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are the first Earthwatch Group for this year, working on a study
of enrichment that will hopefully improve the lives of chimpanzees
in captivity everywhere. There are just six of us (five Americans
from four different states, and one Canadian). |
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We interact with the chimpanzees
through thick glass walls. Chimps are up to seven times stronger
than humans and don't always know their strength! Before we
move closer to interact with the chimpanzees, graduate student
Shannon Reider explains "chimpanzee etiquette." Among other
things, we learn to stoop when approaching. Standing appears
very threatening to chimpanzees, who are quadrupedal.
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24-year- old Loulis has been by far the most interactive chimp
with us. He is the adopted son of the best-known chimp in the
group, Washoe. Loulis is the first chimpanzee to have acquired
elements of a human language strictly from non-humans: for most
of his youth, humans did not sign in his presence. In this photo,
Loulis is pointing at a favorite object: someone's shoes.
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Both the chimps and their visitors enjoy a game of “tickle.”
Washoe looks for a reaction as Misa gives a big “chimp laugh.”
It is important to keep your upper teeth covered when you smile
or laugh around chimps. For them, grinning indicates fear and
makes them uneasy. The chimpanzees we often see on TV or in
the movies are generally babies and are usually "grinning" out
of fear. |
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Tatu has a sweet demeanor, but she is also a skilled bird hunter.
She seems to love the color black, and she also signs "black"
when she sees something she really likes, as if that means "cool"
to her! She adores cheese and enjoys wearing masks. Tatu is
a bit of a hoarder. At the end of the day, she will collect
all her things and bring them into the night enclosure with
her. Often she does this by “bunching” things between her feet
and pushing them along between her legs (“rock-carrying”)..
Here, she regards one of the caregivers with interest.
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Washoe often observes interactions
with visitors from her favorite spot on a platform. Washoe is
37 years old and the matriarch of this small "family" of chimps
(none of whom are related biologically). She was wild caught
in Africa as an infant, and probably saw her mother be killed
before being hauled out of the forest herself and shipped across
the ocean. She was still an infant when she arrived in a US
research facility. At 10 months of age, she was "adopted" by
researchers for an experiment on language ability in chimpanzees.
Raised almost as though she were a deaf human child, Washoe
was the first chimpanzee to be taught ASL signs.
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