OMG, you're right! The poor little kid... Well, let's hope it is a modern story of ugly duckling growing up to be a beautiful swan -- or tall & powerful ape!
I had that same question. When I posted the pics to my Facebook page, I asked if it was normal. A great ape zoo keeper responded:
No. Looks like a case of self plucking and over grooming of the kiddo. Alopecia tends to be more uniform than patchy like this looks. Could be a few other things too. I'm tempted to ask their keepers.
I can maybe understand for the young one, but the 40-year-old is almost stripped bare. There's a new FB page for bonobos. I'll post the question there.
The Friends of Bonobos facebook page answered this question quite enthusiastically (lots of exclamation points!!!!):
this is a more of a cultural thing... you have bonobos that groom normally... and you have bonobos that pluck!!! if you have one adult bonobo that has learnt to pluck rather than groom in a population... then they will all learn how to do it!!! nothing to be worried about!!! also mothers that pluck tend to over exagerate with their offspring!!!
I'm sorry, but I am not convinced that plucking bonobos is a good thing. I don't read about this happening to wild bonobos... I wish an objective expert would weigh in, and let us know if pluckers are stressed for some reason.
I'm tempted to suggest that the challenges, seemingly unmet, might raise the option of foregoing the human pleasure of breeding bonobos and other complex great apes in captivity. Would that suggestion cause an uproar?
