A group of female chimps bands together to challenge the allies of patriarchy and brute force.

Gremlin, a 23-year-old chimp, looked peaceful as she sat up in her nest in the canopy, amid a thick area of forest filled with mbula and mgwiza trees, and held her newborn daughter, Gaia. After hours of grueling labor, which she spent rapidly climbing and descending the boughs and adding more branches to her birthing nest—either to speed up the process or distract herself from the pain—she gave birth on Valentine’s Day in 1993. Female chimps often prefer the privacy of giving birth away from the heart of their communities; mother and daughter now enjoyed some quiet time tucked away. They traveled together for days, eating and resting and rarely seeing anyone else. 

Gremlin was known for being a gifted mother, connected and compassionate. It was an idyllic couple of days for her, which ended abruptly when she was approached by Fifi, the highest ranking female of their chimp community of about 50, along with her daughter Fanni and her friend Gigi. The group must have smelled the blood still lingering in the air from the delivery and moved toward it. At first, Gremlin remained calm. But it was quickly apparent that this was no friendly visit. Fifi stared down Gremlin like a snake about to lunge at its prey, and Gremlin became visibly nervous. Little Gaia held on tight to her mother’s long wispy hair. Fifi shrieked and tried to snatch Gaia, which Gremlin rebuffed and marked the start of a more than an hour-long attack. 

Fifi’s posse of chimps raced from branch to branch and on the ground, trying to take the baby from Gremlin’s arms. They did everything they could—distracted Gremlin by coming at her from all sides and bit at her hands. But Gremlin refused to let go. Though terrified and exhausted, she managed to run and bat them away. If only there had been males around, Gremlin could have called out for them to intervene. Chimp societies are highly patriarchal, and Gaia could have belonged to any of them since practically all of them had mated with Gremlin during her fertile period, including the alpha male, the singular chimp at the top. This perpetual uncertainty about whether males know whom they’ve sired heightened the importance of the female family lineage in chimp societies.

Under many circumstances, someone would have surely stopped Fifi. But there was no one to be found.

It was rare for females to fight in this way, at least compared with the males. Most often, aggression between the females tended to break out over access to food or in support of their children who were getting into tussles. There was a vague ranking system atop which Fifi stood, but it wasn’t as rigid as the hierarchy of the males, who gained access to their chosen mating partners, in addition to the best food, by displaying dominance. However, it was not the first time that a female had tried to harm another’s baby either. Fifi’s behavior might have been an attempt to preserve her place at the top because Gremlin’s baby could become a threat to the success of her own children, who were in line to lead future generations. Or maybe the baby was just a good source of protein.

Regardless of the reason, Gremlin refused to give up the fight. She and her aggressors engaged in bursts of violence and attempts to step back and strategize. Finally, Gremlin stepped out onto the edge of a branch and begged for the group to stop. She bowed and reached out, a sign of submission, and the assailants relented. Their motivation to stop was as unclear as the impetus for the attack. It could have been that it was getting too dark or that another female suddenly appeared. Or maybe it was just that they had grown tired, too. But Gaia was safe, and Gremlin clung to her. She was Gremlin’s first daughter. She had already given birth to two sons, though the oldest had been killed by humans.  

Over the following couple days, young Gaia seemed to thrive, unbothered by the tumult, as the pair traveled with a group of males they found for protection. When Gremlin saw Fifi again, she stiffened up. But after only a few uneventful minutes she settled back down again, and it was as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. They traveled together in search of food. What Fifi had done should have been unforgiveable, but it must not have seemed possible to cut off such a high-ranking female in a small community of chimps who rely on each other for their survival. Gremlin knew her place. And in turn, Fifi seemed to now behave respectfully toward Gremlin, who also had a great deal of clout, along with her so-called G-family. 

Though these quiet tensions appeared to roil for about a month, afterward neither Fifi nor Gremlin seemed to instill any animosity in their children, who became friends. When Fifi and her children were in the same general area, they allowed Gremlin to stay and eat, too, even though lower ranking females often moved out of the way if someone higher than them came into an abundant feeding ground. But in the years following, hostility would again bubble to the surface without warning. A lower-ranking female such as Gremlin could never be truly safe from others’ wrath unless she takes her place at the top of the throne. Gremlin was going to do it not with traditional strength or brute force—she wasn't equipped for that—but by summoning an unusual talent for love and nurturing.

Dark-faced with a little white beard, Fifi seemed keenly aware that she had been born a royal as she looked out over the sweeping Gombe National Park, a narrow strip of land about nine miles long and two wide, where 13 deep, forested valleys run down from a grassy rift escarpment to the shore along the edge of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania. One of these valleys, Kakombe, provided the setting for their particular small community of chimps, organized around an alpha male, who kept order in exchange for the benefits of the coveted title. They were called the Kasekelans. When not exposed to humans, who are the biggest threat to chimps, their second biggest threat is each other, particularly territorial foes. There were other chimp communities in valleys nearby.

Otherwise, they happily existed alongside baboons and snakes and other animals in their range. A male from the F-family—one of Fifi’s brothers—usually held the position of alpha. As their sister, Fifi’s power in large part came from being the up-and-coming matriarch, whose children would undoubtedly follow the family legacy. Fifi relished the position. She was a favorite among the males and adored the attention they showered on her. If anyone bothered her, she was happy to round up a group of her relatives to go after them. Females who were lower on the totem pole did not possess this kind of sway. Gremlin, who was kind-faced, had grown up watching the way Fifi dripped with confidence. Though Gremlin was also a popular, social female from a well-respected family, she deferred to Fifi when they were together.

Fifi was an attentive, playful mother who instilled similar confidence in her children. She taught them how to gang up against anyone who would think to challenge them. But her highly social nature and extraordinary fertility at times frustrated her children’s need for attention. After a few years of persistently caring for each of them, she became anxious for courtship again and sometimes pushed her kids into independence earlier than they were ready, causing them to throw tantrums in protest and, reluctantly, adapt. Being her offspring required toughness, and to her credit, in this sink-or-swim environment, they all found a way to swim. By the time of her run-in with Gremlin, Fifi was 35, which meant she was still in peak condition, but given that female chimps have a life expectancy of around 45, she was likely in the last quarter of her life. Her eldest son, Freud, 22, was already on the cusp of becoming alpha male.

When Freud was still young, no one was sure if it was truly in his character to be a leader, maybe not even his mother, Fifi. He seemed more interested in playing with friends, dancing in waterfalls, and watching the sunset in the evenings. It was his little brother Frodo who cared about showing others who was boss. Frodo knew his family had power, and he made it evident to those around him that he knew it. Whenever he got into a scuffle, he called on his mother and Freud, who made sure he won. But as an adult, Freud’s friendliness gained him allies who saw him as a leader while Frodo was often aloof with his peers. 

One unexpected member of Freud’s camp was Goblin, the Machiavellian brother of his mother’s sometimes nemesis, Gremlin. Goblin had previously been an alpha, which was surprising for a chimp with as small a frame as his. It was his intelligence that earned him the position; he was adept at making strategic alliances and manipulating others into submission. Once deposed, he wanted to continue to be adjacent to power, so he groomed Freud for the position. When the existing alpha, Wilkie, got injured in a fight over a female, shifty-eyed Goblin egged Freud on to dominate and take over. In exchange, Goblin became his right-hand man. When anyone else came to mate with a female that Freud liked, Goblin fended them off for him. This unity helped to maintain stability in the community, as no one could rival the two of them together. 

Gremlin got caught up in this strategy, even though Freud, the offspring of her rival Fifi, didn’t seem like her favorite male. What many believe could have been Freud’s first attempt at courtship had been with her. Gremlin had been sitting by a tree trunk and he came up to her, flaring his nostrils and swinging through the vegetation, a display meant to woo her to come after him. It was during a cold phase of her sexual cycle, meaning she wasn’t fertile, so she didn’t particularly want to go. But because he was being so adamant, she relented, though she tried to stall by climbing up to the trees to feed as he led her away. Eventually a group of males came by, which allowed her to escape. But now that Freud was in power, she didn’t have such options. She had to give in to him.

Freud’s egotistic brother, Frodo, also, for the first time in his life, pant-grunted to his sibling, a sign of submission—after whining, of course, that Freud wouldn’t allow him to mate with the females he wanted. The two had been close in childhood, but the calculating Goblin effectively drove a wedge between them. Though vulnerable to Goblin’s influence, Freud turned out to be a better leader than could have been predicted. While calm most of the time, he had a selective belligerence and these traits helped to minimize conflict while calming any outbreaks that did occur. These were the most stable days in a long time in Gombe. The males traveled and hunted together well. But unfortunately, Freud got sick with a disease called sarcoptic mange in 1997, four years later, which made him gaunt and covered his skin in scabs.

Gremlin’s wily brother Goblin couldn’t hold down the position on his own while Freud was sick because he wasn’t strong enough and had developed too many enemies during his reign as alpha. Nor could any other G-family member. Even though Gimble, who was Gremlin and Goblin’s younger brother, was once seen as a potential alpha, that was now looking impossible. Though he had the strength and intelligence, he was simply outranked. For their generation, it looked like the hopes for a potential G-family takeover was lost. Frodo calmly went to Freud and shook a branch at him, a gentle signal that he wanted him to follow behind. Frodo brought Freud over to the other males, and just as they were about to attack him—as is typical for an outgoing alpha—Frodo bared his teeth, a sign everyone needed to back off, and that he was now in charge. 

Frodo was easily the largest chimp in the community. His muscles made him look like he spent all his time lifting weights, not swinging through trees. Typically, even though an alpha has physical prowess, he also needs some alliances. Frodo was a different kind of leader, though. He used his brute strength and aggression to retain order. Goblin was still politically savvy and knew it was smart to align himself to Frodo, and Frodo tolerated him in return even though he didn’t need him. Freud was allowed to re-enter the group without a period of eviction, which most deposed alphas endure. The brotherly loyalty resumed. Meanwhile, Fifi, as Frodo’s mother, happily kept her place atop the female chain. The family bond had protected them for many years, and it continued to. Such filial dynamics would also prove useful to other families.

Gremlin did not seem as interested in these politics as Fifi was. She focused on what she could control—raising her children. Gremlin had learned from her own mother how to be a gentle, affectionate mother. She looked out for Gaia—the one-time target of Fifi’s attack—as she tried to join play sessions with her big brother, Galahad. Starting around age eight or nine, young male chimps begin moving up the social hierarchy by dominating the young females, then older females, then eventually the older males. Galahad was on his way up, and he ran with Fifi’s boys. Even though he was a nurturing brother to Gaia, sometimes he got a little aggressive.

As a result, Gaia developed a tentative personality. She tended to stand on the sidelines with her mother and watched Galahad play. She often ended up doing whatever her mother did. Gremlin was a skilled termite fisher. She took a long twig and stuck it through holes in the tree bark until it got frayed, looking for the large ones. When Gremlin discarded her used-up tool, Gaia saw the termites and understood what her mother was doing. She took a stick and tried to imitate her. Gaia was also very maternal by nature. As a youngster she could be seen cradling rocks and sticks as if they were her baby dolls. 

There did not appear to be any overt effort by Gremlin to groom her children for power, though Galahad seemed poised to make an excellent alpha. He had his Uncle Goblin’s keen-eyed intelligence without his craven ambition. Gremlin’s brothers, now less involved in leadership, often visited to play with their nieces and nephews. Perhaps the G-family also held out hope for Galahad’s ascent. But Galahad later died during a flu epidemic, and it looked like another generation of G-family members might be out of luck in terms of male ranking. 

And yet, if her attack on Gaia had been any indication, Fifi still seemed to view Gremlin’s children as a threat. When Gremlin gave birth again, this time to twins known as Glitter and Golden, another angry showdown with Fifi occurred. Somehow, though, Gremlin again fended off Fifi and Fanni. This wasn’t the last time this would happen, either. During each episode, the young F- and G-family chimps appeared frightened and confused watching Gremlin being assaulted, wondering why it was happening. 

Gremlin, of all the female chimps, seemed up to the task of caring for twins. With her other children she had proven exceptionally patient and caring. It is extremely rare for a set of twins to survive in the wild. In many cases, one twin will die because there is simply too much juggling involved for the mother. Just as with human children, the squeaky wheel tends to get more of the attention. The other baby chimp ends up being neglected, underfed, and given less protection. But Gremlin managed to go through daily life carrying them both—timid Glitter on the back and adventurous Golden front and center on her chest. If they fell, she gently picked them up and calmed them down. If she was in the middle of caring for one of them, she had a way of putting her arm around the other to remind her she had not forgotten.

Daughter Gaia’s help was crucial too. If it weren’t for her, in fact, it’s likely one of the twins would have perished. She comforted them and traveled with them, despite the fact that she was only five at this point, and the extra load was heavy for her. Gaia still needed her mother too, so Gremlin made time for her as well. Gremlin knew how to distribute attention among her daughters, spending hours every day grooming them, a process that involves combing and separating out their hair and picking out insects with the teeth. Gremlin did not have the same kind of political power as Fifi; she could not displace other females by starting fights. But she did have a powerful ability to instill confidence in her children through her emotional nourishment.

The young chimps grew to be strong and independent. They also continued to build on Gremlin’s legacy of excellent tool use. In a neighboring community called Mitumba, many chimps used sticks to fish for ants in the trees. This practice involved poking a branch into the ants’ hole to rile them up, then fishing for them by getting them to bite on the wood. This method, though similar to the process for catching termites, was not in use in Kasekela. But when a single female from Mitumba immigrated there, she brought the practice with her, and the children observed and imitated it first. Gremlin’s daughters, including Gaia, caught on. It was a miraculous example of technology transfer. But the old adage “you can’t teach a dog new tricks” seemed to be true because older chimps, Gremlin among them, did not even begin to figure out how it was done.

Gremlin’s female children remained incredibly close to her as they grew up. While the young males leave their families by a certain age so they can go traveling and learn to hunt and patrol, the females stay with their mothers. They learn where the good food sources are and observe how to engage in courtship and childrearing. This small group of G-females became formidable, an undeniable force in the community. Their cohesiveness made it difficult for anyone to interfere with them. But they had to coexist carefully with the powerful F-family. 

Freud and Frodo often went back to the valley to spend time with their mother, Fifi, especially if food was scarce during the dry season, because they knew her extensive knowledge of the home range would help them find something to eat. Frodo’s reign, like his brother Freud’s, also ended in illness. He contracted an internal parasite that turned him into a walking skeleton, and he disappeared into the forest, knowing he was relinquishing his spot. For a number of years, there was no clear alpha, which caused instability within the community. The alphas who did emerge were fairly weak and ineffective, de-facto figures rather than chosen leaders. Fifi finally disappeared in 2004, and it was assumed she must have passed away. 

Though there was finally room for movement in the female hierarchy, there was no immediate candidate from either the F- or G-families. The big change in Gremlin’s life was that her children started having babies of their own, and the traumas of Gremlin’s past came back. Daughter Gaia gave birth in April 2006, and in a reprise of that pivotal 1993 incident, Fifi’s daughter Fanni came over to Gaia and challenged her and Gremlin.

Gremlin and Gaia moved closer to one another, and Gaia uttered a nervous vocalization. Gremlin took hold of the infant, who appeared to be less than one day old. The situation was defused and Fanni was turned away. Gremlin began to take care of the infant as if it were her own. She was still lactating for another baby, Gimli, so she let Gaia’s son suckle too. Gimli was far too young, at age 2, to have that kind of competition, yet he took this change in stride. He stayed in close proximity to Gremlin and the infant as they carried on.

Gaia did not seem to object either. It was difficult to know how she was faring mentally. It seemed like at some point she accepted that Gremlin had taken over. But by September, Gaia’s son was looking weak and limp. He could no longer cling to Gremlin, and he died. Gaia tried to take the dead infant from her mother, but Gremlin refused, continuing to carry him with her. Her reasoning was probably that she was going to wait to give him every chance for recovery. But the smell seemed to annoy Fifi’s deposed son Freud, who kicked Gremlin fiercely and chased her down and up the steep valley of Kasekela Stream. Somewhere along the way, Gremlin dropped the child. The stench dissipated, and the body could no longer be found in the thick underbrush.

Gaia had several other pregnancies, and Gremlin continued to be overeager about taking over the children's care. But ultimately, those children didn't survive. Finally, in June 2009 Gaia had a son. Even though Gremlin appeared for the first time on day six and showed interest in seeing him, Gaia kept her distance and held on tight to her infant. From then on, Gremlin seemed to relinquish the need to raise her grandchildren. Gaia and her siblings continued to have children, and Gremlin did not interfere. The G-family grew so large over time that it eventually comprised 25 percent of the entire population of the community. The formidable female set had now expanded their power. Because of their particular resilience as individuals and as a tight knit group—between Gremlin, her children and their children—nobody wanted to mess with them.

All of the years of tension between Gremlin and Gaia hardly shook their relationship, and the twins started having children too. Gremlin and her daughters saw each other constantly, and their children played together, shaking cicadas in their hands like rattles or testing who was stronger through tug of war with a tree branch. They had the kind of protection that the F-family children used to have; they knew that when they got into a fight they had back-up. When one of the young G-family females was nearly forced out of her feeding position and resisted, her mother Glitter quickly came to her aid, assisted by Gremlin and Gaia. Even though another group of adult females and an older F-family male came to oppose them, after a conflict that lasted a few minutes, the G-family was victorious. This created a promising environment for the children; it was likely to produce the kind of confidence needed for a future alpha male. 

Even the adult males would think twice before interfering with one of them because there were four adult female chimps who were strong and bonded together to rise up: Gremlin, Gaia, Golden and Glitter. Their collective strength also made them bolder individually. Freud, unfortunately, seemed to be oblivious about this. Once, he was out in the heart of their home range looking for food with another chimp named Patti for the day. Freud came over and tried to take Patti away for consortship, a male’s attempt to stop a female from mating with others, and she was trying to resist. Freud became rougher with her. For years, Gremlin had dealt with his pestering. Though she wasn’t particularly close with Patti, this time Gremlin intervened. It was a risky move: because of his size, it was unlikely that the females could overpower him. Freud lunged at the two of them. 

There was a big scrum deep in the vegetation that looked like a miniature tornado. Anyone’s best guess was that the females would soon be climbing up the trees, barking out of fear. The fight continued, though, and the sound of screams and pounding could be heard. Male chimps often kick during fights to intimidate each other, though generally not too hard. It sounded like Freud’s foot had come down on one of the females. But soon, it was Freud who came scurrying out of the fight, licking his foot and looking sad. One of the females must have bit it, a gutsy move. Patti’s son watched from afar, seemingly impressed that the females had chased away a former alpha male.

While power dynamics and ranking behavior among males form the heart of political life for the chimps, the G-family used its maternal powers to get ahead. Meanwhile, the years of weak alphas took a toll on the community. In good times, the males would have taken turns going on patrols at the periphery of their territory, but now they stopped traveling together and often became aggressive with each other. There was little remaining unity. They didn’t have any strong neighboring communities or they would have been very vulnerable. It seemed as though there was a deep need for another F-family male to be in charge. The community got one in Fifi’s son, Ferdinand, the third brother to take on the position. Stability could be found again. Unfortunately, it came at a cost.

Ferdinand was a tyrant, even though he was named by his human observers after the peace-loving bull. He was known for using threats and surprise attacks to maintain his station, and he left many of his opponents badly scarred on their backs, a kind of branding. Even after he had deposed a former alpha Kris, who was immediately all but vanquished, Ferdinand continued to go after him. Though this behavior lost him his friends, it did help him to maintain his position. But over time, a growing faction wanted him gone, including members of his own family. Even though the F-family’s inbuilt aggression had repeatedly won them a high rank, there were signs they were beginning to turn on each other. 

Ferdinand must have been able to tell that his popularity was waning because he increasingly spent more time in the north with a few females, away from the majority of adults who were in the southern part of the region. He did frequently return to reassert his position. But this strategy was not going to work for long. The younger males were getting riled up to start a revolution. When Ferdinand came back as usual from the north in October 2016, he did not receive his usual vocalizations of submission. Instead, a group of males greeted him with barking, ready to take him on in a surprise attack. Ferdinand tried to flee up a tree. However, his nephew, Fudge, Fanni’s son and Fifi’s grandson, went after him. 

Fudge seemed like a strange contender to be alpha. He had the F-family aggression required to stay at the top. But he also appeared somewhat odd, like he was almost stuck in latency. He suckled the air as if still compensating for weaning too quickly. Fanni, Fudge’s mother, had lacked a natural mothering instinct. She walked fast and ate fast, so intent on taking care of herself that she ignored her offspring. Perhaps she had seen her mother push her children into independence too early and had copied her, to her offspring’s detriment. As a result of her style of childrearing, it was unclear if any of her brood was up to the task of leadership. But in this fight, Fudge looked strong. 

On the edge of a branch, Fudge and Ferdinand struggled. It was a rough fight. Fists flew. Arms got bitten. It was one of the bloodiest showdowns ever seen. When another nephew of Ferdinand’s, Fundi, and Fanni joined, the battle was over. Ferdinand was overpowered. Onlookers could tell that even as Fanni was involved, her loyalty was split between Fudge, her son, and Ferdinand, her brother. After leaving Ferdinand to heal on his own, Fudge came down victorious to a crowd huddled below, showing dominance by standing so his body appeared bigger, with his hair bristled and his expression menacing. One by one, Fudge took on anyone who wanted to challenge him, and he emerged the clear victor. For the first time, it was one of Fanni’s kids who was in charge. Ferdinand managed to escape, though for days afterward, the group went after him as he ran back north. Eventually he lost them.  

Fanni’s involvement should have secured her son’s support to help her in her own battles among the females. But surprisingly, that did not come to pass even once he was settled into his new role. Perhaps because Fanni had once ganged up against Gremlin with Fifi, Fanni’s mother, and because Gremlin now had so much power, Fanni soon afterward emigrated to the outskirts of the community. She originally went there with a group of females, but she stayed long after they returned. When Fanni got into conflicts, if Fudge was around, he supported her. But otherwise she remained on the periphery, in apparent exile. It was a strange position to be in. She remained fairly high ranking, but was rarely present.

Fanni’s younger sister Flossi, meanwhile, had been forced to leave the community, too. When her older brother Frodo tried to mate with her when she was ten, she knew she had to get out. While females have a strong instinct against incest, males do not respect or recognize that. Without a goodbye, Flossi had left Kasekela to go north to the Mitumba community. Luckily, her F-family leadership skills helped her thrive there. She gave birth to many children and over time achieved a very high rank, which is unusual for a new migrant. She likely found a way to attach herself to the males there, a common strategy for females without a support network. Otherwise, the other females can be brutal to them.

Ultimately, for the G-females—the family of Gremlin—it did not matter who was in charge of the community at large. They had upended the F-family matriarchal hierarchy and appeared poised to eventually produce alpha males, which would change the patriarchal hierarchy as well. For them, there was a strong advantage, not in having an alpha to depend on, but in staying in the company of each other—in the company of Gremlin. She did not have to be politically motivated or the highest ranking female. She was a kind, compassionate, powerful mother. With control over the central area of the valley, they had access to the best food and spent their hours grooming each other, solidifying their alliances. It was a calm and comfortable life.

In the summer of 2019, at 50 years old, Gremlin gave birth to a new baby. She traveled with Gaia’s family in search of food, then split off when she found a thicket of mgwiza trees. She climbed a tangle of vines and trees and eventually reached a branch, where she made a nest to rest. Her newborn, named Goodali by her human observers in honor of Jane Goodall, had a tight grip on her long hair. While it’s not easy being displaced as the baby of the family, her four-year-old daughter Grendel watched. Ever the committed mother, Gremlin groomed Grendel for a long time while supporting her new infant with her other arm. They enjoyed a freedom and ease that had evaded them for years.

Down the line, there were still potential threats that could arise. If Fanni returned while Fudge was in power, then she could dominate the females once again. If Fudge lost his position, another F-family member could take over and alter the stability of the system again, though most of the strongest of their males had already passed away. The most recent generation of G-family males seemed to have plenty of potential candidates for future rule. For the first time in at least 60 years, it looked like a new family could end up on top. But in that moment, those political concerns could stay far from Gremlin’s mind. Surrounded by her family, she fell soundly asleep to the sound of birds singing and crickets chirping, as safe as they could be in the wild. 

The preconception of an alpha male has typically been that of an all-powerful and ruthless figure who is also universally attractive to females. He epitomizes a narrative about survival in the wilderness based on seeking power. But in nature, there are other ways of thriving. An alpha can be small and political or large and tyrannical or mostly laid-back and uninterested in fighting. It is also possible that a bonded set of females can upend the entire hierarchy. Gremlin proved the power of being a nurturing figure, even against extreme physical strength and long odds. 

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The following story has been reported based on accounts by Bill Wallauer, a scientific advisor and filmmaker for the Jane Goodall Institute, who spent 15 years observing and filming the chimps at Gombe National Park, and archival reports.

Sushma Subramanian is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Mary Washington and the author of “How to Feel: The Science and Meaning of Touch.”

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