They also have many other similar traits such as expressive faces, toes, and fingers that can grasp. Humle thinks that such violence may be more likely to occur in larger groups, where there is more competition for resources. Scientists have found that chimps share 98.8 of their DNA with human babies. The baby chimp may simply have been a source of nutrition to the adult that snatched it, says Nishie.Īt any rate, infanticide and cannabilism are extremely rare among chimpanzees, says Hulme. “I work with a chimp community in West Africa, and I have never witnessed any cases,” she says. And female chimpanzees have also been spotted killing the infants of other females when resources like food are scarce, says Humle. This allows them to mate with the mother, and to have more of their own offspring in the group. Male animals of many other species are known to kill young infants that aren’t related to them. In fact, when the female chimp did subsequently have another baby (pictured above), she disappeared for a month.

The disabled baby chimp, left, was completely. Rescued baby chimp falls asleep in pilot's lap while they fly to his new home To see more of Anthony Caere's amazing work, check him out on Instagram: htt.

“I would predict that she would go on ‘maternity leave’ next time,” she says. The 38-year-old mother, called 'XP' or Christina, took great pains to look after her struggling babe and adapted her behaviour to care for the infant. In this case, the mother may not yet have had a chance to learn about “maternity leave” if it was her first pregnancy, says Tatyana Humle at the University of Kent, UK. He says that his observation provides an obvious clue as to why chimpanzee mothers tend to hide away to give birth. This is the first time anyone has reported seeing a newborn chimpanzee cannibalised in this way, says Nishie. The researchers found him around 1½ hours later, sitting up a tree and eating the infant from the lower half of its body. The newborn offers 'real optimism' for primate conservation, Chester Zoo shared in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. So Nishie and his colleague Michio Nakamura were surprised when, at around 11 am one December day, a female member of the chimpanzee group they were observing began to give birth in front of the 20 other members.Īs soon as the baby was out – and before the mother had even had a chance to touch it – the baby was snatched away by a male member of the group, who then disappeared into the bush. Mom ZeeZee safely delivered the chimp on Dec.

Chimpanzee baby with human mother