Typical Behavior of a Male Chimpanzee

What is typical behavior for a male chimpanzee? Is there a particular way they eat muffins that just gives away their jungle heritage?

I baked lemon poppy seed muffins yesterday. Bow licked the bowl, and he enjoyed the muffins very much.

Is he left-handed? you might be asking yourself. Why is he holding that muffin in his left hand? Keep in mind, he's holding the plate in his right hand, to catch any crumbs that may fall. Bow is a civilized chimpanzee.

Occasionally, Bow takes a break from eating and puts the muffin back down on the plate that he continues to hold up with his right hand.

Is this typical chimpanzee muffin-eating behavior or is this just Bow? I have no idea. My experience is limited to Bow. Some people say that this is a reason to disqualify me as an expert. But there are people who have studied many chimpanzees all their lives in the wild and who could not answer this question, either. They may have watched chimpanzees from sunup to sundown and yet have never seen any of them eat a lemon poppy seed muffin off a blue willow china plate. I just might the world's foremost expert on this phenomenon.

Jane Goodall using her expert status to insult male chimpanzees
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-chimpanzee-behavior_us_57ddb84fe4b04a1497b4e512

Do male chimpanzees use displays and vocalizations to dominate others? Yes, they do. But is it always used against females in a power struggle? Is it always used against high status females who are members of their social group and inside, rather than outside of their territory and/or enclosure? Absolutely not.

In the video embedded above, I am inside the pen with Bow, while Leo is outside the pen. Bow does not display at me. He displays at Leo, the outsider. And even the display against Leo is more playful than it is meant to actually scare the dog. Because Bow and I are on the same side and belong to the same social group, he behaves in a way that is deferential toward me. And Bow does not always act like a typical chimpanzee. Sometimes his behavior is very human-like, as when he walks upright on two feet.

To equate Donald Trump's behavior with what chimpanzee males typically do is to insult male chimpanzees. In my experience, male chimpanzees are much more gentlemanly than that. But I also think that what Jane Goodall is doing in the image that was provided with the Huffington Post article is crudely disrespectful. She is giving a press conference about chimpanzees, with her back turned to the chimpanzees who are right behind her in an enclosure. I would not be surprised if those chimps jumping at the glass actually did want to harm her. She is showing no respect to their territorial rights.

On top of all this, Goodall seems to be endorsing Hillary Clinton when she fails to mention those behaviors that the Democrat engages in which are similar to the behaviors of chimpanzee females who come to power by forming coalitions with powerful males. It is one thing to note that all human beings have much in common with chimpanzees and that we share many typical behaviors, such as eating nicely off plates, when we are given nice plates to eat off of, and trying to scare our competitors or shooing away strangers who are trespassing on our territory. But when a so-called expert uses her expertise to compare one candidate but not another in a political race to a chimpanzee, and she does it in a way that insults chimpanzees, then she is clearly partisan and not a scientist who is just sharing her professional opinion. She is no more a friend to chimpanzees than Hillary is a friend to women.

I don't like Donald Trump. I also don't like Hillary Clinton. I do like chimpanzees. I would never use the fact that there are some undeniable similarities between humans and chimpanzees in a political fight. Comparing male chimpanzees to Donald Trump is an insult to male chimpanzees.

And in case you think Jane Goodall is completely nonpartisan in her remarks, please remember that US Fish & Wildlife is giving her taxpayer money to fund her anti-chimpanzee ventures. I'm guessing she's hoping a Democrat wins.

Screen shot of Jane Goodall on the US Fish and Wildlife Service Page
Our Government is Funding Her!

Home Again

It is good to be home, even though we did not get the Libertarian Presidential Nominee that we had hoped for.  Bow was well cared for in my absence, and on my return, he took time out from his dinner with Lawrence to greet me warmly, and then later to thoroughly groom me.

Bow getting read to groom me in the outer pen

It rained constantly while I was away, and for the first few days after I got back. This was a big contrast to the constant sunshine and ninety degree plus weather in Florida. But all this rain has paid off for my cherries.

These are small, extremely sour cherries, and most people I know don't like them in their natural form, though they enjoy them as maraschino cherries, which are preserved and sweetened. However, Bow and I like them just as they are -- very tart!

Bow enjoys the cherries so much that he sometimes eats them whole, pit and all. I tried to slow down his eating and asked him to give me the stems and the pits.


Later in the day, the dogs were barking at something on the other side of the fence, and Bow wanted me to go check it out.

Bow concerned about something going on outside

It was a beautiful black rat snake.

The snake was long and fat, but it may have recently eaten, for it was quite calm and perfectly harmless toward me, even when I got close.

On my property, life and death happen naturally. Many beings every day give their lives so that other beings may live. For all animals, including humans, food is a living thing, whether animal or plant. We are all predator and prey in turn. I eat meat, and I plan to continue eating meat, because that is the healthiest and most effective diet for me.  But I do not kill unnecessarily, and I know that for me, that black rat snake is more friend than foe.  So the snake and I went our separate ways without hurting one another, and I reported to Bow that all was well outdoors. He looked at the picture of the snake briefly, then went back to grooming me.

I wish that my fellow human primates could recognize when someone is not threatening them and avoid killing others unnecessarily. I am not sure I understand completely why it was necessary to kill Harambe at the Cincinnati Zoo. In any event, a zoo is clearly not a safe environment for a great ape, as there are not adequate barriers in place, and any time there is doubt about safety, nobody cares whether a human is trespassing in an ape enclosure or an ape is trespassing on human territory.

I would never send Bow to live in a zoo or in a sanctuary where a breach of protocol by a human could result in Bow's being shot. But I am afraid, very afraid, that with US Fish & Wildlife tightening the noose around the necks of primate owners, my time for idyllic grooming with Bow and quiet time together may be rapidly drawing to a close.

Delegates from Missouri
Austin Petersen,
 Aya Katz,
 Thomas R. Fiedler,
 Rebekah Fiedler,
Jeremiah Barnett

I went to the Libertarian National Convention in Orlando to help select Austin Petersen as our presidential nominee, because I trusted that as President, he would direct U.S. Fish &Wildlife to stop sending our tax money to Africa and to stop harassing the owners of primates here in the United States. But Austin Petersen was not chosen. Gary Johnson was chosen, and I have no earthly idea where he stands on this. I suppose I will now have to reach out to his campaign to find out.

While there, I met the National Chair of the Libertarian Party and got to interview him for LibertyBuzz.

http://libertybuzz.us/story/a-party-of-principles-an-interview-with-nicholas-sarwark/2016/05/28/416/

We Libertarians disagree about many things. We are individuals, and we vote our conscience. No two Libertarians agree on everything. But it was encouraging to see that we all at least agreed on this: Taxation is theft!

If taxation is theft when it comes to redistribution of resources here in the United States, how much more so when taxpayer money is sent to Africa for conservation efforts by an agency that seeks to nationalize all chimpanzees, here in the United States!

http://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ID=E81DA137-BAF2-9619-3492A2972E9854D9