Hi all! Calvin here. I’ve worked with chimpanzees for over 25 years, and JimJim is the first I’ve met that is a gentleman. I’m mystified. As you know, I stopped TV-time when I came onboard; it simply has to be his sharp and prolonged memory. We’ll be doing some non-invasive scans on his frontopolar cortex. We’re combining sulcal pattern analysis with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and cytoarchitectonic analysis to show that old-world monkey brains have the same principles of organization as hominid brains, with the notable exception of sulci in the frontopolar cortex.
This exists in all chimpanzees but presents as advanced for JimJim. He shakes hands when he’s introduced to someone, he waves goodbye when visitors leave- chimpanzees meet and greet a lot like humans. This, I’ve seen before. But JimJim will press his hands together in a praying gesture to say thank you. We’ve never shown him this behavior. Maybe all the TV? He will stop at thresholds and bow, waving an arm out as if to say, ‘after you.’ He won’t touch his food until you give him the explicit go-ahead. He likes to be held- nearly all chimpanzees do, but unlike every other monkey I’ve ever seen who climb people they like as if they were rock-climbing walls, JimJim will wait at your feet, get to his knees and make that praying gesture again?!
We’ll see how he behaves after no TV for a few months. In the meantime, JimJim has been drawing up a storm, and it’s odd to even put these words together, here goes: he played Monopoly with us the other day. He grabbed a player piece (he chose the shoe), picked up the dice and rolled double fives. Then he moved the shoes ten spaces, tapping each on out neatly along the way, grabbed the dice again, rolled a three and a four, landed on Saint James Place and handed me nine twenty-dollar bills.
We sat there with our mouths gaped. When I didn’t move because I was too stunned, he pressed his hands together in that praying gesture and stared. I’m sure we’ll find some valuable data from the scans that will shed some light on his behavior/long-term memory. In the meantime, Doctor Chadwick gave us his blessing to continue uploading and sharing JimJim’s art with you all. We’ll keep these coming as long as he keeps drawing.
— Calvin Poe