Through a Window by Jane Goodall

Author:Jane Goodall
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

13. GOBLIN

I FIRST SAW GOBLIN when he was just a few hours old in 1964. I wrote, at the time: "...Melissa, looking down, stared long at the tiny face. Never had we imagined such a funny twisted-up little face. It was comical in its ugliness, with large ears, small, rather pursed lips, and skin incredibly wrinkled and bluish black rather than pink. His eyes were screwed tight shut against the fading light of the sun and he looked like some wizened gnome or hobgoblin."

Seventeen years later Goblin became the undisputed alpha male of his community. It was no easy victory that Goblin won as, for six stormy years, he challenged males older and, for the most part, considerably larger than himself. He risked much to acquire success, against odds that often seemed weighted heavily against him. His story is now an important part of Gombe's recorded history.

In retrospect I can see that, from an early age, Goblin showed many of the qualities that ensure eventual high dominance status in chimpanzee society. He was always determined to get his own way, he hated to be dominated, he was intelligent and courageous, and he could not tolerate disputes among his subordinates. The incident described at the end of the previous chapter, when Goblin first rescued, then disciplined Freud, is a typical example of his desire for social control.

In addition to these personality traits, a key factor in Goblin's early success was his extraordinary relationship with Figan, both before and during his time as alpha male. This had begun when Goblin was but a child. Without doubt it was Figan's presence, Figan's support, that gave Goblin the confidence to start challenging the other males at an unusually early age.

Like all highly motivated adolescent males, Goblin began to challenge the females of his community early and vigorously. In this endeavour Figan played little part, for these swaggering displays are seldom performed in the presence of adult males. Melissa sometimes helped her son on those not infrequent occasions when he fell victim to the retaliatory fury of one of the higher-ranking, tougher females. But she was not always around and Goblin frequently had to stand alone. As his displays became ever more vigorous and his confidence grew, he tackled the more senior females, and many were the times that he was chased off, often by two females who had formed a temporary alliance. Those incidents often ended in fights which, initially, Goblin usually lost. But even if he fled screaming he would be ready to tackle the same females all over again when next he encountered them. He never gave up.

It was during this period of his life that Goblin began to challenge me more and more often. From infancy onward Goblin, like Flint, had shown a tendency to "pester" humans. When he was about four years old we realized that he was going to become a real nuisance. He would approach me, or one of the other students, and seize hold of our wrists. And there he would hang, gripping ever more tightly if we tried to shake him off.

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