Burrito, All Wrapped Up
May 30, 2016 by Elizabeth -
In many ways, Burrito is a typical male chimpanzee. He can be blustery and macho. His loud, boisterous displays often involve him swatting the girls as he charges by them, hair standing on end.
Still, there is something innocent about him. After living for decades in lab cages with extremely limited contact with others of his species, he has encountered many obstacles on the road to understanding chimp behavior. It seems that he genuinely cannot imagine why the girls would get angry with him when he acts out against them during displays. After hitting someone and inciting their wrath, he has been seen running to that individual for a hug of reassurance – asking for reassurance, not giving it.
When the other chimps give him submissive greetings, instead of receiving them graciously, he squeezes his eyes shut and looks the other way. Whatever he is feeling in these moments looks a lot like social anxiety.
Considering how uncomfortable he can sometimes be around the other chimps, it is always inspiring to see him try. And he does try. Joining the others in a grooming session or accompanying Jamie on a perimeter walk will probably always give him a little anxiety, but he is determined to keep pushing his own boundaries.
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He is such a doll – after all he has been through – it’s amazing he’s doing this well! We all love Bureito! ????
Don’t worry Mr. B, keep trying. We’re all a little socially awkward sometimes. Every day, every social experience, brings you a little closer to understanding appropriate behavior! XO
I have a fourth grade human boy in the house who can totally relate to your struggle. You are a treasure, Burrito.
Awe he has a great face! Love this guy.. 🙂 keep trying Burrito!!
That face! Those eyes! You can almost see his vulnerability…..he’s simply beautiful!
Aw, that’s my guy. (I think I just squeed all over myself. ?) ????????????
I know they’ve found autism in some chimps, which makes me wonder if Chimps can be diagnosed with Asperger’s, too. A lot of what I face daily with my own is social anxiety, which is a big reason I chose to “keep my nose in a book”, as dad always said, and why I turned to art. It’s prevalent in high IQ individuals, so a lot of my physics professors have it.
But I also wonder if that is the distinguishing factor, too; chimps haven’t been administered an IQ test to my knowledge, and they certainly couldn’t take a standard one.
Any ideas on the Asperger’s issue, or if anyone has attempted to standardise chimp intelligence?
Thanks so much.
Cozy a Chimpanzee at JGISA Jane Goodall Institute in So. Africa was diagnosed as autistic when he arrived in So. Africa. But has made great social progress since joining a community of Chimpanzees.
Very interesting questions, Carla. I have to admit that I know very little about autism and autism spectrum disorders in chimpanzees. I’d imagine that a chimp with autism or Asperger’s would have a pretty rough time considering how social chimps are and how much they rely on non-verbal communication. In Burrito’s case, given his unnatural history, it would be almost impossible to parse out how much of his current struggle is due to something like autism or Asperger’s vs. his impoverished upbringing.
As for intelligence, we run into several challenges when we try to compare chimpanzee (or any non-human animal) intelligence to human intelligence. Even within humans, there is a well-regarded theory that there are actually multiple intelligences (visual-spatial, musical, interpersonal, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, etc.) and that a traditional IQ test only measures a small portion of the wide range of intelligences. So even if we could administer a human IQ test to a chimpanzee, the results would paint an incomplete picture.
Additionally, intelligence can be seen as species-specific. It would be unfair to label a chimpanzee as unintelligent because he doesn’t understand calculus or he can’t build a computer (not to mention that a majority of humans don’t understand calculus and can’t build a computer). An intelligent chimpanzee is highly effective at operating in his or her environment: navigating chimpanzee social dynamics, finding the best fruit trees, making a tool to access a food source, staying alive. Some species of birds cache food in hundreds of locations and are able to remember each of those locations months later. We wouldn’t call a human who couldn’t do these things unintelligent, and we never hear anyone claiming that chimps or birds are more intelligent than humans.
Anyway, great questions about a very complicated issue. 🙂
I can only imagine how hard it is for all those chimps. Taken from solitary to having to be social. Hard for them to figure it out.
Burrito is such a sweetheart! Keep doing your best Mr. B!
Like Negra recently, and Annie last year, and Foxie too, I am inspired by Burrito and all he overcomes in his day to day life. Your post almost made me cry, I feel for him. He was robbed of everything that was natural to him, thank goodness he is now part of a chimpanzee family and he can safely and freely struggle through his feelings and instincts. I can’t help but wonder what the other chimps think, are they aware of how awkward poor Burrito must be feeling? It makes me genuinely happy just knowing he tries. It is not always easy to put yourself out there and give life a go of it. Oh how I love this adorable, blustery boy. Thank you CSNW for giving Burrito this new life, the love and care, and the freedom so he can find his true self.
Ditto on all sentiments Kathleen. Being brave, which Burrito certainly is, is a great achievement for anyone with his history. I so admire him.