Chimpanzee Grooming
by Madelyn Kos
Just like humans, chimpanzees care deeply about their hair. Making sure their hair is clean and well styled is an everyday task for the chimps at the sanctuary. While there may be differences in the way humans and chimpanzees groom themselves, there is still a common purpose of cleanliness, relaxation, and bonding. The chimpanzee grooming routine consist of these three purposes and more!
Chimpanzee grooming techniques
Cleanliness is one of the top goals to achieve when grooming. The chimps remove dirt, plants, dried skin, and bugs from each other’s hair in order to clean it. They use their hands and part through hair over and over until they find something worth removing. When they find a piece of dried skin or a small bug, they use their fingers, mouth, or tongue to remove it. While it might sound funny that the chimps use their mouth to get rid of debris on each other’s coats, it is simply their unique way of maintaining cleanliness!
Often, you can notice the difference between a groomed chimp versus a chimp who has not been groomed. A caregiver mentioned that the staff can tell when a chimp has just woken up because they still have “bed head”. They have hair sticking up in random places and often look a little disheveled. Throughout the day, the chimp’s bed head disappears because of all the grooming they participate in.
Over grooming is also possible. The staff can tell when a chimp spends too much time getting groomed. There are sometimes patches of missing hair in random spots from over grooming. The chimps love grooming so much, they often get carried away!
All day, every day
The chimps spend all day grooming one another. Grooming is second nature for chimps, just like how brushing our hair is almost second nature. After breakfast or early in the morning, the chimps spend most of their time grooming each other. Often, when it is quiet in the villas all you can hear is the soft noise of their teeth clacking together indicating their grooming sessions are in full effect. Depending on the day, a chimp might need only a few minutes or sometimes a few hours of grooming.
Similar to humans, chimpanzees also have preferred areas of where they like to do their grooming. Most of the chimps at the sanctuary prefer grooming in higher spaces, such as the outdoor platforms. This is one of the more common locations for grooming since the chimps are able to pile up in larger groups and enjoy the outdoors at the same time. However, they do groom each other whenever they are presented the opportunity, which varies from being indoor and outdoor.
Social time
So why do chimps groom each other? Grooming is a very important social interaction for chimpanzees. It is used to maintain status, build friendships, and keep close bonds between the chimps Being in close proximity and trusting each other builds a stronger relationship between chimps.
One situation occurred in Chateau, when a large pile of females were grooming each other inside. All of the girls looked like they were busy focusing on their grooming tasks when the group moved slightly. Kareem suddenly popped his head up from the middle of the circle with a relaxed and happy grin on his face from all of the grooming he was receiving from the girls!
Grooming is also an activity used for relaxation. Just like how humans perform relaxing self-care techniques by taking baths or doing face masks, chimps grooming one another gives off the same aurora. Grooming is almost like a full body massage for chimps, which is why the villas are often quiet during grooming times. It really helps let off some steam while also getting clean!
Check out this sweet video of wild chimpanzees to see how relaxing social grooming can be!
