Dolly Apes Researcher in Bringing Up Baby

At the San Diego Wild Animal Park, Dolly the gorilla is cuddling her 6-day-old baby like the perfect mother she is, and that has Steve Joines tickled pink.

Joines helped teach Dolly to be the good gorilla mom she is today.

Most gorillas in captivity either were born in captivity or were taken from the wild at a very young age. As a result, they have not had adult female gorillas to serve as mother role models, nor have they had the opportunity to baby-sit another gorilla’s offspring for “hands-on” experience.

“More often than not, when a gorilla gives birth in captivity, it’s not sure what it is, much less what to do with it,” Joines said.

Such was the case with Dolly when she had her first baby, Jimmy, in 1973.

“Dolly was terrified and confused with the baby,” Joines said. “She’d have nothing to do with him. She pushed him over to one side of the gorilla bedroom, then she retreated to the far corner.” So the little gorilla was removed and raised by the keepers.

A few months later, Dolly got pregnant again. And, this time, everyone wanted Dolly to tend to her motherly chores.

So Joines, who at the time was doing research on primate behavior at the Wild Animal Park, began working with Dolly. First he tried showing her movies of other gorillas and their babies. “But that didn’t work,” Joines said. “Dolly was more interested in watching me fool around with the projector than she was with two-dimensional gorillas on her wall.”

So Joines used a gorilla doll to help teach Dolly the ins and outs of mothering.

“First, we’d bring up her own baby, Jim, and cuddle him every day for her to see. We’d let Dolly touch him, and he’d touch Dolly.”

Then the doll was introduced. Joines would hold it, then give it to Dolly to hold. Dolly then learned several verbal commands. “Pick up the baby” would mean cradle it to her chest; “Be nice to the baby” meant to pat it gently on the back.

Sure enough, when Dolly’s second baby--Binti--was born, “Dolly was competent from the word go,” Joines said. “She knew what it was and how to handle it. One of my proudest moments was when she walked over to the bars and handed Binti over toward me as if to say, ‘Look at this!’ ”

The only problem occurred 14 hours after birth, when Binti began to cry. The practice doll, you see, had never cried.

“Dolly looked up to me with the most bewildered expression on her face. I told her, ‘Be nice to the baby.’ So she picked her up, put her to her breast and patted her back. No problem. Binti stopped crying.”

A Lesson in Equal Time

The Community Hospital of Chula Vista’s auxiliary is a proud bunch, so because one of their own--Penny Allen--is running for election today to the Chula Vista City Council, the hospital’s Oct. 22 newsletter printed a flattering 1 1/2-page article on her.

While there was no flat-out endorsement, Allen was nonetheless described as “a petite dynamo who seems to bring full-time commitment to each of her civic duties.”

“We wanted to blow our own horn. This was the first time an auxilian has run for public office,” said Laura Brien, the hospital’s director of community relations.

Brien quickly learned about the concept of equal time. A supporter of Gayle McCandliss, the incumbent, complained about the one-sided coverage.

So, a second batch of 5,000 newsletters--a special-edition two-pager containing only an equal-length article on McCandliss--was quickly printed and sent out by first class mail on Oct. 28, to reach homes before today. The postage alone was more than $1,000.

Brien said the group didn’t expect such a fuss over the article. “And we won’t do any more,” she promised.

The unplanned expense, she added, will not show up on any room bills.

Betting With a Mission

Mission San Luis Rey may be the second oldest Catholic parish in San Diego County, but it’s real state-of-the-art when it comes to fund raising.

Not only does it offer bingo three (count ‘em, 3) days a week, but there’s also a walk-up California Lottery window that’s manned from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven (count ‘em, 7) days a week.

During the first month, more than 25,000 tickets were sold, according to bingo/lottery manager Mike Stenson. The mission keeps a nickel for every one sold, for a tidy $1,250 profit.

Lottery sales at a church?

“Well, it’s not at the church, per se. It’s at the parish center,” he explained. In fact, the bingo and lottery profits help pay off the purchase of the new parish center, a former academy school that now houses senior citizen activities and shelters for battered women and abused children.

What are the advantages of buying lottery tickets at a church? The line moves quickly, for starters. And if you gamble away the food budget on lottery tickets at the parish center, at least you can go next door and confess.

Where the Action Is

It used to be that kids played cowboys and Indians. Then it was cops and robbers.

In Escondido the other day, the neighborhood youngsters had an assortment of toy cars and a couple of airplanes on the garage floor when one of the kids chirped: “Let’s play Border Patrol!”