Every animal uses body language to communicate and today we meet a primate who uses distinct body language to communicate with the world around him.
JJ, the mandrill's caretaker, Sarah Pelon, tells us more about the body language of this large monkey.
PELON: A lot of people, when they come to the zoo, they might see JJ bobbing his head up and down. That's a threat posture. So, we actually try to encourage people not to do that back to him, because that means you are threatening him.
He'll do that if he feels threatened by anybody he doesn't know. If there was another male mandrill around, he would head bob towards him.
Another interesting thing that JJ will do, and all mandrills will do, but mostly him here at the zoo, he'll smile. It is very similar to a human smile. He will smile, show his teeth and shake his head from side to side.
That is a friendly greeting, just like it is with humans. It looks intimidating, because they have very large teeth, but it is actually a very friendly greeting.
NEWSCASTER: JJ shares his space with his family, his mate and his two daughters, and he treats all of them differently.
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Primate communication
Primates use distinctive body language to communicate.
 
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PELON: He pays more attention to his mate, because she is the only female that he is breeding with in our group here. He will pay more attention to her.
There are certain times when she does cycle, which is a non-verbal communication for him that she is ready for breeding and he will pay particular attention to her and groom her face a lot, spend a lot of time with her. He will groom his daughters when they approach him, but he doesn't really seek them out.
What he will do for his daughters, though, a lot of times, he will back them up. They always know Daddy has their back.
So, sometimes, the little daughters try to get a little aggressive with the public and might come up and slap the glass, because they know Daddy is behind them and will always be willing to back them up.
NEWSCASTER: Sarah has some advice on how to better know our own pets.
PELON: Spend time with them. That's the main thing, spending a lot of time with them. You will learn each animal is an individual.
Every dog is different. Every cat is different.
You have to learn how your pet is and you can only do that by spending time with them.
NEWSCASTER: No matter what pets you have, spending time with them and getting to know their body language is the first step in better understanding their form of communication.
I'm Lisa Chalenza. We'll see you next time with more Pet Pointers.
