178 The problem of snares
slow-moving than mixed and sexual groups, and this may be the reason they are
preferred by injured females.
There was no avoidance of or discrimination against injured individuals by other
members of the community; they were tolerated despite their injuries and were chosen
as grooming partners with equal frequency as uninjured females. Dendrograms of asso-
ciation and proximity show that pairs consisting of an injured and a non-injured female
were the commonest kind of dyads, indicating that injured females do not form an
out-group but are fully integrated into the community.
Infants of injured mothers spent more time in social play than in the case of uninjured
mothers, an intriguing and unexpected finding perhaps related to the relative lack of
mobility of their mothers. By the juvenile stage (4 years and up) this was no longer
the case.
Injured mothers spent more time moving arboreally compared with their uninjured
counterparts. This may be due to difficulty in climbing up to feed, or to fear of predators,
or (and perhaps especially) to fear of snares. Once caught in a snare and having escaped,
it is small wonder that an injured animal lives in great fear of being caught again.
A flow chart (Fig. 9.8) summarizes Munn’s findings and shows how they are related
to each other.
Fear of the
groundCumbersome
locomotionSocial
implications for
the:Injured
motherMost severely
injured move
less
Reduced
feeding
competitionMore time in
small and
family
groups
Injured spend
more time
arborealHer
juvenileFewer male
grooming
partnersLess time
playingPossible
long-term
effectsLess likely to
carry offspringSquare or rectangular boxes represent results found in the study. Rounded boxes show factors that are most likely
to be affecting the results. Ovals represent the individuals affected by results. The arrowed box, and hexagon,
describe the possible repercussions of these results.Fig. 9.8: How injuries affect the Sonso female chimpanzees (from Munn 2003).