Through a Window (15 page)

O
LLY'S LINE
had seemed doomed to extinction despite the fact that she had left two independent offspring when she died. Her daughter, Gilka, had failed to raise a single child and for a while we had thought that her son, Evered, forced into exile, was doomed to wander on the outskirts of the community range, alone.

One Sunday morning Hamisi Mkono was walking along the lakeshore on his way to market. He was headed northward to the village of Mwamgongo that lies just outside the park boundary. He had, one by one, crossed each of the little streams that flow out into the lake from the watershed high up on the rift escarpment. First, after staff camp on the Kasekela Stream, comes Kasekela, then Linda, Rutanga and Busambo. Now he had reached the wide valley mouth where the Mitumba and Kavusindi Streams merge. There, up in an oil-nut palm not far from the beach, a chimp was feeding.

Curious, Hamisi moved a little closer, fully expecting that the chimp would run off—for this was the territory of the shy members of the Mitumba community, not yet used to humans. But the chimp calmly continued to feed—it was none other than Evered. A moment later Hamisi saw a second chimp peering at him from behind a palm frond—a female flaunting a fully swollen pink posterior. She didn't stay long for, despite Evered's calm acceptance of a human presence, she was nervous and soon climbed swiftly down and hurried off. Evered hastened to follow and the couple vanished into the thick forest of Mitumba Valley.

Here was no lonely exile! Not only was Evered in the company of a female, but a highly desirable female, at the height of her sexual receptivity. Even if he was being driven from his own community, he was making the most of the situation. Clearly he had persuaded one of the neighbouring females to accompany him on a consortship—an exclusive mating relationship. How many such sexual dalliances had Evered enjoyed during the months that he was driven from his community, we wondered?

It was about the time of that chance observation that Faben died, bringing an end to Evered's persecution, as without the support of his elder brother Figan's power diminished. And so Evered, although he remained submissive to the younger Figan for the rest of his life, was able to return and take up his position in the Kasekela community. This, however, did not bring his periodic romantic adventures to an end—rather they increased. For not only did he still, occasionally, consort Mitumba females, but he now found it easier to consort the females of his own community as well—adolescent females at the end of the infertile period, ready to conceive, and older females during the month when they resumed oestrus swellings between one child and the next. In addition, on the many occasions when pink females were not led on consortships but were surrounded by most or all of the males of their community, Evered could seize opportunities to mate with them along with the other Kasekela males. We suspect that Evered may have sired more infants than any other male of his time: Olly's genes, after all, will be well represented in the Gombe communities of tomorrow.

The goal of a consorting male is to keep his female away from rival males during the time when she is most likely to conceive—the last few days of her sexual swelling, before it suddenly becomes flabby and shrivels away. All the males at Gombe
take females on consortships, but some do so more often or more successfully than others. Evered has shown consummate skill, not only in coercing females into following him, but in preventing their escape before he has had a chance to impregnate them. We were not able to record the progress of his dalliances with the shy Mitumba females, but his techniques have been carefully observed on countless occasions. A good example was the consortship that he initiated and maintained with Winkle in August 1978.

It began one morning when Evered came upon Winkle and her son Wilkie, then six years old, on the northern slopes of Kasekela Valley. As the big male approached, Wilkie ran up to greet him, jumping into his arms, then briefly grooming him. Winkle followed more sedately, with a few soft pant-grunts. She was just beginning a sexual swelling, and Evered was immediately interested, examining her posterior carefully, then sniffing his finger. When he had done, the two of them began a grooming session.

After ten minutes Evered moved away, then turned, and staring at Winkle, began, with quick jerky movements, to shake a leafy branch. Roughly translated this meant: "Come! follow me!" (If the branch shaking is accompanied by a penile erection it means "Come here! I want to copulate with you.") Winkle moved four steps towards Evered, then stopped. Evered shook the branch once more but in a half-hearted way, and when Winkle ignored him he did not press the point. After another ten minutes he tried again, and this time Winkle responded and she and Wilkie followed Evered as he set off, heading northward towards his favourite consort range.

After only a few minutes Wilkie, who had been last in line, climbed to feed on some choice fruits. Winkle, as though glad of the excuse, stopped immediately and sat to wait for her son. Evered turned and shook another branch but Winkle paid no attention. Over the next twenty minutes, Evered kept on repeating his summons and, as Winkle continued to ignore him, his shaking of the vegetation became more and more violent. It was obvious that his patience was gradually wearing thin, and finally it gave out altogether. With hair bristling, lips compressed, he leapt onto Winkle, pounding and dragging her until she pulled free and ran off screaming. Evered, panting from his exertions, once more summoned her, but she still refused to obey. She just sat looking at him, her screams gradually giving place to little squeaks, then whimpers.

Evered's patience was quite remarkable. He waited for almost thirty minutes, shaking branches from time to time in an irritated way. But as before he became increasingly frustrated and eventually disciplined her again, this time attacking her more severely. Now at last, when he stopped his pounding and summoned her to approach she responded instantly. Hastening to crouch before him, with nervous panting grunts, she pressed her mouth to his thigh, kissing him. And then, as is the way of male chimpanzees after aggression, Evered reassured her, grooming her until she relaxed under the gentle caress of his fingers. Once punishment has been handed out, then it is time to make amends, to restore social harmony. When, after twenty minutes, Evered again moved on, turned, and shook a branch, Winkle followed obediently, Wilkie, as before, bringing up the rear.

For some while they travelled thus, without further friction. On the ridge between Kasekela and Linda Valleys, they stopped to feed. An hour later Evered set off again, and in response to his now familiar summons, Winkle followed, but only a few steps at a time and with obvious reluctance. Quite clearly she was loath to leave her favourite haunts for the less familiar terrain to the north. Evered was more impatient now, and it was not long before he attacked her yet again. This was the worst of all: as he seized and pounded on her they tumbled together down a ravine, thudding from one large rock to another below, and then to a third. Winkle broke free and rushed away, screaming. But when
Evered summoned her she quickly gathered up her son—who, scared by the conflict, was screaming loudly—and, carrying him on her back, she followed her implacable suitor.

For the next two hours Evered led the way relentlessly further and further northward. Three more times he attacked Winkle, once when she baulked at crossing Linda Stream, once when she suddenly ran to the south, startled by the sudden shouting of fishermen from the beach nearby, and finally when she made her last attempt to resist him just before they moved down into Rutanga Valley.

Not until it was nearly dark did the little group settle down for the night. Wilkie shared his mother's nest as usual, and surely the contact with his small, familiar body gave her some comfort after the bruisings and batterings of the long day.

The next morning things were very different. Winkle, now that she had finally moved into unfamiliar territory, was only too anxious to stay near Evered and, for the most part, followed him readily whenever he moved on. His episodes of branch shaking became ever less frequent and less vigorous. By 10.30 they had already reached Kavusindi, and that night they slept together in Mitumba Valley, near the beach, where Evered almost always takes his females. And there, for the next eight days, they would remain.

Once they had settled down, safe from discovery by other Kasekela males, Evered became benign and tolerant. If, when he was ready to leave, Winkle was still feeding, resting, or grooming her infant, then he stretched out on the ground and waited patiently. He groomed her often, and during the heat of midday all three often lay close together on the ground. Evered was very tolerant of Wilkie, too, sometimes grooming him for a while and even, on a number of occasions, sharing food when the infant begged. But for the most part Wilkie was sulky and depressed, for he was going through the final stages of weaning. He spent
much time sitting in contact with Winkle, and, desperate for reassurance as a result of the drying up of her milk, constantly demanded her attention.

Winkle was fully pink from the third day of the consortship onwards. She was fertile and, towards the end, at her most sexually attractive and receptive. Yet Evered mated with her but seldom—never more than five times in one day. When he did court her, Winkle responded quickly and calmly. It was all so peaceful, like some idyllic honeymoon.

It is not only Evered who becomes benign and tolerant once he has led his female to his chosen consort range: it is the rule among the Gombe males. The aggressive bullying ceases once the male has achieved his goal, and he is then prepared to adjust his daily routine to that of his lady. I remember once when Figan took Athena northward to Rutanga Stream. She was extraordinarily reluctant to accompany him and it was a harrowing day for both of them. Eventually, however, by dint of repeated violent displays—and without any fighting—Figan had his way. The following morning Athena clearly wanted a lie-in. Figan rose at the usual time and went to sit below Athena's nest. She peered down at him, gave a soft grunt, a sleepy "Good morning," and stayed right where she was. After ten minutes Figan, gazing up, shook a little clump of vegetation. No response from above. Eight minutes later he tried again, but she continued to lie in bed, paying Figan no attention. Even when he performed a swaggering display she still ignored him. And so, eventually, he moved off without her to attend to his own pressing need for breakfast. The tree into which he climbed, laden with succulent
mmanda
figs, was not far away, but even from the topmost branches he could not see Athena. After stuffing food into his mouth for a few minutes he hastened down through the branches, ran back a short way, peered anxiously towards her nest and then, assured that she was still there, returned to the fig tree. During the next forty-five minutes he interrupted his meal five more times in or
der to ascertain that Athena had not escaped. By the following day Figan had led Athena much further to the north. Then he could relax and the remaining thirteen days of their consortship were peaceful and calm.

How different is the situation that prevails when a sexually attractive female is surrounded by a whole group of adult males. Then, if she is a popular partner, tension builds up as her suitors vie with one another for the opportunity to mate. Under these conditions the female may copulate with six or more males in ten minutes or so. And whenever there is some excitement in the group, such as reunion with other chimps or arrival at a food source, this typically triggers a renewed outburst of sexual activity. Old Flo, during her heyday, was once mated fifty times in one twelve-hour period. And only too often, with tension running high, fighting breaks out, sometimes for the most trivial of reasons. Even though the female herself is seldom the victim, the situation clearly subjects her to a certain amount of stress.

It may well be that the calm and friendly atmosphere of the consortship is more conducive to conception. Certainly eight months after Winkle returned from her honeymoon with Evered she gave birth to a daughter—we called her Wunda (it makes a better name spelled that way) since, for the first time in Gombe's history, humans observed the birth. And as eight months is the gestation period in chimpanzees, Wunda, without a shadow of doubt, is Evered's daughter.

When a female chimpanzee becomes pregnant her condition seems to remain a secret, at least for a while. There is no signal comparable to the sudden change in the colour of the posterior of the pregnant female baboon. There does not seem to be any special odour, or pheromone, to advertise her condition to the males. Moreover, for the first few months of her pregnancy she is likely to develop sexual swellings as usual, and at least the first of these may arouse the interest of the adult males. This leads to some absurd situations when males wear themselves to the bone
in order to lead away reluctant females who are already impregnated with the seed of rivals.

Often a male has to work very hard indeed to take and keep a female on a consortship. If his lady conceives, this effort will have been more than worth it. But, of course, he has no way of knowing. Probably this is why some males go to so much trouble to take their females on two consortships in succession, because this, in a way, safeguards the investment he has already made. If he failed to impregnate the female the first time around, the second honeymoon will give him another chance. And it will prevent her from going off with a rival. Even if she is already carrying his child, it may still be worth his while since he will effectively ensure that she is not subject to the stresses and strains of an excitable sexual gathering, a situation which could have a damaging effect on her—and his—unborn child. Evered sometimes took his females on three successive honeymoons of this sort.

Each adult male has his own particular style when it comes to consorting. Evered goes in for lengthy consortships—many of his were considerably longer than the ten days he spent with Winkle. Once he is thought to have wandered in the north with one of the Kasekela females for almost three months, although we cannot be sure they were together all the time.