The chimpanzee Natalia goes through an emotional and sad duel in which She does not want to give up her calf that was born in February and died a few days later.
Natalia, 21 years old, is of the subspecies pt verus, and there is the Bioparc, a zoo in Valencia, Spain, where the employees did not imagine this behavior of the little animal that He had already lost another calf.
“He doesn’t let go of her at any time. “This is a described behavior, which can occasionally happen in female chimpanzees with babies that die when they are just a few days old, in the zoo and in nature,” Miguel Casares, director of the Bioparc, told the BBC.
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“It doesn’t always happen, but occasionally a female may carry a dead calf for a few days or sometimes a few weeks, as well as in this case a few months,” said Casares, the veterinary analyst.
Experts say removing Natalia’s calf should not be considered an option, since her first litter died in 2018 and the chimpanzee detached itself from the body after a few days, so forcibly removing this second one could be risky and even complicated. So, They prefer to let her process continue as it is best for her.
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“The group is always together. So, if we had wanted to anesthetize the mother to remove the calf, “We would have certainly had to anesthetize several members of the family,” the director of the Bioparc told the media.
And although Natalia prefers to continue with this duel without the detachment of her calf, The decomposition process has not been seen to affect their health.
“We have been monitoring the health status of the adult animals and we have not seen any problems. But of course the calf has gone through a phase of decomposition. It is a natural process. But chimpanzees have, luckily, a very powerful immune system.”explains Casares.
