Rayne is an absolutely beautiful chimpanzee. However, if you have not noticed before, she also has dry skin on her forehead. I believe it is just genetic, as I know entire chimpanzee families at other sanctuaries that all have the same dry forehead. While I’m not sure if her dry forehead skin bothers Rayne, she does scratch it often. My main role at the sanctuary, apart from being a chimp caregiver, is to work on Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT) with the chimps. PRT allows the chimps to participate in their own medical care, which is really amazing.
Lately, I’ve been working on PRT with Rayne, so that she would allow us to apply coconut oil/mixed with Honeysuckle lotion to her forehead. We have decided to avoid sprays because it is so close to Rayne’s eyes, so instead, I use a paintbrush to brush on the moisturizer.
As you will see in the video, I presented Rayne with the gestural and verbal cue for “head”, which she then presents her forehead by leaning forward to the caging. As soon as Rayne presented her forehead, I used my clicker to bridge the behavior, this is a way to tell Rayne she is doing everything correctly. I then presented my paintbrush to Rayne and say “touch” so she knows what I intend on doing. While Rayne is still presenting her forehead to the caging, that allows me to use the paintbrush to apply moisturizer to her forehead. I know Rayne doesn’t like for the paintbrush strokes to be too long, so as soon as I touch her forehead with one swipe, I use my clicker to let her know that reinforcement is coming, which is a blueberry. Rayne and I do this probably 15 times together until her forehead is coated. We will continue to work on her allowing me to use the paintbrush for a longer duration. However, a win is a win. We just want Rayne to be comfortable and make sure her forehead skin does not bother her.
