In the heavy rains in Sorocaba area in the last few days, the Great Ape Sanctuary had its share. There were floods in the lakes and the great amount of water ran to the small river where they flow, becoming a heavy torrent. Thirteen years ago, we took Guga’s group, babies at the time, to this river to play and we used to face this similar problem, as the river could take those curious and courageous chimpanzees.

Today the vegetation has grown, we do not have easy access to the river, but I can still take Caesar,  who is two years old, to the forest area, where his parents used to play. Today I can not explain how me and a handler were able to take, every day,  five chimpanzees from 2 to 5 years old and return with no problems. Take 2-year-old Caesar is already a small adventure; imagine 5 Caesars, some a little bit older!

This week, in the middle of the flood, I decided to take Caesar in the woods by car. I finished the adventure after minutes of effort, with César terrified by the car noise, which was in the mud and did not move, until I decided to ask for help .

We left the car and we were waiting in the woods for the help to arrive. The handler Meire, who raised Caesar, and Fabio, who is in charge of maintenance. Caesar was on my back and took a few minutes to decide what to do. He had three options: stay with me, which he considers his father, go with the Meire,who is his second mother, or go with Fabio, who was with a rope to remove my car.

He ran and jumped into Fabio’s arms. That was his choice to get him out of that unknown and dangerous situation, which he was sensing for the first time.

The decision of a baby chimpanzee was not by feelings, but by practicality. He concluded that Fabio was the only one of the three of us able to save him from that adversity, and so he reacted.

A human baby would do the same thing? Possibly not, would be carried away by feelings and not by the logic of the solution.

Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian

President, GAP Project International