Brian Hare and Alan Alda converse outside the chimpanzee enclosure at the North Carolina Zoo. Credit: Maggie Villiger

By Maggie Villiger

Part of my job as Associate Producer for The Human Spark is getting each person who appears on camera to sign our release form, which gives us permission to use what we film with them. To be honest, it’s usually the easiest part of my job! But when we filmed with Duke University’s Brian Hare at the North Carolina Zoo, he resisted.

Brian wanted to wait to grant his permission to air the footage we shot with him until we could guarantee that we’d used no “Hollywood” chimpanzees in our show. He’d recently had a bad experience with another film crew that did include Hollywood chimps in their program about human cognition, and he was adamant that he wouldn’t sign until he could know for sure that The Human Spark had not done the same.

So our crew left North Carolina with footage of a fantastic exchange between Brian Hare and Alan Alda – but with the release form unsigned. At the time, it just seemed like a speed bump, not a brick wall. The Human Spark had no intention of turning to stunt trainers to get footage – our interest is in the behavioral studies that respected scientists do with chimps, not tricks they can be trained to perform. We continued on our travels around the world, filming as we went.

A still from the opening scene of So Human, So Chimp with Alan and Noah the young chimp and Russell the little boy.

One of our most important scenes was the open of the second program, So Human, So Chimp.  Each Human Spark episode begins with Alan Alda setting up the hour’s theme by speaking directly to camera. In this case, the theme is that chimps and human beings share a lot of characteristics, but are also 6 million years of evolution apart. After hearing about a docile, home-raised chimp from another one of our experts, Series Producer Graham Chedd had an idea; he decided the most effective way to get this theme across was to have Alan introduce it while sitting with a young chimp and a young child. Filming with Noah, this young pet chimp who was well-accustomed to being around people, seemed like the safest and most responsible way to create this kind of compelling scene.

Cut forward several months. We needed to get that appearance release signed by Brian once and for all in order to broadcast the footage of him. But through email exchanges, it quickly became apparent we hadn’t fully understood Brian’s objections. He was OK with the material we had shot at zoos, sanctuaries and research centers because they are regulated by tough animal welfare standards. But featuring ANY privately owned chimp in the program would be enough for him to refuse to participate. And so we came to an impasse.

Infant chimpanzees are shot off their mothers' backs in their African habitat and sold internationally – a trade that is threatening chimpanzees with extinction.

Brian patiently explained his ethical objections to us. He believes that filming pet or entertainer chimps helps contribute to the illegal international trade in infant chimpanzees – a trade that is helping push this endangered species closer to extinction.  Brian worried viewers would get the mistaken impression that chimps make good pets; in fact, once they mature into strong and unmanageable adult chimps, virtually all of these animals are given up by their owners. Brian says some are even killed. There’s simply not enough space or resources to rehabilitate the hundreds of pet chimpanzees that are kept across the United States. Brian is troubled by the overall effect on the chimp species in the wild as well as by the suffering endured by individual privately owned chimps. Others agree, and in fact, major scientific, welfare and health organizations have policies against using privately owned primates in films.

Brian’s arguments were thoughtful and reasonable to The Human Spark team though he did concede that there is little scientific evidence that links TV portrayals of animals to the illegal pet trade. His group is currently conducting research into just this question so in future the debate can be informed by empirical evidence in addition to compassion for our primate relatives.

American conservation groups can appear hypocritical when they tell Africans not to keep apes as pets but U.S. citizens are allowed by law. Credit: Vanessa Woods

On the other hand, Graham pointed out how important the opening scene was to the film. Alan’s narration clearly included the facts that the differences between the child and the chimp would increase as they each grow up, and that the native habitats of chimps and their continued survival in the wild is in jeopardy. Graham also explained that the shot that follows this introduction is of Hondo, a full-grown alpha male at the North Carolina Zoo, lunging at his glass enclosure and scaring Alan. Graham felt the contrast between the cute baby chimp reaching up to Alan and the aggressive adult chimp trying to hit him, would powerfully transmit the idea that keeping chimps as pets is a very bad idea. He also added a line of narration that explains how Hondo was captured illegally in Africa as an infant, and shipped to the United States as a pet before he was rescued and eventually brought to the zoo.

We needed to come up with a compromise. Since all of us involved in this debate are in possession of our own human sparks, we called upon our sociability and ability to work together to move toward a solution. First, Graham made sure that Alan’s narration clearly explains the threats to chimpanzee survival posed by the bushmeat business and the illegal international trade in baby chimps. Graham also took out a portion of the opening scene where the baby chimp climbed up unbidden to hug Alan – it was undeniably cute, but in light of the points Brian had raised, Graham agreed that it might give the wrong impression.

Adult chimps can be aggressive and their strength makes them dangerous. Credit: Vanessa Woods

Then The Human Spark production team arranged for Brian to take part in an ethics panel at a major nature film festival. Panelists discussed the use and abuse of animals in documentary films, and Brian was able to educate a vast group of filmmakers about the dangers of filming with privately-owned chimps. He even had a pamphlet [.RTF] ready for festival participants. So, as a result of our experience on The Human Spark, filmmakers are now better informed about the controversy surrounding the use of Hollywood chimps, and more aware of the possibility of unintended consequences.

Finally, we all eagerly agreed to post an explanation of this issue on the Human Spark website. By exploring the controversy and explaining our case study, we hope to get our viewers thinking about the issues as well, something that wouldn’t have happened if we had simply cut the problematic scene and moved on.

Read an article Brian Hare wrote for The Human Spark about why chimpanzees are not pets.

Photo: www.vanessawoods.net

Researcher Brian Hare is a strong advocate for eliminating the chimpanzee pet trade, as we learned when we filmed with him at the North Carolina Zoo. After the recent news that a pet chimp violently attacked a woman in Connecticut, we asked Brian to further describe his stance for The Human Spark audience. Read on to learn why he is so strongly against anyone keeping a chimp for a pet.

The Science Behind Why Chimpanzees Are Not Pets

By Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods
Duke University, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology

Last month, a 200-pound male chimpanzee named Travis mauled a woman outside the home where he has been living with his “owner” Sandra Herold. Charla Nash was nearly killed by Travis and now has life-changing wounds to her face while Travis was stabbed by his owner with a butcher knife and shot dead by the police.

Was this incident preventable or just a freak accident? Should chimpanzees and other primates be kept as pets? What is the effect of the primate pet trade not only on the welfare of these “pets” but on their species survival in the wild?  To answer these questions I consider what science has to say and draw on both my own work on domestication and over 50 years of research by primatologists on wild chimpanzees.

Domesticated animals are biologically different

Most people keep domesticated animals, whether it’s a dog, cat or a cow.  We know the biological systems in their bodies that control stress responses are down-regulated relative to wild animals. This means that the average dog, cat, cow, etc. stays much more calm in a stressful situation than a wolf, lion or buffalo.  Because domesticated animals do not become as stressed, they rarely if ever attack humans compared to wild animals. It’s true that 23 Americans died last year from dog bites, but this statistic would be many times higher if the 68 million dog owners had instead lived in as close contact with wolves. By living together with us for thousands of years, domesticated animals have been bred to live together with humans relatively harmoniously.
Summary: Domestication is the process of breeding out aggression toward humans

Chimpanzees are not domesticated animals

Although chimpanzees share more DNA in common with humans than they do with gorillas, they are not domesticated animals. So while a tiny percentage of pet dogs will bite a human, all chimpanzees and all primates will readily bite a human.  Moreover, chimpanzees in captivity can weigh between 150 and 220 pounds, live for over 60 years, and grow to be many times stronger than any human.  In the wild, chimpanzees spend a lot of time defending their social status –- they often seriously injure each other in fights (biting off fingers, testicles, face tissue, etc.) and are known to occasionally hunt and kill rivals and their infants.  After 50 years of research on wild chimpanzees we now know that, like people, while they are extremely social, have close family bonds and prefer peace they can also be extremely violent –- sometimes leading to lethal aggression (i.e. murder).
Summary: Wild chimpanzees kill each other…it is in their nature.

Photo: www.vanessawoods.net

Why do people think chimpanzees make good pets?

Baby chimpanzees look a lot like human babies. They have fingers and toes, and they laugh and pout –- they are adorable.  People who sell chimpanzees as pets sell babies because no one would ever buy a 200 pound adult chimpanzee. Travis was bought as a baby from a group of trainers who used infant chimpanzees in TV commercials and in children’s birthday parties. Chimpanzee breeders are in the business of selling chimpanzees (at around $50,000 each), not educating their customers about the hazards of pet ownership. In addition, Hollywood hires infant chimpanzees to star in movies that show them as cute human imitations. It is estimated there are over 700 pet chimpanzees in U.S. homes of unknown origin (i.e. many may have been smuggled illegally from Africa). Many of these chimps live decades in horrible conditions and present a real risk to neighbors. ALL primates potentially carry diseases deadly to humans including Herpes B, Yellow Fever, Monkeypox, Ebola virus, Marburg virus, SIV, HIV and Tuberculosis.
Summary: Breeders and Hollywood portray infant chimpanzees as suitable pets

What laws exist to protect the public from the hazards of pet primates?

Currently there are no federal laws in the United States preventing the sale or purchase of a chimpanzee or other great apes born outside of Africa after 1976. There are state laws in the U.S. preventing the sale of primates such as chimpanzees, but loopholes exist in almost every state. Chances are, your neighbor can legally own a pet chimpanzee and that infant chimpanzees, which are highly endangered in their natural habitat in Africa, are still being smuggled into the U.S. to be sold as pets.
Summary: No federal law prevents the sale or purchase of chimpanzees in U.S.

What message do U.S. chimpanzee pet owners send to Africa?

Chimpanzees are highly endangered but still live in tropical forest in over a dozen African countries. It is illegal to own, purchase or sell a chimpanzee in all of these countries.  Unfortunately, an international trade rages in Africa –- including the sale of great apes like chimpanzees.  Hunters shoot mothers and sell their bodies as meat to rich city dwellers who can afford the luxury.  They pull babies off the backs of their dead mothers to sell in the markets as pets. However, these pet traders are doing nothing worse than what is done in the United States legally: baby chimpanzees are pulled off their mothers’ backs and sold as pets.  I have had Africans who have seen U.S. television shows with Hollywood chimpanzees dressed in clothing ask me why people in the U.S. can have chimpanzees as pets while someone in Africa cannot… they wonder why chimpanzees in the United States are not protected given the fact that they are so endangered.
Summary: U.S. pet chimpanzees seem hypocritical to Africans who know they need protection

You can help. Send a letter to your senators urging them to support the Captive Primate Safety Act that recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

More in the news:

• Editorial by Jane Goodall in the Los Angeles Times: “Loving Chimps to Death“
• AP article: “House Tightens Fed Controls Over Pet Primate Trade“
• MSNBC Video on a visit to a woman who owns two chimps: “Living with Chimps“

Organizations working to help orphan chimpanzees:

• Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
• Friends of Bonobos
• The Jane Goodall Institute
• Pan African Sanctuary Alliance

Alan describes where we’ve been looking for The Human Spark to some members of the North Carolina press. Photo: Maggie Villiger

Asheboro, NC

A small horde of North Carolina TV and print journalists converged on the North Carolina Zoo early this morning to see Alan meet the chimpanzees there – and hear from him about our project. We were there to meet not only the chimps, but also the newly appointed Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University, Brian Hare.

Brian is only 32, but has already had a stellar career as a researcher into the social skills of chimpanzees and their close relatives, bonobos. Alan, having entertained the journalists, was making friends through the thick plate glass with Hondo, the alpha male of the NCZoo chimp group when Brian arrived. When the two men sat down to chat, Hondo, who had been calmly munching breakfast, suddenly hurled his whole body at the glass where Alan was sitting.

Hondo in a more contemplative mood than when hurling himself at Alan through the glass. Photo: NC Zoo by Tom Gillespie

Brian: That’s just, “Hello and welcome to the neighborhood.”

Alan: To my neighborhood, right?

Brian: Exactly, to his neighborhood. That’s exactly it. He just knows who’s the alpha male out here and he wants to make a potential coalition partner of you, Alan.

Hondo’s display unfortunately left a large smear on the glass that we had to live with for the rest of the interview. But his outburst allowed Brian to make an important point about one of the differences between chimps and humans that we’ve set out to explore: chimps have a much harder time controlling their emotions.

Brian: He can’t inhibit. “You guys are new… I’m really excited… I need to display.” And so he makes a plan over the next 60 seconds but it’s not the next 60 days, as we might. But Hondo is a very nice guy, he has a long history with humans and the truth is he just wants some attention.

One of the major themes we’ll be tackling is how much chimps (and other non-human primates) see others as having minds like their own. This has been a hugely controversial subject over the last few years, and Brian has been in the thick of the debate. Alan and Brian got into it right away:

Click the image to view larger. Brian and Alan discussing chimpanzee minds – while chimps keep an eye on what’s happening on the human side of the glass. Photo: Maggie Villiger

Alan: It’s so interesting to look into their eyes, because there seems to be a look of some comprehension. I mean, I get a look back from him. He’s observing me. It looks like thought is going on.

Brian: That’s one of the things our research has been all about, trying not only to figure out, do they think, but are they thinking about you thinking? And when they look into your eyes, is it like you looking into somebody else’s eyes, where you are trying to size up somebody and say, “Oh, what does he know? Is this a friend? Is this somebody who is a foe?” That’s part of the excitement, trying to figure out exactly what is going on in their heads.

In the coming weeks we’ll be trying to figure out what’s going on in the heads of chimps and monkeys at research facilities here the United States, as well as the Caribbean, Europe and Africa. And along the way we’ll be taking a look into the heads not only of our fellow primates but also of our own species – as well as a species that’s much more distantly related – dogs – who are apparently better able to understand certain human social cues than our primate cousins. Brian Hare was actually the first to suggest this, way back when he was an undergraduate.

Hondo, meanwhile, kept up his attempts to be a part of the conversation, and will no doubt eventually succeed in getting his opinions expressed on your television screen…

– Graham Chedd

Learn a bit more about Brian Hare’s research with chimpanzees, bonobos, dogs and foxes from these articles:

• Smithsonian Magazine: Dogged
• Duke Research: Going to the Source