A work colleague recently visited Taronga and was quite distressed that the chimps were eating their own poo. Any ideas?
Coprophagy in Apes. Fascinating subject!!(along with R& R- Regurgitation and Reingestion) Some people maintain they do these things in the wild. Others are equally adamant they never do. With gorillas I know Coprophagy and R& R, once established as habits are very hard to prevent. Not all animals do it. Exhibit quality, diet, social groupings etc may or may not have relevance too. I'm sure some studies must have been done on these subjects. I have never seen captive Orangutans do either.
I am in the chimps eat their own poo in the wild camp. I have observed R and R and coprophagy in orangs.
I also witnessed this behavior when I visited in 2003, a chimp laid down and grabbed the poo from it's anus and shoved it into his mouth, it happened in the indoor viewing area in plain view of visitors, it was amusing but more than a little disturbing..
Thanks for all of that - I just assumed it is prob some kind of 'normal" behaviour but not being a chimp expert in the slightest, I had no idea ... I wonder if they do it just to shock the public ... their little minds thinking, "What can I do next that will chock these hairless apes watching me from across the fence?" Of course, I do over-think things at time!
@aw101: quite a graphic description, but chimps eating **** shouldn't be amusing. P.S. I see that if you type in ****, then it automatically gets converted to four little stars....hmmmm.
Saw a chimp at Bullen's Animal World throw a lump of you-know-what at a mate of mine once many years ago. The chimp's aim was not good, and the **** would have missed; but my mate was a keen cricketer, and automatically took the catch........
Patrick, they are on to you!! Ara, that's just TOO funny! I've never seen them eat their own poo but my work colleague is still going on about it ...
Back on the chimpanzees, apparently a male will be moving from Taronga to Monarto Zoo? Does anyone have any info on this chimp?
Can anyone tell me, if possible, which chimps are shown in this fight? Im referring to the single male who looks to be asserting his dominance by standing up occasionally and the two presumably younger individuals who attack the loner. The fighting is short and lasts for around 10 seconds and starts around the 1:03 mark. Thanks
The one doing the swaggering is Lebutu, the dominant male. The male doing all the screaming could well be Sandali. The third one (bald with a grey back) looks like it could be Spitter. Hix
I still think this is a brilliant chimpanzee enclosure- it is(was?) so spacious and being on a slope the visitor viewing is excellent too. The best one I've seen anywhere. Whereas the Taronga Gorilla exhibit is really too small for their group(I know it was originally a Panda exhibit). There is a good Youtube video of the Taronga silverback Kibabu fighting/squabbling with his group too.
There are actually two that I watched, and in both he was mobbed by most of if not all of the females and chased away! Althought he still is a rather good father and silverback and according to a book I have about some Taronga animals he likes to play with the youngesters
Yes, indeed, two videos, one is better quality than the other. They might give the impression the Taronga Gorillas are always fighting but of course they aren't and Kibabu is a very good group leader I know. However I did wonder if these fights arise partly because of the rather too small enclosure ( I believe also they are shut outside during the daytime) as lack of space can lead to extra tensions arising. They really need an enclosure approaching the size of the Chimpanzee one but I can't see them getting it.
