Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Willy B

Rayne Joins the Men

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J.B. explained our reintroduction experiment last week, and I thought I would do a follow up today since we moved on to the next step.

As a duo over the last week, Cy and Willy B did not interact a whole lot, which is not shocking since they are both somewhat aloof. What we were waiting for was a day when they did three things: played, groomed for at least ten minutes, and used a new social enrichment puzzle.

Throughout the week, we were monitoring pretty closely, often using the security cameras, for signs of who took the lead. It was clearly Cy, with Willy B deferring to him throughout the week. It has been a lot quieter this past week without Willy B getting everyone going in the afternoons. It’s possible he will still be inclined to do this as the group gets bigger. He did make some attempts throughout the week, but because he was separated from the larger group, they did not have the same level of anxiety or feel the need to respond in the same way that intensified the situation and ended up in conflict.

This morning, I watched on the cameras as Willy B displayed toward the other group, and then I watched as Cy took over the display, with Willy B retreating. This seemed to serve to remind everyone that he outranks Willy B. It’s nice to see Cy express confidence in this way, and we hope he keeps it up as we add more chimps.

Rayne is the second chimpanzee to add because she is the highest ranking female in the group and therefore supports Cy in his leadership role. She also has been able to develop a positive relationship with Willy B and generally isn’t as intimidated by him as some of the lower ranking females in the group. So, the idea is that Willy B will continue to develop his relationships with Cy and Rayne and understand, without having the back-up of Mave and Honey B, that he is definitely subordinate to Cy, and, in fact, that’s really the best place for him and for the group.

Speaking of… we have created some fun groups for the friendship bracelets that we have in the Comfort and Joy online auction! These bracelets were made by two young ladies – Holly and Juliet – who came along with their parents on a vacation to Cle Elum while their veterinarian mom, Dr. Kathleen Olson, filled in for Dr. Erin while Erin was away a few weeks ago. They (the bracelets and the whole Olson family) are so sweet! Check them out, and be sure to check the auction every day, as we’ll be adding more items!

When I was closing up, I spied Honey B who had tucked herself into her nest, the epitome of comfort:

 

Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself

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The integration of Cy’s group and Willy B’s group in the spring of 2022 resulted in countless benefits to members of each: Willy B finally got to groom with the boys, Mave and Dora became instant and inseparable best friends, Honey B discovered the joys of morning mall-walking with her girl gang, and everyone found new opportunities for comradery and companionship in a larger social group. But it hasn’t been without its challenges.

Or should I say, without one particular challenge:

OK, it’s probably not fair to place all of the group’s instability at the feet of our friend, Willy B, but it’s not too far off. Willy B is a large, dominant chimp with little in the way of social skills. He’s well-tolerated if not always appreciated by the group’s alpha, Cy, and shown proper deference by the lower ranking males. The girls, especially Rayne, go out of their way to accommodate his occasionally idiosyncratic social behavior. He has playmates, grooming partners, and allies. In other words, he’s found a place in a real social group. And most of the time, things are great.

Except when they’re not. That is, when he’s compelled to cause chaos.

Here’s a typical scenario: It’s mid-afternoon and while most of the gang are resting and grooming in the Greenhouse, Willy B is napping by himself in the Front Rooms. He gets up and, as if checking his watch and realizing he is late for his 3:30 appointment, tracks down Terry and begins directing mild but persistent threats his way. Nothing serious, mind you—a pant hoot here, a thump on the glass there—but he knows it will get a reaction out of Terry. This continues until Terry or someone else in the group has had enough of the drama and chases after Willy. And this is when another socially inexperienced chimp would learn his lesson—in the chimp world, there’s nothing like a good pummeling to help you realize that you crossed a line. But instead, it’s where the small but fearless Honey B jumps in the protect her old buddy. And before long, Willy is standing back, watching other chimps screaming and chasing each other around and planning for his next chaos appointment. Which is always coming up shortly.

The precise timing of Willy’s provocations shifts here and there but the overall pattern is unchanging and resistant to any and all distractions. To be clear, Willy hasn’t really hurt anyone (if anyone gets hurt, it’s typically not by him) and the level of serious wounding in this group is pretty normal. But it’s more stress than we’d like to see and, just as importantly, a lot of missed opportunities for play, resting, and grooming without any real trend toward resolution.

After consulting with trusted colleagues, we decided to try a “reintroduction.” As the name implies, a reintroduction involves pulling the group apart and putting them back together again, but in a way that aims to elucidate and then reinforce the hierarchy and to allow bonds to form which may not have had the chance to form during or subsequent to the first introduction. Compared with other potential avenues, such as sub-grouping or moving chimps to another group, reintroduction is a relatively easy and low-risk strategy to mitigate group instability.

We began yesterday by pulling Cy and Willy B from the group and having them live together apart from the remaining seven. During this time, we’re watching for indications of dominance, such as priority access to food and physical displacement, as well as affiliative behaviors like play and grooming. Based on the outcome of this initial dyad, we’ll begin building the group back up. But instead of focusing on ensuring that everyone has allies to protect them from their new, unfamiliar group mates, which is a significant concern during initial intros, we focus on making sure that each individual is forming bonds in a way that conforms to and shows an understanding of the hierarchy. New members are added only after the reintroduction group has met certain benchmarks towards this goal.

In case you are wondering, Cy and Willy have been getting along great. And Cy is still the clear and undisputed alpha, as evidenced just now by his ability to take food right out of Willy’s hand without protest. While we didn’t expect anything different, we all breathed a sigh of relief. We need an adult in charge.

Chimps Chimp

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I thought that today I’d talk about the chimps’ human vs. non-human relationships and their personal preferences. Avid blog followers often hear us use the phrase “chimps chimp.” We use this phrase to explain a chimp like Missy. For example, though Missy does have human relationships, she seems to prefer to be surrounded by her chimpanzee friends (which we love). While other chimps, like Burrito, specifically seek out their caregivers for many interactions.

It is important to acknowledge that every chimp has a different background. While some of the chimps were raised in labs, others started their lives as pets. Those like Jamie and Burrito, who were owned by humans, tend to be more human-oriented. Despite this, we always want to encourage the chimp’s relationships first. For example, if we walk out to a greenhouse and see all the chimps grooming, we will walk away and come back another time, so we don’t disturb the grooming session.  Again, there are a lot of different factors that go into why chimps choose who they want for their company. The special thing about sanctuary is that the chimps are provided with as much choice as we can possibly provide, and choosing who they want to spend time with is one of them!

Jamie:

I think it will come as no surprise that Jamie is more human-oriented. Jamie does have close relationships with her group-mates, especially Burrito, but she is often looking for a caregiver to go on a perimeter walk with.

Missy:

Missy, like I have mentioned before, is more of a chimps-chimp. Missy is the closest to Annie, but she does seem to have strong relationships with everyone in the group. Missy does seek out caregivers every once in a while for a game of chase or tug-a-war, even some grooming! When Missy does seek you out for any interaction, it feels like a huge honor that you drop everything for!

Annie:

Annie leans a bit more chimp oriented. Annie’s closest friend is Missy. However, Annie will seek out caregivers sometimes, especially when she has a tool and groom her caregivers toes!

Foxie:

Foxie is a little of both. Foxie does spend a lot of time with her chimp friends, especially Burrito. However, Foxie does really enjoy playing with her caregivers! It usually involves entrusting her caregivers with a doll. As well as us holding an doll, throwing a dolling, or playing troll-ski!

Burrito:

Burrito might be pretty obvious. He is very human-oriented, play all day! Burrito is always looking for a caregiver to play with, especially to run around Young’s Hill with. However, Burrito does have good relationships with his group members and can even get the most serious chimps like Jamie to let out her silly side.

Negra:

Negra is hard to describe. I can’t say she sways one way or the other. She is well respected in her group and has strong relationships with all the chimps, but everything is on her terms and that goes for humans too. She will interact with who she wants when she wants. When she does decide to play with her chimp friends she is rougher than people would expect!

Mave:

Mave would be described as a chimps-chimp. She has always been very invested in her chimp relationships. Mave was a magnet to Dora and it has been that way ever since we integrated the two groups. Mave is still loyal to her friends Honey B and Willy B, but she spends a lot of time on her relationship with Dora. This year in particular I do find Mave seeking a rare game of chase with her caregivers, grooming, or giving more kisses out. So maybe we are growing on her :).

Honey B:

Honey B can be described as leaning towards more human-oriented. However, as her relationships grow in the group of nine, it seems like Honey B does seek out her chimp friends more, which is huge! As a caregiver, that is the hope to provide more social enrichment! However, Honey B also seems to like her alone time, which I can’t blame her for.

Willy B:

Willy B is definitely a chimps-chimp. Though he can be a troublemaker and start drama in the group, Willy B does seem to value his male relationships, especially Cy. Willy B also loves his friend Rayne, who seems to really get him.

Cy:

Cy is interesting because I think he wants to be more human-oriented, but is duty bound in his role as the male leader. Cy is well respected in this group and is seen in a lot of the grooming trains in the greenhouses. Cy really does love seeking out his human caregivers for a game of chase or grooming. Terry might be Cy closest chimp friend.

Gordo:

Gordo is another interesting one! I don’t think we consider Gordo either one. He is more peripheral – watching from the background. Gordo does likes to go out onto the Bray and watch the girls on Jamie’s side. Gordo is usually seen spending time with Dora, Mave, and Terry.

Rayne:

Rayne is a chimps chimp, she is very socially savvy! Rayne has a lot of strong relationships with everyone in her group. However, she does like to spend time with her caregivers grooming or sporadically playing chase.

Lucky:

Lucky seems to be more human-oriented, but with specific humans. She is slow to warm up to most new people. Lucky is known to put new caregivers through a hazing period. She is probably closest to Rayne, but also likes to have a little alone time.

Terry:

Terry seems to be a chimps-chimp, but loooooooves his human caregivers! Terry, like Cy, is often in the grooming trains throughout the day. Terry spends lots of time with all the girls. He is one of the girls 🙂

Dora:

Dora shocked us all! Dora is a chimps-chimp. Dora is now a social butterfly. Everyone wants to spend time with her. She spends a lot of her time with Mave, Honey B, and Gordo who she was closest to when she first arrived. When Dora first came to CSNW, she seemed to be a bit more closed off, but has really seemed to flourish in the group of nine.

Adaptability and Resilience

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I don’t think it’s possible to work with chimpanzees and not think about their remarkable adaptability and resilience. Tragically, their ability to adapt is why some chimpanzees have been able to survive in some of the worse conditions imaginable, for years on end.

Sanctuaries are often the first opportunity for some chimpanzees, depending on their past circumstances, to do dozens, if not hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of new things. Walking on grass, climbing, brachiating, foraging for wild plants, or even living in a group, can be new experiences.

It can take time to break beyond the life that they have adapted to – that they’ve been forced to live.

Chimp Crazy has made me think about this too. I wrote last week about the HBO documentary series and my questions about the general public’s perception regarding chimpanzees. I appreciate everyone who commented so thoughtfully (and also all who donated during Giving Day for Apes!)

Chimp Crazy has caused me to ruminate on so many issues. I talked a little about this in a recent interview on KOMO TV in Seattle, along with local photographer who we’ve partnered with – Alex Bogaard.

The main human subject of Chimp Crazy, Tonia Haddix, and other chimpanzee owners interviewed on the documentary, have only seen chimpanzees in the context of being pets or entertainers. People who own primates as pets have witnessed these primates adapt, to the extent that they can, to living in a their homes and performing tricks.

What they don’t see are the hundreds of things missing from that primate’s life. They don’t see or perhaps don’t care that they have forced their pet primate, a wild animal, to fit into an entirely different culture and environment from the environment and culture they evolved to experience in order to have a full life.

A couple of days ago, the Primate Awareness Network at Central Washington University hosted a talk by Dr. Andrew Halloran about his work with both captive and wild populations of chimpanzees. The topic of his talk was resilience. He shared stories of the incredible resilience of chimpanzees he has studied as part of the Tonkolili Chimpanzee Project in Sierra Leone who have adapted to live in fragmented forests after their original expansive habitats were destroyed in order to create large areas of farmland for crop exportation to other countries. And he spoke about the resilience of chimpanzees in captivity who he has worked for in zoo and sanctuary settings.

I was thinking today about the difference between adaptability and resilience and how they interact. It’s not always a good thing to be able to adapt to a bad situation. I’m sure everyone can think of examples from their own lives where you found that you had adapted to circumstances that did not serve you well. If you’ve become accustomed to one way of living, even if that way of living is detrimental to your physical or psychological well being, it can be incredibly difficult to take a leap when presented with new and better choices. We’re not so different than other primates in this way. We can experience resistance and fear of the unknown. And that’s where resilience comes into play.

Adaptability is what enabled Willy B to live in a laboratory for the first five years of his life. Resilience is what allowed him to climb the crow’s nests in his two acre enclosure last week for the first time. Sometimes primates need a nudge to discover their own resilience, like a plum in a location you’ve never climbed before.

King of the Crow’s Nests

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Willy B decided he would try a few new things today.

He began by climbing to the top of Ryan’s Lookout. I was impressed just to see him do that much and thought he might have called it quits after that, since it took him several minutes and multiple attempts to figure out how to get back down. We have a backup plan for almost any situation imaginable but getting a chimp who is afraid of heights down from a climbing structure would not be easy.

But he was undeterred by that experience, or maybe even invigorated by it. He then set his sights on a crow’s nest.

Who is this guy? And he wasn’t content to climb just one crow’s nest. As soon as he awkwardly climbed down from the first, he headed straight to another one.

He spent quite a while up there, taking in the view and even watching intently as volunteer Carrie drove down the long driveway and off into town.

Getting down from the second crow’s nest was a bit quicker but no more graceful than from the first.

Willy B’s old buddies, Honey B and Mave, were outside keeping an eye on him during his many adventures. One of Honey B’s new favorite places is the Escher climbing structure, which is about halfway up the hill. It still surprises me to see her out there. She has a touch of light sensitivity and can often be seen shielding her eyes when outside in the bright sun. Either that or she’s trying to conceal her identity.

Mave waited patiently at the end of the boardwalk.

While Willy’s conquering of the crow’s nests may have been the biggest news of the afternoon, it was something more subtle that really caught my attention when he returned.

Mave was waiting to greet him at the bottom of the hill.

After bouncing and pant-grunting, Mave walked with Willy B back to the chute to be with the rest of the group.

And neither utilized the boardwalk.

This is a guy that couldn’t let his tender little toes touch grass even when his favorite foods were just a few steps away.

It’s a good reminder that progress in sanctuary work is often measured in years, even decades.

Don’t forget about Giving Day for Apes! We are hoping to compete for the most dollars raised for a North American sanctuary during the “Power Hour” of 10 – 11 a.m. PT / 1 – 2 p.m. ET tomorrow. Please consider making a donation to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest at that time!

Let’s Do a Perimeter Check!

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One of the first things we caregivers do each morning is to perform a perimeter check.  We check the all important rattlesnake fencing for holes.  Next, we check the primary and secondary fencing that surrounds the chimps 4 acre habitat to be sure that it has remained sound through the night.  We also make sure everyone onsite has performed a radio check, we check locks, and we make sure the fence voltage is within an acceptable range.

Next, we let the chimps out onto their respective outdoor habitats!  Young’s Hill is home to Jamie’s group, and Cy’s group has access to The Bray.  It’s fun to see who is first to go outside each morning!

Come along with us!