7 Chapter 6 Fame

Chapter 6 Fame Right away, Jane and Hugo van Lawick became close friends. They had very different personalities. Hugo was a stiffer, more formal person than Jane was. However, they worked very well alongside each other. They were a team. Each night they talked excitedly about what they had seen the chimps doing. In time, Hugo and Jane fell in love. In London, on March 28, 1964, they were married. On top of the wedding cake was a little clay model of David Graybeard. On the walls hung pictures of David and Goliath, Flo and her daughter Fifi, and many of Jane and Hugo's other chimp "friends."

The National Geographic Society provided more money for Jane's work. Over time, the camp grew. Many young graduate students went to join Jane at Gombe. In 1965, buildings were erected, then covered with grass to blend in with the forest. More and more information was gathered about the chimp community. For instance, before Gombe, scientists had thought that a chimpanzee group was made up of one male and lots of females. That's not so. A group is made up of many males and females. There were around fifty in the group that Jane knew. The group lives within a home range. An adult male is always the leader and may stay in charge for as long as ten years. When the leader

becomes too old and weak, most often younger males will fight one another to be the next leader. Goliath was the leader, or alpha male, when Jane first went to Gombe. Later, a chimp named Mike replaced Goliath. Mike was not a big, strong chimp. But he was clever. He acted big and strong, which made the other males fear and respect him. Among the females, Flo was the most respected. In 1964, she had another baby. Jane and

Hugo called him Flint. They did not know who Flint's father was. Male and female chimps do not pair off and live together. Nor does a male chimp take part in raising his young. The mother chimp cares for the young by herself. Flo often came into the camp with her new baby. So Jane saw close-up how an infant chimp develops. Like a newborn human baby, a newborn chimp is helpless. Flint depended on Flo for milk, to keep him safe, and to carry him around. For the first five or six months, Flint clung to the fur on his mother's belly. Afterward, Flo made him ride on her back. By the time most chimps are a year old, they can walk steadily. But chimps will ride on their mothers until they are about two years old. After that they travel on their own, still staying close to their mother. Flint had two much older brothers, Figan and Faben. His sister Fifi was four when he was born. Fifi was fascinated with little Flint. She wanted to be around him all the time. When he was older, Fifi would hold him and take him for rides on her back. She was learning to be a mother!

Flo was an excellent mother. In fact, most of the female chimps at Gombe were good mothers. They kept their babies very close to them.

The chimp mothers gave their babies lots of love and attention. They cuddled them. They protected them. They did not punish their babies for misbehaving. Instead, a chimp mother would distract a baby to stop naughty behavior. They let their babies have lots of playtime. The little chimps chased and tickled one another and played games like tug-of-war.