Today’s blog, by Foxie
January 27, 2016 by Katelyn -
It’s one of my favorite things to write the blog and have the opportunity to share the lives’ of the chimps with all of you. That said, there are just days when one has the words, but no photos, or vice versa. Today, for the life of me, I could not get a single photo as the chimpanzees have spent the majority of their day in the loft of the chimp house where it’s warm, grooming one another and napping.
I asked boss lady, Jamie, if she would please write the blog for me to which she responded by throwing a nut at my head. I took that as a “No.” At this point Foxie perhaps took pity on me and came into the smaller front rooms along the human hallway to play and she and I decided to take some “selfies.” Chimpanzees are self-aware and have the ability to recognize themselves and others in mirrors and photos. Many of the chimps enjoy seeing photos of themselves after we take them, or being able to see themselves on the camera as with an iPhone. Foxie particularly seems to enjoy this form of enrichment. So as I held the phone at a safe distance so she could see herself, I snapped the photos as she gestured. (While it’s not safe for the chimps to have a phone, or for us to have them touch it as we hold it, we have been fortunate to have supporters generously donate iPads that the chimps’ can safely interact with through the caging and they do enjoy this occasionally).
So here’s today’s blog, “by Foxie.” (Apologies for the quality, but we were laughing a lot!):
In this last photo, you can see Foxie is doing a “lip-flip” which I wrote about last week with Annie.
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Quality??? Foxie’s happy eyes….priceless!!!
This is amazing!!! LOVE that last one of the sweet “cheeky monkey”. I KNOW! 😀 (They’re really apes.)
Love it! You do have the best job ever …
Sure do. I know one shouldn’t be envious, but….
Thank you Foxie for assisting Katelyn and creating this wonderful blog today! Your selfies are the best — maybe because you are so darn cute!
To Katelyn : I am very curious about the chimpanzee lip flip. I noticed Annie flipped down her bottom lip and Foxie flipped up her top lip, so it can go either way? Is Foxie doing this because she is stressed (like you mentioned in the past post) or is she simply very relaxed because she is having fun with you? Or is it just stereotypical and a mystery in the end? If you can tell me more I would appreciate knowing. Many thanks!
Hi Kathleen, good questions! The chimpanzee lip flip is rather a curious thing and can vary as with other individual facial expressions. Annie will physically pull her bottom lip down, whereas Foxie just curls her top lip over. Of this group, they are the only two that I personally have seen use the lip flip. It’s a natural chimpanzee expression and while typically exhibited during times of tension or stress, in a stereotypical context it can be difficult to pin down as it can appear at a variety of times, if at all. Foxie does this pretty frequently. Sometimes I have seen her do it in response to some stimuli where she may (my perspective) feel some stress about something, but she typically does it in a variety of contexts that are low arousal – just sitting quietly with her dolls, “phantom nesting,” sometimes low-key play with caregivers, seeming boredom, etc. – so it’s difficult to say what purpose it serves to communicate for her. As you know, these guys have been through a lot and for all we know, at times it could be in response to thoughts she is having, but we don’t know that. In the blog photo, Foxie was looking at her image in the camera so she could have been responding to that, but I don’t know. We had been playing chase prior to the photos and she may just have been “over” the photo session. 🙂
Thank you Katelyn for the reply. The lip flip is very interesting no matter why. Someday I hope to better understand chimpanzee communication, it fascinates me. Yes, I am very envious of your job! ; )
Chimpanzee communication is fascinating, Kathleen! Chimps are such complex, intelligent and emotional beings and I always feel like there’s more to learn. And I am envious of my job, too. 😉 I wish there wasn’t a need for our jobs, but I don’t think there is a day that goes by when at some point I don’t feel gobsmacked that I not only get to care for, and learn from these amazing people, but that I get to call it my job as well. I feel incredibly fortunate. Thanks so much for your sincere and heartfelt interest in the chimps!
Brilliant ! I love it,
ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!