Dataset Information

Early Trauma Leaves No Social Signature in Sanctuary-Housed Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

ABSTRACT: Negative early experiences can have detrimental effects on social functioning in later life, both in humans as well as in other socially-living animals. In zoo-housed chimpanzees, recent evidence suggests that there may be a lingering signature of early trauma on individuals' social interaction tendencies as measured by social proximity and grooming. Here, we address whether a similar effect would be observable in chimpanzees living under semi-wild conditions in an African sanctuary. By analysing party size, close proximity and social grooming, we show that in this specific sanctuary, chimpanzees that suffered early trauma (n = 42) were socially indistinguishable from chimpanzees who were born and raised by their mothers in the sanctuary (n = 36). Our findings indicate that chimpanzees may not be irreversibly affected by early social trauma, possibly owing to rehabilitation in stable social groups in a semi-natural environment. Beyond identifying sanctuaries as valuable rehabilitation centres for orphaned chimpanzees, this study demonstrates a remarkable social flexibility in one of our closest living relatives.

SUBMITTER: van Leeuwen EJC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9817851 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Early Trauma Leaves No Social Signature in Sanctuary-Housed Chimpanzees (<i>Pan troglodytes</i>).

van Leeuwen Edwin J C EJC Bruinstroop Bernadette M C BMC Haun Daniel B M DBM

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI 20221222 1

Negative early experiences can have detrimental effects on social functioning in later life, both in humans as well as in other socially-living animals. In zoo-housed chimpanzees, recent evidence suggests that there may be a lingering signature of early trauma on individuals' social interaction tendencies as measured by social proximity and grooming. Here, we address whether a similar effect would be observable in chimpanzees living under semi-wild conditions in an African sanctuary. By analysin ...[more]

PMID: 36611659

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Project description:Personality is both a reflection of the bio-behavioral profile of individuals and a summary of how they typically interact with their physical and social world. Personality is usually defined as having distinct behavioral characteristics, which are assumed to be consistent over time and across contexts. Like other mammals, primates have individual differences in personality. Although temporal consistency is sometimes measured in primates, and contextual consistency is sometimes measured across experimental contexts, it is rare to measure both in the same individuals and outside of experimental settings. Here, we aim to measure both temporal and contextual consistency in chimpanzees, assessing their personality with behavioral observations from naturally occurring contexts (i.e., real-life settings). We measured personality-based behaviors in 22 sanctuary chimpanzees, in the contexts of feeding, affiliation, resting, and solitude, across two time periods, spanning 4 years. Of the 22 behaviors recorded, about 64% were consistent across two to four contexts and 50% were consistent over time. Ten behaviors loaded significantly onto three trait components: explorativeness, boldness-sociability, and anxiety-sociability, as revealed by factor analysis. Like others, we documented individual differences in the personality of chimpanzees based on reliably measured observations in real-life contexts. Furthermore, we demonstrated relatively strong, but not absolute, temporal, and contextual consistency in personality-based behaviors. We also found another aspect of individual differences in personality, specifically, the extent to which individual chimpanzees show consistency. Some individuals showed contextual and temporal consistency, whereas others show significant variation across behaviors, contexts, and/or time. We speculate that the relative degree of consistency in personality may vary within chimpanzees. It may be that different primate species vary in the extent to which individuals show consistency of personality traits. Our behavioral-based assessment can be used with wild populations, increasing the validity of personality studies, facilitating comparative studies and potentially being applicable to conservation efforts.

Project description:The primary goal of captive primate management is to ensure optimal health and welfare of the animals in our care. Given that the gut microbiome interacts closely with host metabolism, immunity, and even cognition, it represents a potentially powerful tool for identifying subtle changes in health status across a range of body systems simultaneously. However, thus far, it has not been widely tested or implemented as a monitoring tool. In this study, we used longitudinal microbiome sampling of newly arrived chimpanzees at Chimp Haven to explore the feasibility of using the gut microbiome as a health and welfare biomarker in a sanctuary environment. We also tested the hypothesis that a transition to a new living environment, and integration into new social groupings, would result in temporal changes in chimpanzee gut microbiome composition. The collection of longitudinal microbiome data at Chimp Haven was feasible, and it revealed temporal shifts that were unique to each individual and, in some cases, correlated to other known impacts on health and behavior. We found limited evidence for microbial change over time after arrival at Chimp Haven that was consistent across individuals. In contrast, social group and enclosure, and to a lesser extent, age and sex, were associated with differences in gut microbiome composition. Microbiome composition was also associated with overall health status categories. However, many of the effects we detected were most apparent when using longitudinal data, as opposed to single time point samples. Additionally, we found important effects of technical factors, specifically outdoor temperature and time to collection, on our data. Overall, we demonstrate that the gut microbiome has the potential to be effectively deployed as a tool for health and environmental monitoring in a population of sanctuary chimpanzees, but the design must be carefully considered. We encourage other institutions to apply these approaches and integrate health and physiology data to build on the utility of gut microbiome analysis for ensuring the welfare of captive primates in a range of contexts.

Dataset Information

Early Trauma Leaves No Social Signature in Sanctuary-Housed Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Publications

Early Trauma Leaves No Social Signature in Sanctuary-Housed Chimpanzees (<i>Pan troglodytes</i>).

Similar Datasets

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