Chimp talk with Jane
JANE Goodall’s conversation beats TV’s House-yentas ripping their husbands. Talking of chimps definitely beats talking of chumps.
“Far away, no money, I dreamed of Africa at age 10,” she said. “I had a nanny, but my mother, who died at 97, was very important to me. When I first went there, she came along for four months. Trust is important to a child, and I wasn’t allowed to be alone. It was very primitive. When I went up the mountain, mother stayed in a tent with snakes and spiders.”
For her first-ever online master class, Dr. Goodall was here to address today’s environmental concerns and tomorrow’s protection of animals: polluting their land, shrinking their habitats, destroying their grasslands, invading their territory, shooting them . . . and to patiently answer my limitless questions. Like:
“Chimps live to 60. On average, 45. The oldest, in captivity, in a Florida sanctuary, is 75. They’re introverted. Aggressive. And eight times stronger than we are. The species differ. Baboons, quick to try things, are pushy.
“Look at a chimpanzee, he’ll look back. But don’t stare. A bit scary, to chase me one hit me on the head. I immediately pretended I’d lost interest. An exciting moment was a mother letting her infant touch my nose. By not running away, they’ve come to accept me. Another person, they’d run away.
“I know them. I watch, observe, record behavior. I know their sounds. Their signs. I can tell them apart. They’re very close to humankind. An 8year-old who lost her mother grieved so badly she fell ill and was gone in weeks. Like us, they get colds, pneumonia, epidemics. We darted their vaccine into bananas.
“They kiss, embrace, hold hands, laugh, live with their eyes. Pregnancy may be every five years and, like humans, lasts 8 ¹ /2 months. Females can be mated by every male in the community — not like humans. At orgasm moment, the male breathes heavily and the female screams.” (Back to humans?)
Goodall, who travels 300 days a year in six countries, admits, “I do get tired.”
After getting rid of me, the MasterClass.com was conducted with its film and Q&A at the Whitby Hotel.