Chimp & See Talk

Holding up foot

  • hoothoot by hoothoot

    In several videos now I have seen females stopping for a moment and holding up one foot. I have read that this gesture is meant to act as an invitation for their young to climb on.

    However, in all the instances this gesture occurred no juvenile made a move. These females both either carried infants on their back or belly or had no infant present.
    But I'm particularly confused to see this behaviour in adult males also; both with juveniles present and when the sequence made it look as if there were no other chimps around.
    To me, the answer that those chimps are simply tired and prefer to rest on one foot for a bit seems a bit too easy 😕
    Could it be meant as a general "follow me" gesture ? This would explain the use by both sexes.

    Any ideas ?

    Regarding videos, I will try and get a hold of the links next time I find one.

    Posted

  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    hi hoothoot, I know what you mean and asked myself the same question. I like this moments of pausing and freezing the moment with the foot 😃 perhaps we should open a collection of "freezing feet" ...

    Posted

  • jwidness by jwidness moderator

    I think you're referring to Hobaiter, Catherine, and Richard W. Byrne. "The meanings of chimpanzee gestures." Current Biology 24.14 (2014): 1596-1600.

    If you look at the supplemental information, you can see more details about the "foot present" behavior. They recorded this behavior 8 times, given by 4 different individuals, in 3 different contexts: "climb on me", "follow", and "stop".

    enter image description here

    So you're right that they suggest they main purpose of this gesture is to invite infants to climb on, but they also found it in other contexts, like those you mentioned. In their study, they found that most gestures can result in multiple outcomes, and that most outcomes can be preceded by multiple gestures. As a side note, they coded a separate behavior called "present climb on", where "arm or leg is extended to young recipient in order to facilitate them climbing onto the signaler's body", and the only outcome ever recorded for this behavior is the infant climbs on.

    Posted

  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    @hoothoot ...loke here, just found: female holds up her foot in a small "courtesy" to signal youngster to dismount 😃
    ACP000c4zn

    Posted

  • ksigler by ksigler moderator

    Interesting... I've often wondered about the raised foot pose, though maybe I'm thinking of different gestures than you guys. I think sometimes bending a leg upward just helps the mother lower her body for the juvenile to hop on or off. I've also seen it as part of a "stop, look & listen" behavior. The one that comes to mind immediately is Luigi (in front) and Amy (carrying River), frozen in-sync as they listen to calls off-camera:

    ACP0004vbj

    Amy


    We've seen the arm presentations quite a bit, too. This is one of the best I remember seeing.. Lulu and Lulu's mom (RWFem04):

    ACP0002wob

    Reach, and when that doesn't work, pull. 😃

    arm arm2

    Posted

  • zoogirl1 by zoogirl1

    That arm presentation is not just a chimp thing if any of you have any children, you know. It means: Let's go! with slight frustration. lol

    I have seen a few videos where the adult goes just out of frame but then stops and all I see is a foot purposely being held up. In those cases, a juve was nearby but I didn't get to see the outcome.

    Posted

  • vestigial by vestigial

    While I don't care so much for the narration of this video if you go to around the 40 second mark you see a gesture everyone will recognize -

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIlHdCnNddg

    Posted

  • ksigler by ksigler moderator in response to vestigial's comment.

    lmao Oh my gosh, you're so right.... it's like watching a human family interact! Love the blanket dragging, too. Awesome video! 😃

    Posted

  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    Here, one more "footing" 😃 ACP000bzsf

    Posted

  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    and another one, this time from a young male: ACP000bj9k

    Posted

  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    and again: ACP000bhwr this is cute, because the kid is imitating mum

    Posted

  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    ACP000bujm … male footing …

    Posted

  • Snorticus by Snorticus in response to vestigial's comment.

    That was a very cool video - the big "what" gesture from mom is hilarious!

    Posted

  • Snorticus by Snorticus in response to luca-chimp's comment.

    Good catch, @luca-chimp, I missed seeing that until you pointed it out. So cute!

    Posted

  • AnLand by AnLand moderator

    I actually cannot see any "gesture" in most of the videos posted here. I think that they just stop in a motion and keep their foot still as it is for whatever reason they pause right now (watching, sniffing, listening, ...). I mean, we as humans do that as well, but because of our bipedality and most peoples' difficulties to keep the balance on one leg, we (need to) put our foot down. The chimps are just more stable on three limbs and can pause in a movement like this.

    ACP000bzsf is different of course. Whatever that gesture means (and whatever their relation is), there is an interaction.

    Posted

  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    @AnLand, hoothoot opens the thread with the question, if the often seen "stop-motion" is only a sign of resting or beeing tired or if its not a special gesture for whatever ... invitation for the youngsters, "follow me" gesture ... ec. So, for me it is exciting to collect all "footings" to see, if there are patterns or similarities ... or if it was just an idea 😃

    Posted

  • AnLand by AnLand moderator in response to luca-chimp's comment.

    Yes, that's certainly a good idea - and here a new hashtag, e.g. #hold_foot, would really help to collect these videos (or in a manual collection as well, of course). Than we could compare and maybe determine how often it is just a pausing in motion and how often it seems to be an actual gesture.

    Posted

  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    Just today I started a new manual collection, named "footing". But I cannot use an own tag in the lines, can I? #hold_foot would be better, because, "footing" was my own word-invention, and has a completely other meaning ... (I just googled)

    Posted

  • AnLand by AnLand moderator in response to luca-chimp's comment.

    Of course, you can. If you are unsure whether your "own" hashtag conflicts with one of the science team (I don't think so), just ask @MimiA or @maureenmccarthy. But basically, you can add your own hashtags.

    Posted

  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    Ah, okay 😃 Brilliant … so I tagged them all with your suggestion #hold_foot

    Posted