I’m not always as patient as I’d like but I aspire to be more like Fifi as a mom.Įmory graduate student Caroline Olson met Jane Goodall last summer when she traveled to Gombe to assist with a One Health needs assessment - a holistic view of the health of people, domesticated animals and wildlife. She struck a balance between letting her kids learn on their own and assisting them when they really needed it. Gremlin is our oldest mom, at age 52, and very patient and attentive.Īnd Fifi gave her kids a lot of room to roam, but she noticed when they got into real trouble and rushed to intervene. Patty was kind of distant with her offspring not very patient or attentive. I was very influenced by Gremlin and Fifi as examples of good moms to emulate. ![]() Has studying the behavior of chimpanzee mothers and their children changed how you behave with your own children? Another focus of my research is understanding the interplay of development and health in nonhuman primate behavior as a model for the evolution of human childhood. ![]() As co-director of the Gombe Mother-Infant Project, one focus of my research is understanding how baby chimpanzees grow up and how mothering may help or hinder that.Ĭhimpanzee mothers and juveniles are interesting in their own right, but it’s also interesting to think about what they can teach us about our ancestry. Jane Goodall wrote in her books about the relationships between mothers and infants and how differing mothering styles seem to grow different kinds of kids with differing outcomes. Only wild primates, humans, some of the whales and dolphins, and elephants have a prolonged period of postweaning dependence for juveniles. They are still socially dependent and stay with their moms for another five years after that. Juvenile chimpanzees wean at about five years. They continue to bear children throughout their lives and some of the Gombe chimpanzees are in their 50s. Chimpanzees are the ultimate single moms. What fascinates you about the mother-child bond in chimpanzees?Ĭhimpanzees have a promiscuous mating system and fathers are not involved in child-rearing. Gremlin with her twins Golden and Glitter. They are almost comically bad at it as infants and the skills are socially leaned over several years. I focused my dissertation on how the Gombe chimpanzees develop tool-use skills. I went from studying the weirdest primate to studying the primate that’s most like us. I didn’t think I’d wind up in Minnesota because I hate the cold - I mean, I really hate it - but it was too good of an opportunity. I applied to several different programs and I got accepted by the Jane Goodall Institute’s Center for Primate Studies at the University of Minnesota. I knew that I wanted to study smart, social animals - whales, dolphins, elephants or primates. It was pretty clear at that point that I wasn’t going to be a lawyer. My mother was with me and said, “I’ve never seen you speechless.” I was overwhelmed in the presence of someone I really admired. While she signed my copy I just stood there grinning like an idiot. When I was a senior, I stood in line to meet Jane Goodall to get one of her books signed. But I did much better in my field biology, animal behavior and ecology courses. I was hesitant because I actually failed my first biology test, which was all memorization. ![]() We were studying how they acquired these skills, how much of it is innate and how much is learned behavior.Įventually, that same professor convinced me to add a second major in biology. It taps on trees and then pokes the finger inside to get at grubs to eat. It uses the finger as a percussive foraging device and fishing wand. The aye-aye has ever-growing rodent teeth and this long middle finger. I loved it! I mean, who doesn’t love watching animals? Instead, I sit down and this creepy crawler comes out of the eerie red gloom and starts sniffing me. I assumed there would be an observation room and the aye-aye would be behind glass.
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