Alex v Unyoro - round 2

Several days after Alex the chimp was attacked by the alpha male, Unyoro, the zoo keepers reunited the group. Several of us watched from the windows of the indoor enclosure where this occurred. We were all a bit nervous, as was Alex and his two step-sisters. Alex generally avoided Unyoro, as did Frahaga, the adult female injured in the last dispute. But by the end of the reintroduction experiment, no incidents had occurred.

The next day, things did not go so well. This episode was filmed, but the camera was shaking - the girl filming was terrified for Alex and had to hand off the camera at one point. Unyoro basically man-handled Alex, holding him down like he was prey and calmly biting his hands and feet and butt. Apparently, these are the most common areas to bite probably because they are the most tender. Periodically, Alex escapes and you hear the students yelling "Lauft Alex lauft" - Run Alex run. I'm not sure where the other chimps were during this attack but no one came to Alex's aid. Somehow, the zoo keepers managed to separate them after about 20 minutes.

I saw Alex in the nursery room later that day - this is a large room with one glass wall so you can see in. Alex had his arms wrapped around Alexandra, his cheek against her back, while she walked slowly with him. When Annette saw me she started swinging on a rope so that she could kick the glass where I was - obviously, they were protecting him from further harm. I went by later and saw one of the keepers cleaning the little guys wounds.

The word now is that there will be a third chimp group until the zoo can figure out a solution. Unyoro has been behaving badly to some of the other adult females making him a likely candidate for expulsion. No one wants to send an ape to another zoo because sometimes they get killed there - a similar version to what happened to Alex. But there may be hope. According to some recent zoo management studies, having one adolescent male in a group can lead to trouble - although usually the juvenile is the troublemaker. Having several juvenile males makes for a more peaceful environment - they keep each other in check. So sending Unyoro to another group where there are multiple young males might be an option.

In the meantime, Alex is walking around and recovering. We may think of this as a traumatic incident, but it is somewhat normal for a young chimp to suffer knocks and blows as he gets older.