59-year-old chimpanzee is near death. When she sees who’s in front of her, she gets emotional
October 13, 2017
A viral YouTube video captured a charming moment of tenderness when a 59-year-old chimpanzee, who was gravely ill, was reunited with her old researcher and friend. The chimpanzee’s affectionate bond with the scientist will bring tears to your eyes!
At the advanced age of 59, Mama was the oldest chimpanzee in Europe. She was the matriarch of the famous chimpanzee colony of the Royal Burgers’ Zoo in Arnhem, the Netherlands.
In the footage, a severely sick Mama was resting on a straw bed. She was too weak to eat or move around.
Knowing that Mama would die shortly, Jan van Hooff, a Dutch biologist and an emeritus professor of behavioral biology at Utrecht University, paid Mama a visit.
Hooff, well known for researching primates, was the founder of the chimpanzee colony in the Royal Burgers’ Zoo. He had known Mama since 1972.
Upon seeing the lethargic Mama curled up in bed, Hooff stroked her gently and attempted feeding her.
The emaciated Mama took the food without realizing who the person was at first.
When she looked up and saw who it was, she immediately recognized her dear human friend and companion. Ecstatically, she opened her mouth widely and made a high pitched sound of pure delight.
“Many people I have given tours to, after lectures and with training courses, have known her. When we arrived at the chimpanzee quarters, Mama always came running towards me from the farthest corners to excitedly greet me from the other side of the moat in chimpanzee language with a loud panting ‘oohooh!’” Hooff said, according to the Royal Burgers’ Zoo website.
“This past year it became more and more difficult. Each time it took her longer before stumbling she reached the moat. I will definitely miss her,” he added.
https://goo.gl/kBWDp7 Family Saves Stranded Octopus – The Next Day, He Returns To Thank Them In Remarkable Fashion
Those of us who spend time with animals know they are capable of processing emotions and becoming attached to humans. Apparently that even goes for octopus as well.
The emotional intelligence of an octopus has been confirmed by scientists and their studies.
According to Godfrey-Smith, an octopus can tell human faces apart even when the humans are wearing identical uniforms. Their other human traits including playing with items, having long and short-term memory and being really clever when it comes to escaping.
One family find out just how human-like the creatures are after saving an octopus that was stranded on a beach.
“We spent our Holidays at the Red Sea,” their YouTube video caption reads. “While walking along a lonely beach we saw a stranded octopus in the sand. We were not sure if he is already dead. So we pushed him back into the water.”
They thought that would be the last they ever saw of the octopus but the next day they found out this wasn’t the case.
“He needed some minutes to recover, then he swam away. Next day we went to the same beach for a walk,” the caption reads. “While walking along the beach we saw a shadow in the water coming very quickly to us. It was our octopus we rescued yesterday! He recognized us!”
Not only did the octopus recognize them but it seemed to be very fond of the family and grateful for their efforts to rescue him.
“He accompanied with us a long time while we walked along the beach, all the time tried to touch our feet,” the caption reads. “We are sure that this Octopus came back to thank us for saving his life. It’s amazing how intelligent animals are.”
Of course animals are intelligent! Humans are just one of thousands of species living that were all created by and put here on this planet by the same act of God or Science (whatever you believe), so it would be silly to think that we would be the only ones with intelligence and emotions.
One thing this family decided after their encounter with the octopus, who they named Kurt, is that they will never eat octopus again.
Watch their friendly encounter with Kurt in the video below.
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