乌干达野生动物研究中心外来黑猩猩融入笼养群体的过程

1967至1997的30年间,生活在非洲热带地区自然栖息地的野生黑猩猩数量由60万降至不足20万,至今这个数字仍在减少,因此引起了全球的关注并急需要开展迁地保护。笼养黑猩猩与野外种群一样营群居生活,为了有效进行野生黑猩猩的迁地保护,将野外捕获的野生黑猩猩个体成功引入已在动物园的黑猩猩群体中十分必要。2004年10月至2005年3月,乌干达野生动物研究中心首先开展了这一实验。同时为更好地了解外来黑猩猩融入笼养群体的过程,2006年9月至2007年1月间收集其活动数据。选取5只黑猩猩个体并记录它们的食性、行为、体重变化及身体健康状况。除直接观察和记录外,与兽医和研究中心管理人员进行合作,以获取较多笼养个体的信息。我们发现,野生个体比笼养个体多病,因此影响了它们的取食、社会行为及活动水平。尽管笼养黑猩猩有人照料,但仍具备野生个体的行为,所以,理解外来黑猩猩融入笼养群体的过程对于黑猩猩的迁地保护和就地保护是非常重要的。

Understanding the integration process of captive chimpanzees Pan troglodytes in the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre

Over a period of 30 years between 1967 and 1997, the population of wild chimpanzees Pan troglodytes in their natural habitats of tropical Africa has declined from 600 000 to less than 200 000 and is still declining thus raising global concern and a great need for their ex situ conservation. In the wild, chimpanzees live in communities and this is mimicked in captivity. For ex situ conservation of wild chimpanzees to be effective, efforts should be made to ensure acceptance of newly introduced individuals by those chimpanzees already living in zoo communities. This study was first conducted at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) from October 2004 to March 2005 and additional information was gathered between September 2006 and January 2007 in order to understand their integration process. Five chimpanzees were observed and data were collected concerning their feeding habits, behavior, weight changes and health status. Direct observations, recorded information and participatory discussions with veterinary doctors and UWEC managers provided additional information about captive chimpanzees. From our findings, wild chimpanzees had more diseases than captive ones which in turn affected their feeding, social behavior and activity levels. Our results also show that understanding the integration process of captive chimpanzees is essential for both ex situ and in situ conservation because captive chimpanzees though given much attention, they still reflect some behavior of the wild nones.