Name: Documentarian James Reed on Witnessing Chimpanzee Patrols and Attacks
Uploaded: 2023-05-18T17:16:37.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Documentarian James Reed on Witnessing Chimpanzee Patrols and Attacks' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-05-18. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Documentarian James Reed on Witnessing Chimpanzee Patrols and Attacks' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-05-18. Transcript available.

- The Joe Rogan experience.
- Now, when the chimps are on patrol,
that's a uniquely intense and aggressive moment,
and it's so wild to watch, to see them,
these hulking chimpanzees move through the forest
in coordination.
When you're there with that,
and you're very close to these violent encounters
with the other chimps, is there any concern there
that you could get caught up in this sort of violent frenzy
and maybe be in danger of being attacked, or?
- You know, there isn't actually,
and that, I mean, the what, let me rephrase that.
I would say, on a personal level, of course, right?
You know, you come, you hear about these things happening,
you know it's a possibility we'll be there
when it happens, when it's filmed.
So we ask exactly the same questions.
So this is, you know, I've been through
the exact same process as you are now,
and have this conversation with the scientists, like,
oh, are we gonna be safe?
- Right.
- You know, is it safe for us to, where should we be,
or where should we not be if this happens when we're there?
So totally, we had exactly the same questions, and we just didn't know.
And we were reassured by the scientists, you know, you'll be amazed.
Like, if you see those things, they will happen, but they will ignore you.
And their only warning was that definitely don't get too close, you know,
because the level of excitement around the chimps during these encounters, you
know,
if there's ever a time when they could accidentally come very close to you or
suddenly see you and get a bit of a fright,
you know, they wouldn't want, they wouldn't want to take that sort of a risk
with us.
So they did, they did, we were warned, you know, keep a respectful distance
from that.
But amazingly, and there's a little, um, a little behind the scenes clip that
we've sort of released on, on YouTube now.
And, and you can see that during, during the bit, the, the biggest encounter
that we filmed, um, the, the camera people were sort of like in it and around
it and sort of at one stage sort of like accidentally between the two groups
that were sort of standing off.
And, you know, that the certain way, I mean, the chimps move so fast and they
organize, reorganize, separate or whatever.
So you can try and be in the perfect position, but then that perfect position
could quickly become where you don't want to be because of where the chimps
have gone.
So through no fault of their own, um, you know, there's, there are times when
they're sort of, they're in there sort of, it's a bit like being a war reporter
or something.
Um, but weirdly, you know, they're so focused on what it is they're doing and
have no interest in sort of involving or redirecting their aggression to the,
to the humans at all.
Wow.
I think, you know, because of, you know, there are some quite high profile and
sort of like pretty tragic sort of human chimp interactions.
Aren't there anything?
In go-go?
No, no.
I mean, sort of like things that happened at, at zoos or, or whatever.
And I think that it, I think it does give a sort of an, an, an, an unusual
impression of what chimps are like in, in the wild.
They, they have all that sort of capability and more so, you know, the in go-go
chimps, there's so many of them.
And, and, and they don't, are engaged in these sort of violent competitions
with, with other groups.
That's a very real thing.
And, and, and, and, you know, and it can get serious, but their relationship
with people is just completely different to a relationship chimps might have
with people in captivity.
Right.
Or if they've been kept as pets or something.
Um, yeah, it's just, it's, it's not, I, I totally get it.
And those are exactly the sort of things I wanted to know before I stepped in
in go-go.
Well, I mean, you know, for sure you, you, you need to know.
Um, but amazingly when you've been there around it and even once you've just
been on a single patrol with them actually, and they are exhilarating when you
go on patrol with in go-go chimps.
It's, it's amazing.
They are taking you on a, on a journey to the edge of their border and they,
they're fully committed and they're coordinated and.
And we don't seem to care that you're following them.
And they're allowing you to sort of be there.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
It's a, it's an incredible experience actually.
It's real adrenaline.
Yeah, there they are.
Look at that.
This was my favorite part.
Just watching them move in coordination and just wondering like what, how do
they know?
Like, what are they doing?
It almost seems like they're gesturing in some ways like that chimp with the
one hand.
Oh, so this is the behind the scenes.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
You know, gestures quite often the, in our, in our form.
Oh, hands all over each other there.
Yeah.
That, that's undeniable.
Yeah.
These sort of reassuring.
Yeah.
Gestures.
They, they know they're, they're, they're in this like tense situation.
They're nervous.
I think that you can read into that, that they're sort of telling each other
that like, I'm with you.
I'm with you.
I'm here.
That physical contact is just, you know, it's just reassuring each other that
we're, we're in this together.
Um, it's you and me.
And when violence does break out, what is that experience like?
I mean.
When you're seeing chimp on chimp violence from several feet away, I mean, that
has to be wild.
I don't, like I said, we, I mean, I don't really want to give away any spoilers
for the series because some of, some of these things are sort of like major
plot points in the series.
I don't think it matters.
I know what you're saying.
I appreciate your artistic sentiment.
It doesn't matter.
But it's so good.
It's so good that even if you say what happens and people get to see it, it's
so good.
I mean, and I would say that like, like I said, I often personally, well, I
wasn't there for many of the things that happened, uh, but it was some and I,
and I have been there previously and go, go where certain things have happened.
Um, it's hard.
But I, I think that is chimp on chimp violence is, is a lot harder, um, to
watch, um, than the chimp on monkey violence for me personally.
And whether I'm there myself or whether I'm seeing it recorded later on, I
think there's a, there's kind of a sadness to that personally.
Um, quite often it's because in truth, the, it gets more serious if the chimps
outnumber them significantly.
So when, when chimps are kind of equal sized groups, when they come into
contact, they're usually less violent situations.
Because it's too much danger.
It's just, there's too, there's too much danger, too much at stake.
It's kind of a bit bravado.
So they run at each other a few times, but if there's enough chimps on either
side, you can pretty much know that in this immediate situation, no one's going
to get badly hit.
Uh, they get badly hit when they're outnumbered and obviously that on a human
level, it just, no one likes seeing that sort of thing.
Yeah.
You know, there's, there's just, uh, yeah, that, that it's just horrible.
And, and it, you know, unfortunately we've all sort of seen that personally or
clips of that in humans.
And it's the most uncomfortable, horrible stuff, you know, it really makes you
horrible.
Um, so yeah, all of that stuff is very hard to watch.
Sorry.
Well, no, I'll just say even, you know, interestingly, like I said, we, the
scientists in GoGo, we, we know them really well now and we've worked with them
for a long time.
Um, so, you know, we share things and they share stories that on a more
personal level with us, um, but they are obviously better than we or a viewer
would be at detaching themselves.
You know, they're, this is just what happens.
They're there to observe and try and understand.
It's not an emotional thing, but even, even they who have been there for many
years, and I think particularly because they've been there for many years,
sometimes you see an act of violence on a, on a chimp that you've known and
been following around for ages.
They may not care about you, but you really care about them.
And, and it's sad.
Yeah, it's very sad.
During the filming, or at least on the show, there's one instance of the chimpanzees
killing, uh, another chimp.
Was there more of that?
You're blowing all this.
I'm not.
I'm not.
Okay.
You think it's a spoiler alert, but I'm telling you, it's just, it's just, it's
so complex and so fascinating and so good.
Yeah.
I don't.
Okay, good.
No, no, no, it's fine.
I don't know, I don't know, it's you for me, so I don't know, I was thinking,
does it really matter, does it not, I don't know.
It's so good, it doesn't matter.
Okay, yes.
Okay, so that happens.
Was it only one time while you were there?
Well, yes, no, the, well, there's another thing in the series we're not going
to talk about.
Okay.
But, like, because that really is a spoiler, but, um, yes, couple of occasions
whilst we were there.
And that is, how, I mean, does it, is it conflicted?
Do you almost have this, like, feeling that you want to intervene and protect
the chimp, or?
I think, yeah, everybody who's been around, those feelings, you wish it wouldn't
happen.
Right.
You, you don't want this to conclude in the way that you think it might.
Um, but, again, I think, I, I totally understand what, why you're asking, but I
think once, once you've been around them enough, and you, and you have to have
this commitment to, and it's part, it's part of the same point that you were
asking earlier about that impact on their lives.
You want zero impact on their lives, or, or minimal, right?
You don't want any negative impact.
You actually can't make too much of a positive impact either.
You know, also, it just wouldn't be practical.
It's not, it's not safe, you know.
You know, what could you do?
Shout and make a noise and try and disturb them just enough for a moment that
the chimp could get away and, you know, possibly.
But I think that it wouldn't be, you know, it wouldn't be ethical to do it.
These are, it is natural behavior.
Yeah, I mean, that's my take on it from what I've seen at N'Gogo.
Yes.
These, this is part of their natural behavior.
They are competitive and they're territorial.
And those, you know, those behaviors have served them well in, in the past.
So, you can't, as much as it's not from a human observer point of view, that
same thing, taking that same situation out as something you observed in the
street.
All those natural sort of tendency, desires to intervene and stop something,
you know, they're there for good reason.
But, you know, this is the entire sort of, the entire scientific project, our
commitment as filmmakers to observe, but not interfere.
I mean, that's, that's all part of the same thing.
You couldn't, if you stepped out of that role in any circumstance, you've kind
of, you've, you've crossed a line in a really odd way.
But, so, so, and in a way that sort of helps with the, what you're feeling when
you see or observe those things, because, well, you know, there's absolutely
nothing you can do about this.
Right.
I mean, of course, ethically, you really can't intervene, but it's still sort
of, I mean, what an amazing experience for you as a human being to have gone
through this.
It's just such a rare, rare insight into these animals and these incredibly
unique creatures and their behavior.
It's just, you must feel so fortunate just to have experienced, just as a human
being, just as a life experience to take that in.
I really do.
Yeah, I really do.
I mean, this, you know, I've been very lucky in lots of bits of my job that I've
done over the years.
I think that, you know, it's a great job.
It's very hard work, a lot harder than probably what people appreciate and, but
extremely lucky on, on loads of things.
I do feel with the N'Gogo chimps in particular, like you say, as a human being
from an existential sort of point of view, there's like, so, I'm so fortunate.
And not really, not many people get to see that.
And they are our closest relatives and they are fascinating because of the
connections we have with them.
They're also fascinating because they're different and they're all individuals.
And it's a chance to just, you kind of feel a part of something that has, you
know, brought that important knowledge and information to people.
Yeah.
So I feel personally very fortunate, yeah.

Documentarian James Reed on Witnessing Chimpanzee Patrols and Attacks

- The Joe Rogan experience.
- Now, when the chimps are on patrol,
that's a uniquely intense and aggressive moment,
and it's so wild to watch, to see them,
these hulking chimpanzees move through the forest
in coordination.
When you're there with that,
and you're very close to these violent encounters
with the other chimps, is there any concern there
that you could get caught up in this sort of violent frenzy
and maybe be in danger of being attacked, or?
- You know, there isn't actually,
and that, I mean, the what, let me rephrase that.
I would say, on a personal level, of course, right?
You know, you come, you hear about these things happening,
you know it's a possibility we'll be there
when it happens, when it's filmed.
So we ask exactly the same questions.
So this is, you know, I've been through
the exact same process as you are now,
and have this conversation with the scientists, like,
oh, are we gonna be safe?
- Right.
- You know, is it safe for us to, where should we be,
or where should we not be if this happens when we're there?
So totally, we had exactly the same questions, and we just didn't know.
And we were reassured by the scientists, you know, you'll be amazed.
Like, if you see those things, they will happen, but they will ignore you.
And their only warning was that definitely don't get too close, you know,
because the level of excitement around the chimps during these encounters, you
know,
if there's ever a time when they could accidentally come very close to you or
suddenly see you and get a bit of a fright,
you know, they wouldn't want, they wouldn't want to take that sort of a risk
with us.
So they did, they did, we were warned, you know, keep a respectful distance
from that.
But amazingly, and there's a little, um, a little behind the scenes clip that
we've sort of released on, on YouTube now.
And, and you can see that during, during the bit, the, the biggest encounter
that we filmed, um, the, the camera people were sort of like in it and around
it and sort of at one stage sort of like accidentally between the two groups
that were sort of standing off.
And, you know, that the certain way, I mean, the chimps move so fast and they
organize, reorganize, separate or whatever.
So you can try and be in the perfect position, but then that perfect position
could quickly become where you don't want to be because of where the chimps
have gone.
So through no fault of their own, um, you know, there's, there are times when
they're sort of, they're in there sort of, it's a bit like being a war reporter
or something.
Um, but weirdly, you know, they're so focused on what it is they're doing and
have no interest in sort of involving or redirecting their aggression to the,
to the humans at all.
Wow.
I think, you know, because of, you know, there are some quite high profile and
sort of like pretty tragic sort of human chimp interactions.
Aren't there anything?
In go-go?
No, no.
I mean, sort of like things that happened at, at zoos or, or whatever.
And I think that it, I think it does give a sort of an, an, an, an unusual
impression of what chimps are like in, in the wild.
They, they have all that sort of capability and more so, you know, the in go-go
chimps, there's so many of them.
And, and, and they don't, are engaged in these sort of violent competitions
with, with other groups.
That's a very real thing.
And, and, and, and, you know, and it can get serious, but their relationship
with people is just completely different to a relationship chimps might have
with people in captivity.
Right.
Or if they've been kept as pets or something.
Um, yeah, it's just, it's, it's not, I, I totally get it.
And those are exactly the sort of things I wanted to know before I stepped in
in go-go.
Well, I mean, you know, for sure you, you, you need to know.
Um, but amazingly when you've been there around it and even once you've just
been on a single patrol with them actually, and they are exhilarating when you
go on patrol with in go-go chimps.
It's, it's amazing.
They are taking you on a, on a journey to the edge of their border and they,
they're fully committed and they're coordinated and.
And we don't seem to care that you're following them.
And they're allowing you to sort of be there.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
It's a, it's an incredible experience actually.
It's real adrenaline.
Yeah, there they are.
Look at that.
This was my favorite part.
Just watching them move in coordination and just wondering like what, how do
they know?
Like, what are they doing?
It almost seems like they're gesturing in some ways like that chimp with the
one hand.
Oh, so this is the behind the scenes.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
You know, gestures quite often the, in our, in our form.
Oh, hands all over each other there.
Yeah.
That, that's undeniable.
Yeah.
These sort of reassuring.
Yeah.
Gestures.
They, they know they're, they're, they're in this like tense situation.
They're nervous.
I think that you can read into that, that they're sort of telling each other
that like, I'm with you.
I'm with you.
I'm here.
That physical contact is just, you know, it's just reassuring each other that
we're, we're in this together.
Um, it's you and me.
And when violence does break out, what is that experience like?
I mean.
When you're seeing chimp on chimp violence from several feet away, I mean, that
has to be wild.
I don't, like I said, we, I mean, I don't really want to give away any spoilers
for the series because some of, some of these things are sort of like major
plot points in the series.
I don't think it matters.
I know what you're saying.
I appreciate your artistic sentiment.
It doesn't matter.
But it's so good.
It's so good that even if you say what happens and people get to see it, it's
so good.
I mean, and I would say that like, like I said, I often personally, well, I
wasn't there for many of the things that happened, uh, but it was some and I,
and I have been there previously and go, go where certain things have happened.
Um, it's hard.
But I, I think that is chimp on chimp violence is, is a lot harder, um, to
watch, um, than the chimp on monkey violence for me personally.
And whether I'm there myself or whether I'm seeing it recorded later on, I
think there's a, there's kind of a sadness to that personally.
Um, quite often it's because in truth, the, it gets more serious if the chimps
outnumber them significantly.
So when, when chimps are kind of equal sized groups, when they come into
contact, they're usually less violent situations.
Because it's too much danger.
It's just, there's too, there's too much danger, too much at stake.
It's kind of a bit bravado.
So they run at each other a few times, but if there's enough chimps on either
side, you can pretty much know that in this immediate situation, no one's going
to get badly hit.
Uh, they get badly hit when they're outnumbered and obviously that on a human
level, it just, no one likes seeing that sort of thing.
Yeah.
You know, there's, there's just, uh, yeah, that, that it's just horrible.
And, and it, you know, unfortunately we've all sort of seen that personally or
clips of that in humans.
And it's the most uncomfortable, horrible stuff, you know, it really makes you
horrible.
Um, so yeah, all of that stuff is very hard to watch.
Sorry.
Well, no, I'll just say even, you know, interestingly, like I said, we, the
scientists in GoGo, we, we know them really well now and we've worked with them
for a long time.
Um, so, you know, we share things and they share stories that on a more
personal level with us, um, but they are obviously better than we or a viewer
would be at detaching themselves.
You know, they're, this is just what happens.
They're there to observe and try and understand.
It's not an emotional thing, but even, even they who have been there for many
years, and I think particularly because they've been there for many years,
sometimes you see an act of violence on a, on a chimp that you've known and
been following around for ages.
They may not care about you, but you really care about them.
And, and it's sad.
Yeah, it's very sad.
During the filming, or at least on the show, there's one instance of the chimpanzees
killing, uh, another chimp.
Was there more of that?
You're blowing all this.
I'm not.
I'm not.
Okay.
You think it's a spoiler alert, but I'm telling you, it's just, it's just, it's
so complex and so fascinating and so good.
Yeah.
I don't.
Okay, good.
No, no, no, it's fine.
I don't know, I don't know, it's you for me, so I don't know, I was thinking,
does it really matter, does it not, I don't know.
It's so good, it doesn't matter.
Okay, yes.
Okay, so that happens.
Was it only one time while you were there?
Well, yes, no, the, well, there's another thing in the series we're not going
to talk about.
Okay.
But, like, because that really is a spoiler, but, um, yes, couple of occasions
whilst we were there.
And that is, how, I mean, does it, is it conflicted?
Do you almost have this, like, feeling that you want to intervene and protect
the chimp, or?
I think, yeah, everybody who's been around, those feelings, you wish it wouldn't
happen.
Right.
You, you don't want this to conclude in the way that you think it might.
Um, but, again, I think, I, I totally understand what, why you're asking, but I
think once, once you've been around them enough, and you, and you have to have
this commitment to, and it's part, it's part of the same point that you were
asking earlier about that impact on their lives.
You want zero impact on their lives, or, or minimal, right?
You don't want any negative impact.
You actually can't make too much of a positive impact either.
You know, also, it just wouldn't be practical.
It's not, it's not safe, you know.
You know, what could you do?
Shout and make a noise and try and disturb them just enough for a moment that
the chimp could get away and, you know, possibly.
But I think that it wouldn't be, you know, it wouldn't be ethical to do it.
These are, it is natural behavior.
Yeah, I mean, that's my take on it from what I've seen at N'Gogo.
Yes.
These, this is part of their natural behavior.
They are competitive and they're territorial.
And those, you know, those behaviors have served them well in, in the past.
So, you can't, as much as it's not from a human observer point of view, that
same thing, taking that same situation out as something you observed in the
street.
All those natural sort of tendency, desires to intervene and stop something,
you know, they're there for good reason.
But, you know, this is the entire sort of, the entire scientific project, our
commitment as filmmakers to observe, but not interfere.
I mean, that's, that's all part of the same thing.
You couldn't, if you stepped out of that role in any circumstance, you've kind
of, you've, you've crossed a line in a really odd way.
But, so, so, and in a way that sort of helps with the, what you're feeling when
you see or observe those things, because, well, you know, there's absolutely
nothing you can do about this.
Right.
I mean, of course, ethically, you really can't intervene, but it's still sort
of, I mean, what an amazing experience for you as a human being to have gone
through this.
It's just such a rare, rare insight into these animals and these incredibly
unique creatures and their behavior.
It's just, you must feel so fortunate just to have experienced, just as a human
being, just as a life experience to take that in.
I really do.
Yeah, I really do.
I mean, this, you know, I've been very lucky in lots of bits of my job that I've
done over the years.
I think that, you know, it's a great job.
It's very hard work, a lot harder than probably what people appreciate and, but
extremely lucky on, on loads of things.
I do feel with the N'Gogo chimps in particular, like you say, as a human being
from an existential sort of point of view, there's like, so, I'm so fortunate.
And not really, not many people get to see that.
And they are our closest relatives and they are fascinatin