The ability to share attention with another individual is the foundation upon which more cognitively complex capacities develop in humans. These phenomena have not been thoroughly investigated in nonhuman great apes despite the close genetic relationship among members of the Hominidae family. The purpose of the study is to assess the effects of care style during the first six months of life on joint attention skills and social behavior in great apes. This study provides evidence that great apes engage in joint attention behaviors with conspecifics and humans. The ability of great apes to engage in joint attention behaviors with conspecifics and humans was not affected by differences in style of care provided by either great ape mothers or humans during apes' first six months of life. This result suggests that joint attention is a durable cognitive process that is impervious to insufficiently distinct differences in care during early infancy.