Contact: Jason Jacobs, (323) 644-4273
The staff of the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens has evaluated the chimpanzee infant death that occurred on June 26th. Ripley, the adult male chimpanzee who attacked the infant has been a part of the Zoo’s troop for years. Zoo staff did not see any sign of previous aggression from Ripley towards the infant. Chimpanzees display a wide array of behaviors that has been well documented in both zoos and the wild; one of these behaviors is infanticide and there are several reasons why this might occur.
After evaluating the incident, Zoo staff will now make slower introductions of infant chimpanzees to adult males. In addition, infants will not be introduced to Ripley until they are more mature.
In other news, a baby chimpanzee was born on July 23 to mother Regina, the unnamed female infant is living within a maternal female family group in an off-exhibit area of the Chimpanzees of Mahale Mountains habitat. There is no timeline for the introduction of the infant to the rest of the troop or when she will make her public debut. |
###
