Imitation of facial gestures by an infant chimpanzee

A nursery-reared infant chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) was tested for the ability to imitate human facial gestures, following the procedure ofMeltzoff andMoore (1977). The subject was observed between 5 to 15 weeks of ages. The results showed that the subject could imitate tongue protrusion in the age of 5–10 weeks and mouth opening between the ages of 5–11 weeks. However, from 12 to 15 weeks, the infant did not imitate the facial gestures. The present study clearly demonstrated that the infant chimpanzee could imitate human facial gestures in a particular period.     

Coxsackievirus in an infant chimpanzee.

Coxsackie B viruses may cause a severe, often fatal, illness in newborn and infant human subjects. As recorded in this case, infant chimpanzees respond similarly to Coxsackie B-5 virus.     

Preference for consonant music over dissonant music by an infant chimpanzee

It has been shown that humans prefer consonant sounds from the early stages of development. From a comparative psychological perspective, although previous studies have shown that birds and monkeys can discriminate between consonant and dissonant sounds, it remains unclear whether nonhumans have a spontaneous preference for consonant music over dissonant music as humans do. We report here that a five-month-old human-raised chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) preferred consonant music. The infant chimpanzee consistently preferred to produce, with the aid of our computerized setup, consonant versions of music for a longer duration than dissonant versions. This result suggests that the preference for consonance is not unique to humans. Further, it supports the hypothesis that one major basis of musical appreciation has some evolutionary origins.     

A case of adoption of a howler monkey infant (Alouatta villosa) by a female spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi)

A case of adoption of a 1-month-old howler infant by an adult female spider monkey living in captivity and its development over a six-month period are reported. The female had adopted a spider monkey infant two years before the interspecific adoption reported here. The female displayed a strong maternal response toward the howler infant and also produced milk and fed the infant.     

Treatment of myocardial dysfunction and pulmonary oedema in an infant chimpanzee

Abstract: The care of any critically ill infant requires special technical equipment for monitoring of cardiac and pulmonary functions including mechanical ventilators and blood gas analysers. The present paper describes the treatment of myocardial dysfunction and pulmonary distress, complicated by severe brain oedema in an infant chimpanzee admitted to an intensive care unit in the Department of Neonatology of the Children's Hospital of the University of Leipzig. The condition of the chimpanzee was diagnosed and monitored by standard clinical tooös including radiography, echocardiography, cerebral Doppler sonography and laboratory parameters. The chimpanzee was treated in close cooperation between veterinarians and paediatricians.     

Ventricular septal defect in an infant chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)

During clinical examinations and imaging studies of a prematurely born chimpanzee, a heart murmur, tachypnea, dyspnea, and disturbances of blood flow were observed. At necropsy, cardiomegaly, ventricular hypertrophy, and septal defects confirmed the presence of congenital VSD.     

One observed case of temporary adoption of an infant by unrelated nulliparous females among wild chimpanzees in the Mahale Mountains,Tanzania

A 2.4-year-old male chimpanzee in the Mahale Mountains, Tanzania became separated from his mother probably because of contagion of the flu-like sickness. He was adopted alternately by two unrelated immigrant females for at least six days before he was reunited with his mother. This episode is described and analyzed in relation to the babysitter relationships among female chimpanzees. The adaptive significance of the babysitting behavior of nulliparous females is discussed.     

A case of offspring desertion by a female chimpanzee and the behavioral changes of the abandoned offspring

In the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania, a chimpanzee mother moved to a neighboring unit-group leaving her 5-year-old son behind in the original group. The mother remained in the new group for ten months and then after conceiving, returned to the original group. The mother and son were reunited again but the son died of illness two months later. The mother gave birth to a baby in the original group but eventually transferred to the neighboring group after that baby disappeared. This is the first record of an immature chimpanzee abandoned by its emigrating mother, although a similar phenomenon has been reported for gorillas and Hanuman langurs. The abandoned offspring followed an adult male of the unit-group and the male was the individual who gave most of the care to the offspring. The offspring's time spent on grooming others increased, the time spent on being groomed decreased, and the rate of aggression toward him increased after his mother's desertion. This report will occasion to reconsider the previous notion of all-powerful mother-offspring bond in chimpanzees.     

Behavioral response of a chimpanzee mother toward her dead infant

The mother-offspring bond is one of the strongest and most essential social bonds. Following is a detailed behavioral report of a female chimpanzee 2 days after her 16-month-old infant died, on the first day that the mother is observed to create distance between her and the corpse. A series of repeated approaches and retreats to and from the body are documented, along with detailed accounts of behaviors directed toward the dead infant by the mother and other group members. The behavior of the mother toward her dead infant not only highlights the maternal contribution to the mother-infant relationship but also elucidates the opportunities chimpanzees have to learn about the sensory cues associated with death, and the implications of death for the social environment.     

Intraspecific adoption and foster feeding of fledglings in the North Island robin

We sampled soils and vegetation within and outside two sheep and rabbit exclosures, fenced in 1979, on steep sunny and shady slopes at 770 m altitude on seasonally-dry pastoral steeplands. The vegetation of sunny aspects was characterised by higher floristic diversity, annual species, and low plant cover. Here the exotic grass Anthoxanthum odoratum dominated on grazed treatments, and the exotic forb Hieracium pilosella on ungrazed. Shady aspects supported fewer, and almost entirely perennial, species. Here Hieracium pilosella dominated grazed treatments, but co-dominated with the exotic forb H. praealtum and the native grass Festuca novae-zelandiae on ungrazed treatments. There was 43% more biomass in exclosures (P < 0.01). Most of the biomass difference (4285 kg/ha) was from greater root mass (2400 kg/ha). 1385 kg/ha of the difference was from herbage and the remainder (500 kg/ha) from litter. Exclosures had 50 to 100% more Ca, Mg, K and P in the biomass (P < 0.05), but the effect on soils was limited to significantly higher concentrations of total N (P < 0.05) and exchangeable Mg (P < 0.01) in 0-7.5 cm soils. We conclude that stopping grazing for 16 years on seasonally-dry steeplands results in greater plant cover, approximately double the biomass of standing vegetation, greater biomass in roots, and more biomass nutrients relative to grazed areas. However, it does not favour native species and has little effect on soil nutrients or soil carbon. Stopping grazing alone therefore cannot be regarded as a comprehensive short- or medium-term vegetation or soil rehabilitation option.     

A case of maxillary sarcoma in a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)

Oral malignancy is rare in chimpanzees. A 34‐year‐old female chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) at Kumamoto Sanctuary, Japan, had developed it. Treatment is technically difficult for chimpanzees while malignant neoplasm is seemingly rising in captive populations. Widespread expert discussion, guidelines for treatment, especially for great apes in terminal stages is urgently needed.     

Idiopathic precocious puberty in the chimpanzee: a case report

A female chimpanzee developed premature sex skin swelling, breast budding, advanced bone age, and moderate estrogen effect of the vaginal cytology. Extensive radiographic and hormonal studies excluded all the known causes of precocious puberty and pseudopuberty, yielding a diagnosis of idiopathic true precocious puberty. To our knowledge this is the first observation of idiopathic true precocious puberty in a chimpanzee.