Willowbank’s chimps don’t like being laughed at

Press, 7 May 1986, Page 22

Willowbank’s chimps don’t like being laughed at

Thanks to a famous tea advertisement, chimpanzees are houeshold “pets” these days — if such a word could be used for such a volatile animal. The destruction of their habitat in the African rain forests is a growing threat to their survival, so that the work being done by zoos and wild parks, including Willowbank, are of vital importance. TESSA WARD reports in this continuing series.

Apart from the occasional tantrum, family life for the three chimpanzees at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve is pretty cosy and looks promising.

Charlie and Coco dote on each other and on their carefree, two-year-old daughter, Samantha, which the Willowbank manager, Mike Willis, describes as a great start to another naturally-bred chimpanzee colony in New Zealand.

The growth of other captive colonies has sometimes stagnated because the mothers refuse to nurse their young, he adds. If the young chimps then have to be hand-reared they are likely to have inadequate social experience with other chimpanzees to be able to breed naturally and rear their own young. Some zoos have tried to teach the chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) these skills by showing them films of the appropriate chimpanzee behaviour.

While chimpanzees are still fairly common in Africa, the continued destruction of African rainforests is a growing threat to their survival.

Tauranga is the only other zoo in New Zealand to have a successfully breeding colony, Mike Willis says. “The Auckland Zoo chimpanzees are not breeding, and the only female at Wellington Zoo producing offspring refuses to rear them herself.”

Another strong breeding point in the Willowbank chimps’ favour is that the parents’ blood lines are not related, Mike Willis says.

“An attempt to smuggle Charlie into Auckland from Africa was intercepted by New Zealand customs. He was kept by a

showman there until he was about 12 years old and Coco, who is from Australia, was also used for shows.” The Willowbank staff have noticed how much more relaxed Charlie and Coco have become since living in their extended cage. “They have had a pretty rough life as circus chimps living in much smaller cages,” Mike Willis adds. “With an embracing family life and plenty of stimulation around them they have begun to invent more games and spend more time playing together.

“It takes about three hours of staff time each day to look after the chimpanzees, including three sessions to clean their cage. We also give them drinks and tit-bits throughout the day and try to play games with them like racing from one end of the cage to the other.”

While Charlie is playful and gentle most of the time, he is not the sort of character that anyone should mix with inside the cage. Chimpanzees are volatile, dangerous animals, and an unguarded moment beside them in a cage might cost a person his or her life.

A protective rail to keep people beyond arms’ reach of the cage is also necessary in case one of the chimps pulls a hand through the cage wires and bites it.

Male chimpanzees have a par-

ticular need occasionally “to let off steam” which includes running frantically around the cage and attacking objects in their path, Mike Willis says. This display of excessive energy is common among chimpanzees in the wild and helps establish and confirm positions within the communal hierarchy. During such a display the long hairs on the male’s shoulders and upper arms rise to make him look larger and ferocious. His shouting tends to end with a shrill scream accompanied by raging, stamping, and hitting anything that makes a noise, and brandishing or throwing sticks and other objects.

Meanwhile, the other chimpanzees tend to stay well clear of this performance.

During Charlie’s more energetic displays, Samantha takes cover in her mother’s arms. They find a corner away from the action, Mike Willis says.

“Coco screams and shakes her hand at Charlie if he is too close to Samantha during his vigorous display. He is a gentleman really and won’t hurt them while he’s so hyped up.

“Even when they are eating together he won’t take any food off Coco and Samantha. Sometimes he’ll somersault in front of them or beg persistently to get them to give him some of their food.

“The chimps don’t miss much as they observe what is going on outside their cage. When they are playing and clowning around they are excited by an amused audience but they feel very put out if people simply stand at the cage and laugh at them.”

Never taken for granted