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
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