Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Missy

Social Complexity In Action

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You may remember Diana’s post from last year about the interesting dynamic in the relationship between Jamie and Burrito. As it happens, Missy and Negra have a complicated relationship as well. When it comes to food, Negra is definitely more dominant and Missy will generally let her have whatever she wants, even if it is reluctantly. You might think that this dynamic would affect their friendship, but it doesn’t seem to, at least not in an obvious way. Missy doesn’t appear to hold a grudge against Negra for pulling rank and is just as happy to play with her as with her friend Annie when the opportunity arises.

It is interesting to note that a similar dynamic exists between Annie and Missy but in this case it is Annie that gives up her food at Missy’s request. So, I imagine it’s not just Missy and Negra or Jamie and Burrito that are complicated. Overall chimpanzee social relationships appear to develop much more complexity than a simple dominance hierarchy suggests.

Here is Negra taking one of Missy’s chow bags:
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And here they are enjoying a play session together:
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Relaxing

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I found some photos on the computer taken by Elizabeth and Lisa a few days ago. Just looking at these pictures makes me feel so relaxed!

Jamie

Burrito

Missy

Foxie

Still life with Missy

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If you are a regular follower of the blog you probably realize it’s a rare moment that we catch Missy sitting still. Just yesterday I saw her on Young’s Hill trying to climb the very uncooperative and very bendy bamboo. She finally gave up, leapt into the air and spun 360 degrees before landing, and then ran back down the hill at full speed.

Today all the chimpanzees have been enjoying a leisurely day of lounging, grooming, and napping. And even the ever-moving Missy decided to take a few minutes to relax. But Missy still throws a little of her own flare into relaxing. While she is having a Missy-style quiet moment in these photos, (and what I unfortunately couldn’t capture with the camera) she is simultaneously tapping her best pal, Annie, on the head as Annie bites Missy’s toes.

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April Fool’s Day at the chimp house

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We are always trying to come up with fun and interesting ideas to enrich the chimpanzees at CSNW. Since today is April Fool’s Day, I was coming up with ways to mix things up for the chimps. We tried to serve lunch at breakfast, which didn’t seem to go over as well as I had thought—the chimps were expecting fruit smoothie! So we made up for that faux pas by doing a smoothie forage.

While Elizabeth and I were setting up the smoothie cups, we were trying to come up with “jokes” to play with the enrichment. We decided to put all their toys for the day inside an old trash can, and “leave behind” some things we normally don’t let the chimps have. We left a disinfectant container (with tea instead of disinfectant of course) and a gum container with just a couple pieces of gum in it, plus some kitchen utensils and other chimp-safe things we could find. This part of the day’s enrichment went much better than the first April Fool’s joke we played on the chimps! They loved it.

Jamie was the first to open the trash can of enrichment, and Annie was very interested, too.

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Foxie:

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Missy:

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Jody found the “disinfectant” tea first:

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And Jamie also took an interest:

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More play communication

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Just earlier this week I posted a video I caught of Foxie using exaggerated signals to get Negra to play with her. Today, it was Missy initiating the play with Foxie! And of course, Foxie couldn’t resist.

Annie on Young’s Hill

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Sometimes, Annie will sit out on Young’s Hill to just take in the view and feel the sun on her back, even if no one is sitting there with her. We used to say that Annie wouldn’t do much without Missy by her side, but that’s not how we describe Annie anymore. She is fine being on her own.

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It’s only for a short while though, because of course her friend Missy will run out to play chase at full speed.

Missy chase Annie

Paper, it’s fun and practical!

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As JB mentioned in his blog post last month about power, mornings at the sanctuary can often be determined by the luck of the draw. Today I should have played the lottery because I was blessed with good weather, good moods, and good enrichment.

If you’re a long time reader of the blog you’ll be familiar with the concept of enrichment and how central it is to engaging the chimpanzees actively in their environment. If you’re new here I encourage you to explore to find older entries we’ve written about it, like this one. We try to provide new and engaging activities and items for the chimpanzees on a regular basis to help mitigate the boredom that can result from captivity. To that end, we have an enrichment calendar to schedule themes for creating the daily enrichment that the chimpanzees are given; it helps us stay creative.

Today’s theme was lots of paper, and yes, it’s been done before, but the reprise was just as good as the original, if you ask these chimpanzees. Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it, you can see it for yourself in the video below!