Comments on: The new door

By: JB

JB — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:22:42 +0000

Ann – Burrito has had a vasectomy (as opposed to castration like they do in dogs). Missy and Foxie had hysterectomies for medical reasons, and the other girls are “intact”, for lack of a better term.

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:07:22 +0000

MS & JB: Is Burrito neutered and the girls spayed—or do you have to keep them separate? (I have dogs, so not sure this is the correct term for chimps!)

By: JB

JB — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:13:17 +0000

Ann – Yes, she’s fine. As MS said, the ano-genital swelling does indicate oestrus, but there’s also a lot of natural variability between individuals in the size of the swelling. Annie’s swelling at its peak is only about one quarter the size of Jody’s. Jody’s sex skin also looks the way it does because of trauma. The sex skin is very fragile, and when it is injured it often heals in a deformed manner.

By: MS

MS — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:20:40 +0000

This chimp is in oestrus and is ready to conceive. This swelling attracts males to mate with her.

By: Ann

Ann — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:05:33 +0000

You may have explained this somewhere else that I missed, but one of the chimps’ rearend was so huge and had what looked like a growth on it. Is this chimp okay?

By: Diana

Diana — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:46:45 +0000

I saw Jody “genital bounce” to Missy tonight. It’s the first time I have observed her do this towards another chimpanzee. Maybe she knew we were discussing it :) It was definitely a submissive / seeking reassurance behavior – she also presented a bent wrist to Missy, which is a submissive gesture – see illustration here: http://www.discoverchimpanzees.org/behaviors/top.php?dir=Submission&topic=Wrist_Bend

Jody did this shortly after a brief conflict over food – Jamie started a ruckus in a successful attempt to get Jody’s piece of melon. After everyone was calm and Jamie seemed content and not really paying attention, I offered Jody another small piece of melon. Jody climbed down from the bench to get it and did the genital bounce and bent wrist toward Missy before coming over to take the piece of melon. Missy often sides with Jamie in these conflicts, so Jody was being smart to make sure Missy wasn’t going to get mad or get Jamie’s attention if Jody took the fruit.

By: JB

JB — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:52:55 +0000

MS – To be honest, I’m not quite sure I completely understand the genital bounce behavior. Jody is the only one of the Cle Elum Seven that does it.

I believe the “genital bounce” that is seen in the wild usually involves an individual bobbing his or her genitals up and down on the hand of another individual. I’m pretty sure this occurs during greeting and reassurance. It could be that Jody is performing a variation of this behavior, made necessary by the fact that she is separated from us by caging, or it could be that the two behaviors are unrelated. Jody does “present” to her caregivers frequently (meaning she greets us rump first). Presenting can be sexual (an invitation), but it is also a submissive behavior, as is the case with Jody presenting to us.

Most of the girls submit to Burrito when things are exciting or tense – these are the times when Burrito is likely to fly off the handle and hurt somebody. But at other times, like during quieter feeding times, they treat him more like a subordinate. Its very complicated. Sometimes you have alpha males who are clearly dominant in all situations, but Burrito is not one of those guys. From my perspective, it seems like the girls submit to him when they fear imminent physical harm, but otherwise, he doesn’t command much respect as a leader.

By: dee

dee — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:56:58 +0000

yay! love it how they react to positive changes in their environment and the excitement it brings them. even if it’s just a new doorway.
Missy & Annie were so jazzed!

CSNW is awesome.

By: MS

MS — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:29:05 +0000

That segment contained more drama and intrigue than an hour soap opera!

I’ve never heard of a genital bounce greeting before. What is that all about?

Since many of the girls submitted to Burrito, where does that leave him the rankings?

Thank you for posting this! I’ll watch it many times!

By: Amy M

Amy M — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:35:16 +0000

I’ll take a crack at the translation:

It’s very agreeable each time to follow the new adventures of Jamie, Jody, Negra and the others. it’s so pleasurable to see happy chimps even though they’re not in freedom.

I hope soon to be able to help you in my own modest way.

Bravo for all you do for them and good courage!