The Reinvention of Cake

Chimp

By

Berry Michel

I recently watched a Netflix documentary entitled “Chimp Empire.” Initially I didn’t think I would watch the entire documentary, but I was quickly drawn into this saga centered around a group of chimps that live in the Ngogo Forest of Africa. I was amazed to learn that these primates share 98% of our human DNA and follow a social structure that reminds me of some very human traits as they fight for survival and resources. There are few lessons I learned from this documentary that I wanted to share.

Lesson one, the alpha male always must fight to stay on top. Just like humans, there are male chimps that are drawn to leadership and want to be on top of the social order. However, these alpha males endure danger like no other chimps in their society. The chimps live in an extremely male testosterone driven society. Not only must these alpha males endure challenges from younger males constantly trying to establish their position in the social order, but they must also show leadership and fight other alpha males from other chimp groups that are looking to expand their territories and resources. It was fascinating to me that in the forest different chimp groups do not get along and view each other as enemies. Just like humans, chimp groups fight over limited resources and territory. 

Male chimps also want dominance so they can have a better chance of mating and reproducing. If this doesn’t sound familiar in human culture, you are not paying attention. Just like humans, male chimps believe dominance attracts females and, in the forest, it’s true. Young and old alpha males are willing to endure the extreme peril they put themselves in by having to fight endlessly all just to mate. Even in chimp culture, the lure of sex drives male behavior.

Lesson two, alliances are important to stay in power. No matter how dominant an alpha male chimp becomes, they cannot stay in power unless they form alliances with other influential males. Like human society, it turns out that chimp society is just too difficult to control by just one chimp. The alpha male must establish some consensus from the other males that he is the leader. In essence the followers must accept to be led. This simple version of chimp politics has some very recognizable commonalities with our own version of human politics. 

Lesson three, females take a practical approach to protect and rear their children. Female chimps understand that male chimps are constantly displaying male bravado that may lead to violence and destruction. During these episodes of violence, the young are the most vulnerable. Female chimps are extremely attentive to their young and ensure they avoid situations that could harm their offspring.

Young female chimps also learn to rear younger chimps from older females, in essence, lessons in motherhood are passed on to young to be mothers before they ever have a child. Once young female chimps learn how to care for the young, they then leave their group when old enough to seek a new group and start a new life and family somewhere else in the forest. This behavior naturally keeps the chimp gene pool healthy by not allowing too much intermixing.

Additionally, females have multiple partners to increase their chances of reproduction. Chimps are not monogamous. Instead, females chose their mates and select several to ensure that they do procreate. In this chimp society, females are not judged for having multiple partners. Female sexuality is viewed as necessary for survival of chimp society and males feel that they must earn the right to mate by establishing dominance in their social order.

Lesson four, chimps show respect for older chimps by taking care of them even though they can’t contribute as much except by passing on wisdom. I found the chimps’ care and respect for their elders moving. Older chimps were not seen as a nuance or a drag on chimp society. These older chimps were seen as advisors and purveyors of wisdom and history. These older chimps could have been easily discarded and left to fend for themselves in the forest, but they weren’t. Even though these older chimps could no longer fight or hunt, their contributions to the group were still valued. 

I learned so much about chimp behavior from this documentary and it made me reflect on our own human behavior. One of the biggest lessons I learned was that male chimps usually get themselves killed trying to remain dominant, but their legacy lives on by their offspring and the females that keep the social structure going. As much as we have evolved as humans. I saw myself and other humans in their behavior. It’s our behavior. Maybe we should learn something then from our chimp cousins.

Unlike chimps, humans can reason and mobilize and unite large groups of humans for a common purpose. Maybe we don’t have to be so combative with other human groups and find ways to cooperate and share resources and territory so our entire species can thrive. Maybe sex, doesn’t have to drive male behavior. Maybe if we treat females as our equal, we solve some of the ills that makes our society so unequal. Maybe we can learn from the practical approach of female chimps and avoid the destructive behavior of alpha males and focus on the bigger picture of ensuring our children have a world that they can grow and thrive in. Finally, maybe we can show our human elders the same respect that chimps do and ensure they are taken care of in their senior years and that their wisdom is not wasted on the generations that follow. 

Humans are undoubtedly the most advance and intelligent animal on the face of the planet. However, we should never forget that we are a part of nature too. Sometimes we forget that we are a part of this cycle of life and that nature has so many lessons that shows us how we can interact with our natural world without destroying it and ourselves in the process.