Mama

October 18, 2017 4:29 AM

Jan van Hooff visits chimpanzee "Mama", 59 yrs old and very sick [Youtube]

Mama, 59 years old and the oldest chimpanzee and the matriarch of the famous chimpanzee colony of the Royal Burgers Zoo in Arnhem, the Netherlands, was gravely ill. Jan van Hooff (emeritus professor behavioural biology at Utrecht University and co-founder of the Burgers colony) who has known Mama since 1972, visited her in the week before she died of old age in April 2016. It took a while before she became aware of Jan's presence. Her reaction was extremely emotional and heart-breaking. Mama played an important social role in the colony. This has been described in "Chimpanzee Politics" by Frans de Waal, who studied the colony since 1974.

posted by Start with Dessert (14 comments total)

Wow. I'm in tears. Thank you for this.
posted by shibori at 5:03 AM on October 18, 2017

Yes, this is indeed amazing, the friendship and love.
posted by stFire at 5:10 AM on October 18, 2017

Do Chimpanzees Understand Death?
posted by fairmettle at 6:00 AM on October 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

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posted by ZeusHumms at 6:23 AM on October 18, 2017

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posted by foleypt at 6:33 AM on October 18, 2017

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posted by KleenexMakesaVeryGoodHat at 6:44 AM on October 18, 2017

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posted by nerdfish at 6:46 AM on October 18, 2017

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posted by lungtaworld at 7:03 AM on October 18, 2017

I'm glad this is the first thing I clicked on today.
posted by Atom Eyes at 8:27 AM on October 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

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posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 9:14 AM on October 18, 2017

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posted by DreamerFi at 12:00 PM on October 18, 2017

Thank you for this

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posted by Malingering Hector at 5:13 PM on October 18, 2017

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posted by BinaryApe at 12:58 AM on October 19, 2017

Wow, what a lucky human being (and animal). So much love!
posted by karmachameleon at 8:06 PM on October 19, 2017