I know these chimps. They are not terrorists

Chester Zoo Chimps

Thirty chimpanzees break out of their enclosure in Chester Zoo. They were subsequently captured and returned to their compound. But I can vouch for their characters. They are a well-adjusted and well-led group of primates

Sunday July 5th 2008. Around the time Roger Federer was starting his marathon tennis match with Andy Roddick at Wimbledon, a group of chimpanzees at Chester Zoo broke out of their compound and broke into the on-site chimp catering facility. There they managed to locate the supplies of bananas and other goodies, and generally has a good time wrecking the joint. Zoo staff swung into emergency action mode, secured the miscreants, and evacuated some 5000 humans from the vicinity.

Long before Roger had squeezed out his fifteenth Grand Slam victory, the chimps were back in their own ecologically-designed living quarters.

Old friends

The story had particular interest for me. Some years ago I had studied the behaviour of this particular group guided by Stephen McEwan and his team of animal behaviouralists at the zoo. They talked fondly of each animal and its behaviours. How dominant males used assorted rewards and punishments in battles for status. These included playing with infants to curry favours with dominant females.

How alpha male dominance was not just a matter of physical strength. Indeed one particularly strong creature seemed less intelligent than his fellows and was treated in a way which could be described as how a retarded sibling might be treated.

Overall it was a fascinating experience. Later when groups of managers were introduced to the various animal groups it was to lead a rich vein of ideas relating animal to human behaviours.

One unreported anecdote

One unreported anecdote about this same group of Chimpanzees. I very much want to carry out confirmatory studies. According to the zoo staff, the chimps were often visited by family groups, and by groups of visiting dignitaries. These mini-safaris produced an attack-defence pattern in which a high-status ape rushed to the barrier of the enclosure threatening the approaching strangers. Not remarkable. More remarkable was the claim that the angry ape targeted the head of the family or most senior ‘leader’ of the group of dignitaries. Go figure, as the Americans say.

Aggressive, perhaps but not terrorists

I don’t have illusions of chimps as suitable to be turned into human pets. Fortunately, more and more people have reached the same conclusion. There are conservational arguments for maintaining their gene pool through creating safe and environmentally conditions.

But I just wanted to add that this story was not about a bunch of terrorists engaged in wanton acts of violence.

I know these chimps. They are not terrorists. They just got a bit impatient while waiting for their Sunday meal.