Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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tool use

Jamie – a Complicated Chimpanzee

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I love Jamie. I love how smart and inquisitive she is. I love that sometimes she gets a glint in her eye and I just have to wonder what exactly she’s up to. I love that she likes to use tools, even to groom her caregivers or hunt snakes. I love that she makes quiet moaning sounds when she is doing something she really enjoys (here’s a really old video that demonstrates that). I love how she watches us not-so-clever humans set out food puzzles or after dinner treats, and as soon as we open the door to let the chimps in, she approaches the task like a well-rehearsed football play, usually getting the most treats while the other chimps randomly move through the area looking for goodies. I love that she sometimes chooses the complicated course of action. Like today – instead of mundanely walking across the playroom, she climbed up on the white industrial food container and used the caging of the windows and doors to pull herself around the perimeter of the room.

jamie on white barrel pulling

jamie on white barrel

 

I love her intense love of boots. On Wednesday, I gave a presentation about the chimps to the Rotary Club of Yakima Sunrise. I dressed up more than I normally do and wore some boots that I don’t wear very often. When I returned home, I thought I should go up and see Jamie to show her my boots. She was thrilled. Even though I was wearing pants that covered them up, as soon as I walked in the building Jamie ran down the stairs to get a closer look. I pulled up my pant leg to show her the whole boot and she ran to the greenhouse, and then she ran onto Young’s Hill, even though it was pretty chilly outside. I ran all the way around Young’s Hill twice, with her cheating a little bit on her side by bypassing the top of the hill, but meeting me at the bottom again. And she closely inspected the boots when I was back in the human area of the greenhouse.

Jamie inspecting diana's boot

In yesterday’s blog post, J.B. revealed that Jamie knows a thing or two about throwing poop. And we’ve mentioned in the past about how Jamie is a pretty insecure leader.

I told J.B. today that I was thinking about writing a post about how complicated Jamie is, and he said, “do you mean moody?” I said, yes, but I was going to call it complicated.

Even though it’s not fun to have poop thrown at me, I do love that I never quite know what to expect from Jamie. She might be in a goofy stand on her head mood, or a play all day with Foxie mood, or a no one else is allowed to play mood, or an artistic mood, or a destroy something mood, or a cunning tool-using mood, or a grumpy put you in your place poop throwing mood (sorry, no previous blog post to link to for that one).

She’s not one-dimensional, that’s for sure.

jamie sepia

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Another Quiet Day

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Today, Burrito was checking out his reflection in a plastic mirror.

Foxie enjoyed some bottled water (we’re still waiting on tests of our well water since it was contaminated during the fire).

Missy and Annie spent some time grooming. Missy likes to groom herself with a tool – in this case she ripped a splinter from a log. If you look closely you can even see some dandruff falling.

Annie likes to pick Missy’s nose. Missy tolerates it but doesn’t seem to enjoy it. I don’t blame her – Annie doesn’t bite her nails down like the other chimps do.

 

Copycat

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Jamie loves to take part in the human activities at the sanctuary. When we do our closing rounds at night, Jamie insists on having her own pen and clipboard so she can take part. When we clean, Jamie will often begin to scrub a part of her enclosure. And when I am building or repairing something, Jamie will sometimes use her plastic tools to make some repairs of her own.

Yesterday, we began collecting samples for routine fecal exams. Jamie watched intently as I scooped up a sample in a special container. I could tell that she wanted to participate, but I couldn’t spare one of the special containers, so I gave her a tongue depressor on my way out the door. Later that day, when Jackie went in to spot clean the enclosure, she found that Jamie had used the tongue depressor to collect her own stool samples…into the head of a troll doll.

I often hear people say that a certain chimpanzee behavior is not a sign of intelligence because they are simply mimicking human behavior. But I’ve noticed that the chimpanzees that mimic human behavior the most are often the best problem solvers and tool users as well. This makes sense when you think about it. Children spend years mimicking the behavior of adults without understanding their goals or intent, but in doing so they gain valuable skills and learn patterns of behavior that will be important to them later in life.

Jamie is certainly capable of solving problems through a flash of insight. Sometimes you can almost see the wheels turning in her head while she runs through the possible solutions to her problem. But those possible solutions are only available to her because she spends so much time observing and mimicking the behavior of humans and other chimpanzees.

So I think that copying should be given the respect it deserves. We’ll see if the laboratory feels the same way when they receive their next stool sample in the head of a troll doll.

 

Burrito, the tool user

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Here at the sanctuary, we are constantly trying to find ways to encourage species-typical behaviors. Tool use is a great example. Presenting the chimps with a challenge that encourages problem solving keeps the chimps busy and entertained, which is so important in a captive environment.

Unlike Jamie, Burrito isn’t much of a tool user. J.B. said it perfectly in this post from last year- it’s not that he’s not intelligent enough, he just seems to lack the patience to use tools, especially when he can just ask for help from a caregiver.

However, the addition of the puzzles in the evenings to our daily routine has changed things a bit, and Burrito has been sharpening his skills. The fact that the puzzles are set up at the end of the day just before the caregivers leave, means that he can’t exactly ask for our help in some cases, so he’s becoming more and more willing to give it a try. There’s nothing like food to motivate Burrito!

Chimps using tools

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Chimpanzees naturally use tools in free-living Africa. One common example of tool use is “ant fishing” or “termite fishing” — when a chimpanzee takes a stick and dips it into an ant or termite mound to gather up some tasty insects. At CSNW, we have a simulated termite board which we fill with things captive chimpanzees enjoy, such as fruit puree or peanut butter.

As part of our sanctuary philosophy, we strive to allow for “species specific” chimpanzee behavior. This can involve providing adequate space and climbing structures for a natural behavior like brachiation, and it can also include providing enrichment that allows them to use their instinctual chimp behaviors, such as nesting or tool use.

The other day, Jackie and I presented the chimpanzees with a puzzle: how to get drinks from buckets outside the caging. They quickly grabbed hoses to use for tools, as you’ll see in the video.