Animals often relate to people they have known for several years, and this is especially true for primates that share many common features with humans.
Mama the chimp was born in 1957 in the wild, but- allegedly due to kidney failure- she ended up in a German zoo until 1971 when she was taken to Arnhem, Holland, along with two more chimpanzee females.
In the Dutch zoo, and under the directions of behavioral professor Emeritus Jan van Hooff, the chimpanzees were kept together in the same area and started a colony. It was the first time in zoo history that something like this was attempted and pretty much everyone thought that it would be a disaster. But they were proved wrong.
Mama the chimp, the “absolute top within the Arnhem chimpanzee troop”, kept the colony together for many years and no male was able to challenge her dominance. During her later days, her granddaughter Morami had taken over, but Mama still kept a high position within the colony.
In 2016 a video was posted online, in which dying Mama the chimp met her old friend, professor van Hooff, and it melted hearts.
According to the video, the chimpanzee had been refusing to eat for quite some time, and it was obvious that she wasn’t willing to fight for her life anymore. She was ready to let go and she was making sure everyone knew it.
Her caregivers had been trying to help her, but it was all in vain. And then, Mama’s mood magically changed when she saw an old friend of hers.
Her first human friend, professor van Hooff, paid her a visit, and the old ape’s face immediately lightened up.
As you can see in the video below, when Mama sees the professor, she immediately gives him what seems like a hearty smile; just like what every human would have done seeing an old friend.
The animal recognizes van Hooff and looks extremely happy when he strokes her arm. She turns around and, with her hand, she tried to reach his face.
Mama strokes the professor’s face and then she holds the back of his head trying to bring him closer to her.
As the professor talks to her, she nods as if she understands what he’s saying. She is so happy to see him that, for some moments, she is revived even though it is obvious that her health has been deteriorating.
Eventually, the emblematic chimpanzee died a week later, but it is good to know she was happy in her last days.
“She will be sorely missed, also by me, because I have rarely seen such an admirable character in both humans and apes,” Frans de Waal, a behavioural scientists who worked with Mama, said.
The heartwarming video has gone viral with almost 20 million views and thousands of upvotes. People have loved Mama’s reaction to the man’s visit and most of them admitted it had them crying.
“Jesus Christ I never started crying so fast in my entire life,” someone wrote, while someone else commented: “I didn’t need to start the day off crying like a baby”.
You can watch the sweet reunion in the video below and try not to cry- but, honestly, we bet you will!
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