Unspeakable things

My wife, Meighan, came to visit this past week and I took her to Pongoland to see the apes in action. We went to the observation deck where we watched the each species in turn but we eventually settled in with the chimps in the A group (the larger group without Alex and friends). Meighan took several pictures of the infants curled up with their mothers in nap mode. One of the male toddlers keep looking for a playmate but everyone else was more interested in sacking out. One little guy made a "nest" out of some burlap sacks creating a sleeping place - in the wild, chimps do this by pressing down giant leaves up in the trees. Frodo, an adult male, came over to the main napping area and lazily played with one of the toddlers, letting the guy walk on his chest.

All was peaceful and pleasant until one of the older females started doing something with her hand. We couldn't quite see what was happening until she moved a bit closer, walking awkwardly with several fingers deep in her ass. She found a spot to settle down and continued to explore her nether regions with great interest. None of the other chimps seemed to care, but Meighan and I eventually decided that we had seen enough for the day.

Gross behavior is an unfortunate part of working with animals. Even working with the little monkeys at the Hauser lab could be hazardous as the marmosets and tamarins routinely try to piss on visitors to their home rooms. Apes, however, take this to a new level. Yesterday morning during an orangutan experiment, one of the subjects entered the testing area with something in her mouth. You guessed it - a claylike wad of shit. Comically, the experiment required the orangs to exchange objects for food so naturally this was the first thing offered. Coprophagy, as it is euphemistically called, is common among zoo apes - I am not sure if this occurs as frequently in the wild. So next time you are in a zoo watching the apes and it is not feeding time, be prepared for what you might see.