8 Chapter 7 The Dark Years

Chapter 7 The Dark Years In zoos, chimps can live to be sixty-five years old. In the wild, they don't live nearly as long—perhaps forty or fifty years. Why? It is much harder to survive in the wild. Babies have the hardest time of all. Baboons may attack and kill them. Some years, there isn't enough food to go around. Chimps in the wild also catch diseases such as pneumonia or the flu, which zoo chimps are protected from.

在动物园里，黑猩猩可以活到六十五岁。 在野外，它们的寿命几乎没有那么长——可能只有四五十年。 为什么?在野外生存要困难得多。 婴儿是最难熬的。 狒狒可能会攻击并杀死它们。 有些年份，没有足够的食物供应。 野生黑猩猩也会感染肺炎或流感等疾病，而动物园里的黑猩猩是不会感染的。

In 1966, an outbreak of polio swept through the forest at Gombe. It killed several chimps and left others with crippled arms. (Polio is a disease that can also strike humans, but since the 1950s there has been a vaccine to prevent it.) Flo managed to avoid polio. But in August 1972, old age caught up with her. Jane wrote a letter to her family that Flo had died. In it, she said, "I had known her for eleven years and I had loved her." Jane also wrote about Flo in London's Sunday Times newspaper. It was the first time that there had been an obituary for an animal. Flo was probably around fifty years old when she died. Her youngest, Flint, was eight and a half years old

1966年，小儿麻痹症的爆发席卷了冈贝的森林。 它杀死了几只黑猩猩，并使其他黑猩猩的手臂残废。 (小儿麻痹症也是一种可以袭击人类的疾病，但自20世纪50年代以来，已经有了预防这种疾病的疫苗。)弗洛设法避免了小儿麻痹症。 但在1972年8月，年老的她来了。 简给家人写了一封信，说弗洛死了。 她在信中写道:“我认识她11年了，我一直爱着她。” 简还在伦敦的《星期日泰晤士报》上写了关于弗洛的文章。 这是第一次有动物的讣告。 弗洛死的时候大概50岁左右。 她最小的儿子弗林特八岁半

by then. He was strong and well past childhood. But he could not bear life without Flo. Three days after her death, Jane saw him staring at Flo's empty nest. Flint stopped eating. He stopped traveling with the group. Instead, he stayed by the spot where Flo had died. He soon fell ill. There was nothing Jane or the students could do to help Flint. His death on September 15 was heartbreaking. In 2012, on the television show 60 Minutes, Jane said that at first she had thought chimps were like humans, "only nicer." Perhaps she had Flo

到那时。他很强壮，童年已过。 但是他无法忍受没有弗洛的生活。 她死后三天，简看见他盯着芙蓉的空巢。 弗林特停止了进食。他不再随团旅行了。 相反，他留在了弗洛死去的地方。 他很快就病倒了。简和学生们对弗林特无能为力。 他于9月15日去世，令人心碎。 2012年，简在电视节目《60分钟》(60 Minutes)上说，起初她认为黑猩猩和人类一样，“只是更好”。 也许她有弗洛

and David Graybeard in mind when she said that. However, the longer Jane remained among the chimps, the more she saw that some of her early ideas about them were wrong. Chimps had a very dark and violent side, just like humans. In 1974, a war broke out, a war within the chimp community. A couple of years earlier, the chimps at Gombe had split into two groups. Both groups remained in the home range. But they stayed in different parts of it. The war started after six male chimps from one group attacked a male chimp from the other group. The chimp was beaten savagely and left to die. The attacks went on for almost three years, until one group was nearly wiped out. Jane wrote about the battles in the May 1979 issue of National Geographic magazine. And then there was Passion. Jane had observed Passion for years. Passion seemed to not have an ounce of kindness. She neglected her daughter, Pom. It was pitiful watching little Pom beg for her mother's attention.

还有大卫·格雷比尔德 然而，简在黑猩猩中待得越久，她就越发现自己早期对黑猩猩的一些看法是错误的。 黑猩猩有非常黑暗和暴力的一面，就像人类一样。 1974年，一场战争爆发了，一场黑猩猩群体之间的战争。 几年前，贡贝的黑猩猩分成了两组。 两组都保持在正常范围内。 但他们住在不同的地方。 战争的起因是一组的6只雄性黑猩猩攻击了另一组的一只雄性黑猩猩。 这只黑猩猩被残忍地殴打，任其自生自灭。 袭击持续了将近三年，直到一个组织几乎被消灭。 简在1979年5月的《国家地理》杂志上写了关于这些战斗的文章。 然后是激情。 简观察激情已经很多年了。 激情似乎没有一丝善意。 她忽视了她的女儿庞。 看着小庞乞求母亲的关注，真是可怜。

Uncaring was one thing. But in 1974, Passion did something so awful, the researchers at Gombe were stunned. Jane was away from camp, but heard the story upon her return. Gilka had just given birth to an infant daughter. Like Flo, Gilka was a loving mother. She was sitting in the sun, cradling her tiny newborn, when all of a sudden Passion appeared. Without warning, she charged at Gilka. Gilka tried to escape, but polio had crippled her hand. She could not run fast enough. Passion snatched Gilka's baby, and after killing it, fed on it until every last bit was gone.

漠不关心是一回事。但在1974年，激情号做了一件可怕的事，冈贝的研究人员都惊呆了。 简不在营地，但一回来就听到了这个故事。 吉尔卡刚刚生了一个女儿。 和弗洛一样，吉尔卡也是一位慈爱的母亲。 她正坐在阳光下，抱着她刚出生的小宝宝，突然，一种激情出现了。 她毫无征兆地冲向吉尔卡。 吉尔卡试图逃跑，但脊髓灰质炎使她的手残废了。 她跑得不够快。 "激情"抢走了吉尔卡的孩子，杀了他之后，吃了他的血，直到他全身都没了。

There had been several instances of babies suddenly disappearing. Now Jane believed that Passion had probably killed them, too. Why did she behave this way? Jane had no answer. But Passion's actions forced Jane to change her thinking about chimps. Another awful event struck the camp the following year, in May 1975. This time the chimps were not involved.

曾经发生过几起婴儿突然失踪的事件。 现在简相信，激情可能也杀死了他们。 她为什么这样做? 简没有回答。但激情的行为迫使简改变了对黑猩猩的看法。 第二年，也就是1975年5月，又发生了一件可怕的事情。 这一次黑猩猩没有参与。