It may be a scorcher outside, but Missy is as cool as ever. She just has that “one of the cool people” vibe about her, don’t you think?
primate
Forages and Serving – Variety is the Spice of Life
Today I have for you a video of the chimpanzees enjoying food. Now, we all know that Burrito is pretty irresistible, especially when he’s excited about food (see exhibits A and B photos below):
But I think my favorite part of the video is Jamie’s look when she’s enjoying the last bit of smoothie from a dixie cup. See for yourself:
Missy in winter light
Today, the day after Christmas, was absolutely gorgeous! Clear skies and very little wind, which meant the chimpanzees got to spend some quality time on the hill. And a gorgeous day makes for beautiful photos of the chimpanzees.
Before taking a look at the photos below, be sure you’ve watched the video from yesterday’s holiday party. It’s our most shared video on Facebook, so you should probably check it out (and share it!) if you haven’t already.
I felt lucky to get these photos of Missy on one of my many walks around the hill today.
Missy was actually sitting still for a few minutes, seemingly taking it all in:
And, even more rare, she stood still for a few moments:
But just a few minutes – pretty soon she was off running, as per her usual pace:
It still thrills me to witness how much Missy enjoys running, and to know that she can now run as much as she wants.
Professional Photographers in the Making
Back in August, I posted some photos taken by winners of the photography experience at the sanctuary that was a popular item at our HOOT! gala. So popular, that we gave it away twice to the top two bidders. A few weeks ago, the second pair of bidders came to have their experience.
I’m very happy to say that a couple of their photos will be featured in our 2015 calendar! The calendar is done, I’m just (anxiously) awaiting a proof so I can list it for sale in our Zazzle store. If all is well with the proof, you’ll be able to buy the calendar starting Tuesday.
Big big thanks to Dean Rutz and Karen Ducey, the professional photographers who gave their time and lent equipment for this incredible experience!
It was very difficult to choose among the amazing photos, but below are a few of my personal favorites.
Jamie taken by Liz:
What a shot! Jamie seemingly flying, taken by Connie
Jody with a bountiful breakfast, taken by Connie:
This one of Connie’s I also really like because we don’t have many photos of Foxie and Negra together:
And here’s another one by Liz of Negra with “Negra light“:
Thanks Connie and Liz for bidding on the Photography experience and to Karen and Dean for making it happen and giving such great instruction to these professional photographers in the making!
This might be a good time to mention that we are in need of a hard drive for our chimp house computer. Our automatic back-ups stopped working, which means all of the photos taken in the last couple of weeks haven’t been backed up yet. I added a hard drive to our wishlist if there’s someone out there who would like to help us out! It’s on sale right now through Amazon Prime. Thanks for taking a look!
Grooming is so cool
We’ve talked about the importance of grooming among chimpanzees before, and it’s pretty well known what an essential aspect of life grooming is for most primates. Below is a video of very good friends Burrito and Foxie grooming, with Missy (off-camera), occasionally also grooming Burrito.
There’s a lot of cool things about grooming. In a comment on a post back in 2009, I mentioned some of the following:
The basics: aside from the social aspects, grooming is the removal of dirt and debris and the tending to wounds (licking and picking scabs). It’s why chimpanzees don’t need baths – they do a really good job of cleaning themselves and each other – no water necessary.
The debris found on the grooming partner is not necessarily consumed, even though the lips are usually involved in grooming because chimpanzees use their prehensile lips, almost like another set of fingers, for many activities like inspecting objects, turning the pages of a magazine (in captivity), and especially in grooming.
Increased grooming often occurs after a conflict to reassure and/or “make up” with one another and to cement social bonds. Grooming has a calming affect, which is easy to see when you observe chimpanzees grooming one another. A study of wild chimpanzees that used non-invasive methods to collect urine samples after grooming bouts found that oxytocin (sometimes referred to as “the love hormone”) levels were higher in bonded grooming partners than in samples collected of chimpanzees who had not been grooming or had been grooming with a “non-bond partner.”
Regarding lip movements during grooming: it is common for chimpanzees, as well as other primates, to “lip smack” or “teeth clack” or make other “sympathetic mouth movements” when grooming (also when performing other fine motor behaviors – like many of us who move our tongue a certain way when we’re really concentrating on a task).
Each chimpanzee does his/her own thing, Burrito is a lip smacker (he may teeth clack on occasion too), Foxie is a teeth clacker, and Annie makes raspberry sounds with her lips. The intensity of the mouth movement/noise will increase if something (especially a wound or scab) is found during grooming.
Some scientists have hypothesized that these sympathetic mouth movements were an evolutionary step towards spoken language. Our friend Gabriel Waters and [former] Central WA University professor Dr. Fouts published a study on this theory a few years back: http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1349990, and there was a book with this premise called Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language, which I admittedly still need to read, that argued that gossip for humans is what grooming is for chimpanzees and other non-human primates.
So, with all that information, here’s the video of Burrito and Foxie strengthening their friendship through grooming today:
Negra Light and Bonus Play Video!
*Note – due to feedback on Facebook this post is basically a two-for-one. Photos AND video of Negra on the hill AND a bonus treat -a video of Jamie and Foxie playing. Just a fraction of the great things that happened at the sanctuary today.
Please let me know which was your favorite part of this post in the comments below and on our Facebook page, and share your favorite photo and video on your own Facebook, Twitter, Ello (are you on that?), etc. page or email a link to the blog to your friends. Spread the chimps’ joy!
We’ve had rain for the last few days, which was a nice change. Today, however, was back to sun, but with a definite autumn feel. There’s that bit of crispness in the air and the ambient light seems to have suddenly changed overnight with the sun lower instead of directly overhead. I might just start referring to this light as “Negra light” because it made for some beautiful photos of the Queen this morning.
The change back to sunshine prompted us to set up a breakfast forage on the hill. Negra doesn’t always join foraging on the 2-acres, but I made sure to make a pathway of lettuce to encourage her to come out. To our surprise, Negra not only ventured onto Young’s Hill, but spent quite a bit of time foraging, and was the last one back in. Not only that, but she demanded that Debbie serve her two cups of smoothie, which she often is not interested in – perhaps the workout of foraging on the hill made her a bit more hungry.
In any case, please enjoy the (many) “Negra light” photos and the video below, don’t forget to watch the Foxie and Jamie wrestling video at the end of the post and let me know what your favorite part of today’s post was (one of the videos, a particular photo, the eclectic content…?).
Thanks for reading and learning more about the family at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest! Your support and donations make all the difference!
“Negra Light”!
And here’s the bonus video, which doesn’t need much explanation. What a happy pair!
More Love
TODAY is the last day to Share the Chimp Love! Thanks to you, we’ve raised $11,546 in February (and I’m $152 ahead of J.B.). The donation deadline is midnight tonight. It would be so nice to end things with an even $12,000. What do you think? Here are some more photos of love for inspiration:
