Yesterday, Krissy posted a video of Rayne getting snow snacks following our first snowfall here at the sanctuary on November 17th.
You can tell in that video that the sky was a bit overcast. With a few notable exceptions, that’s how the sky has looked for most of this winter so far. The appearance of the sun receives a great deal of excitement from the humans these days.
And today, it was visible!
Perhaps Missy and Annie were equally excited for the sight of the sun because Ellen spotted them on one of the climbing structures on Young’s Hill.
I was able to climb up to the top of the observation deck and snap some photos of Missy walking back inside.
There was a path shoveled from a couple of weeks ago for the chimps to follow, but, still, they had to get their hands and feet in the snow some.
When I was looking at the photos I took, what came to mind is the way chimpanzees move.
Most often, when on the ground or a flat surface, chimpanzees are quadrupedal. That means they walk on both their hands and their feet. Their particular quadrupedal walking utilizes the flat part their feet, like humans, and the knuckles of their hands.
Chimpanzees can also walk bipedally like humans, just utilizing the bottom of their feet and allowing their arms to hang by their sides (or hold a bunch of foraged food like the photo of Missy below).
Their heads sit differently on their spine than humans and their hips are different, so bipedal walking is not as easy for them.
Missy, however, often does a “jump through” movement, especially when traversing the outdoors. In scientific circles this is known as “crutch-walking.”
You can see it in the photos below. Her arms are parallel and she pulls both of her feet through her arms at the same time.
After doing that once or twice, she moved on to the more common quadrupedal locomotion:
