By Suleman Juma Bakari - Tracker, Greystoke MahaleChimpanzees are social animals, with complex social behaviours. They indulge in different sorts of play, which can be between infants themselves, or juveniles and infants, infants and their mothers, and so forth. The most common sort of play seen at Mahale is between juveniles and between juveniles and infants.
Recently, however, Ruby (a 27 year old female in M-community) was seen playing with her 19 month old son. They spent about 10 minutes playing together. While Ruby laid on her back with hands touching the ground and feet in the air, the baby held on to her toes and started to swing from them. A moment later, Ruby grabbed her son and tickled his sides. The son responded with a full smile showing all his teeth.
Picture - Yvonne de Jong
