Binti Jua
Binti Jua (born March 17, 1988 in Columbus , Ohio ) is a female western lowland gorilla and lives in the Brookfield Zoo near Chicago in the US state of Illinois . In August 1996, she caused a worldwide stir when she helped rescue a boy who fell into the gorilla enclosure.
Life
Binti Jua was born in the Columbus Zoo in the US state of Ohio . Her father Sunshine († 2008) comes from the San Francisco Zoo , her mother Lulu († 2011) from the Bronx Zoo in New York . Her name was from the East African language Swahili taken and means "daughter of Sunshine" (Engl. Sunshine ). She is a niece of the well-known Koko , who, according to her owner, has learned sign language and can make herself understood in her. Binti Jua has two offspring - daughter Koola (* 1995) and son Bakari (* 2005) live in Brookfield and St. Louis , Missouri . Her only granddaughter so far is Kamba , who also lives in Brookfield.
Binti's mother, Lulu, was unable to produce enough milk to feed her daughter properly after she was born, and like many captive gorillas, she was raised by hand. Not fully accepted by her fellow animals, she was brought to the Brookfield Zoo in 1991, where she became pregnant at the early age of six. The carers were concerned that she had not had a suitable role model as a hand-rearing mother and supported her in her role as an expectant mother by using a plush toy as a baby substitute to awaken her maternal instincts. The efforts were successful, Koola, born in 1995, was breastfed and raised by Binti. This made her the second youngest gorilla mother in North America.
The names of Binti's daughter and granddaughter are based on the legend of the Koolakamba , a legendary species of monkey in Central Africa. These are chimpanzees in appearance , but behave like gorillas . Although only a myth for a long time, a chimpanzee population with these characteristics was recently discovered in the Bili Forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo . Because Binti looks similar to a chimpanzee, the keepers jokingly called her "Koolakamba". This resulted in the names Koola and Kamba for their descendants.
August 16, 1996
One and a half years after Koola's birth, the incident occurred that brought Binti Jua worldwide attention. On August 16, 1996, a three-year-old boy climbed over the fence of the enclosure and fell six meters to the concrete floor. While the mother and other witnesses to the incident screamed excitedly for fear that the animal would probably harm the child, Binti went to him and took him in her arms - just as she did with her own offspring. When another gorilla approached, she carried the boy to a gate of the enclosure, where she carefully put him down and the zoo staff could take him over. The boy spent four days in the hospital but made a full recovery from his fall. The event was recorded by a visitor with his video camera.
Binti, who was carrying her own daughter on her back during the incident, made headlines around the world and was hailed as a selfless savior. The Chicago Tribune named her "an international heroine," Newsweek magazine named her Hero of the Year, and People Magazine named her among the 25 Most Intriguing People .
As a result of this incident, experts discussed whether Binti's behavior could be interpreted as altruistic or was simply a result of her maternity training by the carers. The zoologist and behavioral scientist Frans de Waal saw Binti's behavior as an example of empathy in animals. For great apes, too, he argued, “the more they help each other, the better it is for the community”. The German news magazine Der Spiegel suspected “that there are feelings behind such behavior” and cited Charles Darwin as evidence , insofar as “not only people feel emotions. The body structure and metabolism of humans and animals were and are shaped by the forces of evolution - and everything indicates that feelings are no different. "
Jambo
A similar incident, which supports this view, occurred at the Jersey Zoo in 1986 . The silverback Jambo († 1992) protected a five-year-old who also fell into the cage and was consequently passed out. When the boy regained consciousness and began to cry, Jambo and his family withdrew and the child was successfully recovered. Unlike Binti Jua, Jambo was raised by his mother and not trained to take care of his own offspring - let alone those of another species - so that his behavior can be understood as instinctively motivated assistance.
Web links
- Binti Jua in the Gorilla Studbook
- Binti Jua's family tree on Flickr
- Image: Binti Jua
- Image: Binti Jua and son Bakari
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Binti Jua - Gorilla Heroine on h2g2.com, March 29, 2006; accessed on August 20, 2017
- ^ Website of The Gorilla Foundation ; accessed on August 20, 2017
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Elaine Jean Struthers: Koolakamba on Primate Info Net, September 11, 2008; accessed on August 20, 2017
- ↑ Frans de Waal : Our Inner Ape . Riverhead Books, New York, New York 2005, ISBN 1-57322-312-3 , p. 3.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/4243907-418/brookfields-gorillas-get-the-once-over-from-zoo-vets.html ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Frans de Waal
- ↑ The Tears of the Giants
