NELSPRUIT – Some people are born comedians and some animals too. Take, for example, seven-month-old Thabu who made history when he was the first chimpanzee born in captivity during an international live feed.
He lives at the Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Sanctuary and loves to make funny faces for the camera.
Facial expressions are a sort of language for chimpanzees: grinning expresses fear, kissing gestures express affection and Thabu’s animated face expresses the big personality of a Hollywood star.
Born to mom Nina, he made international news. Nina defied all odds when she fell pregnant despite having been on contraception.
“Thabu is now starting to eat solids and taking pieces of food from his mother,” said sanctuary manager Marc Cronjé. He added that the baby boy has seen and heard the other chimps and shows immense interest in his extended yet unknown family.
“We will start to introduce him and Nina to the other chimps once he can walk.”
And that goal does not seem too far away as chimpanzees begin to walk between the ages of eight months and a year as their human counterparts do.
“Thabu is quite small so we can only have him in the group once he is bigger and can fend for himself,” Cronjé confirmed.
In the meantime, however, there is not a corner in their ‘nursery’ enclosure that this curious guy had not explored. “He crawls around and is very close to walking,” an excited Cronjé said with the same pride as any human father.
Today he is crawling and the next he will be off running, leaving babyhood behind. He is acutely aware of how precious and short this season of the baby’s life is.
“He is not on display to the public as we are using the time to begin introduction and also, do not want to expose him to any illness as his immune system must still develop.”
The public can however join the sanctuary on Facebook: /www.facebook.com/JGISA, where many photos and videos of him can be viewed, courtesy of Cronjé.
“The sanctuary and the other chimps are well and looking forward to seeing new people visit.”
The bond between a mother chimpanzee and her infant is the same as humans share with their mothers. Like chimpanzee infants we rely on our mothers for support, protection and education.
Most, if not all, of an infant’s care rests solely with the mother. She nurses, grooms, carries and protects the infant from danger occurring both in and out of the group.
This investment from her allows the infant to receive support and care throughout its life along with knowledge and skills for its survival. This substantial amount of care lasts through infancy, adolescence and even into adulthood.
In the wild, female chimpanzees may leave their natal group or they may remain with their mothers into adulthood.
Being at their side until they mature, allows them to observe her taking care of younger siblings and gain knowledge they will use when they become mothers themselves.
Male offspring may leave theirs at an earlier period, but will often return to them for emotional support. For example, males must establish themselves in the group’s hierarchy.
This is a stressful time in a chimpanzee’s life and a male may go back to its mother when things don’t go his way. In human culture we often call men who continually seek their mother’s support “momma’s boys”.
