Zoo Report: Investigating the Link between Age and Social Activity

For my final written assignment in this class, I decided to focus on the chimpanzees as

they are our closest genetic relative out of all of the non-human primates. From chimpanzees, I

wanted to examine their social interactions, focusing on the youngest and oldest members of the

group to see if these members were active in any group activity or if they were excluded. This

interested me because, in human society, the youngest and oldest members of any given group

are often seen as contributing less to the group, and subsequently are paid less attention than

individuals in their prime. The research question I posed was “How are younger and older

chimpanzees integrated into the activities of the group?” I hypothesized that the youngest

members of the group would be more involved in group activities, while older members would

be isolated.

To make my observations, I went to the Sedgwick County Zoo and observed the

chimpanzees. Out of the eight on display, I chose to focus on Mabusu, the youngest male (9),

Gomez, the oldest male (42), Audra, the oldest female and Mabusu’s mother, (49), and Moshi,

the alpha of the group and Mabusu’s father (24). The observations referenced in this paper are

behavioral notations taken over the course of two hours in ten-minute intervals.

Within the first hour of observation, Mabusu seemed to aimlessly wander the exhibit,

feeding intermittently for the first twenty minutes and generally keeping himself apart from the

other chimps. Gomez and Audra sat together for the first twenty minutes, feeding and, while they

seemed to share food between them, they kept themselves apart from the other chimps as well.

Moshi, as the alpha, began to approach individual members of the group and groom them,

facilitating social interaction. It was observed that Moshi seemed to groom different members of

the group for different periods of time. At no time during this process did Moshi approach

Mabusu.
 At the sixteen-minute mark, Mabusu approached Gomez and Audra and sat down with

them, while Audra groomed Mabusu for two minutes before Audra left both of them to continue

feeding alone. The oldest and the youngest males seemed to ignore each other from 2:18 until

2:10, when Moshi joined the pair and began grooming Gomez until 2:38, when he left to

approach another chimpanzee. Moshi ignored Mabusu during this fourteen-minute period.

At 2:39, Mabusu left Gomez alone and continued to wander aimlessly, chewing on and

playing with one of the “flavored” shirts that the Keepers had placed in the exhibit that morning.

The individuals of the group seemed to ignore Mabusu as much as they did to the other members

of their group. Both Gomez and Moshi fed separately from the other members of their group, and

Audra sat above Gomez, overlooking the exhibit and appearing to shun the other group members

when they approached.

The only observed incident of Mabusu actively playing with another member of the

group was at 2:45, when he approached a chimpanzee called Chucky and began hitting him, both

with his fists and the shirt he was carrying with his foot. While Chucky mostly ignored Mabusu,

the event attracted Moshi’s attention, who began to watch the interaction with the intent to break

them apart if Mabusu went too far, which he did at 2:52. Mabusu immediately returned to hitting

Chucky, and only stopped when Moshi chased the pair of them away from each other at 2:56.

Mabusu did not return to Chucky, and did not play with any other group member, after that.

At 3:00, the Keepers came to the exhibit and began to feed the chimps. This was the most

social time for all members, as all of the middle-aged males and females and Mabusu crowded

around Moshi as they ate together. Gomez and Audra, however, ate apart from the others.
 After feeding time was over, the group split up once more and returned to their respective

places in the exhibit. Over the course of the next hour, activity slowly winds down as the

members of the group lay down and appear to take a collective nap.

The observations made with the group at the Sedgwick County Zoo both lent evidence

for and against my hypothesis. While I was correct that the older members of the group were

isolated from the rest of the group and the activities they engaged in, I was not expecting for the

youngest member of the group, nine years old, was being ignored just as much as the older

Gomez and Audra. Even Audra, Mabusu’s mother, seemed to ignore her son.

However, there are factors that may have led to the observations being biased. My focus

on Moshi as a middle-aged subject was hampered by Moshi’s status as the alpha male, meaning

that he spent more time with all members of the group than the average middle-aged

chimpanzee. In addition, due to the design of the interior chimpanzee exhibit, the only way to

effectively observe all areas was to sit next to the glass. This direct proximity meant that the

chimpanzees could have been affected by my behavior, especially considering that I was the only

one in the exhibit for most of the time I spent there.

This was my first college research assignment, and while I cannot say it was particularly

fun, it was very informative about the nature of research projects and how I will pursue them in

the future.
 I = Inactive
G = Grooming
F = Feeding
P = Playing
S = Sleeping
K = Activity with Keeper
x = With
Time A (Mabusu, M, 9) B (Gomez, M, 42) C (Audra, F, 49) D (Moshi, M, 24)

2:01 F FxC FxB I

2:11 F FxC FxB G

2:21 IxB&D IxA&D F IxA&B

2:31 I G<B F G>B

2:41 P F I F

2:51 P > Chucky I I I

3:01 K K K K

3:11 I F F I

3:21 F P S I

3:31 I I S I

3:41 S I S S

3:51 S I S S

4:01 S S S S