Reconsidering coprophagy as an indicator of negative welfare for captive chimpanzees

摘要: Abstract For captive chimpanzees, ‘abnormal’ behaviours include observed only in captivity (i.e. species-atypical behaviours) and those that are performed at higher rates compared to the wild. Both types used as metrics for evaluating primates’ welfare. However, categorizing all abnormal together ignores variation their etiologies, which limits our ability understand them provide useful interventions. Coprophagy (deliberately eating faeces) is an intriguing behaviour because, unlike many behaviours, it among chimpanzees were mother reared, human has been proposed represents a socially learnt ‘cultural’ behaviour. Furthermore, coprophagy both wild animals, although captivity. Typically, classed with other by chimpanzee welfare, but such categorization arisen from top–down approach based on priori assumptions. To apply bottom–up approach, would allow us identify relations between chimpanzees’ repertoire, this study we ran principal components analysis 60 determine whether should be classified behaviours. The revealed seven factors termed social, aggressive, playful, active, feed, self-directed. loaded onto ‘social’ factor, included positive social not Supporting previous research, also found mother-reared showed of than reared; there was significant correlation time spent conspecifics during first four years life rate subjects adults ( r  = 0.575, N  = 60, P