Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
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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.
It’s only for a short while though, because of course her friend Missy will run out to play chase at full speed.
Because humans use verbal language to communicate, we often don’t notice all the subtle nonverbal cues we give off during interactions with others. Working directly with another species definitely makes you notice those cues, both in nonhuman animals and in humans. Sometimes if someone misinterprets what you are saying or doing, you have to almost exaggerate the opposite cues to make sure they don’t keep thinking you were purposely being mean.
An easy example is when dogs are playing, and if one dog starts to think things are becoming more aggressive, they may snarl and bark and seem somewhat threatening. If the other play partner wants to make sure things don’t get out of control, they will play bow really low to the ground, wag their tail with enthusiasm, and make sure their teeth are not bared. The opposite cues are standing tall, hair up, and teeth bared, and that is how they show aggression. The same can be said for chimps, as well. They have opposite cues for opposite circumstances. When trying to be aggressive, they stand up, swagger, pant hoot, and show all their top teeth to demonstrate how intimidating they are. Opposite behaviors are bowing down, showing a play face (hiding their top teeth), bobbing their head, laughing, and so on to show they are being playful.
Sometimes play can get kind of exciting, and there is a fine line between play and threat. The other day I was playing with Foxie and we were stomping and she was hitting the ceiling. Though she was definitely playing with me, Negra couldn’t see Foxie’s play face and misinterpreted her actions as a threat. Negra started to swagger and pant hoot and her hair was standing up a bit. Foxie quickly wanted to let Negra know she was not at all being aggressive and so she was extremely exaggerated in her play behaviors. She approached Negra with a low posture and really big play face, laugh, and playfully slapped the ground. Negra understood what was going on and began to chase Foxie across the loft and the catwalk of the playroom (at Neggie speed, of course) and I was able to catch the tail end of this play session. You can see how Foxie is continuing to use everything in her arsenal to make sure Negra knows she means to be playful.
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!
Sometimes it’s difficult to film the other chimps when Burrito is around.
Annie and Missy are quite well-known for their excited games of chase and wrestling throughout the chimp house. Negra, however, isn’t always the most likely play partner—and when she does play, she’s got her own speed (kinda slow). This time Negra was keeping up with the experts!
This video is a little longer than some of our others but I thought you wouldn’t want to miss a second of this fun play session. Thanks again to Patty W. for sponsoring today for us and for being Negra’s Pal!
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It’s another snowy day at the sanctuary and most of the chimpanzees have chosen to stay inside. Foxie and Burrito (read about their special friendship here) passed time in the playroom this morning with some low-key play.
One of the things I try to share whenever I write the blog is the unique experience of being here at the sanctuary. I am trying to capture and translate, as much as is possible with words, pictures, and video, the reality of being here now so that you might get the feeling of it. Today, as we were cleaning the greenhouse in the morning, I was inspired to try to capture the chimpanzees in the playroom from the vantage point of inside the greenhouse. Although it was a bit dark in there [this morning was cold, wet, and decidedly snowy] I was able to shoot a short video of Annie and Missy playing together in the loft. I love the sound of their play sessions, especially from above. If you were in the chimp house while this bout of play was going on you would hear the breathy-pants of chimpanzee laughter, the slaps of hands against each other and the floor, followed by the bounding stomping feet of chimpanzees in the midst of chase. I can not think of happier sounds than these!
Most of this video has no sound but turn up the volume at the end to see what fun it can be trying to film video when chimpanzees are involved. Enjoy!
