Some animals speak to me more than others. When my daughter was a tiny, I sat with her on the sofa a lot. I remember seeing a mother and infant orang utan on television and being overwhelmed with the understanding of our sameness. That she was me. Our babies were each others babies. Baby orangs look so human, act so like human babies. When I see them I see my children.
At the zoo I went to see the mother orangutan and her newish baby. a group of people were trying to see it, and she had her back turned to them, protectively. I started talking to her, across the moat, and she looked up and looked straight into my eyes, and turned to me and showed me her baby.
The current BBC programme is worth a watch. Wednesdays at 8. Not least for the sweetie babies, or the evidence of how like us they are. They're our cousins, and they deserve space in the world.
Not being orphaned and chained and caged, left alone in the dark to go crazy with grief and fear. Check out the episode previews. Think about adopting a baby, or donating...
I'd like to put up more photos but I cant choose just one...
8 comments:
It's interesting how much you and I think alike. I have often said that the chimp, Flo, who was one of the many that Jane Goodall observed for years, was one of my best teachers when it came to knowing how to be a mother.
That was beautiful.
I've gone off chimps a bit since I read Demonic Males, though - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Demonic-Males-Richard-Wrangham/dp/0747533016
They're too like us! It's Bonobos all the way, really :)
Once at the Dublin zoo I got really excited when I identified a mama gorilla as a breastfeeding mother. I felt like we had a connection. Is that weird?
Well, I don't think so. That's the whole point of this post!
I'm not being silly here, but I've always thought my grandmothers facial features were very orangutan like.
Bless her.
Joking aside (may she strike you down) if you look at the link to the centre, you'll see they have a doctor, not a vet, our genetic makeup is so similar.
Bood will out, though, Xbox, take care.
Two questions:
Were you wearing your orange coat that day Jo?
And when you were finished talking to her, were other the people still close by?
Nah, they'd moved on to bang on the glass and shout at someother hapless lower creatures.
People at the zoo are awful. Awful awful. Especially when they're looking at monkeys. It brings out the worst in them.
Post a Comment