Jane Goodall Remembers the Chimpanzees - - - Had a Question -

[GypsyBlueEyes]

I definitely see your point...there is a certain order to things in the wild like that. I don't necessarily think she overstepped her bounds by saving the chimp though. The battle had already been won...the was a clear winner and a clear loser. Had this same thing happened and neither of the chimps were critically injured, the chimp that lost would most likely have naturally accepted the other chimps dominance. In this case, once she had nursed the injured chimp back to health, he most likely still would have taken the role within the tribe he was meant to have. In other words, she didn't intercede in any way to affect the outcome of the fight for dominance. She only intervened in saving the injured chimp's life afterwards. Her saving him didn't interfere with the course of the tribe. Also, there might have been a specific reason for saving him that wasn't discussed...perhaps the particular kind of chimps she was monitoring were on the decline and it was an effort to preserve them as much as possible.