Priorities
September 25, 2020 by J.B. -
The rain pounds the metal roof above in a deafening roar. Bolts of lightning streak across an ominous sky. Thunder cracks just overhead, shaking the building to its very foundation. This could be how it all ends.
Mmmmm, but this night bag…
Mave’s certainly got her priorities straight. There’s some interesting research dating back to the ’70s showing that primates often overreact to perceived dangers when they are young, and only with the help of those around them do they learn to narrow their alarm calls to specific threats such as predators. Perhaps Mave never got that lesson, as she is the only chimp at CSNW that reacts in such a sustained and exaggerated fashion to thunder. But I can’t blame her. Fortunately for Mave (and our poor dogs), thunderstorms are relatively uncommon here in Central Washington.
17 Comments
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Poor baby. Mave reminds me of a basset hound he had in college (and later.) He was a TX A&M which has a great Veterinarian training program. Rather than wrestle his 80 lb buddy in order to clip his nails, he took him to the vet clinic so a non-buddy semi-pro could clip his nails. The dog howled, moaned and cried so much he usually drew a crowd of vet students who marveled he could eat (dog cookies were supposed to distract) while making all that noise. We feel your pain, Mave. Sometimes venting can make things better.
Hi Laura…Maybe you won’t even see this, but I LOVED your cute story, & I’ve NEVER met a snuggly/shorty Basset Hound I couldn’t love the Holy Badoozles out of… : )
I understand how Mave feels. We get frequent storms here in Pennsylvania and I have hated thunder and lightning since I was a little girl.
Poor baby needs a thunder shirt! Are the three able to offer one another comfort as we have seen with the seven?
Mave would look amazing in a thunder shirt. The three will offer each other reassurance but in this case they just ignored Mave and she didn’t seek it out.
Poor Mave!
poor Marvelous Mave! I felt so sorry for her at the beginning, hoping one of the other two would give her a hug…until I saw her picking her fav’s out of the night bag, lol!
Still hope she got some kind of reassurance, though, because….she’s Mave! After all she’s done for others, she deserves it!
What’s her favorite in the night bag, JB? I can see it’s not popcorn….
Mave’s a fan of nuts and seeds.
Poor Mave!
She sounds so scared, until you see her stop to crack a nut. 🙂
Thunder? It’s alright Mave, it’s only Ringo banging on his drums.
That’s what my dad used to tell me.
Shows how old I am, and I’m English as well. 😉
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha ~ love it!!
As much as I love all these babies, and as much as I enjoy the vlog posts, I think this is my new favorite. Bless Maves heart. Sorry not sorry….not my job man! ????
Oh Mave! Oh no! With her non stop alarm calling I was worried she was going to choke on one of her nuts! Coming from CA I bet Mave is unfamiliar with thunder, must sound super scary. . . well, clearly not so scary you would miss out on your night bag. Clearly not so scary you seek reassurance from your pals (because that would take you away from your night bag). Perhaps she was seeking reassurance from the nuts — night bags are comfort food! Ha ha ha.
And there is no doubt about it, Mave would a mazing in a Thunder shirt!
I remember learning about how some chimp calls are automatic, sort of like how when humans walk into a room of people laughing we automatically smile and laugh and then ask “what’s so funny?” Jane Goodall told the story of a young chimp that found some food, and in order to keep the food to themselves covered their mouth with their hands, so other chimps wouldn’t hear the automatic food call. Do you think this is just an automatic call, to warn others in the family to a hazard? Does Maeve know it’s not really a hazard, but can’t help but make the call anyway?
She doesn’t seem all that disturbed – glad to see the storm didn’t disrupt her treats!
I think in this case it’s more of an automatic call…as you say, she’s not acting as though she is frightened. Chimps do make more intentional alarm calls, in which case they vary their eye gaze to direct others towards the threat.
Beautiful Mave just needs a French fainting couch and the scene would be complete!
I hope she wasn’t too stressed and took comfort with Honey B and Willy B.
Sending love to you all,
Respectfully yours,
Caroline
This should totally be the challenge for next year´s pant hoot contest: Imitate Mave´s thunder cry!