6
The Leap of Faith
The structure of the communication system of Higgy’s group had been built, piece by piece, by the histories of each individual within the group. When Little Mama was thrown into a world of humans from her natural world of chimpanzees, we were able to see the adaptability of the structure that she had brought from Africa. When Cindy was suddenly integrated with other chimpanzees after being raised as if she were a human child, we were able to see how this structure is acquired. When Higgy became socially indispensable to Cindy (and every other chimpanzee he came into contact with) and was able to interact with her (unlike her human caretaker), we were able to see how the structure of a chimpanzee communication system depends on a shared chimp perception of the outside world. When Gin was unable to relate to any other chimpanzee, we were able to see the raw and useless form of an unsocialized structure of a communication system. When Elgin stood head to head with Higgy, we were able to see how the communication system relies on social bonds in order to be unlocked. In all of these cases, we see evidence of a linguistic structure to chimpanzee communication. However, a linguistic model relies on more than just structure. A linguistic model relies on its conscious usage.
Imagine, for a moment, that a child is sitting alone in a room with a hot iron. Away from the protective watch of his mother, he crawls over to the iron and places his hand on the hot side. Reflexively, two things happen at once: he pulls his hand away from the iron and he yelps. Both actions occur without a conscious decision by the child. Both actions occur purely on instinct. Both actions, for the child, function as a way to survive. The reflex to pull oneself away from a painful situation is obvious. If the child didn’t have this reflex, his hand would remain longer on the hot iron while he consciously decided to remove it. Likewise, the yelp that the child produces has a purpose which is just as beneficial. When the child yelps, his mother runs into the room and picks her child up—away from danger. This reflex would occur in any painful or dangerous situation the child—or any individual for that matter—would find himself in. The reflex to cry out is an unconscious and insentient communication system.
Now compare this with a conscious communication system, a system quite different and far removed from the insentient system. Let’s imagine that the child is, again, alone in a room. Only this time, there isn’t a hot iron. Instead the child is lonely or bored and wants his mother’s attention. In an effort to communicate this to his mother, he lets out the same yelp. The mother, once again, comes running to him and scoops him up. In both incidents, the child produces the same call. In both instances, the call produces the same results: the mother running in and picking up the child. However, there is a profound difference between the two events. The first event is a purely instinctual and unconscious act of communication. The second event is a highly complex and conscious transmission of a message.
Freedom of choice distinguishes a conscious communication system from an insentient communication system. The ability to choose such features as a message to send, a way of conveying that message, a channel to send that message through, and a receiver to direct a message toward is the cornerstone of a linguistic system. Humans communicate through both conscious and unconscious systems. When the child yelps from touching the hot iron, it is not a consciously chosen piece of communication. It happens by reflex along with other reflexes (such as pulling his hand away). This unconscious communication alerts his mother to the fact that her child is hurt and causes her to run to him and help. There is no freedom of choice in sending this message. The child isn’t choosing the yelp, isn’t consciously directing that yelp at anyone in particular, and isn’t selecting from any other ways to convey that message. The message comes without the aid of any conscious effort on the child’s part. However, in the second scenario, the form of communication has gone from being an unconscious response to being a complex form of conscious communication. The child has chosen a certain message, conveyed that message by yelping, and directed it at his mother (who then comes running).
Linguistic communication systems rely on this freedom of choice to function. In language, we choose a message and a receiver. We also choose whether to send that message verbally, gesturally, or in written form. Within each one of these choices, we have more conscious decisions. For example, if we chose to send a message verbally, we have to choose which sounds we are going to combine to create that message. This decision may be based on who we are directing the message to, the environment we are in, how we want to present ourselves, or any other conscious reason that might be applicable to the situation or message. As humans we rely on this freedom of choice in language to survive our social systems and our world.
What about chimpanzees? Do chimpanzees utilize this freedom of choice in their communication systems? If so, is it linguistic? Is it language? Up until now, we have danced around using the term “language” to describe chimpanzee communication. Indeed, the definition of language is a touchy subject. Some linguists have gone to great lengths to declare that the phenomenon is an exclusively human trait. Some anthropologists have taken this to the next level and determined that the very thing that makes the human species unique from the rest of the animal world is its ability to use language.
I, however, feel confident in granting language to chimpanzees. Not, of course, in what we can teach them (or not teach them) in a lab, but by how they are communicating in the wild. As we have explored, the histories of Little Mama, Cindy, Higgy, Gin, and Elgin demonstrate the structure of the language of chimpanzees. What we must look at now is their ability to consciously use this structure. That usage depends on intentionality—or the conscious freedom of choice.91 Chimpanzees do, in fact, make conscious linguistic choices. When the chimpanzee, Oz, found hidden treats inside a pumpkin and chose not to vocalize to his group-mates, we see a conscious linguistic choice.92 Yet, this choice was limited. Oz was merely making a conscious choice not to communicate. He was not making a decision on the manner in which he would communicate. Moreover, the choice Oz was making had clear consequences. If he had chosen to communicate, he would have lost his treats. Since he had chosen not to communicate, he was able to keep all of the treats for himself. Most conscious linguistic choices do not have such apparent results. In fact, in some choices, the results are ecologically equal and therefore require a much more complex decision-making process.
The following accounts detail chimpanzees in the process of making conscious decisions. Unlike Oz’s pumpkins, the choices within these decisions don’t necessarily have apparent ecological benefits. The decisions made by the chimpanzees don’t necessarily seem to make any ecological sense. Rather, what they show are chimpanzees as cognizant organisms faced with the same dilemma humans are faced with—that, instead of relying on instinct, they must consciously make a choice without knowing the consequence of their action. Language relies on the ability to rise above instinctual calls and make conscious choices about the messages, channels, and receivers. Being saddled with freedom of choice means that one is aware that a wrong decision could have grave consequences. In language, a wrong choice can also have dire consequences to a species which relies upon socialization for survival. Freedom of choice in language, and every other conscious situation, requires faith in one’s knowledge of the world, one’s memory of relevant situations, and one’s intuitive impulses. The leap of faith is the abhorrent side effect of having the cognitive complexities that grant us language.
1988
Loxahatchee, Florida
Rachel jumped down from the shelter and ran to the edge of the island. Cindy, her mother, was there watching as trucks, backhoes, and barges lined up in front of the large island beside her. As Cindy watched, Rachel did somersaults in front of her. Cindy grabbed her by the leg and pulled her close. The five-year-old female playfully bit her mother’s hand. As the two wrestled on the side of their island, they kept an eye on what was occurring across the canal.
In front of the large island, Terry Wolf stood in waist-high water, holding a fire extinguisher in his hands and facing the group of chimps on the shore. Behind him was a growling backhoe, dredging up dirt from the bottom of the canal to create a land bridge to the island. As the land bridge expanded, both Terry and the backhoe got continually closer to the island’s shoreline. With each step, Terry would lightly spray the fire extinguisher in the air, causing the chimps to move back.
The purpose for all of this construction was to divide the large island into four smaller islands. These four islands, combined with the island that Cindy’s group occupied, would make five islands on the large canal. This would enable the park to move Higgy’s group and Romeo’s group to the canal (thereby locating all of the chimpanzees into one section). With four groups and five islands (Doll’s group of ex-lab chimps would stay where they were), they would have an additional empty island to use in case any chimps needed to be removed from their group for any reason.
Such a move was not without concerns. As we have seen with the Mimikile and Kajabala groups in the Mahale Mountains, the closely knit social groups of chimpanzees are extremely territorial. Any unwelcome chimpanzee trespassing onto the island of another chimpanzee group could result in violent consequences. An entire group mixing with another group would be disastrous. Because of this, dividing these islands was quite a chore. It required the backhoe to slice through the island in three different places with each slice conforming to certain dimensions. Since there were about to be four separate chimpanzee groups living right next to each other, each slice had to be deep enough and wide enough to ensure that no chimpanzees would be able to go from one island to the other. This was not as easy as it sounds. Chimpanzees can jump extremely far. Due to this, each slice had to be at least five meters wide. Also, since these chimpanzees had provided evidence against a natural fear of water, the slices had to be deep enough to guarantee that a chimp couldn’t wade across the canal. Keep in mind that all of this was occurring with a group of chimpanzees on the very island that was being sliced up—the backhoe being defended by one man and a fire extinguisher.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the park, Higgy’s group was peaceful. Unaware that they were about to be uprooted to another island surrounded by other chimpanzees, they were only concerned with their own social world. Within the group, Elgin had been taken completely under Higgy’s wing. If Elgin was ever antagonized, Higgy would retaliate for him. No one was allowed to steal from Elgin, threaten Elgin, or harm Elgin. No one, that is, except for Higgy himself. Though Higgy prevented others from terrorizing the neurologically impaired chimp, he occasionally took to roughing Elgin up in order to display his power to the other chimpanzees.93 At times, when the group was silent, Higgy would begin making a slow and deliberate call. The call would become louder and louder until it would climax with Higgy screaming and running toward Elgin. The other chimpanzees would scatter out of the way and watch as Higgy would smack Elgin across the back. Elgin would scream and reach out to Higgy. After a few moments, Higgy would walk over to Elgin and groom him.
Another interesting dynamic that was developing within the group was the raising of the island’s two juveniles, Cashew and Tonic. A year apart in age, the two were frequently together. Edwina was an extremely attentive mother to Cashew. Now four years old, Cashew was becoming more independent. The times she spent away from her mother were spent playing with either Higgy or Tonic, who was now three. Tonic’s mother, Gin, had been a considerably less attentive mother. In fact, when Tonic was an infant, Gin would frequently lay her down in the middle of the island and climb up a shelter or go to the other side of the island. When this would occur, Edwina would pick Tonic up and take care of her. After a while, Edwina began spending more time with Tonic than Gin was spending with her. She would carry her and Cashew around at the same time, play with both of them, and sleep with both of them. When it was time for Tonic to eat, Edwina would calmly walk Tonic over to her mother and push the infant up to Gin’s chest. Gin would grab hold of Tonic and allow her to nurse. When Tonic was done, Edwina would walk over and pick her back up.
Little Mama had also begun to fill a new role within the group. She would take care of the two juveniles when Edwina needed a break. Oftentimes, Edwina would fall asleep during the day, leaving Cashew and Tonic with Little Mama. She was an engaging caretaker and would play with them throughout the entire time she had them in her care. Games she would play included lying on her back and holding a juvenile up in the air with her feet. Both Tonic and Cashew would make high-pitched squeals as they rode on Little Mama’s feet.
Looking at the dynamics of Higgy’s group at this time reveals the dynamics of how the free will of a group of chimpanzees could work together in one system of survival. First, you had the structure of the group. This structure consisted of the chimpanzees themselves—the physical presence of Little Mama, Higgy, Gin, Elgin, Edwina, Cashew, and Tonic. The structure also included the environment they lived in—in this case, an island isolated from other groups of chimpanzees. Finally, the structure was formed by the social roles each chimpanzee was playing—Higgy as an alpha male, Elgin as a low-ranking male, Edwina as a mother, Little Mama as a caretaker, Gin as an aberrant agitator, and Cashew and Tonic as the juveniles of the group. The usage of this structure depended on the individual wills of each chimpanzee. The will of each chimpanzee was realized by choices they were all making; choices which may or may not have been within their best ecological interest, but which satisfied the usage of the group’s structure. Even though Edwina had to spend energy and time with an infant that wasn’t hers, she still chose to take care of Tonic in addition to Cashew. The same was true of Little Mama’s choice to take care of the juveniles. She expended time and energy on an activity with no immediate benefit to her own survival.
As Higgy’s group had both a structure and a usage, so did the communication system of Higgy’s group. There was the basic structure. This consisted of the meanings associated with each call. These meanings, possibly originating from Little Mama’s group in Sierra Leone and modified by each additional member of the group, were learned and specific to Higgy’s group. The structure of this communication system also included the way the calls were produced and how they sounded, their prosody. This prosody was influenced equally by each member of the group and bore the imprints of their individual histories. The prosody of Higgy’s group was built by the times of turmoil, peace, social change, and environmental change that each chimpanzee had undergone. This structure had been involuntarily saddled upon the group. Yet, there was a usage to this structure that was entirely voluntarily. The chimpanzees were able to manipulate the structure. They were able to choose which calls to make, modify the prosody of each call to achieve an effect, and choose whether or not to vocalize at all. This usage was based on the cognitive free will of the chimpanzees. The structure and usage of the communication system of Higgy’s group maintained the structure and usage of the group dynamics. In addition to normal communicative functions, social roles and identities were maintained by these linguistic choices. Though both the group dynamics and communication system were maintained by the apparent randomness of chimpanzee free will, somehow both worked in an extremely complex system which enhanced the fitness of the group.
All in all the group was extremely stable. They lived without competition, without threats of danger, and without much intragroup conflict. Higgy had proven to be a good and effective leader, able to govern a group of chimpanzees with extremely disparate temperaments and histories. The stability of the group, however, was about to be tested by the fact that they were going to be moved beside other chimps. The proximity to other chimpanzees would create other roles within the group’s hierarchy. Even though they would be separated by water, the chimps on the other islands would present a perceived threat to the security of the group, a perceived threat to their access to resources, and a perceived threat to Higgy’s power. These threats would have consequences and the dynamics of the group would change.
As with all changes to the group dynamics, these would lead to changes within the communication systems; changes that would stay with the group and alter its vocal evolution. If you imagine the evolution of a language or any vocal communication system as a straight line, you can see how any slight change to the situation of a group would have a profound effect. This straight line represents vocal evolution in a state of equilibrium (no changes in social hierarchy, environment, or stress). The vocalizations evolve very gradually based on natural phonetic inclinations.94 Any change to the equilibrium alters the straight line and causes it to veer off its original path. Even if the change is minimal, it forever alters the course of those vocalizations. With that in mind, suppose Higgy’s group remained on their original island for generations. Suppose, also, that Higgy remained as alpha male and each of the other chimpanzees maintained the same social roles. In addition, imagine that there were no real times of stress within the group and everything was functioning free from incident. This would be the real-life linguistic equivalent of our straight line. Now suppose a new chimp, a female, were to join this stable group. The addition of this female, at first, would cause a stressful period within the group where everyone was calling a bit faster and a bit higher in pitch. Also imagine that the other females, in order to showcase their rank and role to the new female chimp, were making different choices in the usage of their vocalizations. The effect may cause them to make different calls or make different prosodic choices. Higgy would also display different choices in his vocalizations. He would, almost certainly, have to display his rank as alpha to the new chimp. This would cause him to use all sorts of different vocalizations which would portray him as unquestionably in charge. Even though these social changes would, most likely, only cause temporary upheaval, the linguistic imprint would be permanent. Some of the prosodic changes would stick around based on the fact that each chimp’s social roles would change in some way. Also, the two juveniles, at this time, would be acquiring all of the vocalizations that they were hearing. Even a temporary shift in the communication system would be acquired by these juveniles and would forever affect the way they communicated. They, in turn, would pass along these vocal changes to their offspring. So, the addition of a new chimpanzee would shift the straight line of vocal evolution in Higgy’s group, making each change something that builds the way the group calls.
Across the park, work was finishing up on cutting up the large island. There were now two islands dividing Old Man’s group from the other group. Cindy and Rachel had stayed on the edge of their island the entire time. Cindy was about to have a lot more chimpanzees to watch; most of whom she had come into contact with before. What was not realized, at that time, was that Cindy was pregnant again.
1988
Campo Animal Reserve, Cameroon
A termite mound had been disturbed. It was clear from both the marks on the mound and the chimpanzee-crafted tools lying around the area who had meddled with it. It had been a group of chimps who had been indirectly studied by a group from the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University. The reason they were only able to be studied secondarily was that the group was not habituated to human presence and was unable to be observed without their behavior being profoundly affected by the presence of a researcher. This, however, was not an issue for the current study—the chimpanzees’ choice of termites to eat.
It was in 1960 that Jane Goodall discovered chimpanzees in the Kakombe Valley (later Gombe National Park) of Tanzania making and using tools to take termites out of their mounds and eat them. These termite mounds are impressive structures with a thick concrete-hard surface. Termites can successfully enter these mounds and remain safe from all outside predators. In order for the chimps to get to these termites, they have to fashion a tool out of the thin branches of nearby trees. They form these tools by picking off any leaves or divergent branches, leaving them with a thin long stem. They then take this stem and insert it into one of the holes of the termite mound. When a chimpanzee does this, the termites cling onto the stem. The chimp slowly pulls the stem out of the mound and eats off all of the termites that were holding on. Juvenile chimpanzees have been observed watching the older chimpanzees perform this feat then trying it themselves.95 In one fascinating film clip from Gombe, both chimpanzees and baboons surround termite mounds. The baboons, who do not know how to use these tools, can only eat the termites on the surface of the mound. After all of the termites disappear from the surface of the mound, the baboons retreat and leave the area. The chimps, however, can eat the termites that are inside of the mound and, therefore, outcompete the baboons for a food source.96
Until this discovery, conventional wisdom determined the uniqueness of the human species to be its ability to manipulate its environment for greater survival. Anthropologists pointed to the ability of humans to make and use tools as evidence for this. Jane Goodall’s discovery would throw a wrench into this line of thinking. Not only were chimpanzees making and using a tool, but they were passing the technology down from one generation to the next. It was later discovered that different groups of chimpanzees were using different tools. Sometimes this was based on the environment they lived in, sometimes not. In fact, many groups of chimpanzees who live around the same type of termite mounds have not learned the technology to “fish” for termites in this way. Because of this, the tool-manufacture-and-use definition of human uniqueness had to be questioned.97
The termites and chimpanzees currently studied at the Campo Animal Reserve had a different type of situation. There were two species of termites. One of the species constructed the mounds with the thick cementlike surface. The other species constructed towering mounds with a much weaker surface. These mounds would have been easy for the chimpanzees to merely knock over and collect all the termites without much effort and without the use of tools.
The differences between the two species seemed not to go much further than that. Nutritionally to chimpanzees, the termites were identical. As far as taste goes, they also seemed similar. Both species displayed the same seasonal activity and both had a similar distribution. Because of this, one would naturally think that the termites in the tall mounds with the weaker defense would be the species of choice at the Campo Reserve. Instead, the opposite was true. All signs pointed to the fact that the chimpanzees ate the species that lived in the mounds requiring the tools much more often than the species that lived in the mound that could just be broken open by hand. This group of chimpanzees was choosing to go through the expense of energy and effort to make and use a tool to eat a species of termite with the same payoff as a species which was much more easily available. The scientists at Campo wondered about these results.
In addition to the seemingly strange choice of termite species, the primatologists also noticed that the chimpanzees displayed a preference in which type of branch they used to make termite fishing stems. The chimpanzees always made tools from branches that had a certain shape and fiber and would go far away from the termite mounds to find these preferred configurations.
An ecological reason for these choices could not be determined by the Kyoto primatologists. Energy expense alone should dictate that the chimpanzees select the termites in the easily accessible mounds. If, for some reason, the termites which require tools are selected, it would make ecological sense to select nearby branches instead of taking the time to hunt for far-away branches that have to be brought back to the mounds. Yet, the chimpanzees displayed a strong preference for the opposites.
These random preferences have their roots in the conscious free will of cognitive species like chimpanzees and humans. So, if free will can cause a randomness to group behavior which is not beneficial to survival, in what scenario would it have been selected by evolution to develop? Free will can be made beneficial to a social organism through complex and abstract communication.
The philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau famously pondered a scenario involving two hunters. The hunters have a choice to go after either a large stag or a hare. The hare is easily caught but only yields a small amount of meat and reaps a small reward. The stag, on the other hand, can only be caught by both hunters working together. However, it yields a large amount of meat and reaps an extremely large reward (even with the two hunters sharing). The dilemma is that neither of the two can know what the other is choosing. Therein lies the predicament. If both hunters choose the stag, they both work together and reap a large reward. However, if one hunter chooses the stag but the other hunter chooses the hare, the one that chose the stag will be unable to catch it on his own and will go home with nothing. If both choose the hare, they both go home with a small reward. This is how conscious free will must make a decision that determines one’s survival. Without knowing what the other hunter will choose, both hunters will inevitably choose the hare and miss out on the large reward. This choice is the only one that ensures that they are not left empty-handed. Now, let’s throw the ability for complex communication into the mix. Suppose that the two hunters are able to communicate with each other. Now the ability for conscious free will can work to the benefit of both hunters. If they can communicate their intentions, they can communicate plans to choose the stag and both will go home with a large reward. This is how complex communication endows cognitive and social organisms to make complex choices together and end up with the best possible outcome.98
We can’t know the reason that the chimpanzees at Campo Reserve constantly chose the termite that is more difficult to obtain. Nevertheless, what we can know is that these chimpanzees are capable of communicating complex situations to each other and that, through a shared decision-making process, they have made a choice which they have communicated as being beneficial (for a reason unclear to us). It is in this way that communication makes having the ability for free will more beneficial than not having the ability. Though this ability leads to randomness that, on the surface, should not be beneficial to the ecological fitness of a group, abstract communication coordinates this randomness and allows it to become systematic and, therefore, advantageous.
In order for abstract communication (such as language) to be able to achieve this, it must also have a component of free will and freedom of choice in its usage. By choosing what to communicate and how to communicate, we can manipulate our group environment to better our predicaments. We can ally ourselves with some in certain situations and with others in different situations.
Let’s expand on the hunter’s predicament. Let’s say that one hunter wants the other hunter to go hungry. Let’s also say that the second hunter is a tyrant and any weakening of this hunter is beneficial to the first hunter. The first hunter can choose to communicate that he will hunt the stag with the other hunter, but, in reality, hunt the hare. This way the first hunter can still have a small reward while the tyrant hunter goes poor. This freedom of choice, which determines both what is communicated and what is acted upon, benefits the individual.
The chimpanzees at Campo, like many chimpanzees, have made choices that go beyond the comprehension of their human observers. These choices, though making little sense to us, worked for this group of chimpanzees. The answer may very well have been buried in what they were communicating to each other.
1989
Loxahatchee, Florida
Five animal crates sat on an otherwise empty island. Surrounding this island were four other islands—three of which were filled with chimpanzees. The last group had finally been placed on the last island. It would only be a matter of time before the seven chimps would wake up from their sedation and venture out of the crates one by one.
Watching from the next island over was, of course, Cindy. She was clutching her newborn infant who had been named Smiley. Beside them was Smiley’s older sister, Rachel. The first island was occupied by Little Mama’s original group. The second island was now occupied by Bashful, Michael, Romeo, Clumsy, and Clumsy’s offspring, Two-Nine. The third island was the one that now contained the five animal crates. The fourth island contained Cindy, her two offspring, and the rest of Old Man’s group.
Cindy had watched the process of Bashful’s group being unloaded onto the second island. She watched, from two islands over, as the keeper had rowed the group over. The keepers had dragged the animal crates from their boat onto the island. Once settled, they opened the crate doors, went back to their boats, and left the island. After a matter of minutes, the chimps emerged from their crates. As each member of this group appeared, Cindy shouted at them. The biggest reaction from Cindy came when Clumsy appeared. Cindy jumped repeatedly into the air screaming. Clumsy, too disoriented to notice, huddled close to Michael.
Now, watching the third island, Cindy was still. Smiley nursed and Rachel played. One of the crates abruptly began shaking back and forth. Out of the crate crawled Edwina holding (a still sleeping) Cashew. Cindy hooted at Edwina, who stumbled around while examining her surroundings. Moments later another mother and sleeping juvenile came into view. This time it was Gin and Tonic. Unlike Edwina, Gin barreled out of her crate. She shouted at all of the chimpanzees that were surrounding her on different islands. After walking the perimeter of her own island, she handed Tonic off to Edwina. Edwina, who was already holding one sleeping juvenile, reluctantly accepted. Cindy held Smiley tightly as she moved closer to the edge of her island to get a better view. What she saw next was a trembling hand appearing out of the next crate. Attached to the trembling hand was Elgin, who slowly crawled out onto the island. Elgin’s appearance largely went unnoticed by the chimps on the surrounding islands. They were still watching Gin (who was now running around the perimeter of the island and screaming at the other islands).
All of the chimpanzees had to adjust to an extreme change in their environment. Even Old Man’s group, who was still occupying the same island, now had to deal with being surrounded by new chimpanzees. There would now be greater perceived threats and competition. This would lead to more exaggerated displays. This would also lead to a marked change in vocal prosody and usage.
After Gin had finally settled down a bit, the next chimpanzee exited her crate. It was Little Mama. As soon as Cindy saw Little Mama, she began to call out loudly. With Smiley on her chest, she jumped up and down and reached out her arm to Little Mama. In a move that showed that she recognized Cindy, Little Mama walked over to the edge of the island and returned the call. The two vocalized back and forth. They continued this exchange until something monumental distracted Cindy from Little Mama.
Higgy swaggered out of his crate. Cindy yelped. Higgy smelled the ground and surveyed his group. All the chimpanzees, including the infants, were now awake. He looked around at the other islands. He saw Cindy who was, once again, jumping up and down holding her arm out across the canal. Before he vocalized to anyone, Higgy walked around the perimeter of the island. Unlike Gin, he was slow and methodical in his patrol. When he arrived at the edge of the canal across from Cindy, he looked over at her. He reached his arm out to her and vocalized. Little Mama walked over beside him and also called out to Cindy. As they called to her, Cindy continued to leap into the air. The exchange continued until nightfall.
The next morning keepers arrived at the new chimp islands. When they stopped in front of Old Man’s island, they noticed something was wrong. Rachel was pacing nervously back and forth at the far end of the island. The other chimps were looking over at Higgy’s island. Scanning the group, the keepers could not find Cindy or Smiley anywhere on the island. They ran over to look at Higgy’s island.
Higgy’s island appeared calm. Gin was sleeping on top of a shelter with Tonic sprawled out on top of her. Edwina was at the bottom of the shelter with Cashew in front of her. Elgin was sitting on the ground in the middle of the island staring at the ground. The keepers looked over at the edge of the island where the realization of what had occurred was on display. Higgy and Little Mama sat together grooming Cindy. There was no sign of Smiley anywhere.
A new situation had arisen overnight—a situation that established Cindy as a member of Higgy’s group, Smiley as missing, and Rachel as an abandoned juvenile. Since the change happened overnight, we are left to speculate as to what had occurred. We have to piece it together based on what we do know.
When the keepers left the chimps that evening, Higgy and Little Mama were at the edge of their island calling to Cindy. Cindy was jumping up and down with Smiley clinging onto her chest. Rachel had lost interest and was playing by herself. The other members of Higgy’s group were busy exploring their new surroundings. The rest of Old Man’s group, like Rachel, had lost interest in Higgy’s arrival and were back to minding their own business. None of the chimpanzees in the surrounding groups were taking much notice of what was occurring on Higgy’s island or Old Man’s island.
When the keepers arrived the next morning, Cindy was on Higgy’s island. She was dry by this point. Unlike Cindy, Smiley could still not be found. Little Mama and Higgy were both displaying extremely affiliative behavior toward Cindy and there seemed to be little aggressive posturing from anyone. Across the canal, Rachel was still pacing very close to the water’s edge.
I speculate that, after the keepers left that evening, the exchange between Little Mama, Higgy, and Cindy became more intense. Cindy probably began pacing along the edge of the island as she watched Little Mama and Higgy reaching their arms out to her. Rachel would have been too busy playing to notice any change in the exchange. At this point, Cindy would have walked over to the edge of the island, clutched Smiley tightly to her chest, and leapt out as far as she could jump toward Higgy and Little Mama. As far as she could jump would have only propelled Cindy to about the center of the canal. Landing in the water, she would have sunk very rapidly to the bottom. She would have hit the depths of the canal with Smiley still on her chest. Due to the fact that Smiley’s lung capacity would have been much less than his mother’s, he would not have lasted long at the bottom.
The bottom of the canals, having been newly dug, would probably have been irregular and rocky. I think Cindy would have pulled herself along the rocks toward Higgy’s island. In this process, Smiley would have lifelessly fallen off of his mother. He would have ended up in the deepest part of the canal. Cindy, in the meantime, would have climbed up the bottom rocks leading up to the surface. As she would have reached an area close to the island, Higgy would have reached her and pulled her up the rest of the way.
At this point, Cindy would have been with the very first chimpanzee with whom she had ever established a social bond: Higgy. She would have also been with her friend across the water, Little Mama. Some other chimpanzees in Higgy’s group were also familiar to Cindy. She had already lived with Edwina, who had been part of Old Man’s group before being taken to Higgy. She had experienced Gin from across the water. This alone probably wouldn’t have kept Gin from being aggressive. However, I imagine that Higgy would have been displaying a protective posturing. That would have certainly kept Gin from going after Cindy. During the entire episode, I imagine that Elgin didn’t move much. He probably glanced over and watched for a while, but it is doubtful that he would have gone over and involved himself in the situation. Elgin always preferred to watch rather than get involved. The juveniles would have probably greeted Cindy more with curiosity than anything else.
I imagine Rachel, when she first realized that her mother was gone, would have become extremely excited. Seeing Cindy on the other side of the island would have caused Rachel to yelp and cry out in a long and laborious cry. All at once, Rachel’s life had changed drastically. No longer would her mother be around to offer her protection or reassurance. Rachel would have to choose to bond with others in her group or live in relative isolation. She would now be viewed by the other chimpanzees as a low-ranking adult instead of a juvenile who was protected by a higher-ranking mother. She would have to choose to adjust her behavior, the way she related to others, and the way she communicated with others. Her survival in the group depended on her choices.
It is impossible for us to understand why Cindy would have made the choice she did. Ecologically, it makes no sense at all. She had a good social ranking in her current group and was successfully breeding and feeding herself and her offspring. She chose to end this situation and leap to an unknown situation. She chose to join with a chimpanzee she had not seen since both of them were juveniles. She chose to do this at the expense of both of her offspring. Instinct would have warned her against jumping into deep water with her infant. Instinct would have also warned her against abandoning her older offspring. Yet, her free will rose above these instinctual calls and caused her to jump over to Higgy’s island. We are left to imagine that whatever was being communicated to Cindy was enough for her to decide that the benefits of joining him outweighed the consequences. Just as the two hunters in Rousseau’s scenario were able to communicate to each other to make the less sound but more lucrative choice, Higgy’s communication with Cindy possibly conveyed a hidden benefit to her decision—a benefit that was worth killing her baby and abandoning her daughter.
As cognitive animals, we, like Cindy, are forced to make choices in almost every instant. Ultimately, everything in life is our decision. Even if all of the choices that we are presented with are dire, there are always choices. Each choice, however small at the onset, can have a profound effect on the path our lives take. As social animals, in order to make the choices that achieve the greatest benefits, we communicate with others. This communication tempers the randomness of our free will and streamlines our decision-making process into the system of our group dynamics. Abstract and complex communication is how a social organism capable of conscious free will survives together and achieves the greatest possible benefits for survival.
Abstract and complex communication relies on the same conscious free will and decision making as everything else. The ability to consciously decide on the usage of communication allows us to manipulate our interactions with others to reach the greatest possible benefits for our survival. The usage of a language is dependent on the user’s intention. In this, freedom of choice is put squarely back on the individual. Everything we decide shifts the pathway of both our lives and our social group. Even the slightest shift forever alters the destiny of the group. We are ultimately responsible for each situation we have manipulated ourselves into. We are faced with a new set of realities every day and must make choices on how to handle these realities. Some make choices that benefit the group as a whole. Some make choices that benefit themselves instead of the group. Still others decide to do nothing and allow the present realities to take over.
Such was the case with Rachel. Rachel choose to do nothing to deal with the new reality she was faced with. She neither attempted to join her mother nor attempted to establish bonds with the rest of her group. Four months later, she was found dead on Old Man’s island.99
Our social groups, our languages, and our situations are the result of the collective individual choices we make. Chimpanzees, humans, and all other conscious organisms are forced to act cognitively in life instead of relying on instinct. These acts are when individuals, in social situations and in language, slip out of the comforts of group membership and act as the sole entities they are. These acts form a collective that, when seen together, create a functioning group dynamic and language that is beneficial to everyone. The free acts that we are forced into are part of the grand scope of nature which relies on individual randomness working together to create a larger picture. When viewed from far away, you can’t see the individual random elements; you see one functioning image of a social group or of a language. Yet, examining the individual elements showcases the random acts that create the image. These random acts are the free choices we make at any given moment.
In the end, in the world, we are on our own.
We are the pawns of an irresistible force, and never for an instant is it within our power to do anything but make the best of our lot and forge ahead along the path that has been traced for us.
—THE MARQUIS DE SADE