Chimps on a Plane: Research Issues

A news article by the Huffington Post reported on a story in which an importer of monkeys commonly used for research has been charged with animal cruelty after 15 chimpanzees died while being transported to Los Angeles from China.

The Stop Cruelty Now advocacy group has commented that the trial against this importer will "shed light into the secretive world of laboratory animal imports".

The United States is reported to be one of two countries left in the world that use chimpanzees and other monkeys for research purposes. It is also reported to be the country with the highest use of chimpanzees in laboratory research settings.

Some activists are proposing the Great Ape Protection Act, which if passed, will work to halt the use of these creatures in research in the United States.

Reintroduced on April 18th of this year, the Great Ape Protection Act (H.R.1513/S.810) proposes that the use of these animals in research be halted and that chimps currently in federal laboratory research settings be transported to sanctuaries where they are to be cared for in a more natural setting. This legislation aims to extend to chimpanzees as well as all great apes.

Sources:
http://www.globalanimal.org/2012/03/30/risky-business-for-ape-research/70801/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/26/robert-matson-conyers-cruelty-charges_n_1379569.html
http://www.releasechimps.org/mission/change-laws/the-great-ape-protection-act/#axzz1tV8RwRcZ

Never Trust a Chimp: Ruthless Predatory Behavior

It might be surprising for the average person to find out that chimpanzees have been known to dine on 35 different types of vertebrate species- including the red columbus monkey. It's hard to picture these highly personable creatures being ruthless hunters and eating other individuals similar to themselves...

Most hunting takes place in groups and is a social activity for the chimps. Some researchers have found a positive correlation between the number of chimps in a given group and the success rate of a hunt. After a hunt, meat sharing behaviors have been found to be common in various groups of chimps. 

Researcher Jane Goodall even found that chimpanzees are prone to go on hunting "binges" in which they kill large numbers of monkeys and other prey. Possible reasons behind such "binges" are unclear. In one group of chimpanzees, they were observed to have killed 10% of the population of colobus monkeys in their area. This number is theoretically less than the number in actuality, as this is simply the calculation of observed kills. 

As far as the whole "eating other monkeys" thing goes, the chimpanzee's choice to feast on their friends over other items available to them may be due to the relative amount of nutrition they receive from different food sources. While fruit, nuts, and insects may be less dangerous to acquire, other monkeys make for better sources of protein.  

Moral of the story is... never trust a chimpanzee by its playful and friendly demeanor!

Sources: 

http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~stanford/chimphunt.html

Bonobo chimps at the San Diego ZOO

From observing these Bonobo's I felt as if the one in the middle was the matriarch of the group. 

After some time the youngest of the group came from sitting behind its mother to sitting in front of its mother.  In the next picture the baby is sucking its thumb.

In this picture, the mother was moving away from the original sitting spot and the baby is following closely. 

In this picture, the baby is leaning over to touch the stream of water while the mother watches closely behind. 

The mother was moving up the hill and the rest of the chimps followed right after 

This plaque located near the Bonobo exhibit discussed the small differences between chimps and Bonobos.  They are part of the same genius PAN.  The small differences are in their facial features. Bonobo's have longer hair on their  heads and it parts in the middle. Also the color of their face is different.

This chimp showed some possible aggression towards the glass.  He or she would punch the window, slap the window with its hands or slap the window with its branch.

This is a short video clip of how the chimp would smack the viewing window.

FRODO THE CHIMP

When we think of chimpanzees we think of small, lanky, hairy, creatures with a soft touch.  What this blog is going to cover strays away from our common idea of chimpanzees.



MEET FRODO! He was born on June 30, 1976.  Frodo is described as a "michevious youngster".  He has been living in the Gombe Chimpanzee project and is the largest recorded chimp in their history.  He weighs in at 115 pounds!!!  It's no surprise that such a large chimp would quickly rise to the the top in the heirarchy of chimps.  We can kind of consider Frodo to be a "chimp giant" but as we see within humanity, people who are considered "giants" tend to suffer from heart problems or other medical issues. BUT NOT FRODO! when the other males in his group suffered from an outbreak of sarcoptic mange, Frodo managed to stay healthy and strong. (sacrpotic mange: a mite- related skin infection usually seen in animals with fur)
Frodo has a healthy appetite (loves to eat meat) and is "very agile" for his size! He hunts colobus monkeys to eat them and because of his agility, he is able to jump from tree to tree catching them.  His large size often pressures other chimps to share their food with him.  Frodo quickly learned to throw his weight around to get what he wants.  This kind of behavior has made him quite unpopular.
There was once an occasion where Frodo was bullying the other chimps in the group and dent them hiding, after they left he sat down waiting to be groomed and the same chimps that ran away from him came back to groom him. We have to remember that Frodo is still a wild animal and might not have the capabiltiy to control his vicious attacks.
In 2002 a women who works that the park where Frodo lives was walking down a path with her 16 year old niece and 14 month old baby.  They were walking to visit the womans husband who also worked at the park, just 2 miles down the road.  Frodo saw the 3 and approached the baby.  He grabbed the baby and disappeared.  They could see Frodo up in the trees holding the babys limp body.  Park workers were able to scare Frodo and he left the baby.
 It was debated whether or not to euthanize Frodo.  Park representatives understand Frodo was just exhibiting normal hunting behaviors for chimpanzees since they often hunt the babies of colobus chimps.  Therefore Frodo was kept alive.
 Frodo became sick in 2002 and lost a lot weight but a couple years later in 2004 he seemed to be making a comeback and was gaining his weight back along with his strength!


References
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0304/feature4/online_extra2.html
http://www.discoverchimpanzees.org/chimps/frodo_bio.php#
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mange

threat and conservation status

Current Population

According to the World Wildlife Fund the number of chimpanzees in the world ranges from 150,000- 250,000.  The majority of chimpanzees still living in their natural habitat can be found in different parts of Africa (central Africa)

In particular, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo,Cameroon contain the largest amount of chimpanzees.  Other places such as Senegal, Mali, the Cabinda enclave of Angola, Equatorial Guinea, and Sudan contain smaller populations that are at serious risk. Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Burundi and Rwanda also contain endangered populations of chimpanzees.  Over the last 20 years, the chimp population in  Côte d'Ivoire has decreased by about 90%! 

Within these locations, chimps are divided in 4 main groups: central, western, eastern, and Nigerian- Cameroon.  The population for this group is estimated at about 115,000!!

Central chimpanzees are the largest of the groups and live mostly around Gabon, Cameroon, and Congo.  You can find this group of chimps living around undisturbed forest areas.

Western chimpanzees are a smaller group that lives mostly around Côte D'Ivoire.  The total population for this group is about 15,000- 21,000!!

Eastern chimpanzees range from the Ubangi River/Congo River in Central African Republic and DRC, to western Uganda, Rwanda and western Tanzania

Nigerian- Cameroon chimpanzees are the smallest of these sub-populations with only about 1,500 chimps!!  They live mostly in  Nigeria and Cameroon

As we can see the wildlife population of chimpanzees is small and getting smaller.  

On the flip side we have chimpanzees across the world that are living in zoos/ wild life parks.  For example, here is a map of the United States; the starts indicate zoos that have chimpanzees

According to the Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan (SSP), one benefit to chimpanzees living in zoos is the increase in life span.  zoo chimps tend to live longer than chimps in the wild.  Here is a list of some of the oldest living chimps that are being cared for in zoos: 

Name                   Zoo                        Age

Lil Mama     Lion Country Safari          72

Bon Bon         Dallas Zoo                    52

Cobby         San Francisco Zoo           52

 (kinda makes you want to go to the zoo, huh?)

Potential threats

2 of the main threats to the chimpanzee population are habitat loss and degradation, and hunting.

Habitat loss: the larger the human population grows, the greater need for more land.  Unfortunately, when humans are looking for new places to build or farm we are choosing places that are home to many chimp populations.  The increase in building on their land results in habitat patching which means there is space in between chimp groups and that keeps them isolated from each other with little to no room to roam.  Because of the increase in deforestation in Western Africa, the amount of chimpanzees living naturally has decreased greatly, many chimps in the area are living in zoos or reservations.

Hunting has also contributed to the large decline in the chimpanzee population.  In many areas poaching for meat and infants is the quite relevant.  Hunters often capture infant chimps to sell them as pets.  Chimps are often hurt by traps to catch other animals.  A study in Congo showed the amount of chimps being killed surpassed the amount of chimps being born. The term bush meat is intended to describe the hunting of animals in the wild.  the bush meat trade is causing great damage, not only to the chimpanzee population but to the wildlife population as a whole.

(pictures are too graphic too post but are helpful in understanding the pain and suffering these animals are going through)

Conservation status

Two major organizations addressing the decline in chimpanzee population are World Wildlife Fund and Bushmeat Crisis Task Force. 

The World Wildlife Fund is attempting to preserve the great ape population by: establishing, strengthening, and managing protected areas, developing chimp- focused eco-tourism, stopping illegal killing of chimps.  The WWF is doing this by working with the government in protecting the wild life areas where chimps are living.  They are attempting to figure out different ways to stop the bushmeat trade which will decrease the number of animals being killed for sport or food.

The Bushmeat Crisis Task Force concerns themselves with bushmeat that is illegally obtained.  This means the use of illegal methods for hunting (snares), hunting of endangered, threatened, or protected species, hunting in areas that are already being protected, and unsustainable offtake for commercial trade

The Crisis Task Force is addressing these problems through education and anti- poaching operations.  Through educating the people of these places where bush meat is most relevant, its in the hopes of the Task Force that the government will put strict rules into effect that will lessen the occurrence of illegally killing animals.

References

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/great_apes/chimpanzees/

http://www.lpzoosites.org/chimp-ssp/locations.htm

http://www.honoluluzoo.org/chimpanzee.htm

http://www.bushmeat.org/bushmeat_and_wildlife_trade/solutions