In first, Japanese researchers observe chimp mother and sister caring for disabled infant

51吃瓜网

In first, Japanese researchers observe chimp mother and sister caring for disabled infant

In this photo taken in November 2011 at the Mahale Mountains National Park in Tanzania, a chimpanzee takes care of her disabled younger sister. | MICHIO NAKAMURA

By Masaaki Kameda
Staff Writer

Nov 10, 2015

A Japanese study of a chimpanzee mother caring for her disabled infant in the wild has shed light on how humans developed their social behavior.

The first-of-its-kind study by a team of Kyoto University researchers was published Monday in the online edition of Primates, an international journal of primatology.

Born in January 2011 in a chimpanzee group in Tanzania’s Mahale Mountains National Park, the female infant was “severely disabled,” exhibiting “symptoms resembling Down syndrome,” according to a summary of the team’s findings.