Grooming Gallery: Chimps Get Social

Wrist to Wrist

Chimpanzees grasping hands during grooming — (Image credit: Mark Bodamer)

Chimps at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust (CWOT) engage in a wrist-to-wrist grasp while grooming.

Chimps Groom and Grasp

Two groups of chimpanzees at CWOT engage in hand-clasping behavior, but only one does a wrist-to-wrist grasp.

Palm-to-Palm

Chimpanzees groom one another while grasping hands palm-to-palm.

Chimp Hand-Holding

Chimpanzees in a wrist-to-wrist grooming grasp.

Chimps Grooming

Not all groups of chimpanzees engage in hand-holding, suggesting that the practice might be cultural.

Young Chimp Grooming

A young chimp at CWOT grooms with hands held high.

Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.