This kind of lasting relationship between mother and son likely occurs across chimp groups. ( See touching photos of animal moms and babies.) Some had even closer connections: “About a third of adult males are essentially best friends with their mothers,” Reddy says. The male chimps didn’t see their moms as often as they once had, but when their paths crossed, the sons sought out their moms and groomed them for long periods, likely repeating behaviors from their childhoods. Reddy and co-author Aaron Sandel spent three years observing how 29 adolescent and young adult males within the Ngogo chimpanzee community of Uganda’s Kibale National Park interacted with other chimps. Generations of primatologists have documented strong relationships between mothers and their adult sons, but it was only last year that a study showed these attachments aren’t just heartwarming-they’re likely the norm. Here are more discoveries that are changing what we know about chimp moms-and revealing how similar they are to us. There’s something about chimpanzee bonds “that's actually sort of indescribable, just like in human loving relationships,” says Rachna Reddy, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University who has observed the animals in the wild for years. Learning more about their social relationships can bolster efforts to protect the species by helping conservationists understand what factors, such as habitat size, chimp communities need to thrive. ( Read how animal mothers remind us a lot of our own.)ĭue to habitat destruction, hunting, and disease, the great ape’s populations have fallen by at least 70 percent, from about a million in 1900 to between 172,000 and 300,000 today. In recent years, new research has brought chimpanzee motherhood into clearer focus, while also providing valuable information about this endangered species. Though chimp communities-which range from Uganda’s tropical rainforests to Tanzania’s savanna woodlands-are diverse, with their own quirks and behaviors, they all share the same foundation: Powerful bonds between moms and young. Sound familiar? Like human moms, chimpanzees pour immense resources into raising their offspring into healthy adults, which can live up to 40 years in the wild. An intense, time-consuming relationship that lasts more than a decade.

Baby chimpanzee