The ‘stolen’ baby? A fascinating insight into chimpanzee behaviour

Georgia carrying her infant on her back © Bulindi Chimpanzee and Community Project

The animal kingdom is remarkable, with many weird and wonderful behaviours that can leave us puzzling. This story, shared by our conservation partner, the Bulindi Chimpanzee & Community Project, is certainly one of these conundrums. It’s hard to understand the reasoning behind the chimpanzees’ actions, but this true tale offers an incredible and fascinating insight into wild chimpanzee behaviour. 

Supported by Born Free since 2017, the Bulindi Chimpanzee & Community Project works in western Uganda, in an unprotected ‘corridor’ landscape, that connects two central forest reserves. Living in this corridor, which is heavily impacted by human activities, is a highly threatened population of around 300 wild chimpanzees.

The Project observes six groups daily, collecting long-term data and monitoring the groups’ movements, which in turn helps to inform conservation initiatives and protect the chimpanzees. In doing this, their team witness the many changes to the group dynamics and lives of the chimpanzees. “Perhaps the most rewarding part of my work is being able to follow individual chimpanzees, over many years, as they live their lives,” reflects Dr Matt McLennan, the Director of Bulindi Chimpanzee & Community Project.

Meet new mum Georgia

Georgia as an infant in 2014 © Bulindi Chimpanzee and Community Project

In one of these groups lives Georgia, a sub-adult female chimpanzee. In November 2023, Georgia gave birth to her first baby, a female. She was only ten years and four months old, making her the youngest mother the team has ever recorded.

Despite her young age, Georgia seemed to be taking to motherhood easily and her infant – who at time of writing had not yet been named as there sadly is a high mortality rate for infants under one year old – appeared to be developing well. Then, in June 2024, tragedy struck. The baby chimp, then seven months old, lost the use of her legs. She could only cling to Georgia using her hands.

The baby seemed to have dislocated or fractured her right hip joint or pelvis. The hip bone was protruding outwards and the hair around her hip and upper leg fell out. Normally at this age, an infant would be beginning to explore their environment while remaining close to their mother.

Unable to walk

Georgia continued to be a caring mother and did her best to accommodate her daughter’s disability: she was frequently observed carrying her using one arm or cradled between her legs while climbing, But, despite her efforts, the infant could at times be heard vocalising in pain. By July, there was some improvement in the infant’s condition. She began riding on Georgia’s back again, holding on with her left foot. But, while some movement had returned to her right leg, she was still unable to walk on the ground.

What followed next, left the Bulindi Chimpanzee & Community Project team baffled. In mid-July, Chimp Monitor Johnmary found Jack, a high-ranking male chimpanzee from Georgia’s group, carrying her infant daughter on his back. Mysteriously, Georgia was nowhere to be seen. For the rest of the day, Jack was observed caring for the baby, carrying and grooming her, even climbing in trees with her.

Despite being so young, the infant managed to eat some of the jackfruit Jack had harvested. When the team returned the next morning, Jack still had the baby. While Jack was generally an attentive adoptive parent, the infant did show signs of distress – fear grins and small vocalisations – probably because of hunger. At only seven months of age, she depended on Georgia’s milk for survival.

Jack sitting with the Georgia’s baby © Bulindi Chimpanzee and Community Project

Where was Georgia?

The Bulindi Chimpanzee & Community Project team anticipated the worst outcome – chimpanzee mothers don’t normally leave their infants in the care of adult males. They feared something must have happened to Georgia. However, later that morning, to their relief, Georgia re-appeared in the group with her younger sister Wendy.

It was expected Georgia would quickly recover her infant. However, though she groomed Jack, she appeared nervous, and she didn’t attempt to reclaim her daughter. Subsequently, Jack headed into croplands with other males, still carrying the baby.

When Johnmary relocated the chimpanzees in the afternoon, neither Jack nor Georgia had the infant. It was assumed Jack had lost interest and left the baby somewhere, or perhaps she had been harmed during the males’ boisterous displays. Johnmary backtracked to where the chimpanzees had been in the morning, in case the infant was still alive, but he couldn’t find her. By this point, the team very sadly assumed Georgia’s daughter had died.

Plot twist

However, on the fourth day, there was another unexpected twist. In the afternoon, Johnmary found several of the males, and to his surprise, former alpha male Moses was carrying Georgia’s infant, who was still alive despite having not breast-fed for at least 72 hours.

Like Jack, Moses showed attentive caring behaviour towards the baby – grooming and carrying her, and sharing his jackfruit. In the late afternoon, the males joined up with most of the community’s females and youngsters. However, Georgia and sister Wendy were not present. Jack once again took possession of Georgia’s daughter from Moses and cared for her as before. It’s possible Georgia was nearby, but afraid to approach the males to reclaim her infant.

On the morning of the fifth day Jack still had the infant, who still seemed remarkably alert. Once again, she was seen to eat from his jackfruit. Presumably, the small quantities she’d eaten over the previous four days were sufficient to keep her sustained, and hydrated. By mid-morning, Georgia and Wendy had joined up with the other chimpanzees. Georgia groomed with Jack high in a tree but – as before –made no attempt to recover her baby.

By midday, when the chimpanzees entered a shady thicket to rest, the infant was still in Jack’s possession. In the afternoon, Jack, Moses and other males were seen traveling apart from the females: none of them was carrying Georgia’s infant. The team started to hope that – just maybe – Georgia was finally reunited with her little one.

Moses sitting with Georgia’s infant, both eating jackfruit © Bulindi Chimpanzee and Community Project

What a relief

Georgia and Wendy were not seen in the group for the next couple of days but then, on the eighth day after the incident began, they returned and to the team’s great relief, Georgia was carrying her daughter. Both Jack and Moses were observed grooming with Georgia, but neither attempted to take the baby from her.

Dr Matt McLennan explains: “The males’ behaviour is difficult to understand. It’s possible that Jack’s initial motivation to take possession of the infant was concern for her injured leg. Thereafter, he may have become fixated on the infant, and Georgia – still only 11 years old and relatively inexperienced – lacked the confidence to take her infant back from him.”

“It was unfortunate that Georgia’s high-ranking mother, Leila, was absent during this episode, on a ‘consortship’ with another male outside the community’s normal range. We expect that Leila could have intervened to recover the infant from the males. To our knowledge, no similar case of adult males ‘taking care’ of such a young infant over multiple days and nights (four days/night in this case) has been observed in wild chimpanzees before.”

For now, the story’s ending is a happy one. In early November 2024, Georgia’s infant turned one-year old. She will be named soon, and we will come back with an update on how she is doing once she has been. Her injured right leg is steadily improving and she’s now able to walk, albeit rather shakily. Thankfully, neither Jack, Moses, nor any of the other males have shown further interest in taking her away from Georgia!

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