Through a Window (16 page)

Other males go in for very short consortships. They try to initiate the relationship not during the early stages of swelling but when the female is already fully pink. There are distinct advantages for the male who can carry this off. For one thing the female, being highly sexually receptive, is more likely to cooperate with him. For another, he does not have to maintain the relationship for so long and this is important if he is working to keep up his position in the hierarchy: the longer his absence, the more likely it is that, on his return, he will have to face challenges from one or more of his rivals.

But the strategy has its drawbacks too. It is not easy to elope
with a female who is at the height of her attractiveness. Indeed, if she is sexually popular, it may be impossible since she will be surrounded by a number of adult males watching every move she makes. The would-be consort male must keep close to her and be prepared to seize any opportunity to try to lead her away. Of course, even if he fails, his constant proximity to her will give him maximum opportunity to copulate with her and that might make all the difference to his chances of fathering a child.

One of the chief proponents of the short-and-sweet consortship was Satan. His technique was interesting. He not only maintained close proximity to the female with whom he wished to make off, but he groomed her frequently as well. And then, having thus demonstrated his kindly nature—"See what a charming partner I shall be"—he waited his chance. If, for any reason, he and the female were temporarily separated from the others Satan quickly shook vegetation, led off in the opposite direction from the group, and hoped she would follow. A couple of times, when the female stayed up late in the evening, feeding ravenously to make up for a scanty intake during her sexually busy day, Satan stayed up too. And then, when her meal was over and the other males were safely in their nests, he tried to lead her a short distance away. If this was successful he would then rise very early the next morning, and, after rousing the lady, suggest to her that they make a hasty get-away.

Ploys of this sort work only if the female cooperates. If she refuses to follow and the male attacks, her screams are sure to bring one or more of her other suitors racing to the scene. Satan did well in this respect and often succeeded in setting off with quite popular females. But this did him little good since almost always the female, after staying with him for a couple of days, then gave him the slip and reappeared, still fully pink, in the central part of the range. There the other males made haste to copulate with her, making up for lost time. Yet despite the obvious failure of his strategy Satan continued trying.

Some males, using a technique that is the exact opposite of the short-and-sweet method, set off on consortships with females who are completely "flat"—who show no signs at all of developing a sexual swelling. Sometimes they even consort females who have recently deflated, who may have just returned from an extended consortship with another male. It is one way for a low-ranking male to get a female to himself, for his superiors will not be interested in her at this stage and will not object to his manoeuvre. If he succeeds in taking her off, succeeds in keeping her with him until she does become fertile, he will be in clover. He will know a halcyon few days when he has a female, at the peak of her swelling, all to himself. He can mate her whenever he likes, without fear of interruption by his superiors. Moreover, unless she is already pregnant he will have a good chance, in this peaceful setting, of siring a child, propagating his genes—which, after all, is what sex is all about.

The main problem for a male trying to lead away a flat female is that during this "cold" phase of her sexual cycle she is usually particularly reluctant to accompany him. We observed the entire course of what may well have been young Freud's very first attempted consortship. He was fifteen years old at the time and his chosen partner was Melissa's daughter Gremlin. She was completely flat. She had only recently returned from a week with Satan. And she most emphatically did not want to go anywhere with Freud.

When I met them Gremlin was sitting by a tree trunk, and Freud was glaring at her, shaking branches. Only after he had displayed around her several times, violently swaying the vegetation, did she eventually trail after him, heading north. She kept looking back, her lips pouted, and every so often I could hear a soft whimper of distress. Quite clearly she wanted to rejoin her mother, with whom she had been travelling earlier in the day. But whenever she turned and tried to move back the way they had come Freud shook branches at her. If she refused to follow
he stood upright, shaking and swaying the vegetation in yet another magnificent display. Gremlin pushed her luck to the limit, ignoring him until it seemed that an attack was inevitable. But then, at the last minute she hastened towards him with panting grunts and gestures of appeasement. This was usually followed by a brief grooming session, after which Freud tried again. He was two years younger than Gremlin but already much stronger, and in a fight she might well have been hurt. And so eventually she gave in.

However, she soon worked out a way of coping, her own unique form of protest. After travelling a few steps in the required direction she climbed a tree and began to feed. Freud, after looking up and half-heartedly shaking a little tuft of grass, settled down to wait. He waited and waited and waited. He lay down and closed his eyes. He sat up and groomed himself. Finally, after almost an hour had passed, he began to show signs of mounting impatience, scratching himself ever more vigorously while his glances towards Gremlin became more and more frequent. Eventually he performed another series of spectacular displays below her—and even then she just sat without moving, watching him. Only when Freud actually leapt, bristling, into her very tree, did she at last capitulate, climbing down and reaching to touch him appeasingly.

When he moved off, still heading north, Gremlin followed. But after a few yards, she climbed another tree and again began to feed! Never have I seen a chimpanzee climb so many trees in such a short space of time. Anything as an excuse to delay. And each time Freud waited as before, grooming himself or sprawled out on the ground, until she condescended to follow him again—for another couple of yards. After five hours they had travelled only some five hundred yards! When, about one and a half hours before the usual bedtime, she climbed yet another tree and constructed a leafy nest, Freud, after gazing up, gave an audible sigh, then resignedly made his own nest nearby.
They were still well within the central part of the community range when, the next day, they encountered a couple of other Kasekela males. This marked the end of Freud's attempted consortship, and Gremlin was able to rejoin her mother.

It is quite clear that a female prefers some males to others; equally there are certain individuals whom she may actively try to avoid. The aggressive Humphrey was, understandably, feared by many of the females. But, although a female can sometimes bring an unwelcome relationship to an end—by calling out and attracting other males or by seizing an opportunity to escape—for the most part she must submit to the whims of any male who desires to take her away. And while there are times when a female appears to follow a male willingly, this may simply be the result of bitter punishment for disobedience on previous occasions.

Once when Passion, quarter swollen, refused to follow Evered to the north, he attacked her four times, very severely indeed, in less than two hours. During the third of these assaults, Passion's hand was badly injured and afterwards she could not put it to the ground. Thus lamed she was even slower to obey Evered's imperious demands and his fourth attack was the worst of all. This time her frenzied screaming, along with the calls of her agitated offspring, Pom and Prof, attracted the attention of two males. When they arrived, hair bristling, to see what was afoot, Evered hastened to greet them and then, without as much as a backward glance at Passion, went off with his two friends. Passion, who was still uttering little whimpers and no doubt feeling very sorry for herself, must have been delighted to see him go.

But she was not to be rid of him so easily. The next day he found her again, and this time she hastened to obey his imperious summons at once, limping after him as quickly as she could. She had learned her lesson well. Evered, as far as we know, kept her away from the other males for nearly two months—throughout two periods of full swelling. When she finally reappeared in
her usual haunts, she was pregnant—presumably with Evered's child.

One interesting aspect of Evered's long consortships is the fact that he quite often copulates with his females when they are not fully pink. This is very unusual behaviour in the wild. An adult male almost never courts a female except during the ten days of her maximum swelling, and she, for her part, does not willingly respond if he tries to force his attentions on her at any other time. If he persists she typically becomes fearful and tries to avoid him. But Evered, during his long consortships with two females, Athena and Dove, copulated with them on a number of occasions when they were either completely flat or, at most, one-quarter swollen. And each time they accepted his sexual advances quite calmly. Probably it was the same when he spent weeks with other females, but we were not there to see it.

This whole set-up—the prolonged period of the exclusive relationship, the calm and relaxed atmosphere that prevails, and the unusual sexual interactions—suggests that chimpanzees have a latent capacity for the development of more permanent heterosexual pair bonding: a relationship more similar to the pattern of monogamy—or at least serial monogamy—that has become the cultural tradition in much of the western world.

Even during the most seemingly idyllic of consortships, however, the seeds of unfaithfulness are present. Once Evered was with Dove, in his favourite consort range in the north, for almost two months. It was on a bright sunny morning, towards the end of this period, that his loyalty was challenged and found wanting. For half an hour after leaving their nests Evered and Dove, along with Dove's juvenile daughter, had fed on pale yellow blossoms. And now the two adults sat close together and groomed each other while the child played by herself in Evered's empty nest nearby. Dove, at the time, was flat and, as we subsequently discovered, pregnant with Evered's child.

Suddenly there was a rustling in the undergrowth nearby. Evered tensed and stared towards the sounds, his hair bristling. Only a few days before his little group had fled silently southward when they heard the pant-hoots of Mitumba community males nearby, and clearly Evered was prepared to lead another retreat now. As a chimpanzee began to climb a tree about a hundred yards away, Evered showed his teeth in a silent grin and, as a second chimp followed the first, he reached to touch Dove, seeking reassurance.

But after a few moments he relaxed, recognizing two members of his own community—Sherry, a young male in his prime, and Winkle, full swollen. Another honeymoon couple! Evered stared for a few moments and then, his hair still bristling, rushed towards them, climbed swiftly into their tree, and began to shake branches at Winkle. Whether or not she had any inclination to obey his summons we shall never know for Sherry, normally subordinate to Evered, was instantly prepared to defend his rights. He charged at Evered and attacked him. The fight did not last long and soon Evered, smaller and lighter than Sherry, retreated, screaming. But he did not leave and after a few minutes Sherry attacked again. This time Evered was actually kicked from the tree and fell some distance to the ground.

Still screaming and thoroughly routed, he returned to his Dove. She had remained where he left her, watching the whole performance. As he sat beside her, whimpering, and licking a bleeding toe, she began to groom him and gradually he quietened. But he continued to gaze towards Winkle until, following Sherry, she and her provocative swelling vanished into the forest.

That incident highlights the powerful effect of the female's swelling in arousing the sexual desires of a male. It was not clear whether Evered was merely wanting to steal a quick copulation with Winkle, or whether, as I suspect, he was attempting to terminate her relationship with Sherry and take her for himself. If
he had been successful in such a manoeuvre, what would have happened to Dove? Would Evered, like the old male Leakey a decade earlier, have tried to keep both females with him? This seems unlikely. Almost certainly, Dove, flat and relatively uninteresting, would have been abandoned in favour of the pink and alluring Winkle.

Dove would then have been in a highly vulnerable position. She would have been left without male protection in an area relatively unfamiliar to her, for her favourite haunts are in the south. And there she and her child would have been at the mercy of the males of the powerful Mitumba community.

T
HE KASEKELA PATROL
moved forward slowly and cautiously as it penetrated ever deeper into the territory of the Mitumba community. Satan was in the lead; five other males and Gigi, fully pink, followed close behind. All had their hair erect, bristling with apprehension and excitement. First one and then another bent to sniff the ground. Evered picked up a leaf and smelled it carefully; Figan stood upright to sniff the lowest branches of a tree. Repeatedly they paused to listen, staring into the dense undergrowth on either side. It was a wind-still day and the forest was silent but for the periodic shrilling chorus of the cicadas. Suddenly a twig snapped, a sharp, brittle sound. Satan turned to the others, his face split by a wide grin, part fear, part excitement—a gash of white teeth set in bright pink gums. Silently he embraced Jomeo who was behind him. Figan and Evered also threw their arms around one another, Mustard reached to touch Goblin. Like Satan, all were grinning hugely.

As they stood there, silently staring towards the source of the sound, another twig snapped. Leaves crunched under a heavy tread. And then the chimps relaxed as the large dark shape of a bushpig appeared, rootling his way through the undergrowth. Intent on his own concerns he never even noticed his audience, and he soon disappeared.