Feeding A Shy Chimp
By Anna Lietman
Chimp Feeding Styles
Staff learn early on each chimp’s quirks: their likes and dislikes, their general comfort zone.
Caregiver Aide Samantha talks about her initial process of getting to know the chimps. “It’s kind of part of the process for them to teach us: this chimp likes to sit in the corner and they only take food if it’s underneath the door, and you have to wear red socks if you’re working with this chimp.”
Apparently she’s kidding about the red sock thing.
But it’s true that especially when it comes to food, the staff takes time to learn each chimp’s preference. When feeding chimps, they rely on their knowledge of the individual.
“When I first started feeding it was hard to remember: ‘Okay, this one steals, and you can’t give this one their food before this one because then this one will take theirs.’ All these little tiny things. But I have figured out with each individual chimp how to communicate better with them—does pointing work better, does your eyes work better, does shaking the bag really aggressively at the mesh work better?’ There’s some chimps that want you to be playful.”
Caregiver Aide Samantha
Shy Chimp Torian
About Torian, caregivers quickly learn how she approaches the world with caution; it’s one of her most notable traits. Along with cautious, she can be described as an introverted and shy chimp.
She’s most comfortable outside, and also takes comfort from her relationship with fellow chimp Tiffany. Samantha surmises: she loves sucking her thumb (much like Leo), being outside, and Tiffany. Those elements make up her comfort zone.
Samantha elaborates, “If you can’t find Torian, then she’s probably sitting at a window sucking her thumb.”
Feeding Torian
Torian’s caution influences her eating habits. She waits for all the other chimps to be fed before she’ll come get food. As Samantha describes it, “she’s going to wait until everything is gone before she gets a chance to lick the crumbs off the floor.”
And if a room is too full, or she senses something is off, she won’t come forward to eat.
Communication When Feeding the Chimps
Communication—often in the form of eye contact and pointing—can be key to successfully feeding chimps. And to making sure everyone has access to food. As far as communicating, Samantha says that she believes the chimps are more perceptive than most humans she has met; they pay special attention to facial expressions, and even notice the way she moves her eyebrows. She finds that caregivers rely most on eye contact and pointing when attempting to get a message to the chimps.
Communication When Feeding Torian
Caregivers must be strategic when feeding chimps in order to ensure Torian eats, because she’s such a shy chimp. In her case, they’ll usually try to convince her to move outside and give her food there, where she’s more comfortable.
“Usually what we do is try to make eye contact with her, show her her food, and try to move her eyes to wherever we’re asking her to go. We’ll look at her, show her the food, and then look towards the door. Sometimes we’ll point as well.”
Caregiver Aide Samantha
Says Samantha, about this technique, “over time, it gets easier to communicate with her what you’re asking and what she feels comfortable doing.”
Tiffany Comforts Torian
Especially in moments of stress like meal times, Torian sticks close to Tiffany.
As best friends, the two of them help each other deal with anxious feelings when they arise. In times of high anxiety, they wrap their arms around each other and rock on the floor together, and they ‘scoot’ together. Scooting allows chimps to displace anxious feelings. They’ll often use a blanket or wood wool from the habitat, pile it up, and drag themselves along with the material across the floor.
In Tiffany and Torian’s case, they perform this scooting behavior together. They make a little two-person train, with Torian always leading and Tiffany trailing behind, “a little caboose.”
Tiffany Helps Torian Find Food
Though both Tiffany and Torian experience anxiety, Tiffany isn’t quite as shy of a chimp as Torian. Her gregariousness allows Tiffany to help Torian, the more shy chimp of the two, access food.
“At the end of the day, we scatter food in the villa to give them a little snack before we leave for the day. I was throwing stuff out, and it was a really special scatter that day, apparently. Everyone loved it. Everyone was coming up to me and asking me to funnel it into their mouth.
I put a lot in one room, and then I like to go to another room to get the chimps that aren’t as strong-willed. So I usually go find them. And I found her [Torian], and I started giving her some. And the alpha of her group, Patrick, came over. Not in an aggressive way, but he came up very forwardly. Torian gave a little shout and shuffled off to the side.
And not a second later Tiffany was running up there screaming like, ‘Who touched Torian?!’ And even once she realized it was Patrick, the alpha, who nobody really messes with, she still didn’t back down. She was like ‘How dare you!’”
Caregiver Aide Samantha
Since Tiffany is a bit more outgoing than Torian, she’s comfortable speaking out in social settings. She also shares food with Torian, or, more so, doesn’t put up a fight when Torian ‘steals’ her food.
Luckily, Torian has both her best chimp friend and her human caregivers looking out for her. When she can’t muster the courage to get food during the chaos of meal times, they’ll work to make sure she can comfortably eat.
