| Concept/Content |
sympathy / Bintijua, a female gorilla, and her infant |
| Information caption |
in 1996, Binti Jua, a female gorilla at the Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago, rescued a three-year-old child that had fallen into her enclosure. Binti Jua cradled the unconscious boy, just as she did her own child, growled at another gorilla who approached her, and then carried the boy about 20 meters to a door where the zookeeper could retrieve the boy, all while her own daughter clung to her back (Bils and Singer 1996; "Gorilla at an Illinois Zoo..."). The incident echoed a similar case at England's Jersey Zoo in 1986 with a male gorilla named Jambo. While one might want to dismiss these cases as mere stories, primatologist Frans de Waal (1996b, 2005) defends their significance in the context of similar, more systematic observations of sympathy among primates in captivity and in the wild. Here is one example of non-human organisms exhibiting sympathetic concern for non-related individuals, as well as for kin.
Both episodes were recorded on home video. |
| Inquiry caption |
In 1996, Binti Jua, a female gorilla at the Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago, rescued a three-year-old child that had fallen into her enclosure. Binti Jua cradled the unconscious boy, just as she did her own child, growled at another gorilla who approached her, and then carried the boy about 20 meters to a door where the zookeeper could retrieve the boy, all while her own daughter clung to her back (Bils and Singer 1996; "Gorilla at an Illinois Zoo..."). The incident echoed a similar case at England's Jersey Zoo in 1986 with a male gorilla named Jambo. What do you regard as an appropriate conclusion about the gorilla's intent or motives? Do you regard this as an expression of sympathy in another primate?
Target Concept: Non-human organisms exhibit sympathetic concern for both kin and non-related individuals. |
| Photographer |
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| Credit |
Chicago Zoological Society (Brookfield Zoo) |
| SIZE in pixels [file size] |
682x450 |
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