Reassurance
March 28, 2019 by Anna -
Just like humans, chimpanzees have a complex array of emotions. Some things are so exciting that they elicit strong responses that one might not ordinarily expect.
As breakfast was being brought out to the greenhouse this morning, Foxie was so overwhelmed with excitement, she started to fear grimace.
Luckily for her, her good friend Jody was just within an arm’s length
Waiting to give her every bit of reassurance that she desperately needed.
7 Comments
Subscribe to the Blog and
Get Notified of New Posts First!
If you like what see, be sure to subscribe. Personally written by the caregivers themselves, 365 days a year, you’ll get an insiders glimpse of all the goings on at the sanctuary. Follow us!
Wow. What amazing, wonderful, loving, feeling, complicated, strong, resilient beings these are. Thank you for posting.
Oh my goodness, Fox! What were you serving? Waffles? Pineapple?
Why can’t we be as compassionate as our Chimp friends.?
The balance of interactions and “jobs” they each have is just the coolest… and by that I mean that the people who are understanding them and sharing with us… are just the coolest… 🙂 Of course… the chimps are cool, amazing, incredibly deep creatures … and I send e-hugs to all.. human ….and near human.
Jody’s compassion for her friends is a quality I revere about her. I trust that Foxie felt better afterwards.
So a fear grimace is also an expression of ‘good excitement’, not just scary bad excitement. And any form of excitement may need a little reassurance from a good friend. I always thought of a fear grimace, and the need to seek reassurance, to be connected to ‘negative’ emotions/reactions. Is a ‘scary’ grimace one that shows full teeth but an ‘excited for good reason’ an expression that shows only partial top teeth (Like Foxie in the top photo)?
And while I am on the topic of behavior, I was thinking of you all last week when I listened to two different interviews with Frans de Waal on NPR. He was promoting his new book ‘Mama’s Last Hug’ but he was also discussing the chimps of Arnhem and primate intelligence. Mama, like Negra, is one of my favorite, most loved chimp ladies.
( can’t find the post to link it for you, Kathleen, but I think it was some time this summer, when they had a party and had watermelon bowls outside, and Foxie was on top of one of the structures with an absolutely huge grimace on her face. Out of excitement, not fear. There was no one around to tell about those amazing watermelon bowls or give reassurance!