Do male chimpanzees help care for the baby chimps?
Male chimps don’t necessarily look after anyone in their community. They do however provide a safe environment for the family group to live in, seeking out somewhere with plenty of food, and somewhere safe from both preditors and other chimp families. Baby chimps have a very good life…they seem to leapfrog the dominant members of the family and basically have the run of the place. When food is found, the babies have their pick first as they are viewed as important family members – they will after all carry on the family line. Male chimps don’t always have a lot of time for the kids, but they do acccept them as being important members of the family and will therefore look out for them.
