Rehabilitation and Socialization of Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Used for Entertainment and as Pets: An 8-Year Study at Fundació Mona

• Published in: International journal of primatology Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 605 - 624
• Main Authors: Llorente, Miquel, Riba, David, Ballesta, Sandra, Feliu, Olga, Rostán, Carles
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Animal Ecology; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Anthropology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chimpanzees; Evolutionary Biology; Housing; Human Genetics; Life Sciences; Monkeys & apes; Pets; Primate behaviour; Primates; Rehabilitation; Social rehabilitation; Socialization; Species; Welfare; Zoology; Primate rescue centers; Rehabilitation; Activity budget; Welfare; Resocialization
• ISSN: 0164-0291; 1573-8604
• DOI: 10.1007/s10764-015-9842-4

s Primates are at times used as performers in circuses, advertisements, films, and as pets. Most of these animals are socially isolated from their peers. They exhibit behavioral problems and lack important skills for living in a group environment. One of the main challenges primate rescue centers face is creating groups to socialize rescued individuals and promote the development of species-typical behaviors. We monitored a group of 15 chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) housed at Fundació Mona, a primate rescue and rehabilitation centre, for 8 yr. The aim of the study was to study the rehabilitation process and to establish variables that may influence the behavioral recovery of the chimpanzees. We used scan sampling to assess behavior and two welfare indices over the study period. Our results show that both desirable behaviors and welfare indices increased over time, while nondesirable behaviors decreased. We found no differences between pet and performer chimpanzees, but captive-born subjects recovered better than wild-born. We also established that chimpanzees that were younger at the onset of rehabilitation reached higher levels of social and behavioral competence than those that were older. We conclude that both social group housing and opportunities for the development of species-typical behaviors have a positive effect on the welfare and rehabilitation of performer and pet chimpanzees, but that their previous history influences rehabilitation.