The freedom that nature provides is a gift that any living being should be able to enjoy. However, not all beings have the possibility to experience the tranquility and energy of ecosystems. This is the case of several animals in captivity, including chimpanzees. An investigation based on the DSM reveals that chimpanzees suffer serious mental disorders after being used as pets or exhibition animals in shows.The way we interact with wild animals can affect their development in different ways. Their experience as pets and/or show animals is very harsh. They are used to satisfy human whims, without even thinking about the intrinsic needs of the specimens.
As if taking them out of their natural habitat were not enough, in some cases it ends in the abandonment of the animals by their owners due to their inability to provide the necessary care for their survival. That is the story of Victor, a chimpanzee from the jungles of Mali captured by poachers and sold to a French couple who raised him as a human child.
When he turned six years old, he ended up locked in the backyard because of his uncontrollable strength. Eight years later he escaped and the Pépinière Zoo took custody of him. Victor’s life did not improve; visitors there fed him junk and inadequate food. More than a decade later, in 2006, the Mona Foundation Primate Recovery Center rescued him.
Damage was already done, as the caretakers noticed the chimpanzee’s self-destructive behaviors. Victor would swing for hours until he injured himself, hugging himself so intensely that the hair on his back stopped growing. As if this were not enough of an indication of mental instability, he would beat himself, causing severe damage.
Mental Disorders Present in Chimpanzees
Victor is now part of the first animal research based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Yulán Ubeda from the University of Girona, Spain is the lead author of this research published in Science Direct.
Ubeda evaluates psychopathologies in 23 chimpanzees rescued from human owners and exhibition shows. “The main goal of this study is to initiate a debate to promote research on psychopathology in chimpanzees and other animals.”
The DSM is a manual of pathologies for humans, however Ubeda fervently believes that some of them could be present in other animals, in this case chimpanzees.
“What we did was to adapt this tool to primates. We excluded some categories that did not work, such as sleep disorders, which were impossible to measure for methodological reasons. We kept some categories the same and slightly modified others.”
The results show that chimpanzees suffer from at least nine disorders present in humans as well. Disorders related to anxiety, trauma and stressors. As well as disruptive, impulse control and behavioral disorders. In addition to neurodevelopmental depressive disorders, bipolar disorders, disinhibited disorders, paraphilic disorders and post-traumatic stress and stress derived from the past.
The importance of this research lies in the fact that the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders in chimpanzees could translate into important aspects for the species related to conscience, legal implications and welfare of the species, so necessary.
This story was originally published in Spanish by Ecoo sfera in Cultura Colectiva.
