by Jane Goodall
Through a Window
My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe
Jane Goodall
Table of Contents
Title Page
Table of Contents
...
Copyright
Dedication
CONTENTS
PREFACE
1. GOMBE
2. THE MIND OF THE CHIMPANZEE
3. THE RESEARCH CENTRE
4. MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS
5. FIGAN'S RISE
6. POWER
7. CHANGE
8. GILKA
9. SEX
10. WAR
11. SONS AND MOTHERS
12. BABOONS
13. GOBLIN
14. JOMEO
15. MELISSA
16. GIGI
17. LOVE
18. BRIDGING THE GAP
19. OUR SHAME
20. CONCLUSION
...
AFTERWORD
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Appendix I
Appendix II
GOMBE BIBLIOGRAPHY
GOMBE RESEARCH AND SUPPORT
Index
ABOUT THE JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE
MARINER BOOKS
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT
Boston • New York
First Mariner Books edition 2000
Copyright © 1990 by Soko Publications Limited
Preface copyright © 2010 by Jane Goodall
Afterword copyright © 2010 by Jane Goodall
All rights reserved
For information about permission to reproduce selections from
this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,
215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
www.hmhbooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Goodall, Jane, date.
Through a window : my thirty years with the chimpanzees of
Gombe / Jane Goodall.—1st Mariner Books ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-547-33695-4
1. Chimpanzees—Behavior—Tanzania—Gombe Stream
National Park. I. Title.
QL737.P96G5877 2000
599.88509678—dc22 2009045230
Book design by Melissa Lotfy
Appendix illustrations are by David Bygott.
Printed in the United States of America
DOC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on 100 percent postconsumer-waste recycled stock.
To the chimpanzees of the world, those still living free in the wild and those held captive and enslaved by humans. For all that they have contributed to knowledge and understanding.
And to all those who have helped and who are helping in the fight to conserve the chimpanzees in Africa and to bring comfort and new hope to those in captivity.
And in memory of Derek.
CONTENTS
PREFACE [>]
1 GOMBE [>]
2 THE MIND OF THE CHIMPANZEE [>]
3 THE RESEARCH CENTRE [>]
4 MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS [>]
5 FIGAN'S RISE [>]
6 POWER [>]
7 CHANGE [>]
8 GILKA [>]
9 SEX [>]
10 WAR [>]
11 SONS AND MOTHERS [>]
12 BABOONS [>]
13 GOBLIN [>]
14 JOMEO [>]
15 MELISSA [>]
16 GIGI [>]
17 LOVE [>]
18 BRIDGING THE GAP [>]
19 OUR SHAME [>]
20 CONCLUSION [>]
AFTERWORD [>]
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS [>]
APPENDIX I. Some Thoughts on the Exploitation of Non-Human Animals [>]
APPENDIX II. Chimpanzee Conservation and Sanctuaries [>]
GOMBE BIBLIOGRAPHY [>]
GOMBE RESEARCH AND SUPPORT [>]
INDEX [>]
ABOUT THE JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE [>]
PREFACE
2010 MARKS THE FIFTIETH YEAR of wildlife research, conservation and education at Gombe National Park in Tanzania. As I sit, thinking back over those five decades, I am struck by science's increased understanding and acceptance of ways in which chimpanzees and humans resemble each other, not only biologically but intellectually and behaviourally. We now know that the DNA of humans and chimpanzees differs by only just over one per cent, and in recent years, as first the human and then the chimpanzee genomes were unraveled, it seems that the main difference in our genetic makeup lays in the expression of the genes.
When I began my observations in 1960 it was still commonly believed that there was a difference of kind, not just degree, separating humans and the rest of the animal kingdom, that there was a sharp line between us and them. Chimpanzees were used in medical research because of similarities in genetic composition, structure of the blood, functioning of the immune system and structure of the brain—and it was acceptable to place them in solitary confinement, in five-by-five, seven-foot-high laboratory cages, because (it was asserted) they, unlike us, did not have personalities, minds capable of rational thought or emotions.
Gradually, however, the accumulation of data from various studies of primates, elephants, wolves, dolphins and so on has led most scientists to rethink their attitudes towards non-human creatures. It became increasingly clear that reductionist explanations were inappropriate for the understanding of complex behaviour in species with complex brains. So today, in major universities around the world, it is possible to study the mind and even the personality and emotions of other-than-human animals.
Moreover, in the twenty years since the publication of Through a Window it has gradually become acceptable to talk of cultural behaviour—that is, "behaviour passed from one generation to the next through observational learning"—in chimpanzees and other intelligent animals. Data from chimpanzee field study sites across Africa have provided rich examples of variations in behaviour among different populations, especially obvious in the making and use of tools. Dr. Andy Whiten of St. Andrew's University has worked tirelessly to gather detailed information from all of these long-term field sites across Africa.
It is now recognized that intergroup aggression is not unique to the Gombe and Mahale chimpanzees. In other words, it cannot be characterized as abnormal behaviour caused by feeding them bananas, as some scientists once maintained. Instead it seems to be a widespread characteristic of chimpanzee societies. Attacks by other chimpanzees are the second most frequent cause of death at Gombe, after disease.
Through a Window contains sometimes grim descriptions of chimpanzees afflicted with a variety of diseases. Analysis of the data over the years shows that disease is the main cause of death for chimpanzees at Gombe and elsewhere. While some disease agents, including the SIVcpz virus (a variant of which was the precursor to HIV-1 in humans, which causes AIDS), are endemic to chimpanzees, others, such as respiratory viruses that sometimes cause lethal epidemics, have recently been shown to come from humans. Because chimpanzees can catch diseases from humans, we have established regulations regarding the distance of observer to chimpanzee, and our colleagues at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago have helped set up a health-monitoring programme so that we can learn more about health issues and, in particular, about the transmission of disease between humans, chimpanzees and baboons.
New Technologies
Since I began my field study in 1960 many new tools have become available to those studying animal behaviour, affecting both the collection of data in the field and its subsequent analysis. I started with paper, pencil and binoculars. Next I acquired a camera, a small telescope and a manual typewriter for transcribing notes. Then came crude maps for plotting ranging patterns, tape record
ers, time sampling methods and check sheets. This was the stage we had reached when I finished writing Through a Window. Today we make use of video footage and sophisticated technology—global positioning systems (GPS), geographical information systems (GIS), and satellite imagery—for creating maps. High-quality microphones, portable digital recorders and computer software all help to better understand chimpanzees' vocal communication.
Computerizing the Data
Skilled computer programming enables remarkably sophisticated and timely data analysis. Fifty years worth of observations, written reports, check sheets, tapes, still photographs, video clips—all of these records and more comprise the long-term database. Dr. Anne Pusey, who first worked at Gombe in the early 1970s, gathered this precious information from the various places it was stored—some from Cambridge, Stanford and other universities, but much from Gombe and my house in Dar es Salaam, where I had hand analyzed it for The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior. Anne rescued it in time from the ravages of humidity, insects and rats! Under her direction all these data are gradually being scanned, entered into computers and analysed by undergraduate and graduate students. These data have resulted in many papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Facts from Faeces
In the early days we learned a good deal about rarely eaten foods—such as meat—by examining chimpanzee poo. Now we know faeces may contain a fascinating variety of other information that could at one time be obtained only by collecting blood samples—out of the question at Gombe. Amazingly, a faecal sample can be used for DNA profiling of the individual who provides it. This work by Anne Pusey's graduate students from the University of Minnesota—Julie Constable and Emily Wroblewski—has provided us with DNA identification of almost all the Gombe chimpanzees. And this has enabled us, for the first time, to determine paternity. Previously we could never be absolutely certain which male had fathered which infant—only if the mother had been on a consortship with a particular male at the probable time of conception and no other male had appeared during those days to steal a copulation, could we be reasonably sure! And that meant following the couple day in and day out for the duration.
The DNA information reveals that alpha males are the most successful in fathering infants but that mid- and low-ranking males have greater success than predicted by their rank. This is because they are able to impregnate females when they take them on consortships. Most high-ranking males avoid this strategy, preferring to stay in the group to avoid aggressive displays against them on their return. Also, lower-ranking males are able to father the offspring of younger females who are less desirable to the high-ranking males. Finally, it is possible that young but still low-ranking males are more potent and that this benefits them when several males in the group mate with a female.
In addition to resolving the question of paternity, DNA information has also been very useful in determining how many individuals there are in the unhabituated Kalande community. And in tracing the ranging patterns of shy females. Recently, for example, the DNA of an adolescent female was repeatedly identified from faecal samples collected in different locations: first in Kalande to the south, then—once—in Kasekela (the central study community) and then in Mitumba to the north, where she has now settled.
Analysis of chimpanzee faecal samples can also provide information on the levels of certain hormones so that researchers can, for example, look for correlation between dominance rank and psychological stress, which may in turn lead to a better understanding of reproductive success.
Finally, new faeces-analysis techniques have enabled amazing research into disease. Not only can parasites be identified, but sensitive assays have been developed to identify antibodies to various disease-causing organisms. Even the genomes of the viruses themselves can be sequenced from faeces. Most notable is the work by Dr. Beatrice Hahn of the University of Alabama and her research team, who showed that HIV-1 originated from the SIVcpz virus in chimpanzees in west-central Africa, probably through the hunting and butchering of chimpanzees by humans. To understand more about the distribution and history of SIVcpz, Beatrice screened the faeces of chimpanzees all across Africa. She found that SIVcpz was widely, but patchily, distributed across the Congo basin and that a variant of the virus also occurred in Gombe. Working with faecal samples and the recovered bodies of dead chimps collected at Gombe over the last nine years, Beatrice and a team of scientists from Gombe and around the world have been able to sequence the virus, detect transmission events from one individual to another, and start to measure the effects of the virus on health. Although the sample is small, the virus does appear to cause increased mortality and even in one case clear signs of AIDS. But we have much more to learn about its natural history and severity and expect that continued noninvasive study at Gombe, the only habituated population known to harbor SIVcpz, will lead to a greater understanding of both SIV and HIV, which could eventually lead to breakthroughs in therapies (and prevention) for both humans and chimpanzees.
Mapping
We can now create accurate, large-scale maps that help us to better understand what has been happening in and around Gombe. GPS technology enables us to determine more accurately the location of landmarks and events. GIS technology has improved our analysis of ranging patterns, territorial behaviour, feeding locations and so on. Satellite images of Gombe and the surrounding land, dating back to the 1970s, have enabled us to document not only the devastating loss of forest and woodland outside the park but also the dramatic increase of vegetation inside the park, where national park staff have suppressed fires, allowing trees to grow, mature and spread over larger areas.
These mapping initiatives were introduced by Dr. Lilian Pintea, who was awarded his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota and now works with the Jane Goodall Institute. He is passionate about chimpanzee conservation and is working with a number of organizations towards the goal of mapping the range and populations of great apes across Africa.
Village Partners in Conservation
Lilian Pintea has spent much time working with the villagers outside Gombe National Park, helping them to map their knowledge of village landscapes and to support village land-use plans (mandated by the Tanzanian government). Conservation efforts in areas surrounded by high human population density and poverty can be achieved only after gaining the trust and support of the local people, and the Jane Goodall Institute is doing that through a community-based conservation programme that works—TACARE.
TACARE was started in the mid-1990s by George Strunden and Emmanuel Mtiti. Today it operates in twenty-four villages, improving the lives of the people through farming methods most suited to the degraded land, maintaining woodlots of fast-growing species for firewood close to the village, and working with local authorities to provide primary health care and improved water and sanitation systems. Women start their own environmentally sustainable projects through our microcredit programme, while scholarships enable girls to stay in school. We work intensively with women since all around the world it has been shown that as women's education improves, family size tends to drop—and it was increased population growth around Gombe that led to the devastating degradation of the land in the first place. We also deliver (through village volunteers) family planning and HIV/AIDS information.
In conjunction with the Tanzanian government we are working with other villages in a large, highly degraded area that we call the Greater Gombe Ecosystem, and an even larger area further south, the Masito-Ugalla and Mahale Ecosystems, where large stretches of forest still remain, home to many chimpanzees.
Leafy Corridor: Lifeline for Chimpanzees
The Tanzanian government requires each village to put aside at least 10 per cent of its land for conservation. And thanks to TACARE, the villagers are cooperating with Lilian Pintea and our land-use planning and GIS team to establish and map interconnected village forest reserves that form a forest corridor. This corridor is designed to provide both a buffer zone between the Gombe National Park chimp
anzees and the surrounding villages, and to permit those chimpanzees currently trapped in nearby remnant forests (surrounded by cultivated fields) outside the park to move in and interact with Gombe chimpanzee communities, as they used to do. This is how they enhance their gene pool. And this leafy passage is already growing. Early in 2009 I saw how the trees were already twenty feet tall in some places. When fully restored, the forest corridor will stretch from south of Gombe northward towards the Burundi border. Another corridor is planned to link the Greater Gombe Ecosystem with the Masito-Ugalla Ecosystem.
Roots & Shoots
There would be little point in striving to protect animals and environments if, at the same time, we were not also helping young people to become better stewards than we have been. Roots & Shoots is JGI's global environmental and humanitarian education programme for young people. It began in Tanzania in 1991 with a group of twelve secondary school students. Today (June2009)there are some ten thousand active Roots & Shoots groups in more than 110 countries. Members range in age from preschool children through to university students. An increasing number of adults are forming their own groups.
The main message of Roots & Shoots is that every individual makes a difference—every day. Each group chooses three kinds of projects that demonstrate care and concern for their own human community, animals both wild and domestic, and the environment we all share. Then they roll up their sleeves and take action. Roots & Shoots fosters respect and compassion for all living things, promotes understanding of all cultures and beliefs, and inspires each individual to take action to make the world a better place. What began with a handful of eager and concerned students in Tanzania has grown to a truly global movement.
Keeping in Touch
Soon after finishing Through a Window I began travelling around the globe, some three hundred days a year, raising awareness about the plight of the chimpanzees and their habitats and about the other environmental (and social) problems that face us today. I still get to Gombe twice a year—but for a few days only. There is a wonderful research team there comprising Tanzanian, European, American and even Asian researchers. Data collection continues, but I must make do with spending a few precious days out in the forest, recharging my batteries.