In the Shadow of Man

Goodall established the Gombe Stream Research Center so that she could host students interested in researching chimps as well as baboons and colobus monkeys. She and van Lawick found the research students helpful because they could observe the chimps who came to camp while Goodall was in the mountains, type up her notes, and organize her observations for her PhD thesis.

In his continued contributions to the study, van Lawick invented “dung-swirling,” in which they washed the chimps’ dung to determine what they’d been eating. This method was successful because chimps only partially digest much of their food, so spotting the fruit seeds, pits, other debris was easy. Goodall was pleased that this method gave her “a very good picture of their diet throughout the year” (132). She recalls that they all worked seven days a week until her visiting mother urged them to take one evening a week off to relax. The author admits that the work was so constant that her passion is all that kept her going: “[I]f the work had not been our pleasure it is doubtful whether we should have been able to keep up the pace” (133). Eventually, they hired a secretary named Sonia Ivey, who helped type up Goodall’s notes, allowing her to spend more time in the field with the chimps.

By this time, the local group of 45 chimps regularly came into Goodall’s camp. While Goodall and the others tried to keep their belongings locked in trunks, chimps often barged into tents and took their belongings—and they became bolder about approaching Goodall outside, such as when Rodolf grabbed a corner of her shirt and sucked on it for 15 minutes. In another incident, David Graybeard grabbed Vanne Goodall’s pajamas and held on until he was bribed away with a banana. Male chimp Leakey invaded van Lawick’s space by sticking his finger in his bellybutton, and similarly approached research student Edna. Many of the chimps loved eggs, which the group had to lock away, although Mr. McGregor once managed to steal four of them. Meanwhile, Goliath and JB broke tents and feeding boxes. The feeding station became problematic too since the bolder chimps such as David Graybeard looked in their tents if the station was empty and quickly learned Goodall’s hiding places for food. Goodall comments on the commotion: “Life became increasingly hectic and impossible, and increasingly I longed for those uncomplicated days when I roamed the mountains alone” (137).

The National Geographic Society funded the construction of two simple buildings on the site in which Goodall and her team could live and study. Goodall appreciated her new home at Gombe, which felt luxurious compared to her years of living in a tent, and she was sad to leave it to return to the UK to complete her PhD dissertation. By this time, she and van Lawick realized that they’d made a “grave mistake” by encouraging the infant Flint and his siblings Fifi and Figan to come close to them and play with them. They were amazed that wild creatures could so quickly lose their fear of humans, but they worried that the chimps could become dangerous, so they implemented a new rule at Gombe that no one could touch a chimp on purpose. Similarly, Goodall was concerned that by regularly offering bananas at feeding stations they were changing the group’s behavior; the chimps now moved about in large groups more often and even slept close to camp so that they could easily come in “noisy hordes” in the morning. Unfortunately, the male chimps in particular became “increasingly aggressive.”

Upon her return from the UK, Goodall was dismayed to find that the camp was “chaotic” because the chimps were overly familiar with people, and many of them had learned the trick to opening the feeding box. In addition, much more conflict occurred among the chimps than before. To deal with these developments, Goodall decided to feed the chimps irregularly rather than daily, to implement a new battery-operated steel feeding box, and to have a trench constructed around the feeding stations that allowed her to hide bananas from aggressive chimps or baboons and then reopen it for well-behaved chimps. These adjustments helped resolve most of the problematic interactions between chimps, baboons, and people, and Goodall was pleased to continue watching the chimps at the feeding station while also tracking them in the wild. She concludes that the valuable insights they gained into the chimp group over these years were worth the “struggles and heartaches and near despair” (145).

Because female chimps give birth so infrequently, newborns often caused great excitement and curiosity in the group. Goodall recalls how Melissa’s newborn, Goblin, was two days old when his mother tentatively introduced him to the rest of their group. Soon, the adult males began to “display” by jumping through the trees and shaking the branches, and a frightened Melissa rushed away with the other females. Goodall attributes this to the males’ “frustrated curiosity” since Melissa wouldn’t let them get close to Goblin. Melissa allowed the other females to get a close look at Goblin but remained protective of him. Goodall’s many observations of new mothers with their infants led her to conclude that allowing other adults to look at the baby is much safer. When inexperienced mothers run away, it’s risky to the infant because they can’t cling tightly to their mothers and are often still trailing the umbilical cord and placenta. Of the 12 infants born to Gombe chimps throughout Goodall’s study, several died before they reached a year old, though Goodall didn’t witness these deaths but only registered the disappearances.

The author recalls a chimp mother named Passion who wasn’t particularly protective of her infant. Unlike Flo and Melissa, Passion laid her infant Pom on the ground as a newborn and allowed other chimps to touch her, didn’t carry her gently, and didn’t support her while nursing. Passion had already lost one infant, and Goodall suspected that she may have had other infants who died as well. Passion treated Pom roughly when she was trying to learn to walk. Unlike other mothers, who tried to help their infants, Passion knocked Pom to the ground or roughly placed Pom on her back. Goodall connects this rough approach to Pom’s clingy behavior as a two-year-old, positing that the young chimp was “terrified of being left behind” (157).

Chimp infants stay very close to their mothers for years, nesting with them at night, frequently nursing, and seeking their protection when stressed. While they’re young and dependent, they practice foundational skills such as walking with the group and making their own nests. Goodall draws a comparison between human and chimp social development, noting that human and chimp young can ask for attention without being aware of the power and status differences in the group. Both chimps and humans can do many independent actions before they can easily perceive the feelings of others around them or understand when to be submissive. This makes young chimps vulnerable to aggression, and they depend on their mothers for protection. Goodall recounts an unfortunate incident in which young Goblin was separated from his mother and was used as a prop in one of Mike’s raging displays before his mother rescued him. Goodall puzzles over how the group tolerates most infant behavior well but adult males seem to lose their usual patience when performing dominance displays. Goodall argues that chimp mothers’ first infants are the most vulnerable, since the females are still learning how to parent. She emphasizes the significant individual differences within the group: Mothers like Passion were rough or negligent, while Olly was over-protective of her offspring, Gilka.

Goodall examines the role of play in chimp development. She compares thoughtful, intentional chimp “play,” such as trying to catch termites or build a nest, to the act of a child building a tower with blocks, but she considers social and physical play a different category altogether. Young chimps engage in physical play alone by jumping, swinging, and somersaulting but especially love to play with each other through wrestling, tickling, and chasing. Goodall argues that these activities help young chimps become familiar with the environment they live in. In addition, this social play allows the young chimps to create bonds with others and understand more about their status within the group. Goodall observed that most young chimps are very invested in their play, and their mothers have difficulty persuading them to leave their friends.

As infants, male and female chimps show few differences, but Goodall found that male infants are more likely to engage in rough play and practice making aggressive displays. While all chimps are sometimes aggressive or attack others, males begin this behavior at a younger age than females. Goodall claims that one major difference between the sexes is males’ early interest in sex, citing their attempts to mate with adult females when the males are as young as one year old. All infants tend to interfere with adult mating, and Goodall is unsure whether this is motivated by jealousy or something else. By age four, chimps are weaned from their mothers, which is usually a long and difficult process, and the adults in the group are less tolerant of their mischief.