Interesting article from the UK Guardian regarding longevity in zoos. The gist is that improved veterinary skills and husbandry have prolonged life, but have also brought a whole range of health problems for geriatric animals. Menopausal gorillas and dementia in lemurs? Who knew? (That's a rhetorical question, by the way ) What to do with an aged lemur? Edit: Just realised my topic title looks wrong - I've spelt "ageing" the American way
You're touching a very important subject in current zoo medicine here, which is very similar to the already longer existing situation in pet animals. This entails a slew of problems, among others what to do with highly social animals like primates when they are driven out of the group due to old age (euthanasia, senior groups, solitary???), constantly delayed euthanasia because the animal has become very popular with the staff and the public, change of diets, apt medication...
The same article ran in our local newspaper this morning, accompanied by some information from our zoo. Speaking from experience it is hard on zoo staff when animals are nearing the end of their lives. We work closely with many of these animals from birth to death. It helps tremendously to have a caring, supportive vet staff. Our vet will talk with any keepers about animal health issues, quality of life, and discuss all options. Keepers, however, generally don't want to see the animals in their care suffer. We don't make the decision to euthanize any animal easily. In our case, the vet, the curator, and the area supervisor must all agree. We explain the decision to the keepers and allow them time to say their good-byes. Many times tears are shed. When our elderly dingo took a sudden, dramatic turn for the worse last winter the entire zoo staff pitched in to help: maintenance crews cleared the ice from the path to the barn, office staff offered condolences, vet staff allowed us a few extra minutes with him, and keepers from other areas sent cards and gve us hugs.
old animals Auckland Zoo still has the last remaining "tea party" chimpanzee in one of the oldest enclosures in the zoo . This female chimpanzee has had her home in this enclosure for many years and still comes out on occasions ( especially if she sees/hears keepers in the vicinity ) The zoo had decided to keep the tea party chimps together in a seperate enclosure away from the other chimps as there was severe reintegration and behavioural problems . But as many zoo public still remember the chimps , they were retired within the zoo as opposed to behind the scenes , and also so the chimps will still be in reasonably familiar environment . When this last chimp dies , the enclosure will be demolished and the area open to future development ..... Although the old chimp prefers to stay indoors alot of the time , I have seen her outside on a few occasions , and she has a good rapport with zoo staff .
Yes, this is sometimes possible. Some of the chimps can even be trained to give themselves the injections. However, this is no true for all cases. One important approach is to change the diet. The reason why more and more species (including birds like toucans and maybe even reptiles) in zoos are diagnosed with diabetes is the high sugar content of the fruits they are fed. The fruits we breed, consume and give to the zoo animals are bred to be much sweeter than the wild-growing ones. A low-sugar approach can be helpful in some mild cases.
I believe she originally came with a small group of others from London Zoo- already trained as 'tea party' chimps by the London Zoo staff.
Of course there is an "easy"one available-feed them less of it, and instead more vegetables, with a higher amount of crude fibre and much less sugar. Some lucky zoos with the apt connections and conditions might now and then resort to "primal" varieties of fruits with a lower amount of sugar, but this option is usually rather limited.
She came from Africa via London Zoo... Both groups of Tea Party Chimps came that way to Auckland and I believe some to Australian zoos also...
I was just thinking that if for example I changed from a strick long-term diet of toast and pasta and all of a sudden started eating roast beef and turkey every day, I might feel a little strange as my digestive system may not agree with it immediately. On the other hand, point taken. It may not "stress" them but they may have a change in personallity.
Most serious zoos don't have to and won't make such drastic changes... And I doubt that a more or less slightly changed diet will have a Dr. Jeckyll and Mr.Hyde-like effect...
Here's an article about Toronto Zoo's old timers: TorontoSun.com - Toronto And GTA - It's a zoo out there for senior citizens
