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Uprooted trees facilitate the psychological well‐being of captive chimpanzees
Author(s) -
Maki Susan,
Bloomsmith M. A.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
zoo biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.5
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1098-2361
pISSN - 0733-3188
DOI - 10.1002/zoo.1430080110
Subject(s) - biology , troglodytes , captivity , zoology , tree (set theory) , similarity (geometry) , ecology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , artificial intelligence , computer science , image (mathematics)
After the introduction of uprooted trees to their environment, the behavior of 28 socially housed, laboratory chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) was studied for five months. Subjects used the tree during 41.9% of the data points collected during the first day trees were introduced. Thereafter, the mean for tree use dropped to 3.5% and remained fairly consistent. Immature subjects used the trees significantly more than did adult subjects, as measured by the Mann‐Whitney U‐test. No sex difference was detected. The trees elicited a variety of species‐appropriate behaviors. Increasing the similarity between the behavior of captive and wild chimpanzees can be viewed as promoting the psychological well‐being of the captive animals.