caregiver. While I wouldn’t put them in the same category, reintroductions can be a bit of a roller coaster, too. Reintros occur any time a group is reformed after a period apart. This is commonly due to medical isolation of one or more members but it can also occur if a group is moved to a new facility or if an institution practices fission-fusion management, wherein individuals are routinely moved between groups (I dislike the use of the term fission-fusion in the captive context but I don’t get to make the rules). Most reintroductions are fairly easy, as the group members have already worked out their relationships. But if a group is separated immediately after a bad conflict for the purpose of treating injuries, they may need to be reintroduced more carefully—even from scratch—lest they immediately pick up where they left off. Whether or not the participants had a chance to reconcile in those cases can make a big difference.

Regardless of the reason for separation, some chimps do not reintro quietly. Males, in particular, seem to fear that everyone forgot who they were while they were gone. REMEMBER ME? THAT’S RIGHT, I AM STILL LARGE AND MAKE LOUD SOUNDS! DO NOT MISTAKE MY ABSENCE FOR WEAKNESS, FOR I HAVE REMAINED STRONG THIS WHOLE TIME AND HAVE COME TO RECLAIM MY POSITION! I pick on the males, of course, but only because their behavior is so familiar. In reality, chimps do sometimes have good reason to fear that the social order changed while they were away and they are right to test the waters when they return.

Willy B has been separated from his group a number of times over the last two years so we felt confident letting him meet the whole group at once, but given his, uh, peculiarities, you can’t help but get a few butterflies as you watch him reestablish himself.

It’s nice to see how the group tolerates him, and even comforts him when he needs it, despite his frequent awkward jerkiness. Willy B remains a special project for CSNW, one that occupies a lot of our collective brain power and dominates the discussion at most every staff meeting. What to do about Willy B? While we’re still searching for the right answer, I’m glad that his group mates are able to extend a little sympathy now and again to a guy that could really use some.

Predictions

October 26, 2022 by Kelsi

During introductions it was hard tell who Honey B would become friends with. We knew Honey B enjoyed her alone time, but still appreciated the company of her chimp and human friends on her terms. When Honey B first re-met Dora they were both so excited to see each other! However, Terry and Honey B had to put the work into rebuilding a friendship. Recently, Honey B has been hot commodity with her new group. It seems like everyone wants to “mall walk,” groom, play, or just be around her. If we had to predict which chimps would bond with Honey B, Dora and Rayne would really be my only guesses. Lately, we find Honey B and Terry hanging out a lot. We have been seeing some play with her and Cy and even Gordo gets a little quick play session in from time to time.

Words can’t express the feelings I have when watching Honey B build connections with her group. It’s everything they worked so hard for and why a bigger social group is so important for chimps, especially one like Honey B.

Cy grooming Honey B: