Thanks dad! Alpha-male Freddy, who proved that fathers can matter as much as mums in the jungle after he saved Oscar the orphaned baby chimp

Tough alpha male Freddy shows his softer side by adopting young Oscar in new Disney documentary, Chimpanzee



Such an adoption in the animal kingdom has never been seen by scientists or film-makers before



Director Mark Linfield described touching scenes as 'the best storyline we never wrote'



Disney hopes to raise awareness of chimpanzees' plight

Over 50 years, number in the wild has fallen from a million to 200,000



After he was orphaned two years ago, scientists did not think a young chimp could survive without help from an adopted parent - and least of all from the alpha male.

But that's exactly what happened to 'Oscar', the star of new Disney documentary, Chimpanzee, when he was welcomed in by patriarch ' Freddy'.

Having previously shown great aggression over the other males to secure leadership of his chimp colony, Freddy now proved he could also be the daddy of them all.

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Cuddles with daddy: Oscar sleeps inside the protective arms of his adopted father Freddy, as captured in Disney's new documentary, Chimpanzee

Never before have film-makers or scientists witnessed a male taking on the mothering role of a young baby in this way.

They watched in amazement as Freddy showed a tenderness towards the young orphan. He allowed tiny Oscar to ride on his back, cracked nuts for him and delicately groomed his fur.

Before long, Freddy was sharing his nest with Oscar cradled inside his massive arms.

Such an adoption, which is extremely rare, is captured in all its poignancy in the film, which is released in the UK next month.



World-renowned primatologist Professor Christophe Boesch, who has spent more than 30 years studying the chimpanzees of Taï Forest National Park in Africa's Ivory Coast, where the filming took place, said such behaviour in the animal kingdom was almost unheard of.



‘I’ve never seen a male like Freddy take up the role of a mother like that,’ he said.

Alone: Oscar was orphaned after his mother was killed, possibly by a leopard

Mark Linfield, who co-directed the film with Alastair Fothergill described the touching scenes as 'the best storyline we never wrote'.

He said: ‘It was amazing and very touching to see this big, normally gruff male pour his love and devotion into caring for Oscar.



‘It was pretty clear that the story of Oscar and Freddy was going to touch other people as much as it touched us. If we’d scripted it, no one would have believed us. It was the best storyline we never wrote.’

‘It was very moving to see Oscar’s longing for some sort of protection and closeness and the tenderness that Freddy showed him. It was very unusual.'



The project took 700 days of filming over three-and-a-half years and the crew endured a host of obstacles, including swarms of aggressive bees, torrential rain, extreme humidity and deadly snakes.



They at first followed a different chimpanzee mother and baby, but when the crew came across Isha and her newborn Oscar, they knew they had found a special chimp.



‘Almost as soon as he was born, Oscar was bouncing around doing all this look-at-me stuff. He wrote himself into the script. But we had no idea he’d have such an eventful life.’

An older mum with seemingly unlimited patience, Isha nuzzles Oscar with chimpanzee kisses in the film, tucks him up safely at night in a hammock of branches high in the trees, and makes a start on his education.

For thousands of years, the chimps of the Taï Forest have used a sophisticated technique to crack their favourite walnut-like cola nuts, handing their unique skill down through generations.

Helping hand: Freddy cracks open nuts for the orphaned Oscar

They use tree roots as anvils and carry heavy stone hammers for miles through the forest.



‘One of the funniest things is seeing little ones like Oscar trying to learn, because they keep getting it wrong,’ Linfield says. ‘They miss the nut and hit their foot instead. Or they try with a piece of wood and the wood keeps breaking.’

Heavily reliant on his mother, Oscar will not be weaned until he reaches the age of four and will only become fully independent at the age of ten.



But Oscar has only reached the age of three when tragedy strikes - Isha is injured during a territorial fight with a rival band of chimps and never seen again.

Father and son: The adoption of Oscar by a dominant male like Freddy surprised scientists

It is presumed she fell prey to leopards in her weakened state, leaving Oscar vulnerable, hungry and left to die - that is until Freddy, the patriarch and alpha-male steps in to become his new parent.

Chimpanzee marks the fourth production from Disney's Disneynature division, which was launched in 2008.

Following the box office success of Earth, Oceans and African Cats, the film has already taken $30million (£20m) in America alone.

Disney has pledged to make a significant donation to the See Chimpanzee, Save Chimpanzees cause, set up by the Jane Goodall Institute, which aims to highlight the plight of these animals.

Once numbering more than a million, in just 50 years there are now only 200,000 chimps left in the wild.

It is predicted that within 20 years, through hunting, disease and decimation of forests, chimps will become extinct in ten countries.



So what next for Oscar and Freddy? Unfortunately, filmgoers won't discover if there is a happy ending to this otherwise Disney-like tale.

‘We don’t know,’ Linfield admits. Freddy is alive and well and has been recently sighted. Oscar, however, who would now be five years old, has not been seen for some time.



‘Nobody knows where he is. But it’s a big forest, so that’s not unusual. He could be absolutely fine.

‘I hope people will feel chimps are just like us – with all the trials and tribulations in their lives that we have in ours. They’re not so very different from us and they deserve our respect.’



Chimpanzee will be released in cinemas on Friday, 3 May.