A moving event happens at the Bioparc zoo, located in Valencia, Spain, where A chimpanzee mother refuses to leave her baby, which died after two weeks of birthat the beginning of February 2024.
This type of case is common, since there is a high mortality in chimpanzee babies. However, what is not normal is the grieving process that the mother of the dead animal is currently experiencing.
The female of this species, called Natalia, has not been able to get over the death of her little calf, as she has been clinging to her for three months.
Despite the advanced state of decomposition, does not separate from the corpseindicated the Spanish media Antena 3.
The zoo explains that these animals need a period of mourning until they accept the loss of a family member. “This is a species where social ties and group cohesion are fundamental, so all members are affected by these sad events”. However, they did not expect this mother to need so much time.
The little chimpanzee was born along with another baby and an intense monitoring protocol was immediately activated, because the mother had already lost a calf in 2018. International experts were contacted and direct observation was carried out to establish whether breeding was not being carried out correctly.
At first everything was going well, the little one was feeding and had exhibited normal behavior, until he died of natural causes.
The chimpanzee’s other baby survived and is fine. but this does not seem to calm the sadness of having lost her other calf.
The zoo assured that “despite the feeling of helplessness, the reality is that the action only makes it possible to provide medication, since snatching the calf from the mother would imply a very dangerous anesthesia for several members of the groupsomething that could endanger their lives.”
Source: https://www.noticiascaracol.com/mundo/cria-de-chimpance-murio-hace-tres-meses-y-la-madre-se-niega-a-dejar-el-cadaver-rg10
