Thank you so much for the time you are taking for this interview! I'm so excited to learn more about your work. First, the beginning. How did you decide to become a primatologist?
I loved animal behavior. I grew up with horses. Learning to communicate with animals was a really essential part of who I was growing up as a kid. I also had that connection with animals, I felt great around them. I thought it was silly that we were always trying to teach them our language instead of learning theirs- if we are the smarter animal- we should learn their language.
Primatology kind of fell into my lap. I went to school at Washington State University and got a zoology degree there. While in college I traveled in Thailand and I ran into some wild gibbons and was like, primates are so cool! It was amazing to see how human, and not human, they are. There are so many similarities you feel like you could learn so much about what they are thinking.
Then several years, and several small primate jobs, later they asked me at twenty three years old to be a manager at the sanctuary. The Chimpanzee Conservation Center was smaller at that time. I fell in love with the chimps. There are so many great things to learn about yourself by watching them and so many great things to learn about other people. They are a gift- a look into your past a little bit. Then to be able to help them, to communicate with them with a little bit of your voice, but mostly body language, is really cool. To think about how you move your body in order to communicate with them.
So you were able to learn their language.
Yes! I speak fluent, or semi-fluent, Western Chimpanzee. It took me a lot longer to learn French than chimpanzee.
After my degree in Zoology at Washington State and then managing the Chimpanzee Conservation Center at twenty three, I eventually got a masters degree in conservation as well. I came back to the CCC to get that Masters- I ran a mini PhD project on the chimps and Tango is in that data group. It was on how Chimpanzees learn. How they communicate with each other and how they learn new thing
Tell me a little more about the Chimpanzee Conservation Center and what it does.
We run a rehabilitation program. We are one of two successful rehabilitation programs in Africa that have successfully rehabilitated chimps back into the wild.
We do that by taking them on daily bush walks when they are young. On these bush walks they teach each other. They come from different parts of Guinea and have each learned different things from their moms- and probably instinctual information as well- and they share that information with each other.
It's really interesting to see that process of learning and seeing that information being passed down to different chimps. You'll see one that knows how to eat a certain type of fruit on a tree, but the others don't know how, so they watch and learn and then they can do it themselves.
Every morning at the center you head out for the walk with one on your back, one on your front- you can be weighed down in a lot of chimp fur. Sweaty chimps.
A great thing about the sanctuary is that it's out in the wild and the chimpanzees are able to come as close as they can to a natural experience with some help.
Where do the chimps at the center come from?
These chimps, since they are orphan chimpanzees, they come from the bush meat or pet trade. They say for every chimpanzee that we get, about 10 have died in the pet trade. The hunter will go kill the mom chimp, or whatever adult chimps are around, then they will pull the baby off the dead mother, and then toss it in a bag and take it to the market to sell.
Unfortunately it's a lot of westerners that think they want a cute little baby that looks so human and adorable and small. On TV you just see the baby chimps- you don't see them when they are big. People aren’t prepared for that.
Other times westerners will buy a chimp in the markets because they think they are saving the chimp- but unfortunately if you buy the chimp for any reason, that continues the demand. For a Guinean who's having a hard time feeding his family a chimp can bring a lot of money and so if someone buys the chimp it's going to motivate him to go out there and find a lot more chimps. So we always told people that if you find a chimp, call the authorities.
Chimpanzees are critically endangered animals and selling them is illegal in Guinea, so when the government confiscates the chimp they bring them to the Chimpanzee Conservation Center.
When the government confiscates them, I am guessing they can be pretty traumatized?
Yes, there are all different levels of traumatized chimps.
They can come in all sorts of horrible conditions and what we do is really like rehab. They come and they have all these issues- they might be scared of you, they might be scared of other chimps, they might not know how to interact with each other, they are malnourished with hair falling out. Fortunately, most of them grow out of those things as time goes on and they start to heal.
As babies we give them a lot of attention, we try to be the mom as much as possible. They are on their mother for the first four to six years- within an arm’s reach all the time. Even if they are sitting down, she is always there to grab them, so to not have that physical contact would be really hard on them. We try to fill that up as much as we can with human contact. Then when they are old enough, around two or so, we try to transition it so that the other chimps provide that contact that they need.
We have chimps that come to the center that are rocking, some engaging in self-mutilization. Similar behaviors that you see with people who are traumatized. We use the same psychotherapy ideas that are used for humans. For the most part, by the time they reach adulthood, which is around 12, most of them have grown out of those things with the help of their pals. They feel confident and they know where they are supposed to be.
Some of the chimps are not going to be able to be released, but lots of them are. You can see the difference that center and the other chimps provide for them. One example is Nelson. When he arrived he was skin and bones and he was kept in a little box. He wouldn't come out of his box when he first got there- in the beginning he had all sorts of problems. Now he's this big beautiful chimp that's totally relaxed and having a good time. Chimps are very resilient.
I always think they must be very forgiving. To forgive you. It was my species who did that to them. I hope that there is that ability to forgive in us as well. They also have jealousy and anger and all those things, but forgiveness- that is an amazing thing that they have.
This is the story behind Tango, the painting of the chimpanzee, and his home, the Chimpanzee Conservation Center. This is PART TWO of my interview with primatologist Melissa Ongman, who worked with Tango during her time at the CCC.
Can you tell me a more about how you got involved with the Chimpanzee Conservation Center?
I was 23 and out of college, I didn’t know the next step in becoming a primatologist. It's a very competitive field- lots of people want to become Jane Goodall- but I found a listing on a website and thought, how many people are crazy enough to do this? So I applied and they took me. It was pretty quick and all the sudden I was off. It was fully French speaking, so that was really hard at first. That first time I went was a roller coaster and a crash course in everything, then the next three times I went it was easier.
What was your exact role when you got there that first time?
The first time, I was managing the local keepers and the volunteer staff. It was a pretty small volunteer staff at that time. In addition to the volunteers, there was a veterinarian and local staff members. We were about six hours by car from the nearest town, so staff would take shifts on who was working and who would go back to see their families. We were in a national park in Guinea- the Haut Niger National Park. It's one of the last strongholds of the western chimpanzee. It's at the beginning of the Niger River and it is an absolutely beautiful place.
The second time I went back I was a volunteer, not a staff member, and someone else was managing things. The third time they needed some equipment brought from the U.S., so that’s what I did. When I was there that third time is when the center did their first release of rehabilitated chimps.
How did that go?
It went ok. It was a little bit of a rough start. At first the chimps didn't know what they were doing outside the center and they ran apart from each other, but then they came back together and stayed in a nice little group. After that they were good. It was fun for me because it was something different. Most of the time you are just with your chimps and the little local territory near the center, but during the release we got to hike around the park and see more of the landscape.
What were you doing while you were in the park for the release?
The chimps have radio transmitters on them so we had to go around and see that they had created a territory for themselves. I was with someone else and one of us would wear the headset to listen for the transmitters.
What was it like being out in the park?
We got to see tons of baboons and hear leopards and many other things that made me say to the person I was with: "DID YOU HEAR THAT?!"
The person I was with would have on the headset and then I'd say: "Did you hear that?! I heard a growl. I heard a growl!" The other person would take the headset off, listen, and then not hear anything. But knew I did, so I would insist that we were really close to a leopard. So we would leave. Even if the other person didn’t believe me. (Laughs.)
I can understand wanting to leave! Better safe than sorry! It reminds me of how in the Pacific Northwest, I find the forests so different than the ones on the East Coast that grew up with. The forests here are so huge and primeval. When I’m hiking in them I really get to reconnect with the idea that when left to protect ourselves with only our own body (without weapons to help us), we are basically prey animals when it comes down to it. It's such an an interesting feeling to reconnect with- that we are essentially…something's food.
And if I scream in the woods, would anyone hear me?
Exactly! We kind of lose that walking around Seattle, but when you get in touch with that, it’s such an interesting feeling. A leopard's not thinking…oh that's a human.
Yes, and has she checked her instagram today? (Laughs.) Exactly. I agree.
So I am sure that was an interesting experience.
There is a rule in your head that you can't be scared of things. Because if you let yourself be scared of something, then you will be scared of everything. As soon as you start getting scared of the snake, then you are going to get scared of the spider, and then you’re going to be scared of the human that's coming with a gun. Maybe that's why I did it when I was young.
I was there for some civil disputes in the country- some scary things happened nearby in both of the countries that I lived in, but you just say whatever happens- "I'm fine. Everything is fine."
What was your favorite part of working at the Chimpanzee Conservation Center?
I can tell you my favorite place- it was a big hill by the savannah. Most of the time the chimps like to be in more closed spaces, but during the dry season you could go by the savannah and there is this hill you would kind of push yourself up and when you got to the top it spreads out into this open space.
Every time you are up there with the chimps, it turns into this kind of spiritual experience. A beautiful moment where you just feel like you are doing exactly the thing that you want to do- and that the chimps are feeling that way too.
We would hang out on the edge together, or the chimps would go up into the trees, or sometimes they would sit in your lap for you to groom them for awhile, or they would groom you. I had all kinds of marks on my hands from over-grooming. They would start pulling out skin and hair and you would say, “Hey! That's not a bug. It's a freckle!”
So yeah. Those kinds of moments. When you are sitting with a baby chimp in your lap and you are just looking at each other. Spending time with them and their cute little pot belles.
You sit and groom their belly and they become like putty in your hands. You can move their arm and then put it back and then move the other arm and then put it back. There's this complete relaxation and trust. Those were my favorite parts.
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If you would like to support the chimps at the Chimpanzee Conservation Center, you can make a one time donation through Project Primates or you can sponsor a chimp at the center . (I sponsor Missy and Leonie). :)
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I am participating in Birdtober! There are a few Birdtober art challenges happening this month- I am participating in the one hosted by Kayla Fisk Birds. I’m really happy I stumbled on this bird art challenge. I love all the other October challenges, but it always comes back to birds for me. :) Especially since I have another show scheduled at Seward Park Audubon in January!
This week as I sat with my coffee, I had a revelation.
This is a big word and one might find the revelation that I had small and rather obvious, but sometimes a concept that you already know can hit differently one day and become...a revelation.
