I thought of the sections of Tessa’s research that I’d perused. “As well as cognitive empathy, right? And partner-specific reciprocity?”
“Yes.” Olan seemed somewhat taken aback that Tessa and I appeared to know what we were talking about, and as he went on, he seemed bent on proving that he knew more.
“Chimpanzees kiss and hold each other after fighting, sometimes jump into water to save other chimps-even though no chimps are able to swim. In some cases, gorillas have warned keepers when young gorillas are in danger-thus showing that they are both cognizant of the plight of other creatures and able to identify a possible means of rescue for them. And as far as intelligence and problem solving, some gorillas have scored 90 on human IQ tests, others have learned more than 3,500 sign language words, even made up signs to describe themselves.”
I’d never heard about apes trying to save each other or taking human IQ tests, and I was surprised-and for some reason that I couldn’t quite pinpoint, vaguely troubled.
“One ape even made up a sign for contact lens cleaning solution after watching his keeper wash and then put in her contacts.”
“What was it?” Tessa asked.
“The gorilla combined the words eye and drink,” he said.
That was just plain impressive.
I asked a few follow-up questions, and Olan seemed to become more and more antsy with each one. “I’m very sorry,” he said at last. “But I’m terribly busy-still dealing with the aftermath of the incident on Tuesday night as it concerns our board, our donors. We’re a nonprofit organization and donations are essential for our survival. I’m sure you understand. Perhaps it would be best if one of our researchers or keepers answered any additional questions.”
Actually, that might not be a bad idea.
I asked if we could speak with Sandra Reynolds, the keeper who’d found Twana’s body and killed the two chimps who were attacking her, but Olan told me she’d taken the rest of the week off. “For counseling,” he added in a somewhat ominous tone.
He called to a studious-looking woman in her late twenties who was bent over a computer keyboard in an adjoining room. “Dr. Risel, can you spare a few moments?”
She didn’t bother to look up. “I’m in the middle of my bibliography.” From her outfit, it was clear that she liked the color brown in all of its many shades and hues.
“Dr. Bowers here is investigating the tragedy Tuesday night.”
“That’s nice.”
“He works for the FBI.”
At last Dr. Risel looked our way, hesitated for a moment, then joined us.
After introductions, Mr. Olan left for his office and Dr. Risel informed us that she was a psychobiologist and was under a strict deadline for her next journal article, then waited, arms folded, for me to tell her what I needed, but I wasn’t exactly sure what that was.
Tessa bailed me out. “Tell us about the MSR research.”
“Mirror self-recognition,” Dr. Risel said, as if Tessa couldn’t possibly have already known what the initials stood for.
“Um, yeah.”
Dr. Risel looked around the room absently for a moment, then sighed. “It might be just as quick if I showed you.” She pulled out a set of keys and headed for the gorilla habitats.
Astrid had asked Brad to lay low for the day.
Yes, he needed to arrange everything for tonight. But that wouldn’t take him long.
So, keep tabs on him.
She’d asked him to check in with her every hour by phone, which he had faithfully done so far.
Good.
One step at a time, make sure that he was not slipping up again.
She decided that tonight she was going to tell him about her child.
Today they would stay on schedule.
Finish the game.
And then tonight at the body farm, she would tell him about the baby.
53
Tessa and I watched from the other side of the mesh enclosure as Dr. Risel led one of the apes, a young female named Belle, out of the habitat and into the room.
To my surprise, the doctor stayed with the gorilla in the enclosed area, and when I commented on it, she just said, “Gorillas are gentle creatures. Very timid and shy. She’s harmless.” She stroked the ape’s fur to show me how harmless the thickly muscled primate was.
“Belle is our newest arrival,” she explained. The more time she spent with the gorilla, the less urgent she seemed to be about finishing her article. “She’s never done this test before, so hopefully, she won’t let us down.”
“She’s so cute,” Tessa cooed as she stared at Belle.
Cute was not exactly the word I would have used.
Dr. Risel grabbed a mirror that was attached to a pivoting metal arm hanging from the ceiling. She positioned the mirror so that Belle could look into it, which she did.
Belle seemed immediately fascinated by her reflection, and grunted softly, then leaned forward, tilted her head, and studied the ape in the mirror. She raised one arm, then dropped it heavily onto her lap, grunted again, then lifted it once more, watching how the gorilla in the mirror responded.
“Initially, chimps look behind the mirror,” Tessa explained to me softly, “to try and find the other chimpanzee, or they reach out and try to touch ’em. So do monkeys, baboons, all other primates. But chimpanzees can learn to identify themselves. Orangs can too.” She hesitated. “Most gorillas have a hard time with this.”
While Belle was observing herself in the mirror, Dr. Risel retrieved a small container of vanilla frosting from a cooler and eased off the lid.
Belle was too fascinated by the mirror to pay attention to her.
“All right,” Dr. Risel said. “Here we go.” She dipped a finger into the frosting, and then, while speaking softly and reassuringly to Belle, waved her other hand in front of her to get her attention.
The gorilla responded by turning from the mirror and looking at the doctor. Risel brushed her hand gently along the side of the gorilla’s head and then surreptitiously dabbed the glob of frosting onto Belle’s forehead.
But she did it so lightly that the gorilla didn’t notice.
Then, Risel tilted the mirror so that Belle could see her reflection again, and this time, when she peered at the gorilla in front of her, Belle made a loud guttural sound in the back of her throat and then raised her left hand and extended one finger.
I expected her to touch the mark on the forehead of the gorilla in the mirror, but she didn’t. Instead, watching how the ape in the mirror moved, she reached to her own forehead, brushed off the frosting, and then licked it from her finger.
Fascinating.
“Gorillas like frosting,” Tessa told me.
Dr. Risel looked triumphantly at us and then gave Belle a treat of a handful of grapes from the cooler. After a few moments, she led her back to her habitat.
It was an impressive demonstration, and it took me a few moments to process the implications.
Somehow Belle had been able to understand that her movements were mirrored identically by the ape she could see, and from that fact she’d concluded that the ape she was looking at was really her, and that the frosting would be on her own forehead and not on the head of another gorilla.
I was considering all of this when Dr. Risel reappeared.
“That’s one of the cruder tests,” she said. “But you can see what it means, can’t you?”
Tessa stood beside me quietly, clipboard in hand, but I was the one who answered. “She understands that she is a unique creature,” I said, “separate and distinct from her counterpart in the mirror.”
Dr. Risel nodded.
I went on. “She exhibited one of the core characteristics of consciousness-Belle is self-aware.”
Dr. Risel bent her head slightly to one side, then to the other, as if she were weighing the validity of what I’d just said. “We have to be careful not to anthropomorphize too much, but Belle was clearly aware that she was the ape she saw and was also able to use the mirror to help locate the frosting on her own forehead.”