Just after the chimpanzees had eaten lunch, I wondered into the greenhouse to find Annie, Negra and Missy napping on this cool afternoon. I had a mission to take photos of Annie because she and Foxie are my final “first impressions” blog candidates. Annie was doing some interesting yoga-like stretches that I wanted to photograph, but Missy had other ideas. She brought a small piece of stick over to me and pressed her shoulder against the caging for some grooming. She used the twig she had found to groom herself and I found a small tool to gently groom the arm she had presented. Meanwhile Annie was doing more yoga moves that I wanted to catch with my camera so I decided to try and split my time between grooming Missy and photographing her good friend Annie. Missy wasn’t sold on this decision. She moved over to Annie and received a much more attentive grooming. This was an excellent choice. While Annie may be low in the group’s hierarchy, she is high on the friendship scale.

Annie (right) grooms Missy (on the left).

Gentle Annie