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Observation
Notes
13 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 3: The baboon has obviously decided to move in with group 3 and is showing no intentions of leaving. He hangs out in the tops of the trees during the daytime. He is a young male of a decent size (a little larger than our female chimps) and we have named him Bob for now. When the chimps climb up to intimidate him and shake his branch, he turns around and charges them. They then usually climb down very rapidly as a male baboon has rather large teeth. The chimps seem to have given up the idea of trying to hunt him and are now more curious of their new neighbour. It seems they are trying to make friends with him.13 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 2: Zee has been Sampa’s baby again for the last few days. They spend much time together, playing and grooming. Sampa actually now spends more time with Zee than with Tony, who is generally close to Cozy. Sampa however does not have to look after Zee in the same way that she use to mother Tony as Zee has become quite an independent little female herself.13 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 1: Martha is coming inside nicely now. She isn’t even the last one in, she just waits for Charles and Jessica to go into their room and then bolts inside. Once in, Martha feasts like a queen. As she is the most dominant animal without Charles and Jessica around, she claims a great part of the food for herself. Suzie and Marco’s pile of food has shrunk a lot since Martha is coming in again. The two of them are also calmer towards the other youngsters because they know Martha will attack them if they misbehave. So all is good again in group 1.11 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 3: Some excitement in group 3 this afternoon. A baboon has made the fatal error of crossing into the chimp enclosure. When we drove up to let them in, Amadeus and Nikki were busy chasing it around the enclosure. Jinga, Mimi and Claudette also joined in quickly. Though the males were close at its heels, the baboon managed to escape into the trees. The chimps followed and had a bit of a stand-off way up high. The chimps surprisingly gave up quite quickly after only about 20 minutes and decided to come in, where food would be presented much more readily. Amadeus was visibly upset that the baboon put up such a fight. While the baboon was threatening the chimps, they were clearly frightened as a baboon’s teeth are also impressive. Why risk injury when food will be presented by your servants shortly anyway?!11 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 2: Cozy and Tony were playing together like every day. Tony’s self-confidence is perfect these days. When he wants to stir things between the other infants, he first visits Cozy and then charges the others. It is as though he needs to know that Cozy will have his back first. While they were playing, Sampa was playing with her girlies Zeena and Zee. They were tumbling around in the tall grass laughing. Sampa is much more care-free these days, now that she doesn’t have the full responsibility for Tony anymore.11 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 1: Charles is trying his best to make friends with Martha. Every morning he holds his hand out to her to invite her across. She understands the signs and approaches closer, also holding out her hand and at the same time uttering low grunts of submission. If it weren’t for Jessica, they may already have been successful. However, Jessica intervenes every single time by charging Martha aggressively. It appears that she is jealous. She has had exclusive rights on Charles for the last 26 years and now doesn’t want to share any more. Funnily enough, Jessica has no problems with Charles and Suzie mating – maybe because Suzie is still and adolescent and more importantly, her friend. Jessica now just needs to realise that chimpanzees are in fact polygamous and then hopefully Martha can get closer to Charles.10 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 3: Nikki has a pimple on his lip that has gotten quite large. It may be a spider bite as it is starting to ooze now. He is in good shape and has his usual appetite so we are not too concerned. We will monitor him and start treatment if it gets worse. He is preoccupied with squeezing it the entire day and likes to show it to people in his typical hypochondriacal way. Nikki enjoys having minor wounds, which he can show off to us humans in return for attention.10 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 2: Our volunteers have been weeding by enclosure 2 today. Charlie is fascinated by this strange human behaviour and decided to join in. So he is now walking alongside the volunteers plucking out the weeds like a champion! Some of the other infants also find this a fun activity and have joined in but none of the others are as enthusiastic as Charlie. At the same time, Joao and Zee were playing together. Joao had Zee in a headlock for quite some time and it looked quite rough. However, Zee was obviously enjoying it as she was laughing hysterically.10 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 1: Success at last: Martha finally came inside last night for the first time in over two months. As the enclosure has not been able to be maintained during this time, we have taken the opportunity to clean up a little and cut the grass. Martha is relaxed inside and is cruising around with the youngsters. It seems that she has finally noticed that she has nothing to fear inside as Charles and Jessica occupy the two back rooms. She has even been to sit with the two dominant animals though the bars. We will see what happens tonight but hopefully she will get back into a routine of coming into the night rooms in the afternoons.10 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 3: There was something going on in Camp 3 this morning and it appears the adults were hunting again. Amadeus, Nikki, Jinga and Mimi were up high in the Eucalyptus trees, shaking the branches and vocalising. Then there were alarm calls of a baboon. Though we were able to see our chimps, we could not find another animal, as the canopy is too thick. However, Amadeus only climbs the tall trees for meat. Otherwise, he stays on the ground or in the lower branches. Though he is a heavy male, he is a fast climber and moves through the trees silently. He looked a bit like King Kong when he was up there shaking the branches! The baboon must have managed to escape through the canopy as none of the chimps are holding a carcass.09 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 2: Zee is becoming more and more dominant and is actually turning into somewhat of a bully. This morning, she bit Tony over access to water. Although it was an aggressive move, Tony turned it into a game. Both of them forgot about the water and engaged in a play session instead. Later, Zee climbed into Dinka over some food and gave him a solid kick in the chest. Dinka also thought this was fun and started making somersaults with Zee chasing him. Though the others don’t seem to take Zee seriously when she attacks them, this will change once she gets stronger.09 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 1: Martha came very close to Charles this morning during their early morning greeting ceremony. Charles’ wore his usual “Martha-face”, which is basically Charles looking extremely puzzled and bewildered because he does not get her at all! It was difficult to see through the tall grass but it certainly looked as if Martha extended her and towards Charles and touched him for a split second. Martha is definitely more comfortable around Charles than around Jessica. As soon as Jessica moved towards them, Martha backed off. 08 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 3: Though Josephine has been coming in nicely over the last few months and enjoys having her own room with noone stealing her food, she has decided to sleep outside tonight. It has been very hot today and she obviously prefers the bush tonight. Although she came up to the night rooms with all the others, she never came to the ddor so had apparently already made her mind up beforehand.08 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 2: Zac’s group was relatively peaceful today. In the afternoon, the youngsters were all crowded around Zac as he lay in the grass feeding. Cozy suddenly began displaying and came to close to Joao. Though Joao showed a fear grin, nothing came of it. Cozy finished his display and Joao calmed down quickly.08 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 1: We witnessed a behaviour in Martha yesterday, which we have never seen before. She has finally picked up the nut cracking skill. Although most of the other animals in her enclosure have been cracking nuts with stones for many months now, Martha has always used her teeth and discarded nuts, which were too hard to crack. Yesterday, she picked up a stone, placed the nut on a hard tree stump and began cracking. Though she does not physically interact with Jessica, Martha is certainly learning from the dominant female. Now she just needs to learn to come inside at nights.06 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 3: Nikki was showing off in front of a tour group today. Needless to say, most of the guests were female. He climbed up a tree and was smiling at everyone, then let himself hang on one arm so that everyone could “ooh” and “aah” at his impressive muscles on his stomach, arms and back. Claudette was stealing the show a bit though as she was jumping up and down trying to catch his feet, which were dangling in mid-air.06 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 2: Cozy is spending more and more time in the trees these days. His climbing skills are much improved and he will even follow the youngsters and Joao up into the tall trees. Though he climbs slower than most chimps, he looks very good when he climbs up. His new routine in the morning is going to the top of one of the Jacaranda’s and then making his typical noises so that the whole world can see what a clever chimp he is!06 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 1: Charles’ displays are getting ever more impressive and he seems to be growing more each day. Before coming inside in the afternoons his displays are the best. He has a new habit of running at high speed towards a Eucalyptus tree and running up it, while his body is almost horizontal. Yesterday he ran up about four or five metres before turning in mid air and landing securely on his feet. His arms look amazing now and it makes you wonder how many more bumps will grow on top of his biceps.05 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 3: Amadeus’ group has also been quiet today and unusually well behaved. Nikki has been his flirty self and Amadeus didn’t even throw rocks at the guests. The females have not had one fight all day and have been grooming and playing instead. A little eerie and I am wondering who these strange creatures are and what they have done with our rowdy bunch?!! 05 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 2: Like every day this week, it was drizzling this morning. Though Joao has gone outside in the rain on the other mornings, he would not budge today. He demanded his breakfast inside, which of course he received. About an hour later he decided to rejoin the group outside. The chimps have all been exceptionally quiet today and Joao spent midday snoozing in the tall grass with the youngsters playing around him.05 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 1: Martha again came to the night rooms last night and looked like she might come in. However, she could just not bring herself to come inside after all and spent another rainy night in the bush. Her fur has become very thick and shiny since staying out, as nights are considerably cooler now than only a few weeks ago. This morning, she had breakfast very close to Charles but, as usual, fled when he moved closer.02 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 3: The adults are back into a good routine in the afternoons and only occasionally give us problems when coming inside. Yesterday Amadeus gave us a big display in the morning. Then he was sulking and wouldn’t look at me for the first part of the day at all. I had been on leave a few days and he doesn’t like it when we leave without written permission from his majesty. He took the mangos, with which I was attempting to bribe him, but otherwise wouldn’t respond to me at all. By midday, the bribes had reached the point of satisfaction and now we’re mates again. With a male chimp that size it’s best you’re on their good side… The big guys have been extremely relaxed today. Amadeus didn’t perform at all today and Nikki has been very playful. Even the females are quiet and haven’t been bickering with one another.02 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 2: Joao and Zeena had a run-in yesterday. It is unclear what started it but Zeena seriously angered Joao. He went charging after her but as usual held out his hand for Zac, who reacted immediately. Zac caught up with her after a short while. Though he stood above her, flailing his arms and stamping his feet, he didn’t actually make contact with her. Though she had been screaming until then, she was quiet very quickly in order to avoid a hiding. Cozy had been running behind them all along barking and screaming but looked more confused than anything else. They all returned to their original positions and continued feeding. Joao was upset for quite a while afterwards and sat next to Zac patting his back. Tony went to sit next to Zac and tried to take food directly out of his mouth. Zac pushed him and Tony rolled backwards and instantaneously began screaming. Zac had by now had enough of screaming youngsters and went for Tony, slapping and dragging him. Though it looked violent, Tony only ended up with a scratch on his hand. The little fellow has this amazing ability of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and then behaving inadequately on top of it.02 March 2010 - Posted by Jessica Ney (Chimp Observer) Group 1: Suzie has been swollen for over one month now, not uncommon for the first oestrus cycle until her body gets used to it and cycles more regularly but for shorter periods. Charles is enjoying himself meanwhile and mates with her frequently throughout the day. Tamu and Mowgli are always present. While Tamu is watching and learning from the best in order to perfect his technique, Mowgli just sits there screaming and throwing a tantrum. He does not like the two of them mating at all. Knowing Mowgli, he is most probably jealous of the attention Suzie is getting from Charles. Bless him, he doesn’t quite understand yet that this is not the kind of attention he wants from Charles… Martha received a hiding from Charles and Jessica yesterday. By staying outside, she has alienated herself from the group. Though it was Charles who pulled her out of the tree, Jessica immediately took over and gave Martha a good beating. Martha is fine, just has a scratch on her toe. She must learn to come inside soon as she is drifting further and further apart from the others.
