Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
we blind ourselves not only to how else we might live, but to other aspects of our nature: that a
human from almost any part of the planet can travel to another culture and integrate. We have given
little study to the wonder of our cooperative nature, of our ability to accept strangers or to be in-
cluded, to adapt and, despite the risks, live among people with different histories and values.
Sally began thinking about how she could work with bonobos. At National Geographic, she
knew Mary Smith, the photo editor who'd been the society's liaison with Louis Leakey's “ape
ladies”: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birutė Galdikas. Leakey, whose work in paleontology and
fossil discoveries in Tanzania changed the theory of human evolution, had started all three women
in their field studies, believing women to be better suited to working with great apes since they
were less likely to incite aggression. Along with Mary Ann Harrell, the National Geographic Soci-
ety topic editor, Mary Smith encouraged Sally. But Nick Nichols's words and experience resonated
most, the idea that a young man from Alabama could creatively inspire people to see nature and
great apes in a different light.
“All of my interests coalesced. I had a complete redirection of my life. I was very fortunate to
be able to talk with people like Mary Smith, the end of the old guard. I was so lucky to be at Na-
tional Geographic at the time that I was, with the veterans who had been there since the early days
of wild great ape studies.”
But it was Nichols who suggested that Sally work with Sue Savage-Rumbaugh. Though Sally
loved National Geographic, after speaking with him, she decided to leave.
All that summer, Sally worked with the bonobos at Georgia State. Savage-Rumbaugh allowed
her more access to the bonobos than was usual, noticing that she understood them, clearly adapting
to their culture and even moving like them.
Sally spent many days in the university's forest. She played with Kanzi and Panbanisha, and
they communicated with her using the plastic keyboards with lexigrams, though she saw that they
understood more English than they had lexigrams to produce. They were also attuned to nonverbal
cues—body language, the movement of her eyes. Bonobos use eye-contact more than do chimps
and gorillas, with whom eye-contact is impolitic and often dangerous.
Sally was fascinated by the bonobos' awareness and how, after the rare conflict, they would
make peace. Though they'd briefly scream to voice their rage, they would then make up by having
sex or rubbing genitals. Despite their strength—at least five times that of a grown man—they
showed restraint. Their perceptiveness also impressed her, how they watched not only each other
but humans, sensing moods and responding to them, trying to soothe or placate or be joyous.
Increasingly, she understood why Savage-Rumbaugh had worked to push the line between what
was considered apelike and what was considered human. Jane Goodall had started this redefinition,
showing that humans, who until then had been defined by tool use, shared this behavior with chim-
panzees. She revealed similarities between human and chimpanzee societies: the experience of grief
and love, the forging of strong interpersonal bonds. Savage-Rumbaugh pushed the question to one
of language, of communication through symbols not only of concrete needs, but of emotions and
ideas.
In the process of playing and speaking with them, Sally learned that the bonobos had dramatic-
ally different personalities. Panbanisha, Kanzi's half sister, was deep, observant, with a sense of still
waters in her eyes. Kanzi was more affable, more of a showman, but he also cared for his siblings,
especially the control subjects who didn't receive the training he did. He would take their hands to
show them how to use the keyboard.
