Jamie on: Hair

The saying "you learn something new everyday" seems to be ringing true for me a lot lately. As an anthropologist, I love when my norms are questioned and turned upside down. Discovering new ways to look at things is really mind blowing, when you think about it. Humans hate being questioned, as a general observation, it seems yet we re-invent ourselves almost every day. Every year for sure, as we lay out our resolutions. We have completely different goals than the last year, and are in such different places than we were the year before. ITS SO WEIRD that we crave to re-invent ourselves and change our minds yet when others notice and question it, we become so defensive . WEIRD WEIRD. 

WELL THERE GOES THAT TANGENT. 

anyway, moving along in my level 3 training I'm getting to know each of the chimps on a more personal level and it's so exciting every shift I'm there. Missy and Annie are slowly warming up to me as a friend and it makes me so happy as they are usually the last two (besides Negra) who choose to interact with a human. On monday, Missy even played a little tug of war with me, which was exciting. Her play face is in fact, not a play face at all. Elizabeth said "She's very serious about this game." No chimp laughs, no chimp smile, just one objective: Winning. (Which she did. She kicked my ass at tug of war and I'm not even a little ashamed to admit it. Missy is small, but so gosh darn strong.) 

I spent my 23rd birthday at the chimp house last week and I was so thankful to be with my favorite primates (human and non-human) in Washington.  (please view the blog post from CSNW here: 
http://www.chimpsanctuarynw.org/blog/2014/08/happy-birthday-becca/  ) *also, a very VERY heartfelt thank you to my amazing fiancee for getting me exactly what I wanted, a Tanzania dora doll, the Brady Bunch movie set, a book I've been dying to read and a wonderful day with the Cle Elum 7. * 

In honor of my birthday I decided to finally give Jamie the pair of cowboy boots I was saving for her. I bought these boots at a goodwill about a year ago, with the intention of one day giving them to Jamie myself. Not dropping them off and having a caregiver or staff member give them to her, but me: walk around the hill with her and the boots and then let her groom them. When I got to the sanctuary that morning I was nervous. It sounds ridiculous right? If nothing else, I guess you see now how important the chimps opinions are to me. They truly are my peers and friends, not animals. I wanted Jamie to like the boots, much like you want your friends to like the gifts you get for them. So, I had the staff inspect my boots and we waited until after cleaning and meals to give them to her. 

Why not give them to Jamie on her birthday you ask? Easy: everyone and their mother sends Jamie boots for her birthday. When that day rolls around and we clean the playroom out and lay the fresh enrichment out, its boots from corner to corner. I wanted this moment to be something between me and her. Not me her, 1000 other boots and all the staff who are there for all the chimps birthdays. 

James with a boot. Credit to CSNW.

We finished our cleaning and had some time before serving lunch, so Debbie told me to put on the boots and we went to see if Jamie wanted to take a walk. I put on the boots and we went out to the greenhouse to find James. I said "James I got you some new boots!" She turned around, immediately puffed up (all her hair standing on end, in this case meant excitement) and ran out the door to the hill. She wanted to walk alright. Debbie and I walked around the outside and met her at the bottom of the hill and before I could say boo Jamie took off running up the hill. Now if there is one thing Jamie and I absolutely agree on; (besides the fact that our carrots need to be peeled.) its running. We do not run. Ever. Usually a walk around the hill is fine, with Missy running behind for a little while, but not

running. On this day however, inspired by her new boots. Jamie ran all the way up the hill. Across the top. And all the way down. Debbie Jamie and I were all heaving by the time we got to the bottom but Jamie's happiness was undeniable. She approved of the boots. Debbie and I arrived back at the greenhouse to give Jamie the boots (where she promptly threatened us, as she wanted to go around the hill again but we came inside and she was not having it.) Despite that setback, staff said that they have never seen Jamie run up the hill. She hadn't been that happy in a long time. 

I ALMOST CRIED. The boots I gave to Jamie made her so happy. I was happy. It was a good birthday. 

BUT BECCA WHAT ABOUT HAIR.

oh yes. Jamie and hair. In learning something new everyday I've learned that Jamie loves hair. At CSNW its a rule that the chimps cannot touch or groom your face or head with their fingers or a toy, but that doesn't stop Jamie from being completely fascinated by it. I don't blame her, the way humans grow hair is weird. No wonder we are cold all the time. 

Recently I've dyed my hair more blonde, and put some purple streaks in it (why, BECAUSE I CAN. ) When I got to the sanctuary on Monday I greeted Jamie with a good morning and a friendly chimp laugh. Elizabeth said "oh you should show Jamie your hair. Braid it for her, she loves that." I laughed at first, thinking wow that's really weird that Jamie would like if I braided my hair for her. I let me hair down and showed Jamie the purple and her eyes were as big as plates. I said "How's it look James?" and she starred with her beautiful eyes right at me and just kept head nodding as if to say "yes yes. love it. love." I pulled my hair to one side and started to braid it as Jamie's hair started to stand on end and more head-nodding erupted. The rest of the day she kept asking for my hair. "No James, you cannot. Sorry lady. I would like to keep it." was the common response. 

I also got a lot of tug of war and chase time in with Big B who spent the entire time chimp laughing which makes me laugh which makes him laugh, and we spend forever cracking each other up. He is quite the character. I love LOVE playing with B. I also got to groom Foxie a little, and Jamie of course and clean their skin of bugs. So that's awesome. Annie and I are what I call "secret friends" when other chimps or humans are around Annie has no idea who I am. When it' just me and her we play a quiet mirror game until someone walks in and Annie pretends like she has no idea who I was just playing with. Sneaky girl. 

In other COMPLETELY AMAZING AND AWESOME NEWS Lars and I have decided on a name and created our business cards for my chimpanzee sanctuary. I've been swallowed by the worm hole of the website, designing the cards and getting them ordered and preparing for our trip to Texas in early October. Looking at a card with your name on it that says "Founder" is so unbelievably exciting and terrifying. 

So there it is! (minus my phone number so you yahoos don't call me) Sokwe Sanctuary. omg. I feel sick. Sokwe means Chimpanzee in swahili and after spending some time in Tanzania I felt like the name sokwe was just perfect. also, that is a real website! that works! Does it have 2 things on it? maybe. But hey, learning how to make it pretty is really complicated! But check it out, send me and email at becca@sokwesanctuary if you want! 

love love love

b

The Socially-Awkward Tales of Burrito:

BIG B IS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE. 

If there is one thing that's true, it's that everyone who has ever visited CSNW has been smitten by the likes of Big B, Burrito Chimpanzee. You can never be mad at B, even if he just spit all over you, or got so excited about smoothie that he knocks the cup out of your hand and all over your face. (that was a thing)  If you haven't seen him, here are some shots from CSNW to help you fall in love. 

I mean come ON. Look at his face? ADORABLE. 

B is easily the most charming chimp I have ever met, and that's probably the same for the other people who have met him. He's a big sweet dude, a gentle giant if you will. B is the youngest and only male chimp at CSNW. Just imagine for a moment that you are a younger brother, TO SIX OLDER LADIES. I do not envy Burrito in that respect at all. He's probably the only chimp who could handle all of his run-ins with the ladies and still manage to groom and play with them at the end of the day. Its his charm, I'm serious. 

One thing most people don't realize is just how socially awkward Burrito actually is. He's got the cards stacked against him, that's for sure. Burrito never experienced being outside until he arrived at the sanctuary in 2008. B was born in a laboratory, shipped around between human houses and more labs until he arrived at CSNW where he got to be outside on Young's Hill for the first time in his life. Being able to be outside is just one part of the chimp lifestyle, and missing out on all of that left Burrito with some learning to do, and 6 older sisters who were going to teach him whether he was ready or not. 

In a typical chimp society you have an alpha male at the top of the hierarchy. Below that are high ranking males, and below them high ranking females, then other males and females, then adolescents then infants.  The alpha male mates with the high ranking females and produces the offspring, and as soon as the other high ranking males know who the alpha's mate is, they can court other ladies. The alpha male is typically the father to a few offspring with different moms in a group. Females are the ones who rotate out of the group, as they don't want to mate with close relatives. As an outsider looking at the Cle Elum 7, you would think that Burrito is the alpha of the group and can mate with all the ladies, right? 

INCORRECT SIR. DO NOT PASS GO. DO NOT COLLECT $200. 

If you've been following for a while you will know that Jamie is the alpha of the group, and B is very much on the low end of the hierarchy. B is the youngest chimp, which doesn't inherently make him the lowest; the hierarchy is constantly in flux, but he is definitely not the alpha and definitely not mating with any of the ladies. 

Here are some facts: 

- Neggie, Missy and Foxie do not cycle, and are unable to have children. (Neggie is simply too old to do so, and Miss and Fox had procedures before they left the lab)

-Jamie, Annie and Jody cycle*, but they are not able to have children because of lab work and also because ...

-Burrito is practically their BROTHER. 

(*Cycling: essentially like a humans menstrual cycle. When a chimp is cycling it means she is ready to become pregnant, and the dudes notice because of their swelling, which is the skin on their behind. During their cycle chimps bleed the way humans do, and their butts become large and pink. A while ago I thought there was a fight in the chimp house because when we were cleaning it there was blood everywhere. Panicked, I told the staff and they were all like "no ya boob, Jody is cycling." phew. I thought someone lost an ear or something.) 

Anyway, yes, Burrito is very much the younger brother of the group. I get asked pretty frequently if the chimps mate with each other, and the easy simple answer is no. The ladies do not look at Burrito as any sort of mating option. The same goes for Burrito.. for the most part. More of Burrito's social awkwardness: B is a dude. He sees these ladies with their pink butts and is like "oh yeah, I like that!" But his mind says "NO wait, that's my sister/aunt/whatever and that's weird" in my head I think of it like this: his mind says no, but his body says yes. So poor B, doesn't know what to do when the ladies around him are cycling. At the chimp house on Sunday I watched him walk up to Jamie, who was cycling, and look at her almost like "is it weird that I like you?" and Jamie looked at him like "OH HELL NO. bye." and went to the greenhouse. Poor B can't catch a break. 

Because B never grew up with a chimp family, he never grew accustomed to greeting, how to greet a chimp or how to receive a greeting. It's an adorably sad moment when someone comes up to greet him, he usually lifts his head up and shuts his eyes. His way of saying "I can't see you, you can't see me!" He's getting better, but sometimes still he tries to avoid greetings. He also doesn't know how to react when grooming. Chimps do a lip smacking sound when they are grooming, as though they are eating the bugs off of the skin. A way to let your friend know that you are just there to groom. B can't really do the lip smacking thing, and is usually so excited that anyone is letting him groom that he ends up making his raspberry noise similar to when he is eating. I think he just gets so excited that he is grooming someone that the noise comes out whether he means to or not. 

B also adds to the day by displaying. I have a theory that all of his combined testosterone and being cooped up with all those ladies results in these moments, but I digress. B will walk bi-pedal, hair standing on end making a "whoo-whooooo" noise and bang on things for a few seconds and then run around as fast as he can until he decides to take a breather. Then on his own he will being to "whoooo" again which is a sign he will display yet another time. Most of the time the ladies just stay out of his way. But by nature, when a chimp is making a call like that, the others join in as a sort of back up and it becomes quite loud in the chimp house. Sometimes the ladies end up displaying and running around as well, banging on toys and the chimp house itself. It happens pretty often in the mornings, maybe they are just that pumped for breakfast. 

There it is, the most adorable and charming chimp and all of his socially-awkward grace. B is quite the dude, and you can't help but love him. (unless you are one of the ladies in the chimp house.) 

In other news, I am in level 3 of phase 2 of level 3 training! (did you follow that or what?) This is the "observed by trainer" phase where the staff member watches me and I do most things on my own! I'm still working on interactions with a few chimps as some days there are only two of us there and our cleaning and work takes priority instead of training, but things are going well. Serving meals to the chimps has become the least stressful, and even Annie chimpanzee who never gave a rat's patoot seems to be warming up to me. Wahooooo! 

meow meow

-B