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[Josh Greenman <joshg1973 AT yahoo.com>]

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