the center, students and scientists could now follow the lives of individual chimpanzees over decades and generations and thus gather a uniquely vast amount of information about the life cycle of a community of wild chimpanzees. Among other studies, these researchers have followed thirteen young chimpanzees that had experienced, like Julius, separation from their mothers at a young age. The researchers were able to monitor these chimps until adulthood to observe the course of their lives and well-being. Most of these chimpanzees experienced what Goodall labeled “clinical depression,” displaying signs of apathy and a notably low frequency of mating. Some of them died because they were not able to take care of themselves without their mothers. Others experienced long-lasting changes in behavior, while still others adjusted to normal chimpanzee behavior after a while.
Edvard Moseid and Billy Glad, who had both read everything Jane Goodall had written, hoped that Julius would land in this last category. Thus far, there was nothing to indicate that Julius suffered from any form of depression. At the same time, it was very unclear what now needed to happen in order to return him to his mother and the rest of the chimpanzee group at the zoo. Many of the zoo staff thought it completely unrealistic to return Julius back to his community. They believed Moseid and Glad were refusing to see reality because they were blinded by their feelings for the small animal. Of course, the skeptics were right.
THE CAGE PROCEDURE
The pain in Edvard Moseid’s finger did not let up after Dennis’s brutal attack. On August 29, 1980, Moseid was once again taken to the West Agder Central Hospital, and Julius was sent back to the Glad family for a few days. Now that Julius had grown, he was able to join in more advanced forms of play with the Glad sons, Carl Christian and Øystein. They had a cowboy-themed Playmobil setup, complete with a sheriff, saloon, horses and people figures that they would set up on the floor, improvising the figures’ movements and dialogue. Julius, who had a tendency to clamber through the buildings and people, toppling the whole setup, earned the name “King-Kong.”52
Glad worried that Julius was inspired by the two children to walk around on his hind legs. And he realized that Julius was being raised much more freely than Billy, the other young zoo chimpanzee. Billy would never dream of eating a banana or apple until he had looked at his mother Lotta and received a confirming glance that it was all right. It was hard to imagine Julius adapting to these kinds of social graces once he rejoined the chimpanzee group. At the same time, it was difficult to figure out how the chimpanzee mothers were able to extract such obedience and discipline from their young. Marit Moseid would often stand by, watching the interaction between Lotta and Billy in the hopes of learning the key to such motherly behavior so she might implement it with Julius. But she was unable to crack the code.53
Edvard Moseid and Billy Glad agreed that, from here on out, they would all need to be stricter with Julius and ensure that he only ran around on four legs. In order to set boundaries for Julius, they decided to experiment with a method of biting him on the neck and arms when necessary. They tried to bite somewhat strongly with the knowledge that he would have to get used to the strong bites of other chimpanzees once he returned to the community. Billy Glad once bit Julius hard enough that he knew his own sons would have screamed in pain from it. Julius, however, simply gave him a playful smile.54
Physically, Julius was developing nicely. At nine months old, he weighed 16.5 pounds, his coat was glossy and clean and smelled good, his teeth were fine and his motor skills impressive—at least as compared to a human child.55 His motor skills were so impressive, in fact, that it was starting to be challenging to have him in a human home. The two families sent him back and forth between their houses. For most of August and all of September, he lived in Vennesla; at the start of October he spent several weeks with the Glads in Bliksheia. Both households did their best to clean up and make repairs when he was away. Julius was now able to climb up and open cupboard doors whenever he liked. He made a mess in the kitchens, discovered paint cans in the Moseid family cellar and spilled paint all over the stairs. Each time before Julius returned, Billy and Reidun Glad tried to limit the potential damage by closing off rooms in the house that they didn’t want ruined, as well as by removing plants and other loose objects in the rooms where he was allowed to roam.
Finally, toward the end of October 1980, a room was set up for Julius at the zoo. That is to say, the entire chimpanzee facility was reorganized so that from here on out, three fixed sleeping areas were designated for the chimpanzees, one of which was reserved for Julius. These quarters were closed to the public. The chimpanzees entered the cages by way of a shutter door that would be opened for them. For as long as Julius was in one of the cages alone, he could not see but only hear and smell the other chimpanzees when they were in the two other cages. The plan was for Julius to spend as much time as possible in this space. In this way, he and the other chimpanzees would gradually get used to one another. The cage was a few square yards in size, with red bars, some straw on the floor and a climbing rope dangling from the top. Julius was allowed to take off his diaper and human clothes as soon as he was in the cage, but one of Edvard Moseid’s jackets was placed inside as a small scent memory from the human world.
Julius would first have to learn to be by himself in the cage. After some time, he then would begin to stay the night. Glad saw this relocation as the definitive milestone in Julius’s reintegration. “If he (and we) are able to carry this off, the chances in respect to his future are relatively positive. If he is not able, then what we have is an enormous problem on our hands, one that can hardly result in anything other than euthanasia,” he reflected.56 However, to pull this off was emotionally challenging. Both of the families were required to let go and gradually lose contact with this being whom they had grown to love. If the so-called cage procedure were to succeed, they would have to be systematic and united in their efforts. They established a “rehabilitation team” consisting of Billy Glad, Edvard Moseid and the two zookeepers, Grete Svendsen and Jakob Kornbrekke. The first time they brought Julius to the cage, he was only to stay for a little while and would be given something to eat inside the cage in order to build positive associations. And in order to contain Dennis’s reactions, they decided to medicate Dennis with Valium whenever Julius was in the cage. It was Dennis they feared more than anything. Julius could not expect any special sort of protection from Dennis just because he was his biological son. Fatherhood is not a significant relationship in the chimpanzee world. As the alpha male, Dennis was primarily responsible for keeping things peaceful and orderly. He could quickly turn violent if Julius were to return to the group and misbehave.
On October 29, 1980, along with Edvard, Julius spent time in the cage for the first time. His reaction to the new surroundings was surprisingly positive. Dennis responded well on the Valium and didn’t show any irritation over his new neighbor, while the other chimpanzees displayed curiosity and interest in Julius. Over the next days, Julius returned with the Moseid girls who played with him inside his cage. But on October 31, he had an accident on his climbing rope. He fell against the bars and hurt one of his front teeth. The tooth was so badly damaged that it had to be pulled. Ørnulf Nandrup, the dentist, came to the zoo on November 6, and Glad set up an improvised operation room in Moseid’s office. Julius was put under anesthesia, and within seven minutes Nandrup had pulled out the entire tooth, which proved to have a much longer root than a human baby tooth. Julius began to wake up fifteen minutes after the operation and only a half hour later was in the Glad family car on his way home to recuperate.57 He was limp and behaved oddly in the car, but after they arrived, he soon calmed down on Reidun’s lap and slept through the entire night.
The next day, however, he was still behaving strangely. He seemed tired, wobbly on his legs, and confused. He was given a bit of Valium and had to take a long nap next to Billy on the bathroom floor. On November 8, he still wasn’t himself and was given more Valium. This recovery period led to a prolonged interruption to the cage procedure, an interruption in which Julius once again got to be human. This might explain why the project got off to a bad start the second time around. Julius was fine as long as there were people nearby, but as soon as he was left alone in the cage, he began to howl and scream. On one day, he was left alone in the cage for six hours, five of them spent screaming. Grete Svendsen was worn out from having to work under such conditions, so the team decided that in the future Julius would be given two daily doses of 5 milligrams of Valium to calm him.