Jambo The Hairless Chimp In A Huge Brawl

Jambo the hairless chimpanzee hasn't got it easy.
The chimp from the Twycross Zoo ended up in a huge brawl again, resulting in some big cuts. This isn't Jambo's first injury, he has enough battle scars to show. The biggest one losing an ear in a battle. I always thought he lost his ear, fighting with his challenger Kibali, as this is what the educational talks were saying, but it turns out the keepers of the chimps said that it was his mum that did it accidentally. Twycross did try to save the ear, as it was only partly ripped at first, they used skin glue, but Jambo kept playing with it and eventually he lost his whole ear.
The bite he received this time looks quite bad and deep, but sadly this is a common thing among chimps and not just captive chimpanzees. Wild chimpanzees just like other animals fight to stay on top and even kill. I'm sure you're aware of lots of wildlife programs that show this behaviour all the time in different types of animals.
Jambo got in a fight with a male when all the rest of the troop joined in and a massive fight started. Some of the group members jumped on top of Jambo, biting him and others like the females tried to protect him. The chimp on the left is taking a bite out of Jambo and pulls his leg, you can just see this to the left. You can also see Rosie (the chimp with the pink face) cutting in, to defend Jambo. You'll also see Jambo's Daughter Genet ( brown chimp towards the camera) try to get the others off Jambo as well.
As quickly as it started it stopped again and everybody dispersed. Jambo licked his wounds and made his way outside. With the cold winter air, his breathing looks like he's having a smoke and a quiet moment for himself. Charlotte his half-sister comes to check on him and lick his wounds, but Jambo moves away.
Twycross zoo did write an article a while ago when the younger male Kibali was joining the group, but it's still quite relevant now.
They wrote
"What’s happening with the TZ chimpanzees?
Some of the younger females in the group are changing their allegiance to one of our young virile males, Kibali. This attention is giving Kibali more confidence and a keen interest in mating. Jambo is not in favour of this and as a leader of the group tries to control the situation, which sometimes leads to clashes between the two males.
Challenges for power, although completely natural, are not for the faint-hearted. It involves the challenging chimp working to ensure he has his backup in place (lots of bonds forming with his chimpanzee pals) and then displaying aggressive behaviour toward the dominant male. The extent of this can vary from lots of loud screaming and chasing around to the use of their strong arms and teeth to prove their power, which may create some injuries. Recently Kibali and Jambo have been entering into this type of combat, with Jambo receiving some nasty-looking wounds. Up until now Kibali has been unable to gain control of the group but he might decide to try his luck again in the future. This is causing tension within the group from time to time while they are transitioning through a time of unrest at the top.
What do we do?
It is important that our chimpanzees are given the space and freedom to live as close to a wild situation as possible. This means foods they have to forage for, space to climb up and along, high places to sleep, freedom of choice to go outside, stay inside, to be seen by the public or not and most importantly to create their own hierarchy. If we were to get too involved in this process it could mean potentially training the chimpanzees to rely on human intervention or it could even elongate the issue. We have an amazing keeper team to take care of our animals, knowing when to intervene or not, and a very well-trained on-site vet team, who monitor and treat injuries as required. Chimpanzees heal very quickly; we don’t rush in to treat injuries (which would require a full general anaesthetic) unless absolutely necessary but tend to let the wounds heal themselves where possible. So in general – we allow our chimpanzees to be chimpanzees!"
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Jambo was born at the Twycross Zoo in England. He has alopecia, a form of hair loss he had since his youth. He was born on the 9th of June 1982. His daughter Genet, a brown chimp with a bald back and his mother Coco (1965) are in the same habitat. Coco is the oldest animal at Twycross Zoo. Jambo's siblings from his father's side are Holly who was born on the 27th of December 1982 and Jomar was born on the 28th of December 1990 both are in the same habitat as Jambo. William his half-brother was born on the 30th of June 1982 and Jambo's first son Peter is in the next-door enclosure.