Mutuality versus Reciprocity

Bow is very sweet, All unbidden, he notices the dry skin on my hand, and he volunteers to groom it.

His touch is very gentle, but the grooming he gives me is thorough.

You might think that this kind treatment is in return for something else that I have done for him, but in fact it's not. This is not quid pro quo or one hand washes the other. Bow feels an inner compulsion to groom my hand, and he only does it when he feels like it. It is neither planned nor solicited.

I have been preoccupied by the concept of mutuality, which is why whatever flower is in season that attracts the most pollinators has been topmost on my list of things to photograph. Just before the trip to Bloomington, that flower was the purple milkweed, and I even took risks trying to get close to the butterflies. I got a touch of poison ivy in one elbow capturing those photos.

Right now, the plant attracting the most insects is the Virginia Mountain Mint.

But there are other beautiful flowers that are blooming now, too, and yet they attract no insects. Take the Tall Phlox.

These flowers are beautiful and fragrant, yet no bees or butterflies visit them.

Maybe it's because the phlox grows back from the root every spring that it does not need to attract pollinators, and not needing to do so, it just naturally doesn't.  Where there is no mutual benefit, the unplanned exchange just does not seem to take place. However, I have spotted rabbits within sight of the phlox, placidly grazing on the lawn.

The rabbit will not tell me where the predators are; it just runs off if I get too close. Does the rabbit realize that the culling effect of predators on the rabbit population is responsible for its own good health?

Meanwhile, when I least expect it, the kitten emerges from a field full of wildflowers.

Its every move says; "I am a mighty hunter. I am king of the beasts!" Then it meows to imply that I should feed it. Will it ever catch a mouse to earn its keep, I wonder?

This afternoon I picked another ripe wild plum, and I gave it to Bow.

He took it out of the bowl and stared at it intently.

Then he slipped it unceremoniously into his mouth and ate it.

In the end all that was left was the pit. 

Now lots of people would misunderstand. They might think: there's reciprocity for you! He groomed her finger, so she gave him a wild plum. But I would have given him that plum, whether he had groomed my finger or not. And he would have groomed my finger, regardless of whether later in the day I'd discover a wild plum to give him. What we have here is a relationship of mutuality, not reciprocity  -- the same kind of relationship that the butterflies have with the mountain mint, or the wild plum tree has with the animals that eat its fruit.

How Things Are Now

During the week that I was away, the purple milkweed, along with the butterflies that used to frequent it, entirely disappeared. On the other hand, the common milkweed is blooming, albeit half-heartedly.

The common milkweed is pushed up against the fence by competing poison ivy plants, so it is not thriving

There are no butterflies or bumblebees attracted to the blossoms, but I did see a couple of Japanese beetles who found the leaves inviting.

Japanese Beetles on the Common Milkweed

They seemed to make the leaf they were on bounce up and down.

The tall phlox is  just now starting to bloom.

Tall Phlox in Bloom 

A ladybug I saw seemed very attracted by some of the unopened blossoms.

A Ladybug on the Tall Phlox

It struggled against the high wind to climb up to that spot.

The blooming phlox always reminds my of my children's book, In Case There's a Fox.

Summer is in full swing and the grasshoppers are out.

The tree by the outer fence line that sports "service berries as big as cherries" has some ripening fruit on it now, turning a bright red color.

I suspect that these are neither service berries nor cherries, but I don't know what they actually are.

Some of my friends on Facebook think it is a jujube tree, but according to the Wikipedia, the distribution of jujube does not extend to the continental United States.

What do you think this fruit is? Leave a comment below.

Meanwhile, Bow continues to take an interest in YouTube music videos.

Watching Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance", Bow did not dance. He sat perfectly still and watched respectfully. He could tell this was family friendly material, so he was not excited, but happy and calm as he watched. He likes images of babies and young girls, and he responds very differently to them than to Lady Gaga, who clearly excites him.

Lawrence told me that while I was away, he kept trying to entice Bow to use his own computer, but Bow was only interested in what Lawrence was doing on Lawrence's computer. Finally, after a few days of Bow asking to use Lawrence's computer whenever Lawrence was using it, Lawrence realized that if he used Bow's computer instead of his own, then Bow would ask to use his computer.

Bow watched a lot of music videos. He preferred Lady Gaga to The Music Man. But he also was interested in reading Lawrence's email. He wants to do what he sees us doing.

Bow does not want to have a special computer just for chimpanzees. He wants to use the sort of computer all of us use. This is one of the reasons he has been resisting. I think this calls for a new strategy on my part. Maybe I should try to use the touchscreen more often myself.