tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664818944279303018.post123695779954480710..comments2024-03-02T08:28:45.858+00:00Comments on Zoo News Digest: Cruelty To ChimpanzeesPeter Dickinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14844154645977419563noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1664818944279303018.post-76547385246011076432011-08-30T21:43:33.561+01:002011-08-30T21:43:33.561+01:00I think you're sailing dangerously close to th...I think you're sailing dangerously close to the wind with respect to quoting out of context, but I will agree that our PLoS One article is not, and should not be taken as, a "cruelty warning". It is a interesting and fairly detailed account of the level of abnormal ~behaviour~ in zoo-living chimpanzees. <br /><br />I also agree that the make-up of the groups was 'abnormal', but that is not the point - the point is that they are groups of chimpanzees living in captive conditions where we would expect to find very little abnormal behaviour (socially housed, enriched environments); we were surprised at the extent of it.<br /><br />If anything, out article in PLoS One should be taken as a call for more research into the reasons for the abnormal behaviour. I think it quite possible that some behaviours we label as abnormal could be part of a 'captive culture', and spread from one group to another - there is good evidence for social transmission of behaviour in chimpanzees. Background certainly seems to play a role, but we found it could not explain the patterns in our data, which is particularly interesting given the quite large variation in the makeup of our study groups (e.g. age/sex/background).<br /><br />We have deliberately withheld the names of the zoos that participated in this study because we do not, and did not, want some kind of witch-hunt, whereby those zoos become tarred with the 'mad chimp' label, while others are seen as having 'normal' chimps. It is important that that conclusion is NOT drawn - but that more work is carried out to address why abnormal behaviour occurs (and if you read our reply to the comments on our article, you will see our view on the term 'abormal') in captive chimpanzees.<br /><br />I stand by my comment that limited resources would be better spent on conserving wild chimpanzees.N.E.Newton-Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17065123424277182451noreply@blogger.com