National Geographic: Among the Wild Chimpanzees Page #3

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Among Goliath's audience Jane

spotted Flo and Flint

From her tall lookout

Fifi saw them too

Strong family ties

temporarily broken by the storm

were once again intact

The rainy season brings

the flight of fertile

winged termites as they leave

their nests to establish new colonies

For chimp and baboon alike

they are a tasty delicacy

But baboons can only capture

the termites outside the nest

as the swarms emerge and fly

When they have gone and worker termites

have resealed the nest

the baboons will move on

But the chimps not only know

termites are there

hidden below the surface,

they have learned how to get at them

In defense of their nest

the termites grip onto the grass

and with utmost care

the chimp gently draws them out

As a stem becomes bent

the chimp breaks off the end

to make it work more efficiently

Sometimes a leafy twig is selected

but first it must

be stripped of its leaves

In these actions

modifying natural objects

for a specific purpose -

the chimp is not only using

but actually making tools

It seems certain that

this is a learned behavior passed

from generation to generation

by watching and imitation

Flint does not yet know

how to fish for termites

but already he imitates

part of Flo's technique

Jane's proof that chimps

make and use tools would rock

the scientific world

"Tool using always used to be

considered a hallmark

of the human species

When Louis Leakey first heard

about tool using at Gombe

he got extremely excited and said

"Now we have to redefine man

redefine tool or

include chimpanzees with humans."

A chimpanzee brain will never

design a computer

nor even imagine a durable

tool chipped from stone

But his brain is more similar

to our own than is that of

any other living creature

And surely it was thus that

our distant human ancestors began

learning to master

the natural world

in the constant struggle

to survive

To a thirsty chimp

rainwater trapped in the hollow

of a tree is inviting

but not easily reached

Once again the chimps have learned to

solve a problem by fashioning a tool

Wadded leaves act as a sponge

Chewing makes them more absorbent

Using the sponge

the chimp can get as much as

eight times more water

than with fingers alone

Inherently curious, youngsters like

Fifi learn from older chimps

and thus the technique

is passed on

Baboons at Gombe outnumber

the chimps by about four to one

For the most part

the two species coexist peacefully

But the baboon is a competitor for

food and friction can arise

Because he has the intelligence

to use a weapon

yet another type of tool even a youngster

can intimidate a fully grown male

The bluff works but

as Jane would find out

sometimes the aggression

is very real

A young baboon has been captured

and killed by a group of chimps

and they will feast on its remains

Jane's discovery astounded the

scientific world

the chimp is not the gentle

vegetarian we had thought

but, like humans,

a formidable predator

Sometimes cooperating to

hunt and stalk their prey

they also kill young antelope

bushpigs, and monkeys

For the most part chimps eat meat

only they themselves have killed

Indeed, a dead animal is

often a puzzling sight

With Gombe's growing fame

visiting students and scientists

became a regular part of the scene

One day, as part of a project

to record chimpanzee calls

Jane put out bananas in great quantities

The result -

an eruption of frenzied excitement

desperate begging,

and violent aggression

Because of the excessive

hostilities aroused

Jane disapproved of such

human intervention

But the episode was not

without value

revealing the intricate patterns of

chimpanzee dominance and submission

and the chimps' intense need for

reassurance by touch

The sounds of the encounter were

carefully analyzed by students

specializing in chimp vocalization

With the passing years

Gombe drew students from around

the world with interests ranging from

biology to communication

to psychology

They came because of Jane

and the unique opportunities

of the living laboratory

she created here

To avoid future aggression

over bananas

Jane devised a system of rationing

by remote control

Now the chimps were fed only if they

arrived alone or in small groups

and then just once in ten days

Apparently not happy with

this new state of affairs

the ever-creative chimps

made their wishes known

The chimps' presence in camp provided

an opportunity for experiments

not possible in the forest

How would they react to

something new?

All chimpanzees are intensely curious

but often afraid of the unfamiliar

For the first time, Flint attempts

the typical male intimidation display

pulling vegetation and stamping

Later Jane put out a mirror

It was clearly a fascinating mystery

In retrospect,

Jane will say that had she known

her study would continue indefinitely

she would not have encouraged

contact between herself and the chimps

For one thing,

they are stronger than humans and

if they lose their fear, dangerous

Indeed, in the future

Jane would minimize

all interaction with the chimps

But for the moment

after the long struggle

for acceptance

David's silent consent to be

groomed was a prize beyond measure

In 1966 tragedy strikes

An epidemic spreads from

a nearby village

and Gombe awakes to

the devastation of polio

"Nothing that has happened at Gombe

before or since has been

as horrible nothing

They were among the darkest days

of my life; a living nightmare

The worst tragedy was

old Mr. McGregor

He lost the use of both his legs

and he could only move by pulling

himself along the ground by his arms

The other chimps were frightened

by this strangeness and

shunned old Gregor

Only his close relative

Humphrey, stayed nearby

The mother, Olly

has lost her month-old infant

to the disease

Though she knows he is not alive

she carries his dead body

for three days

Polio vaccine is flown in

and fed to the chimps in bananas

but for many it is too late

Flo's son, Faben,

paralyzed in one arm

protects it by walking

long distances upright

To get food Mr. McGregor had learned

to pull himself into trees

with the strength

of his arms alone

But he dislocated a shoulder

while trying to climb

and now can no longer move at all

Jane knew she had but one choice

Her longtime friend must be shot

But 1967 would bring joy

Married three years

Hugo and Jane now had a son

Little Hugo, nicknamed Grub

would grown up in a world

most children never even see

Spending less time at work

to be with Grub

Jane modeled her behavior

after the patient

affectionate chimp mothers

she had long observed

"Gombe was the ideal place

to raise a child," she said

"You could focus on the

important things in life: family

unity with all living creatures

being part of the natural world."

As she watched her own son grow

Jane continued to track

the development of Flo's son

Flint, who was now four and a half

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