After the incident, experts debated whether Binti's actions were a result of training by the zoo or of
animal altruism. Because Binti had been hand-raised by humans, as opposed to being parent-raised (due to her mother rejecting her after Binti was born), she had to be specially trained to care for an infant gorilla and to take her offspring to personnel for examinations. Primatologist
Frans de Waal, however, uses Binti Jua as an example of
empathy in animals. There are many other examples of animals (especially
primates) demonstrating apparent altruism. In a situation very similar to Binti's, a male gorilla named
Jambo, of
Jersey Zoo, protected a five-year-old child who had fallen into his enclosure. Jambo was not trained to care for children and was raised in captivity by his own gorilla mother, so his actions may have involved an instinctive sense that the child needed his help. Similar behavior has been seen in chimpanzees who appear to comfort each other after an attack or other trauma. ==See also==