The Intensity of Being a Chimpanzee
March 9, 2019 by Diana -
This afternoon, the chimp house was the epitome of peacefulness.
If you had walked in the door at 3:00, you would have had to strain to hear the soft lip-smacking and gentle raspberry sounds that accompanied their grooming.
If you had climbed the ladder to get a view of the chimpanzees in a fluid huddle in the loft, you might have marveled at what a close-knit and affectionate group they are.
This peaceful scene erased the ear-piercing screams and general mayhem that constitute chimpanzee quarreling that had occurred throughout the morning.
But that’s the nature of chimpanzees.
One minute they seem intensely angry at each other and the next they are engaged in the most intimate grooming session.
9 Comments
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Wow! Granted, I’ve only been following the blog for about 10-11 months,, but….I don’t recall ever seeing Jaime groom another chimp! Doesn’t she usually stay away from these group things, and just groom caregivers?!
You are right! Jamie generally seeks out the humans and spends much less time grooming with her chimpanzee companions than the other chimps, but she does engage with them at times. It may have been particularly wise for her to groom Burrito today given the tension earlier in the day.
Glad you mentioned that, because a bigger part of the surprise was that it was Burrito on the receiving end. I know he’s not exactly low-ranking, but he doesn’t seem to be high-ranking, either. Was he up to shenanigans in the morning?! 😀 Or did he have her back in a squabble?
I’m not sure I see them as being all that different than humans. We just take a lot longer to get to the grooming sometimes. 😉
Cheers.
So true!
Thank you for the great pictures.
Diana, I always think of how to explain the peaceful beauty of the chimps in their grooming session, “a fluid huddle” nails it. : )
I think we human primates need to learn from the chimps politics.
I’m glad you like that description! I agree that we could pick up some pointers on reconciliation!
I’ve always wished I could be so forgiving, but at the same time, our worlds have many more individuals that we can turn to. You know the expression, you can pick your friends, but not your family? These guys are forced to endure, since they’re all housed together. They can’t escape each other, so there’s probably more to achieving that peace, while we can just flounce off and find new friends.