RESEARCHERS HOPE CHIMP WILL APE SIMIAN BEHAVIOR.

Byline: Theresa C. Viloria Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

Talk about "monkey see, monkey do!"

Researchers and trainers at the Oakland Zoo were hoping Friday that old saw would eventually prove true. After all, they had just arranged to fly a 5-month-old chimpanzee named Caramia first class from Atlanta just to show their own chimp Amira, who was abandoned at birth by her mother, what . . . well, what should come naturally.

In short, how to monkey around.

"Peer socialization is very important to the healthy socialization of a chimpanzee to the larger social group," said Kim Barnes, a developmental psychologist at Yerkes Primate Research Center in Atlanta.

This is the first time chimps have been shipped across the country to be paired in the hope that they will learn primate mannerisms from each other.

In fact, introducing Caramia to 4-month-old Amira, was another attempt by zoo trainers to help abandoned baby zoo animals retain their natural instincts. In November, trainers tried to unite Kijana, a baby elephant, abandoned by his mother, with Donna, another elephant who had lost her baby.

Caramia was brought to the zoo because her mother, Ruby, overgroomed her, scratching the baby chimp's right cornea. As far as researchers can tell, Caramia is blind in her right eye.

Amira was abandoned by Abigail, a 13-year-old zoo chimp. After giving birth, Abby just patted Amira on the head and refused to carry her.

Trainers are trying to keep the chimps from bonding with them so the two can learn acceptable behavior from each other and perhaps eventually from one of the older zoo chimps. The finer points of jungle etiquette include not baring teeth when smiling, considered aggressive behavior in a chimp community.

"There were no other chimps Caramia's age at Yerkes," Barnes added. "So, when Colleen (Kinzley, Oakland's curator) called about Amira, we thought it would be good to bring the two together."

On Friday afternoon, the dark baby fuzzballs lay under pine trees in their Huggies, behind the zoo's primate exhibit. For most of their first day together, they played hard-to-get.

Caramia dozed with her arms and legs wrapped around a furry pink blanket. Amira had a late lunch of Similac, bottle-fed to her by Margaret Griffin, her primary care-giver and zoo primate trainer.

Once awake, Caramia latched a dark hairy hand on a yellow chain that hung low above her head, riveted by a silver bowl that glinted in the sun.

Amira, watching the newcomer, grabbed hold of the chain and managed to hoist up her chubby frame. With a smile and a fat, pink tongue sticking out of her mouth, she invited Camaria to play.

The older chimp couldn't resist the offer. She puffed herself up, seeming to say, "Hey, I'm bigger than you."

Unfortunately, the little one seemed to agree. She rushed back into Griffin's arms.

"This looks so natural," Bard explained, "because we're doing what is normal chimp behavior."