Zoo Babies' Fun and Frolics - Zoo de La Palmyre

Even though the baby from Zoo de La Palmyre has some bald patches, it doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s quite cute with his great big ears. He looks at me by the window and then goes off to play with the other baby. The other female baby takes a moment to look at the reflections and then continues playing. She goes back to the patchy baby, who is lying on a sheet. She tries to push him off the sheet to get to it, but then just jumps on top of him. The female looks at the camera again but gets pulled back by the patchy one.

You can see the adults grooming in the background and that they have some hair loss as well. The babies play until the adult male comes to grab the patchy baby and pulls him to the back. He manages to free himself and runs off, with the older female baby chasing after him. She grabs a foot of the patchy baby and pulls his leg. The baby comes close to the window for a second and then carries on playing.

I reached out to Palmyre Zoo to ask about the troops, particularly why there are so many hairless chimpanzees and whether it is due to alopecia. It's rare to receive a response, but this time I heard back from Florence Perroux. She kindly helped me correct parts of my descriptions and answered my questions, which I greatly appreciated. She wrote:

📝Translated with google: "No alopecia as written, but simply a bit of over-grooming by two females, particularly when the group is indoors for extended periods due to low outdoor temperatures (or during more 'disruptive' periods, such as when a new individual has just been introduced into the group, which was the case when you recorded your videos). This results in 'plucked' areas of the body for some individuals (including one of the two young ones). Furthermore, spending time indoors during winter often impacts the coat of great apes housed in zoos due to reduced sunlight.

Partial and occasional observations do not allow behaviours to be interpreted with certainty. A lot of observation time and data are needed to understand the overall social dynamics of a group, especially with chimpanzees, where dynamics regularly change.

We are, in fact, working with a specialised research office to improve the well-being of our animals and adapt their management based on the challenges we encounter. We also regularly host ethology interns who conduct multi-month studies on topics such as feeding behaviours or social dynamics within our different groups."

Original text:
"pas d'alopécie comme écrit mais simplement un peu de surtoilettage de la part de deux femelles, notamment lorsque le groupe est en intérieur pendant des périodes prolongées à cause des températures trop basses en ext. (ou lors de périodes plus "perturbées" lorsqu'un nouvel individu vient d'être introduit dans le groupe par exemple, ce qui était le cas au moment où vous avez enregistré vos vidéos), avec pour conséquence des parties de corps "épilées" chez certains individus (dont l'un des 2 jeunes). En outre, le fait de passer du temps en intérieur en hiver a très souvent des conséquences sur le pelage des grands singes hébergés en zoos à cause d'un ensoleillement moindre.
Des observations partielles et ponctuelles ne permettent pas d'interpréter avec certitude des comportements. Beaucoup de temps d'observation et de données sont nécessaires pour appréhender le fonctionnement social global d'un groupe, et particulièrement chez les chimpanzés où la dynamique change régulièrement. Nous travaillons d'ailleurs en collaboration avec un bureau d'études spécialisé pour améliorer le bien-être de nos animaux et adapter leur gestion en fonction des problématiques que nous rencontrons. Nous accueillons aussi régulièrement des stagiaires en éthologie qui réalisent des études sur plusieurs mois concernant par exemple les comportements alimentaires ou la dynamique sociale au sein de nos différents groupes."
Due to background noise from human activity, the original audio has been mixed with natural bird songs for a more peaceful viewing experience. Where possible, I will keep the natural sound intact.

Due to background noise from human activity, the original audio has been mixed with natural bird songs for a more peaceful viewing experience. Where possible, I will keep the natural sound intact.

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