35 Who Made a Difference: Janis Carter

The primate who taught other primates how to survive in the wild

  • By Douglas Foster
  • Smithsonian.com, November 01, 2005, Subscribe
 

 

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    Every great cause has its galvanic moment, when the world finally takes notice. Then comes the hard part—sustaining the commitment long enough to make a real difference. The campaign on behalf of the great apes enjoyed this kind of collective epiphany in the early 1970s after researchers discovered, among other things, that chimpanzees fashion crude tools, demolishing a supposedly essential difference between ourselves and our closest genetic kin. Around then, a wave of researchers, many of them women, set off in search of primates to study. Most have long since returned home. Among the exceptions is Janis Carter, who arrived in West Africa in 1977 for what she expected to be a three-week stay. She has been there ever since.

    When I reached her by telephone in Banjul, Gambia, she seemed perplexed to be reminded that she has been working with chimpanzees in Africa for nearly 30 years. "I'm 54," she said as if passing on an unlikely news flash. "I still consider myself young even though I don't climb trees anymore, and I'm trying to be more careful."

    Carter was on her way to visit the sanctuary for orphaned and captive-born chimpanzees that she helped establish on three islands in the Gambia River. Then she planned a return to the forests of Guinea, where she has been working with hunters, villagers and government officials to protect habitat for endangered wild chimpanzees. "I do have an odd sort of lifestyle," she conceded.

    Blame it on serendipity. Carter was a graduate student in psychology at the University of Oklahoma when she accompanied two chimpanzees being released in the wild in Gambia, a coastal West African country. One was Lucy, a captive-born chimpanzee famous for being able to communicate in sign language. Carter was supposed to stick around just long enough to smooth the chimps' transition, but the venture proved far more difficult than she'd expected. After all, Lucy had been raised in a human home and perhaps thought of herself as a human child. In some senses, Lucy and other chimpanzees arriving on the island had to be instructed in how to become more fully themselves.

    Carter demonstrated which foods were safe, led foraging expeditions, and communicated through chimp vocalizations. In one of two stories she wrote about her experiences for Smithsonian in the 1980s, she stated: "I knew that if the chimps' return to the wild was to be successful, I too would have to limit my contact with humans." The chimps were let loose on the island. She slept in a cage.

    In 1985, Dash, a young male chimpanzee, attacked Carter, dragging her a considerable distance. Her body got caught in a thorn bush, and she escaped by rolling into the water for a swim back to her cage. As she nursed her wounds, it dawned on Carter that she'd just been knocked off her perch as the dominant leader on the island and would have to move.

    Shortly after Carter left the island, Lucy died, possibly killed by a poacher. Devastated, Carter considered leaving Africa. But while puzzling over Lucy's death, Carter realized, with a start, how little she knew about the people who occupy dozens of villages along the Gambia River near the refuge. She saw that their support was essential to ensure the chimps' safety. "What Lucy's death did was push me toward human beings and away from the island."

    When she reached out to the villagers, she discovered how little they understood her. One told her about a dragon-like creature that villagers believe lives on the island and about villagers’ suspicions that she was in cahoots with it.

    Carter began surveying the attitudes of villagers toward chimpanzees and monitoring chimpanzee populations in neighboring Senegal and Guinea. In the Nialama Classified Forest in Guinea, she tapped local hunters' knowledge about where chimps find water and food, marked the corridors that link their feeding areas and mapped their migration patterns. This knowledge helps government officials and community leaders direct farming and logging where they won’t interfere with chimp survival.

    Toward the end of our conversation, she mentioned Dash. She'd taught him how to recognize crocodiles and gather food before he drove her from the island. Thirty years old, he remains the swaggering, dominant male in his group, one of four groups in a population of more than 60 chimpanzees. Now, though, he's down to his last tooth. Like the mother of an aging son, Carter seemed startled to have discovered that Dash has grown pudgy. "It just seems unnatural that I’m going to outlive him," she said. "Unnatural somehow."


    Every great cause has its galvanic moment, when the world finally takes notice. Then comes the hard part—sustaining the commitment long enough to make a real difference. The campaign on behalf of the great apes enjoyed this kind of collective epiphany in the early 1970s after researchers discovered, among other things, that chimpanzees fashion crude tools, demolishing a supposedly essential difference between ourselves and our closest genetic kin. Around then, a wave of researchers, many of them women, set off in search of primates to study. Most have long since returned home. Among the exceptions is Janis Carter, who arrived in West Africa in 1977 for what she expected to be a three-week stay. She has been there ever since.

    When I reached her by telephone in Banjul, Gambia, she seemed perplexed to be reminded that she has been working with chimpanzees in Africa for nearly 30 years. "I'm 54," she said as if passing on an unlikely news flash. "I still consider myself young even though I don't climb trees anymore, and I'm trying to be more careful."

    Carter was on her way to visit the sanctuary for orphaned and captive-born chimpanzees that she helped establish on three islands in the Gambia River. Then she planned a return to the forests of Guinea, where she has been working with hunters, villagers and government officials to protect habitat for endangered wild chimpanzees. "I do have an odd sort of lifestyle," she conceded.

    Blame it on serendipity. Carter was a graduate student in psychology at the University of Oklahoma when she accompanied two chimpanzees being released in the wild in Gambia, a coastal West African country. One was Lucy, a captive-born chimpanzee famous for being able to communicate in sign language. Carter was supposed to stick around just long enough to smooth the chimps' transition, but the venture proved far more difficult than she'd expected. After all, Lucy had been raised in a human home and perhaps thought of herself as a human child. In some senses, Lucy and other chimpanzees arriving on the island had to be instructed in how to become more fully themselves.

    Carter demonstrated which foods were safe, led foraging expeditions, and communicated through chimp vocalizations. In one of two stories she wrote about her experiences for Smithsonian in the 1980s, she stated: "I knew that if the chimps' return to the wild was to be successful, I too would have to limit my contact with humans." The chimps were let loose on the island. She slept in a cage.

    In 1985, Dash, a young male chimpanzee, attacked Carter, dragging her a considerable distance. Her body got caught in a thorn bush, and she escaped by rolling into the water for a swim back to her cage. As she nursed her wounds, it dawned on Carter that she'd just been knocked off her perch as the dominant leader on the island and would have to move.

    Shortly after Carter left the island, Lucy died, possibly killed by a poacher. Devastated, Carter considered leaving Africa. But while puzzling over Lucy's death, Carter realized, with a start, how little she knew about the people who occupy dozens of villages along the Gambia River near the refuge. She saw that their support was essential to ensure the chimps' safety. "What Lucy's death did was push me toward human beings and away from the island."

    When she reached out to the villagers, she discovered how little they understood her. One told her about a dragon-like creature that villagers believe lives on the island and about villagers’ suspicions that she was in cahoots with it.

    Carter began surveying the attitudes of villagers toward chimpanzees and monitoring chimpanzee populations in neighboring Senegal and Guinea. In the Nialama Classified Forest in Guinea, she tapped local hunters' knowledge about where chimps find water and food, marked the corridors that link their feeding areas and mapped their migration patterns. This knowledge helps government officials and community leaders direct farming and logging where they won’t interfere with chimp survival.

    Toward the end of our conversation, she mentioned Dash. She'd taught him how to recognize crocodiles and gather food before he drove her from the island. Thirty years old, he remains the swaggering, dominant male in his group, one of four groups in a population of more than 60 chimpanzees. Now, though, he's down to his last tooth. Like the mother of an aging son, Carter seemed startled to have discovered that Dash has grown pudgy. "It just seems unnatural that I’m going to outlive him," she said. "Unnatural somehow."

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    Dear Janis, Its been years since we talked in Guinea and Dakar. I'm delighted to read this up date on your life in Gambia and your continued interest in the chimps in Guinea.

    Perhaps one day you'll take that well needed rest and visit us in France. The door is always open to you.

    Keep well and continue your good works. As you have said the "story of Lucy" was only the beginning.
    Liz Chevlier

    Posted by Lise Chevalier on January 15,2012 | 04:19 AM

    Dear Janis,

    I am also a wildlife biologist (snakes, frogs, bats), also working within the local community to adjust attitudes towards those with whom we share our world. I was deeply moved by the Radiolab piece about you and Lucy, and your dedication toward those animals and their conservation and that of their species. I very much wanted to say Thank You.

    Posted by Renata on July 25,2011 | 10:08 AM

    ... just can't shutup about this ... did I forget to thank Janis? ... and Lucy? - here done so ... something (wild + free) tells me this also: that Lucy was not afraid of death - not out of ignorance - but out of supreme awareness - what humans would do well to cultivate - such as that which Tibetan Monks / Shamen / Saints + the like so fervently practice against all consumer odds... what being would so hug another for such a long, deep time (as I read online = 3 - 4 hours?) - this - their time, and w/ such intense simplicity?
    Lucy chose peace.

    Posted by chip on July 5,2011 | 07:27 PM

    Also - I wonder whether or not it was so difficult - and took such time - for Janis to teach Lucy to ingest her natural plant foods (if in the wild) what leaves / plant foods safe to eat, etc. - whether or not it went against any of Lucy's early / past training - perhaps from her original human parents ... Did they unwittingly train Lucy not to eat (for ex.) the house plants / indeed any plants???
    Was this a cause for Lucy's seeming stubbornness when she was clearly intelligent enough to learn/relearn such a behavior?

    Posted by chip on July 5,2011 | 07:08 PM

    Ouch ... when will we learn?
    How dare too many of us humans decline such knowledge in the face of such sacrificial beauty?
    I don't know from where such comes to me of feeling certain that Lucy is saying "thank you + goodbye + I love + I love you"... as if she was in touch w/ a fortelling of her end - sad - in this plane-ette... I am a human who fully believes that each + every life form - including leaf + tree + rock + mountain + water + fire + wind, etc. ... each + every ... is totally + completely valid, necessary, divine, certainly destined to be - wherever it is - and no more important than I am ... if you get my drift, and surely so definitely - no less important than I am - truly - there IS - such terrible ONENESS ... and - IF WE DON'T FIGURE IT OUT SOON ... OUCH.

    Posted by chip on July 5,2011 | 06:56 PM

    I find it incredible that no mention is made of the fact that the project was initiated by Eddie Brewer, and his daughters Stella and Heather carried it on until very recently, when Stella sadly died and her husband David and others members of the Chimpanzie Rehabilitation Project were ousted, in a very unpleasant manner. I have visited Baboon Islands and stayed with Stella and her husband David, and have therefore witnessed the fantastic work done by Stella. Of Janis Carter I cannot comment because she was never there. I have got to know the villagers in Sambel Kunda and the other projects that are still going strong that were started by Stella and David Marsden, and now run by Heather, Stella's sister.

    Posted by Judy Clarke on April 8,2011 | 07:41 AM

    I worked in The Gambia as a Peace Corps Volunteer from 1971-73. I met Stella and Heather Brewer there who did early chimpanzee behavior research in The Gambia paralleling Jane Goodall's work in E. Africa. I know the Brewers were instrumental in developing the Gambia River island preserves and the family was still active in the work in The Gambia till recently. I find it a glaring omission in this story for there to be no mention of the pioneering work done by the Brewer family.

    Posted by john wilson on April 4,2011 | 10:23 AM

    When I was a little girl growing up in the 1950s we had a picture book about a chimp. The chimp was dressed in clothes (perhaps a red dress?) and the story was about the chimp's daily life as a little "girl". Could this have been about this Lucy?
    Corinne

    Posted by Corinne on March 11,2011 | 09:40 PM

    On RadioLab.org I recently heard the story about "Lucy and Janis." I was one of the most poignant stories NPR has played. As another listener said, God bless Lucy and Janet.

    Jane Goodall came twice to my school in Dallas. She was, as I suspect Janet would be in person, one of the most tranquil people I have ever met. I suspect we have a lot to learn from nature that would help us in politics and government.

    Posted by Kay Merkel Boruff on March 5,2011 | 10:18 PM

    I came in on the tail-end of Lucy's story on Radio Lab..only caught perhaps, at the most, 10 minutes of it, and, yet, her tragic story affected me profoundly and I found myself weeping for this little half-human, half-ape who became the unwitting victim of her human engineered anachronism. I do not excoriate those who raised her as their child, nor the impetus for her return to the wild..it is apparent that their research was instrumental in understanding our closest relatives.

    It is quite inntriguing to me, after reading comments in this site (written by people last year) that her story has affected so many in much the same way that it affected me...I found myself also weeping for her while reading reading her story on the Radio Lab site.

    I applaud Janis for her lifetime of committment to working wirh the people who live in the area where Lucy and the others were left and for her part in fostering a "peace agreement" between the humans and their needs so that they can understand the needs of those sentient creatures with whom they share their existence and can find common ground for being able to live together in equinamity.

    Posted by Annie Stewart on February 23,2011 | 08:31 PM

    The image of Janis with Lucy, along with various photos of Lucy throughout her life, can be viewed in a slideshow on the Radio Lab website:
    http://www.radiolab.org/2010/feb/19/

    Posted by Tara on February 23,2011 | 04:49 PM

    Last night, I learnt for the first time the story of Lucy, the chimp, and Ms. Janis Carter. I was driving from Columbus to Cincinnati, OH after visiting friends and family, and almost jumped out of my seat when I heard that Janis was in The Gambia, my country of birth.

    For me, an American-Gambian, the more interesting questions remain: Why did Janis decide to "resettle" Lucy in The Gambia and not a zoo in New Jersey?

    In general, I am troubled by some Westerners, even with the best of intentions, who travel to Africa to "save" or in Janis' case "resettle" Lucy, while paying little to no attention tn the people.

    In sum, this story is about arrogance and unexamined prejudices, being lived live out to tragic ends- ongoing experiments to teach Gambians, Guineans, just as they did with Lucy, new tricks. I pray that unlike Lucy, Janis' story has a happier ending.

    Professor Abdoulaye Saine
    Miami University
    Oxford, OH 45056

    Posted by Abdoulaye Saine on February 21,2011 | 09:06 AM

    To Janis and Lucy- may God bless your beautiful souls.

    Posted by Adrienne on February 20,2011 | 02:59 AM

    I would really cherish a download of the photo of the embrace so aptly described.

    Posted by Anthony Sippial on February 20,2011 | 11:22 PM

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