Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-19
APES MOTHERHOOD
MARKED BY TRAITS
AKIN TO HUMANITY
Orang-Utan's Care of Newly
Born Progeny Reveals
Intelligence.
ARTIFICIAL RESPIRATION
USED BY CHIMPANZEE
Observation of Anthropoid's Mater
nifty Instincts Shows Diligence
in Care of Young.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

1uOVV1o A1ANAsAe
The relations between mother an
thropoid apes and their babies during
the first few weeks of life have a de-
cidedly human character.
Two records of observations OF the
birth and earliest infancy of these ami
mails are included in the Quarterly
Journal of Mammalogy, the official pub
lication of the American Society of
Mammalogists, published here, which
are among the first ever made. Both
cases are reported by DR.. Herbert Fox
of the University of Pennsylvania
The first birth was that of an orang-
utan in the Philadelphia Zoo. The
infant was born sometime during the
night of September Is and the mother
was seen holding it in her arms when
the keeper came in the morning. During
the day it was observed to move about
little, sometimes reaching up toward
the mothers face.
Maggie" DR.. Fox reports, remained
lying down the entire day, cuddling her
baby close to her face, but making no
attempt to get it near her breast. The
next day she took the baby and held
it against her breast. It promptly pro-
ceeded to nurse. A few minutes later
Maggie emerged for the first time from
her shelter and, with the baby clinging
to her breast, climbed to the roof of
the shelter and began a thorough ex-
animation of her offspring.
THE keeper, taking advantage of her
absence from the den. gave 1t thor
ough cleaning and put in a fresh sup
ply of bedding. Maggie had been &C
customed to sleeping in the west end
of the Enclosure. and it was there that
the baby was born. But when she saw
the clean bedding forthcoming she i'm
mediately gathered it up took it to the
east end and made her a clean bed, to
which she and the baby retired for a
MONDAY nap"
A week later DR.. Fox writes:
''Since the last note Maggie has been
DANG very well. She is evidently very
good mother. The baby Is not vigorous,
but can and does climb all over the
mother and nurses frequently. AS early
as the second day the baby was able
to cling to the mothers hair without
the aid of the maternal arms" ~
A more detailed observation was
made of an infant chimpanzee. born
october l, and its mother When the
baby was born 1t did not breath or
move for some time. The observers
thought that it was dead. but the
mother knew better. DR.. Fox describes
her behavior as follows
Artificial Respiration.
She overlap 1t and put her mouth to
Its mouth. There was a distinct heav-
ing respiration on the part of the
mother and it seemed that she was
blowing into the baby'S mouth. The
| rx,rftnr Ys1otync fhiC 70 xrittN
siderable reserve and would not make
it were 1t not that the act was repeated
one minute later. Following the first
probable artificial respiration the baby
breathed. This was perhaps one min
ute or minute and a half after birth.
Then there were several seconds with
out respiration when another heave was
noted. Following the second blowing
by the mother respirations became
more frequent and were perhaps 10
seconds apart.
During this minute or so, the mother
overlay and cuddled the baby as it lay
IN the hay, mouthing it, licking it a
little, investigating it and opening its
eyes. After three or four minutes she
left it, and began to draw the straw up
around her for a bed A few seconds
after she left 1t the babe gave a wheeze
and little cry, whereupon the mother
rushed back to 1t, covered it, cuddled
and mouthed it and began what might
be called kissing it, Then she sleft it
and returned to making a bed with the
straw, in the midst of which she sat,
ever and anon stretching out to cover,
cuddle and investigate the baby"
The firSt expression of the mother
after the birth Of the baby, says DR..
Fox, was bewilderment. She was evil
IDENTIFY nervous, yet she seemed to know
fairly well what to do with the infant
Ihere was never anger or terror or true
fear. Her fondling and caressing the
| baby were quite as effective in making
it comfortable as would be possible for
human being.
All during the afternoon when the
baby cried, she would rush to it and
cuddle and mouth it, but made no at
tempt to take it up. Toward evening
| as the air became quite chilly her mate
was boarded up in the den in the out
side cage to prevent his reaching
through the bars and the door between
the inside and outside cages opened.
Hearing the protestations of her in
generated mate, she hurried in to him,
leaving her baby outside. She was i'm
mediately barred in, but tried to return.
compartments, so the vacant one was
closed and the baby taken into it from
the back and placed on burlap bag.
Before this operation was finished she
was shaking on the bars of the den
and trying to get into it. The instant
she was admitted she resumed cuddling
the baby. but still showed no signs of
! picking 1t up. The little body was very
cold when picked up by the keeper at
Sis pm, and from pm. its cries were
less frequent and becoming weaker.
Cuddled Crying Baby.
at cried vigorously several times dur
| ing the night. The mother continued
to cuddle and overlay it. but up to this
| point had made no attempt to take 1t
in her arms. When visited at 9 am,
the baby lay on its back, now and then
| stretching and crying little"
| When the next day passed without
the mother trying to nurse the little
chimpanzee, 1t was taken away from
her and attempts made to feed it with
| a nipple on warm milk and water. 1t
| made no sucking effort but swallowed
| the drops of milk is they dropped from
| the nipple, taking in all about three
tablespoonfuls. The little one did not
seem to have developed a sucking re-
flex. During the night he had three
or four spells that seemed like paroXysms
of pain Two days later he started
sucking vigorously.
The baby's behavior at one week is
thus described by DR.. Fox:
He was taking 10 to II ounces OF
| diluted milk in "a hours, was bright
and active, sleeping well at night. anc
seemingly we'll contended with life ir
general. His ears lie fiat against his