Jamie's approval, and PAPER DAY!

Oh my goodness, 

SO SORRY for falling off the wagon there, life got a little ahead of me there for a week and I am just now catching up! I've been trying to step away from the computer more as the weather gets better and I am able to spend more time in the garden, and for a second I forgot I had this wonderful blog! Shame on me as a 22 year old forgetting to write about MY adventures. lolz. 

Saying that nothing of note happened at the sanctuary is like saying "yeah I went to Paris the other day but I didn't do anything cool." What I mean to say is that SO MANY THINGS happened yesterday during my shift, but things that probably most of you won't think are really cool or noteworthy. TOO BAD you have to read about them anyway huh. 

Lets talk about Jamie for a hot second (blarg, I'm literally becoming my best friend.) 

 

 ugh, she is so freaking BEAUTIFUL. (photo by CSNW)

Anyway, if you've been reading this long, you will have already read that Jamie is the alpha of the group, the leader, and all of the humans at the sanctuary will agree she is the boss.  Before you serve lunch, before you play with another chimp you just ask Jamie if that's okay. (and trust me, she will let you know if it's not) 

The small interactions I have with Jamie are some of my favorites, because to me its like getting approval from el presidente. She is the big boss and if she doesn't throw poop at me, I am literally the most giddy person. Jamie loves boots and sometimes socks, so when I'm at the sanctuary I try to always wear different bright socks or different boots for her to look at. Normally Jamie ignores me completely (another reason her giving me any attention makes me feel like a puppy at the park) because I am not serving her food yet or able to interact with her she doesn't really know that I'm even there, unless I'm doing something wrong. On monday, I was doing laundry standing in the door way between the kitchen and the chimp house and she walked to the gate and started nodding at me. (This is a good sign, normally when we enter the chimp house and the chimps are looking at us we head nod as a sign of friendship, and we aren't here to cause trouble) So her doing that alone was awesome. I head nodded back and said a quiet hello and continued doing laundry. Moments later she bangs on the caging, sticks her two fingers through and shakes them, pointing at my boots. This is her way of asking to see them. I stick my leg out and show her my boots along with my brings flowery tights and head nod to her, to which she responds with a head nod and goes about her business. To me, this was James saying, "okay, your boots are pretty cool. You can stay." Which, makes me disgustingly happy. 

She also let me walk around the hill with her, which is a pretty big deal. She likes to walk the sides and run across the top, and I can almost hear her yelling at Missy who sprints by her "PUHLEASE we are NOT running until I say we are running." 

Mondays enrichment was "lots of paper" so we used rolls of butcher paper to cover the greenhouse and playroom. My favorite part of lots of paper is when the chimps use it and blankets to create a super nest. All of the noise of the rumbling paper is wonderful.

Above: Here is Missy and Annie playing and chasing each other around the playroom. 

Below: Jamie inspecting the paper and looking for some snacks! 

On another note, if you have any boots, old clothes or blankets you are trying to get rid of, please let me know! The chimps could always use new enrichment. I would be more than happy to take it off your hands and give it to the lovely chimps! 

Thank you to those who send kind email questions and things, I'll respond to some soon! That is all for now, soon an update on the amazing books I am reading and my adventures in grant writing, and laying groundwork for opening my first chimpanzee sanctuary. 

meowmeow

-B. 

Reassurance.

Reassurance is so interesting. I think, anyway. We can be so solid in our opinions up to 99% but sometimes just need someone to reassure us that we are correct, or are doing the right thing to actually believe it ourselves. Up until recently, I thought that this kind of emotion and anxiety was a homo sapien sapien attribute, specific to only us. At the sanctuary on Monday, I got a first hand lesson in chimp reassurance.

Although the sanctuary is not for studying the chimps, or for me to use the 7 as a basis for any of my theses; I do learn more there in a day than I ever think I could. The dynamics of these particular chimps are so different, each personality is so unique and I love nothing more than just observing their meals because watching them interact is amazing. I never go to the sanctuary with an idea of what will happen, because just like humans, the chimps choose what to do based on what's happening around them. They are in one area yes, but they hardly do the same exact thing every day. 

Everyone always seems to be so shocked that I drive to the sanctuary every week, because its in Cle Elum. Honestly, the drive is sometimes I little difficult (mostly because I think I have an untreated case of restless leg syndrome and the only radio stations that come in over there are country) But really, I would drive anywhere to work with those 7 chimps. I think that's a common feeling when you find your dream job. When you don't care where it is, or how long it takes to get there.  It's pretty beautiful. I like watching the sun come up over the mountains and getting to the sanctuary and watching the chimps gaze out the windows along side me. I like to think we are both admiring the beauty of the sunshine on the hills in Cle Elum.

ANYWAY, back to reassurance. 

In this particular group of chimps (and in many other chimps) the motion of poking, with one finger quickly in a chimps direction, is considered a threat. a) its a fast motion and chimps don't particularly like to be startled, much like us. and b) I think it has something to do with being in cages during their lifetime, constantly being poked and prodded is probably the most annoying thing. Probably like when babies become toddlers and get tired of adults calling us cute and pinching our cheeks. We reach and age where we get tired of it and finally say "OKAY STOP I'M A BIG GIRL NOW" or in my case, bite sometimes finger when they stick it in my face. whoops. 

So at the sanctuary, Lisa was serving the chimps lunch and one of the bags of chow got stuck in the caging, so she poked the bag through to pass it to Foxie. Jody was sitting right next to Foxie, saw Lisa poke the bag and immediately threatened Lisa, in this case with a vocalization to let her know that Lisa did something she didn't like. Normally, if a chimp threatens by vocalizing, the rest of the group will immediately respond with a vocalization and run to the chimp who started the calls and respond in whichever way is appropriate. After Jody vocalized, Jamie who was also sitting close, and is the alpha of the group, quickly grabbed Jody's face and pant-breathed on her nose, which is a gesture that says "hey, its cool don't panic she didn't mean to poke" Jamie was able to reassure Jody that everything was okay before the other chimps could respond with vocalizations. Jody immediately calmed down again and eating was resumed. 

This is a picture from Chimpanzee Santuary Northwest, from January of this year. Negra is open mouth kissing Jamie, which Jamie is allowing because she is giving reassurance. I have yet to find out the order of who gives the assurance first or who asks, sometimes Jamie gives reassurance without being asked, and sometimes the chimps ask Jamie. 

Open mouthed kissing and panting is a common way to reassure. 

Also at the sanctuary on monday, Missy gave reassurance to Jamie. Also at meal time, Missy and Jamie were sitting next to each other eating, and Missy moved quickly away to go inside, look for food, etc. Jamie snapped her head around so fast, hair standing on end about ready to vocalize and threaten Missy, probably for moving too quickly. Missy quickly offered her hand to Jamie's mouth, as if to say "woah hey sorry, didn't meant to scare you." Jamie accepted and Missy moved slowly away to inside. 

As far as I've seen reassurance happens most with Jamie, probably because she is the alpha of the group and everything needs to be run through her. Before eating foods, most chimps look to Jamie for reassurance so Jamie can okay them eating the food. Not asking for reassurance can lead to major disputes and fights in the group.

So, that's what happened on Monday. Lots of reassurance.Also, here is Burrito, the only male, looking out of the greenhouse.

Until next time! 

-B.

Infanticide in Primates AND TINA FEY of course.

Heavy topic right? Infanticide? Well, as odd as it sounds I'm super interested in it. 
And then everyone is like : 

Anyway, in searching for a thesis for undergrad and my masters, I am leaning towards primate parenting and how that relates to homo sapien sapien. Think about it, tool use has been done and done again, language use in the PNW has been pretty much exhausted and in a world where you are living up to Jane Goodall and Roger Fouts as your two biggest hero's, you have to do something that is different. So, in my quest for something that was different and something that I could stand behind and work with for the next many moons of my life, I somehow ended up on parenting. If you haven't, you should watch the movie "Chimpanzee."

It's a documentary about an small chimp named Oscar, who's mother is killed after a skirmish with a nearby group of chimps and is adopted by an unlikely elder, the alpha of the group Freddy. This may sound like nothing special to most people, but in the chimp world this is a rarity. Males are typically never parents. They are in charge of defending their territory which is usually a 24hour job, which means that they don't really play or spend time with any of the youngsters in a group. If an infant is left as a orphan, normally another mother in the group will take on the infant as her own, or in some cases the small chimp will be left to fend for itself, which usually results in death. In this movie, Freddy takes Oscar under his wing, helping him eat, letting him share his nest at night and letting him ride on his back, which is truly a feat in alpha male chimps. I sincerely hope you watch it. I spend most of the movie sobbing because it was so beautiful. 
JUDGE ME I DARE YOU.

After seeing this, I dove headfirst into the primate parenting world. The way families work within primates, specifically chimps is so interesting. So used to having a mother and a father do equal parenting, I love watching infant chimps with just their mothers and siblings. The birthing process is also so interesting. The way a female chimp separates from a group, has the baby and comes back with a newborn, bright and shiny pink chimp for the group to meet is so ridiculously beautiful. Often times when there are older siblings involved, they want to practice their mothering abilities on the newborn by carrying it around and playing with it. Many mothers hate this, but sooner or later when the infant is big enough, and annoying enough, this form of babysitting is often appreciated. 

Infanticide, or the intentional killing of a newborn/young infant is seen a lot in gorilla communities and orangutan communities, and few cases have been recorded in chimps. In most cases, the female that has had the infant loses her place in the hierarchy when she gives birth. When you have a newborn infant to take care of, the alpha males are focusing on female chimps who have reached sexual maturity and who are cycling. (which you can usually tell by a swollen pink butt) In Gorillas mothers have been known to leave their young babies behind, if they realize they are losing their spot in the group. In In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall the alpha female was Flo, and even though she had many kids, she never lost her ranking in the group until many years later, so there are some exceptions to the rule.

Here is Flo, her recognizable features included her large ears and her bulbous nose, which was speculated to be from some sort of fungal infection. 

So, from the standpoint of keeping your spot in the ranking of your group, I can see why infanticide would be a good option. Losing ranking is a big deal in all primate communities. So my question is, why is it more common in Gorillas and orangutans? Is there something in the evolutionary line that leaves gorillas and orangutans more likely to commit infanticide? Are hierarchy systems less important to chimps, so they wouldn't use infanticide as an option?  Are some primates who are more aggressive and trouble makers of the group more likely to kill their infant? What do repeat offenders have in common with each other? What are the specific differences between infanticide and a bushmeat killing?

These are the things that keep me up at night people. The struggle is real. Although my ultimate goal is to open sanctuaries for orphaned infants, chimps that have been in cages their whole life and the like, parenting in primates is an area I would also like to study. It's hard to narrow down one thing to study when you love the whole so much. 

In other news: 

-planning a wedding is hard, help. 

- theatre at night + early morning work= becky needs a 4 hour nap mid-day. 

-all I want is sunshine, amarula and to be back at Mahale. (a national park in Tanzania where most Japanese primate researchers conduct their research)

Back to the sanctuary on monday, so look for a new post with some more interactions with me and the chimps soon!

HUG/LOVE (signing to computer)

-b