In “The wild chimpanzee who cared for her child with disability,” Melissa Hogenboom (2015) describes an unusual behavior that was observed in a female chimpanzee: she took very good care of her abnormal child who had an abdominal hernia, spinal damage and an extra, inactive finger. In general most animal mothers of a disabled offspring abandon their babies, but she did not.
I have read many stories about baby animals that were kicked out by their mothers because they were born different. A recent case that went viral is about an adorable baby deer that melted many hearts with his white face, pink nose and crystal blue eyes. Unfortunately, his special appearance does not match the looks of his siblings; as a result he was rejected by his mother when he was a week and a half old. I think this is part of natural selection that occurs in most animals: they try to disregard weak ones in order to keep their species fit. This is the reason why I was surprised by the case of the female chimpanzee, because she devoted herself to her disabled child, rather than abandon her. Maybe because chimpanzees are our close relatives, their behaviors are somewhat similar to our species.
Reading this story about this chimp mother reminds me of a story about the gorilla Koko, who was raised by humans and learned to communicate extensively. I am amazed by a lot of her behaviors that are very similar to human behaviors. After losing her own child, she was in grief. Finally, she was allowed to take care of a kitten. Unfortunately, her kitten was hit by a car. Koko was very sad and she pointed to the sign that meant "cry" when she learned what had happened to her kitten. She seemed to be sad when she saw a picture of another kitten.
I used to think that animals did not have complex emotions as we do. After reading many stories like this, I have realized that they are smarter than I thought. This is why scientific research about apes is always appealing for me.
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References
Hogenboom M. (2015, November 2015). The wild chimpanzee who
cared for her child with disability. BBC Earth. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151112-a-wild-chimp-cares-for-her-disabled-child
Koko’s
kittens. The Gorilla Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.koko.org/koko's-kittens
I grew up on a farm, and the animals we had certainly showed emotions: the chickens, the cows, the pigs, the dogs and horses were all upset when their young were taken from them, and they all had affection for us and their fellow animals. And then we killed them to enjoy the taste of their flesh!
ReplyDeleteI liked Tan's reminder that our closest relatives, the chimps, are perhaps most like us in their emotional lives, but the other animals I've known also seemed to me to have emotions, social bonds and so on - the usual things that we think make humans special. Perhaps the truth is that we are not special, which is why I asked before whether there is any good reason why we think it's OK to kill and eat other animals but not human beings. Is there a relevant difference between us and other animals?
l believe we are not special and we human beings is just a kinds of animal located in the top of food chain. Like other ainimal, we eat weak specy and sometimes will be eaten by the stronger one. A lion can eat a human if is possible and other ainimals without thinking about if it is ok, but it will not kill another lion. I think maybe this is the only difference between human beings and ainimals. So it is the rule of nature and fortunatly we are not in the bottom of the world.
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DeleteIs Ning suggesting that if an act is natural that it's also morally OK to do it? Rape, murder, stealing and so on are all natural acts. I'm not sure that that makes them OK.
DeleteLast term, I did research about Koko and other animals that have emotions like human such as begal dogs and elephants. It interests me. I trust animals have emotions. They can hurt or cry. I resist the human behavior that is about animal cruelty.
ReplyDeleteDoes cruelty include killing to eat?
DeleteOh!! that is interesting question. I think, we have to kill some animals for living.However, if you kill it for fun, sport or something like that, you will be resisted. Actually I am not sure about this answer because of killing to eat that result is "Animals are died". I maybe change to vegetarian, haha
DeleteBut we don't have to kill other animals to live. Modern human beings in cities can live perfectly healthy lives without meat, and therefore we do not need to kill by buying steak and other tasty meats. We eat meat only because we love the taste, not because we need it.
DeleteYes i agree with you. Actually human is herbivore. We don't have to eat meat.
DeleteI have watched the story about her from youtube. She apparently shows the sense of maternity. So it kind of proves that the maternity exists in all living creatures no mater of what specie they are. This is such an impressive story.
ReplyDeleteDid you watch video about the first time that she met Robin Willium and after Robin was dead ? It is so sad. It showed Koko can remember her old friend.
DeleteIn Toon's comment that "the maternity exists in all living creatures no mater of what specie they are," the word all is very strong.
DeleteI can believe that rats, bats, and cats have maternal feelings. But do worms, flies and cockroaches have such feelings? Or fish?