Great Ape Trust Blog

Ask the Ape Experts: Q & A with Great Ape Trust

February 25, 2011
Written by Al Setka, Director of Communications

What can you tell us about baby Teco's unique, and possibly, autistic behavior?

Following The Des Moines Register's article about baby Teco and the disclosure that the eight month bonobo might have suffered from autism brought about questions from a number of you about his unique behavior.

William M. Fields, director of scientific research at Great Ape Trust:

What I observed in Teco were the following:

Teco seemed to develop specific routines or rituals and he became agitated by the slightest change in those routines or rituals. Teco also moved constantly.  Additionally, he demonstrated fascination by parts of objects. Teco seemed oblivious to pain, yet  sensitive to light and especially to sound. Teco performed repetitive movements which were not only different but made it difficult to carry and care for him.  To me, these all are signs that suggest that autism is under development. WMF

Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, Teco's primary human caregiver offered this insight to Teco's behavior:

Teco began by taking a bottle only with his back severely arched and his head thrown back while avoiding all eye-contact. Across time his eye-contact has increased but the image shown does not yet reflect stable behavior while drinking milk.  More often than not, he is looking at something other than the caretaker as he drinks his milk and at times he continues to arch his back. Teco has had difficulty swallowing milk and sometimes the milk has entered his trachea rather than his stomach. Teco has also experienced serious choking episodes that were life-threatening. These were not the result of an item being caught in his throat. They were a response to social interactions among the bonobos and to fear of being dropped.  As anyone who has worked with autistic children is aware, they can at times do very normal things, it is the frequency of those things which sets them apart from other children.

It was very clear that the bonobos knew they needed extra help rearing Teco by about six weeks of age. The first thing that occurred was that Elikya (his mother) began leaving Teco with Panbanisha more and more frequently - going to the other end of the building, six rooms away, waiting six hours before coming back to check on her baby. Panbanisha knew she could not provide milk for Teco and she knew that Elikya was having difficulty and thus she gave Teco to Liz Pugh (caretaker) and to me. They not only know he is better, they constantly monitor everything we do with him and let us know whether they approve or not. Now that he is older, they all recognize that his social skills are somewhat different from other bonobos and that he is highly independent. They are all very careful around him and try to find ways to relate to him that he likes. SSR