In one region of Uganda, nearly a third of chimpanzees are injured. This is due to the numerous hunting snares set up in the impenetrable jungle. The animals seem to have found a way to survive. What helps limbless monkeys cope with disability?
The hard days of the Sonso community
In the Sonso chimpanzee community, nearly a third of adults have limited survival options. Difficulties are associated not only with movement. Chimpanzees suffer the most when there is no way to scratch their backs or catch parasites on their skin. For example, a male named Tinka has completely paralyzed arms. But the chimpanzee found a way to scratch his back with vines. To do this, he developed a characteristic technique that enables him to scratch the body by contact with hard branches.
Copying behavior
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Scientists observing Tink found that the rest of the adults in the community responded to the forced innovation and began to copy the technique. As you can imagine, there was no need for this in healthy monkeys. They only imitated their limbless kinsman. According to scientists, the solidarity of all members of the community is an important aspect when it comes to psychological survival. Experts have established a pattern: the more often healthy monkeys spent time with Tink, the more often they imitated his habits. While primate motives are difficult to define, it is clear that movement mimics are a natural trait in wild chimpanzees.
Monkeys are more likely to fall into traps for wild boars
Until recently, you would not have encountered a large number of traps in the Ugandan Budongo forest. But recently, volunteers have found an unpleasant trend. In just one month in 2016, they neutralized about 200 snares intended for catching wild boar and antelopes. As a result of the abundance of traps, one in three chimpanzees is forced to suffer from a disability. Terrifying statistics! However, the monkeys with disabilities turned out to be real strategists. No wonder they are the closest evolutionary relatives of man. Thus, certain behavioral strategies can partially compensate for the disability.
A new word in grooming
When a monkey suffers from systematic parasite bites, this affects its emotional state. But if it is impossible to remove insects from the skin on your own, vines come to the rescue. Tink's lower limbs were preserved in working order, with the help of which he grabs the growing vine, pulls it down and begins to rub against the branch with those parts of the body that suffer from a lack of grooming. At the same time, Tinka tries to keep the flexible, tight stem in the state of a stretched string. It's a bit like using a twisted towel to dry your back after a shower.