by Jane Goodall
“My own relationship with David was unique—and will never be repeated,” Jane wrote in her 1986 book The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior. “When David disappeared during an epidemic of pneumonia in 1968, I mourned for him as I have for no other chimpanzee before or since.”
Old Flo was another early visitor to Jane’s camp. She was accompanied by two of her offspring, juvenile Figan and infant Fifi. Then, adolescent Faben began to arrive with them, suggesting by his behavior that he was part of the family. This gave Jane the first glimpse of the close and lasting bonds that develop between mothers and their older offspring. When Flo became sexually receptive, she was followed into the camp by many male suitors, each hoping for a chance to mate. When the males discovered bananas in the camp, they, too, became regular visitors.
It was Flo’s personality that endeared her to Jane. “She was aggressive, tough as nails, and easily the most dominant of all the females at that time,” Jane wrote in her book In the Shadow of Man. She was a superb mother—easygoing, tolerant, playful, and protective, but with enough discipline to keep Fifi in line—important for the child’s development. In 1964, Flo gave birth to another infant, whom Jane named Flint. Jane delighted in watching as Flo cared for her new son. And she noted how big sister Fifi was absolutely fascinated by the baby and desperate to have contact with her new brother.
Flo with her playful infant Flint
David Greybeard has been given a handful of bananas.
Jane often took to the trees to see above the fourteen-feet-tall grasses.
Flo, Flint, and Fifi rest in a nest thirty feet above the ground.
Flo, inevitably, began to show her age. She wasn’t strong enough to wean Flint when the time came, nor to care for her new infant Flame, born when Flint was only four and a half years old (the normal birth interval is five years or more). Flame disappeared during a time when Flo was too ill even to climb into a nest. Though she recovered somewhat after Flame’s death, she did not have the strength to discipline Flint, who insisted on riding on her back and sleeping in her nest. When Flo died in 1972, Flint, abnormally dependent on his old mother, fell into a state of depression. Lethargic and gaunt, he was not interested in eating. Jane poignantly described Flint’s last days in Through a Window: “The last journey he made, pausing to rest every few feet, was to the very place where Flo’s body had lain. There he stayed for several hours, sometimes staring and staring into the water. He struggled on a little further, then curled up—and never moved again.”
For Jane, Flo’s death left a void at Gombe—the two had spent so many hours together. (Flo is the only chimpanzee honored with an obituary in Britain’s Sunday Times.) But her legacy lives on in her descendants—members of the highly successful “F” family. Flo’s son Figan became alpha and her grandsons Freud, Frodo, and Ferdinand all achieved alpha status as well. In addition, her two granddaughters, Fanni and Flossi, are high-ranking mothers, each with several offspring of their own.
Each evening in her tent, Jane would write up data from her field notebooks, recounting the chimp behavior she observed that day. During her first year at Gombe, she wrote by hand on lined three-ring notebook paper. Later she managed to get a portable typewriter.
Jane sips coffee and watches the sun set over Lake Tanganyika.
In her early days at Gombe, Jane spent many hours sitting on a high peak with binoculars or a telescope, searching the forest below for chimpanzees.
TRIBUTE TO FIFI
FLO’S DAUGHTER FIFI WAS A HIGHLY CURIOUS AND FEARLESS YOUNGSTER, THRIVING UNDER FLO’S SKILLFUL MOTHERING AND THE PROTECTION OF HER TWO OLDER BROTHERS, FIGAN AND FABEN.
Fifi grew to be a top-ranking female, a central player in Gombe’s Kasekela group and one who contributed greatly to our understanding of mothering, sexual behavior, the female dominance hierarchy, and much more. She was extremely successful reproductively, giving birth to her ninth baby at the age of forty-four. (Most females don’t raise more than two or three offspring to reproductive maturity.) Despite the typical high rate of infant mortality, Fifi only lost two of hers.
Jane and Fifi had a strong and somewhat mysterious connection, even after Jane stopped daily field research in 1986. Whenever Jane managed to get to Gombe for a few days (twice a year) to “recharge her batteries,” Fifi inevitably appeared as though to greet her, often on the second day. She and Jane would sit quietly, as they had done many times before. It was like two old friends enjoying a happy reunion, seeming to commune in silence.
Fifi’s disappearance in 2004 was a shock and a profound loss for researchers at the Gombe Stream Research Centre and especially sad for Jane. No one is sure what happened—Fifi simply went missing, along with her last infant. It was feared that she might have been attacked by a neighboring community.
Curious Fifi spoils Hugo’s shot when she sees her reflection in his camera lens.
Both studying each other, Jane watches Fifi while drinking coffee in her tent, and Fifi perches on the guy-rope, staring back at Jane.
A Research Center is Born
In 1962, Jane temporarily left Gombe to attend the University of Cambridge and pursue a doctorate in ethology (the study of animal behavior). She was only the eighth person in the history of Cambridge to be allowed to work for a Ph.D. without first having received a bachelor’s degree. To avoid losing valuable data during her absence, she set up a program for research assistants to continue following and recording the behavior of the chimpanzees while she was away. And so began the Gombe Stream Research Centre.
Since its inception in 1965, the Gombe Stream Research Centre has become a launching pad for hundreds of students who long to follow in Jane Goodall’s footsteps, many of whom are now respected primatologists in their own right and many of whom retain close links with Gombe and its chimpanzees. Jane also opened the door for women, who have played a leading role in the study of chimpanzees and other great apes.
Dense forests and woodlands cover the hills of Gombe.
Jane spent countless hours hidden in the vegetation, observing the chimps through her binoculars.
A mother and her infant rest in the treetops in Gombe.
Current residents of Gombe—(left to right) Bahati, Baroza, and Sheldon, a former alpha male
Kris, former alpha male
Jane and Emmanuel Mtiti, head of the Greater Gombe Ecosystem Program, view the regenerating forest outside Gombe National Park.
Fifi fishes termites from a nest.
SECTION 3
WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED
THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH DR. GOODALL BEGAN IN 1960 HAS FOCUSED ON THE ROUGHLY ONE HUNDRED CHIMPANZEES LIVING IN THE PARK. IT ALSO INCLUDES A LONG-TERM STUDY OF THE BEHAVIOR OF BABOONS, AS WELL AS SHORT-TERM STUDIES OF RED COLOBUS, RED TAIL, AND BLUE MONKEYS.
Fanni cradles her infant Fax.
Goblin seeks support from Frodo during a tense moment with the other males.
A HUGE BODY OF WORK HAS COME OUT OF GOMBE FROM JANE AND OTHER RESEARCHERS—MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED SCIENTIFIC PAPERS, THIRTY-FIVE DOCTORAL THESES, THIRTY BOOKS, MANY FILMS, HUNDREDS OF ARTICLES AND SECONDARY WRITINGS, AND HUNDREDS OF LECTURE TOURS AND CONFERENCES. BUT WHAT HAS THE DILIGENT WORK OF GOMBE’S RESEARCHERS TAUGHT US?
Biology and Behavior
The structure of the chimpanzee brain is startlingly similar to that of the human brain. Many aspects of chimpanzee behavior and social relations, emotional expression, and needs are also similar to those of humans. Various cognitive abilities once regarded as unique to humans have been convincingly demonstrated in chimpanzees, including reasoned thought, abstraction, generalization, symbolic representation, and the concept of self. Nonverbal communication includes hugs, kisses, pats on the back, play tickling, swaggering, punching, and so on. Chimpanzees also express many of the same emotions, such as joy, sadness, fear, and despair.
The chimpanzee developmental cycle is not very different from that of humans. Infancy lasts for five years, followed by childhood, and then adolescence, which lasts unt
il age thirteen. The Gombe chimps start to look old when they are about forty-five years of age. In captivity, they can live for sixty-five years or more.
Infant chimpanzees spend hours every day playing with other youngsters.
Frodo pant-hoots from his day nest.
There are close parallels between the chimpanzee infant and the human child. Both have the capacity for endless romping and play, are highly curious, learn by observation and imitation, and, above all, need constant reassurance and attention. For both, affectionate physical contact is essential for healthy development.
Within their home range, chimpanzees have no special sleeping sites and the distance they travel each day depends on the abundance of food. Each chimpanzee builds a new nest every night—if he does use an old nest, he bends fresh branches over it. Infants will sleep with their mothers until the age of five or until the next baby is born. In the dry season, the chimpanzees usually take a midday siesta on the forest floor in the shade of the trees, but during the rainy season, they often build nests in the trees for daytime naps, thus avoiding the cold, damp ground. Interestingly, they make no serious attempt to shelter themselves from the rain.
In her National Geographic article “My Life Among Wild Chimpanzees,” Jane reported: “The construction of a nest, I found, is simple and takes only a couple of minutes. After choosing a suitable foundation, such as a horizontal fork with several branches growing out, the chimpanzee stands on this and bends down a number of branches from each side so that the leafy ends rest across the foundation. He [or she] holds them in place with his feet. Finally he bends in all the little leafy twigs that project around the nest, and the bed is ready. But the chimpanzee likes his comfort, and often, after lying down for a moment, he sits up and reaches out for a handful of leafy twigs, which he pops under his head or some other part of his body. Then he settles down again with obvious satisfaction.”
The Gombe chimpanzees eat fruit, leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers. But they will also feast on ants, termites, caterpillars, birds’ eggs, and honey. Occasionally they hunt, kill, and eat small- and medium-sized mammals, especially young bushpigs, monkeys, or antelope. If a younger chimp has made the kill, the carcass is often divided among a small group. But if the prey belongs to a high-ranking male, other chimpanzees gather around and beg for shares, which they may or may not get.
Chimpanzees communicate in some of the same ways that humans do—through touch, posture, and gesture, as well as sounds. They also show affection with hugs and kisses.
For about the first five months, an infant clings to its mother’s breast and belly. After that, an infant rides on its mother’s back until it is about four years old. This mother is transporting two offspring.
One of Jane’s earliest discoveries was that chimpanzees are not strictly vegetarian. They hunt small and medium-size mammals, and after a kill, they share the carcass. Here, Fifi is seen dominating the adult males in her group to keep this prize, a young bushbuck. She did not share until completely satisfied.
Current Gombe residents
Tool Making
Before Jane began her research, it was thought that the ability to craft and use tools was specific to Homo sapiens. We now know that chimpanzees make and use tools to solve a great range of problems. Primary among these at Gombe is the “fishing” of termites from underground nests with the aid of a stem of grass or a twig. In the National Geographic article “My Life Among Wild Chimpanzees,” Jane describes this most important of her discoveries: “Termites form a major part of the chimpanzee diet for a two-month period. The termite season starts at the beginning of the rains, when the fertile insects grow wings and are ready to leave the nest. At this time, the passages are extended to the surface of the termite heap and then sealed lightly over while the insects await good flying weather. The chimpanzee is not alone in his taste for termites—the baboon in particular has a fondness for the juicy insects, but he must wait until they fly and then take his turn, together with the birds, at grabbing the termites as they leave the nest.
“The chimpanzee forestalls them all. He comes along, peers at the surface of the termite heap and, where he spies one of the sealed-off entrances, scrapes away the thin layer of soil. Then he picks a straw or dried stem of grass and pokes this carefully down the hole. The termites, like miniature bulldogs, bite the straw and hang on grimly as it is gently withdrawn.
“As the straw becomes bent at the end, the chimpanzee breaks off the bent pieces until the tool is too short for further use. Then it is discarded and a new one picked. Sometimes a leafy twig is selected, and before this can be used the chimpanzee has to strip off the leaves.
“In doing so—in modifying a natural object to make it suitable for a specific purpose—the chimpanzee has reached the first crude beginnings of tool making.”
Chimpanzees in different parts of Africa show different tool-using behaviors. It is clear that infants learn these traditions by observing the behavior of adults, then practicing. One definition of human culture is behavior that is passed from one generation to the next through observation and imitation—thus we can say that chimpanzees have primitive cultures. At Gombe they use sticks for a variety of purposes: to fish for the vicious biting siafu (army ants), to enlarge holes in trees to search for honey, to investigate objects they can’t touch or that provoke fear (the end of the probe is then sniffed).
They also use leaves as tools. When chimpanzees find water in a tree hollow that they can’t reach with their lips, they chew a few leaves, crumple them to make a sponge they can dip into the hollow, and then suck out the liquid. They also use leaves as napkins to dab at blood or wipe away dirt from the body. And, they use sticks and rocks as weapons—clubs or missiles—during aggressive interactions with other chimpanzees, baboons, or humans. In West Africa, chimpanzees use rocks as hammers and anvils to smash open hard-shelled nuts, and one group was observed modifying branches to create rudimentary spears, which they thrusted into hollows in trees where lesser bushbabies sleep.
Young Glitta (left) watches intently as her older sister, Gaia, fishes for termites.
Family Groups
The individuals within a chimpanzee community, particularly family members, develop close, supportive, and affectionate bonds that can persist throughout their lives—for forty or fifty years. Chimpanzees maintain and strengthen relationships through long bouts of social grooming. They also cooperate during hunting and defending territories.
Wild chimpanzees become sexually mature when they are between ten and thirteen years old. Females are likely to mate with all or most of the males in their community, although never with their own sons. The father plays no role in childrearing, but the aforementioned patrols serve as a means of protecting resources for the females and young. Adult males are very protective of infants in their group. If a mother dies, her infant will almost always be adopted, usually by an older sibling—and brothers make excellent caregivers. Occasionally an unrelated adult will care for an orphan.
The chimpanzees’ gestation period is approximately eight lunar months. A female seldom has her first baby before she is twelve years old. She then typically gives birth every five years or so. High infant mortality rates mean that she’s unlikely to raise more than three offspring to full maturity during her lifetime.
A newborn chimpanzee infant is practically helpless but, unlike a human baby, has great strength in his hands and feet so he can cling to his mother, holding onto her hair as she moves about. Chimpanzee infants usually take their first steps at roughly four months, but they are very unsteady. They are totally dependent on their mothers for transport and milk for the first three years. Young chimpanzees are usually weaned at five years, but stay with their mothers until they are at least seven.
Infants are very active and adults are usually extremely tolerant of small infants playing around them. “I once watched little Fifi tormenting an adolescent male, Figan [her brother],” Jane wrote in a National Geographic article. “He
was resting peacefully when Fifi hurled herself onto him, pulling his hair, pushing her fingers into his face, biting his ears. She swung above him, kicking out, while he indulgently pushed her to and fro with one hand. Finally, exhausted for the moment, she flung herself down beside him.”
For the male, puberty begins at eight years of age and, as with humans, adolescence can be stressful. A young male gradually gains status with the females of his group as he gets older, but is likely to continue to show respect for his mother. But even as he gains dominance over the females, the adolescent male must learn to show increasing deference toward the older males. Behavior they tolerated when he was a mere juvenile may now be seen as a threat and he is likely to be firmly put in his place. In this time of uncertainty, an adolescent male often loses confidence and may spend greater amounts of time alone or with his mother. While male chimpanzees will remain in their natal groups throughout their lifetimes, adolescent females often join other communities.
Two youngsters frolic in the trees.
Young females shape their mothering skills by watching others and by grooming, carrying, and playing with younger siblings—or the infants of other females, if this is allowed. It became obvious early on in Jane’s study of the Gombe chimps that the mothering skills of female chimpanzees can vary greatly. Flo and another female, Passion, provided an interesting contrast. Both mothers were high-ranking females, but had very different personalities. Flo was sociable and had relaxed relations with adult males. She was an attentive, affectionate, and supportive mother. Passion was asocial and her relations with community males were tense. She was a much less caring mother than Flo and much less affectionate. She seldom played with her daughter, Pom. Probably as a result of her favorable early experience, Fifi grew up to be well integrated in her community, and had successful offspring of her own. Pom, by contrast, was tense and nervous in her interactions with others and lost her first infant. After Passion died, Pom emigrated from her community and disappeared.