The rains are back and the river is flooded and roaring. The chimps are enjoying the plush green with the new fresh shoots on the grass and the sound of the river. I was watching them walking back reluctantly to the house the other evening when Tess came along with her 5 year old daughter Joy, having just taken a long walk back along the river - with Joy typically riding on her mother's back - and arrived at the holding facility. Normally, Joy would then do an evening suckle while insisting on being cuddled by her mother, but this time Tess was either too tired to attend to her daughter’s needs or was just not in the mood. Joy noticed her mother’s lack of interest and went on to throw a temper tantrum, throwing herself on the ground, but Tess completely ignored her and went on to groom herself. Naika, who has been Joy’s nanny since Joy was a baby, tried to console her, but that wasn’t good enough for Joy, and she continued to throw a worse tantrum which finally got her mother’s attention. Tess grabbed Joy and held her firmly while Joy characteristically went straight for her suckle. To our astonishment, two seconds later, she was throwing tantrums again! Tess was at a loss! She tried to calm her down and cuddle her but when Joy attempted to suckle again she immediately resorted to another tantrum. To our amazement, Tess decided to get to the bottom of Joy’s new tantrum by finding out for herself what was wrong with the attempted breastfeeding! She held her breast in her hand and tried to suckle from herself! That is when she realised that there was hardly any milk for her daughter, hence the strange behaviour! We suspected that this had been the case for a few days and Joy was now getting frustrated, which would explain her mood from the beginning!
Chimpanzees are known to breastfeed for as long as 7 years, as long as the mother does not give birth to another baby within that time, which would usually be the case among those born in captivity.