Boy Meets Girl – Entry #2

Missed Entry #1? Start here.

Cute freckle faced Neal is the youngest chimp in this group of boys – and therefore the most likely to want to play with new friends. As anticipated, he was a bit rowdy when the girls moved into Chimps Ahoy.

The males and females remain divided during the early phases and Neal couldn’t quite accept that physically playing with his new neighbors wasn’t an option. At the start of howdies, the chimps can see each other but cannot stick their fingers through the dividing wall that separates them. In the next phase, they move to a slightly more open wall that would allow fingers and tongues to poke through. While it’s minimal access, they can start to groom and interact by choice.

Neal wasn’t inclined to groom his new neighbors, he instead displayed at the girls, especially, Tabby, who was displaying right back at him. Tabby is a higher-ranking chimp and took charge of showing Neal and the other boys that girls could be just as tough as them.

However, when he got to meet Lindsey, Kyrstin and Roxy in howdies Neal wasn’t so sure of himself. He was slow to greet them and waited until Kyrstin and Roxy started a playing session to interact with them. 

When he’s with his fellow groupmates, Neal engages in play by head-butting the other boys. Since he couldn’t head-butt the girls just yet, well, he head butted the wall instead. While that made me wince, it didn’t seem to phase him! But I do wonder what the girls thought of that behavior?

I can’t wait till we start letting them interact in the same room and see what type of play sessions will ensue then!