The recently work published at Current Biology journal that shows the consciousness and solidarity of chimpanzees related to the death of their partners reinforces our defense of the extension of our rights to them.

We can even argue that there is a tendency in scientific community of denying observations and works that are made in sanctuaries that are not located at North America or Europe, but this is not the question now. The important thing here is to show that the observations registered at this article have already been witnessed in our sanctuaries.

I remember very well of my first experience with the death of a chimpanzee. I was working at the sanctuary for a little bit more than one month when Léo, who at that time lived with Mônica, died. Apart for the few time together, it was a big shock for me, because he was a chimpanzee who accepted me as a friend as soon as we met. The death was felt by everyone. There was no silenced day as this one. A deafening silence. The other chimpanzees remained speechless, like they were mourning for they knew Léo had died. A few days before his death, Mônica was trying to comfort and help him, getting close and trying to understand what was happening. The curious thing is that Mônica did not use to be slicked in Léo, but at that time she knew something was wrong. The photo registers the last minutes of Léo and Mônica taking care of him.

Another experience was the birth of Judy’s daughter, who lived only for a few days and died at her lap. It was very shocking because I witnessed Olivia’s last whisper. With her dead daughter at her lap, Judy rocked her as she wanted to wake her up of a dream. For weeks Judy carried her from one side to another, refusing to let her go. Refusing to accept her death. After a while, when the body was already in an advanced erosion status and was practically dried, Judy abandoned it on the floor and we took it away of the enclosure.  In order for her no to miss it, we created a kind of transparent tomb, in which we put Olivia’s corpse so the Judy could see that she was still there. After a while Judy accepted the death of her daughter and ignored the corpse. Only at this time we took it away.

Lulu’s death also demonstrated the revolt against this feeling. After giving birth to a dead baby, Lulu got very depressed and, unfortunately, due to the quick advancing of an infection – later diagnosed, died inside her room. We isolated Lulu from the other chimpanzees, who were able to see her from the other room and realized that she was not moving and was being carried. They got very angry.  Margareth, her eternal partner, yelled and moved from one side to the other. Gilberto, the leader of the group, vocalized desperately and threw everything He got at Lulu, aiming to wake her up.

These are some of the proofs that GAP Project has been defending. Maybe now, with these academic publications presenting scientific proof, human stupidity can see them in a special different way. After all, it is time to admit that they are primitive human beings who, even do not speaking like us, show their consciousness and are equally owners of feelings that must be respected.

MSc Luiz Fernando Leal Padulla
Biologist

More information:

http://news.discovery.com/animals/chimpanzee-death-dying-behavior.html