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  • From: Josh Greenman <joshg1973 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: Monkeywire <monkeywire AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [monkeywire] Granny gorilla knows best on baby-care
  • Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2003 07:20:38 -0800 (PST)

http://www.newscientist.com/news/print.jsp?id=ns99994370

Granny gorilla knows best on baby-care

19:00 12 November 03

A captive female gorilla has been spotted teaching her daughter how to tend
to her
newborn. Gorilla mothers are often seen teaching their young to walk and
climb, but
primatologists believe this is the first report of a mother instructing her
daughter on
baby care.

The daughter, an 11-year-old western lowland gorilla called Ione, had
neglected her first
baby, which her keepers raised. So for several days after the birth of her
second baby at
San Diego Wild Animal Park, the keepers and primatologist Masayuki Nakamichi
of Osaka
University in Japan kept a close eye on her.

Initially, Ione simply left her baby on the ground in front of her
21-year-old mother,
Alberta, who picked him up and handed him back. When Ione made no move to
take the baby,
Alberta moved closer pushing the newborn into his mother's face until she
took him.
Variations on this sequence occurred several times in the first two days.

By the third and fourth day, Ione was holding the baby. Sometimes, Alberta
would hold the
baby's arm, and Ione would hand him over, but when the baby nestled into its
grandmother,
Ione quickly took him back. With time, Alberta became less involved.

Nakamichi argues that Alberta's actions were attempts to teach Ione
appropriate maternal
behaviour. "These behaviours are subtle. It takes an acute observer to spot
them," says
James Moore of the University of California in San Diego.

Sadly Ione died when the baby was 10 months old, but another female gorilla
successfully
fostered the baby.

Journal reference: Primates (DOI: 10.1007/s10329-003-0061-9)


Stephen Leahy






  • [monkeywire] Granny gorilla knows best on baby-care, Josh Greenman, 11/14/2003

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