Dangerous animals: Chimpanzees

German Zoo World said:
At Cologne Zoo Germany the chimpanzee Petermann attacked and nearly Killed the Former Zoo Direktor Günther noggee.

Petermann (Schimpanse)
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I didn't know about this or how famous this chimp was.

Graffiti calling this ape the “only true anarchist and freedom fighter in the city” , a punk band and a football team named after him.

Fascinating and bizarre !
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
I think that @Pertinax mentioned a while back about an orangutang killing a keeper at a Scandinavian zoo. I can't remember the country where it happened though.

If I remember correctly this happened a long time ago , perhaps in the 1950's ?

There have been several serious attacks by great apes on keepers and members of the public though and particularly with chimpanzees.
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I believe the Zoo was Copenhagen, Denmark, and the orangutan was called Tarzan. I checked the SB and they did have one by that name around then I think. But I can find no reference to the attack I read about so long ago now.

Chimps in particular have caused some horrific injuries to humans- particularly facial. Overgrown adult 'pets' in the USA have been the main culprits, suddenly turning on the owner, sometimes after decades of being regarded as 'safe'. An escaped male chimp in a zoo would probably be the individual species I would fear the most.

With gorillas most injuries seem to be broken bones and bites, where a gorilla has got out and attacked a keeper in a service area or wherever and crushed/dragged them around. The remarkable Bokito at Rotterdam even jumped his outdoor moat and attacked a woman he was very familiar with (possibly sexually fixated on)- he pinned her down and bit her, perhaps in similar fashion as a male punishing a female in his group- but I know she survived okay.
 
Pertinax said:
With gorillas most injuries seem to be broken bones and bites, where a gorilla has got out and attacked a keeper in a service area or wherever and crushed/dragged them around. The remarkable Bokito at Rotterdam even jumped his outdoor moat and attacked a woman he was very familiar with (possibly sexually fixated on)- he pinned her down and bit her, perhaps in similar fashion as a male punishing a female in his group- but I know she survived okay.
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What you mention about the chimp doesn't suprise me at all.

Not in zoos but several chimps kept as "pets" have severely attacked and disfigured their "owners" even after having known them for years and whom they were handreared by.

I read that the chimpanzee "Buster" that later tore off a childs arm at the Aspinall parks (weirdly enough the kid later became a disabled swimming athlete) also earlier bit off several fingers of a female keeper he was fixated on (Angelique Todd who later worked in Western lowland gorilla conservation in-situ in Africa and still does).
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
What you mention about the chimp doesn't suprise me at all.

Not in zoos but several chimps kept as "pets" have severely attacked and disfigured their "owners" even after having known them for years and whom they were handreared by.

I read that the chimpanzee "Buster" that later tore off a childs arm at the Aspinall parks (weirdly enough the kid later became a disabled swimming athlete) also earlier bit off several fingers of a female keeper he was fixated on (Angelique Todd who later worked in Western lowland gorilla conservation in-situ in Africa and still does).
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Yes, those attacks by adult pet chimps in the USA were horrific. I would not trust any chimp over a certain age, anywhere or at any time- my least favourite of the Great Apes and I can't say I actually like them! I forgot Bustah and the child at Port Lympne- another dreadful incident- not the Chimp's fault of course but shows what they can do. Hadn't heard he had bitten fingers off as well though.
 
Pertinax said:
I believe the Zoo was Copenhagen, Denmark, and the orangutan was called Tarzan. I checked the SB and they did have one by that name around then I think. But I can find no reference to the attack I read about so long ago now.
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Yes , I remember you mentioning it before , I tried to find reports about it too but unfortunately couldn't find anything.

Perhaps a Danish zoochatter might have better luck with finding info ?
 
Pertinax said:
Yes, those attacks by adult pet chimps in the USA were horrific. I would not trust any chimp over a certain age, anywhere or at any time- my least favourite of the Great Apes and I can't say I actually like them! I forgot Bustah and the child at Port Lympne- another dreadful incident- not the Chimp's fault of course but shows what they can do. Hadn't heard he had bitten fingers off as well though.
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I dont like them either, I find them very disturbing animals.

Didn't one of the attacks in the USA actually lead to a death too ?

Woman savaged by zoo chimp 'not angry'

Angelique Todd Almost Killed By Bustah Chimpanzee Editorial Stock Photo - Stock Image | Shutterstock

Slightly off topic but I really think Todd is an incredible woman.

The article refers to her dream of working with gorillas in Africa which she then went and achieved and did for decades (apparently almost dying on many occasions) and now it seems she is WWF's Senior Programme Manager for West and Central Africa.

A life evidently well lived in the service of great ape conservation!
 
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Pertinax said:
With gorillas most injuries seem to be broken bones and bites, where a gorilla has got out and attacked a keeper in a service area or wherever and crushed/dragged them around. The remarkable Bokito at Rotterdam even jumped his outdoor moat and attacked a woman he was very familiar with (possibly sexually fixated on)- he pinned her down and bit her, perhaps in similar fashion as a male punishing a female in his group- but I know she survivecd okay.
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I dont know very much about gorillas but from what I've heard I would tend to agree.

I can only remember one aggressive incident I've heard about in person that involved a gorilla behaving aggressively towards a human and that resulted in injury.

A keeper at Chapultepec was poked with a finger hard in the chest by the silverback "Bantu" and ended up hospitalized with a perforated lung (his personal keeper was off sick and this was a replacement keeper he didn't seem to like).
 
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LionTamarin said:
Chimpanzees were probably just sent to torment us. They're so soulless, and would gladly rip your face off.
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Sheesh that’s a little harsh… chimps are a bit *scary* but they are very intelligent and interesting creatures and they certainly aren’t “soulless,” they have one of the widest ranges of emotions (including empathy and joy) in the animal kingdom. I’m sure they’ll “gladly rip your face off” for saying those stereotypical and rather uneducated things… ;):p
 
LionTamarin said:
Chimpanzees were probably just sent to torment us. They're so soulless, and would gladly rip your face off.
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They do have a bit of a tendency for that, but realistically I don’t think one would go out of their way to be a *insert swearword here*. They live in a very physically-driven society so it is within their nature to establish boundaries and dominance by aggression and violence. However as mentioned above, their is a lot more to the species than violence, relationships are established and broken in a lot of different ways which is vital to their overall way of living and I think it’d be unfair to assume that anything a chimp does is personal, their society is just very much ‘kill or be killed.’
 
Animals R AMAZING! said:
Sheesh that’s a little harsh… chimps are a bit *scary* but they are very intelligent and interesting creatures and they certainly aren’t “soulless,” they have one of the widest ranges of emotions (including empathy and joy) in the animal kingdom. I’m sure they’ll “gladly rip your face off” for saying those stereotypical and rather uneducated things… ;):p
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Sorry, I haven't really been able to see chimps the same after hearing the story of Travis the chimp.
 
LionTamarin said:
Sorry, I haven't really been able to see chimps the same after hearing the story of Travis the chimp.
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Aside from the fact Travis was far from a typical chimpanzee due to his excessive humanisation, his attack on that woman was entirely what you’d expect from any dangerous animal - that any decent zoo would have safety protocols in place to contain. Judging all chimps based on that one incident is as baseless as referring to all tigers as man-eaters.

Chimpanzees have highly complex societies - more so than people give them credit for; and while typically an aggressive species, they also demonstrate great care for one another. A few of the females at Taronga Zoo have demonstrated alloparenting and chimpanzees are quick to offer each other comfort when they can see a member of their troop is distressed.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Aside from the fact Travis was far from a typical chimpanzee due to his excessive humanisation, his attack on that woman was entirely what you’d expect from any dangerous animal - that any decent zoo would have safety protocols in place to contain. Judging all chimps based on that one incident is as baseless as referring to all tigers as man-eaters.

Chimpanzees have highly complex societies - more so than people give them credit for; and while typically an aggressive species, they also demonstrate great care for one another. A few of the females at Taronga Zoo have demonstrated alloparenting and chimpanzees are quick to offer each other comfort when they can see a member of their troop is distressed.
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Ok, I understand. I wasn't really looking at how they act towards each other, and I was only looking at how they act towards people.
 
LionTamarin said:
Ok, I understand. I wasn't really looking at how they act towards each other, and I was only looking at how they act towards people.
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You were just looking at one incident and that does not define every single chimp in the world, like @Zoofan15 said you can't just make a claim about all chimps based off of Travis. There are tons of chimps out there that have bonded with people and are not super aggressive or anything. Just look at Jane Goodall and everything she has done with chimps. Also I want to make it clear, I'm not trying to bully you or anything here, I just think you should do your research before making claims like these.
 
Animals R AMAZING! said:
You were just looking at one incident and that does not define every single chimp in the world, like @Zoofan15 said you can't just make a claim about all chimps based off of Travis. There are tons of chimps out there that have bonded with people and are not super aggressive or anything. Just look at Jane Goodall and everything she has done with chimps. Also I want to make it clear, I'm not trying to bully you or anything here, I just think you should do your research before making claims like these.
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Yeah, I see. Not all chimps are super mean. Some are pretty friendly, you're right.
 
Worked with a male and two female chimps for a little while. Very chilled individuals. Never raised their voices and (as one might expect) very interactive with all the keepers. Was interesting comparison with the orangs which I was more familiar with. Never worked with gorillas or bonobos so cannot compare those species. I would also place gibbons high on the list of potentially wanting to rip your throat out. Known some individuals which were downright nasty.
 
tetrapod said:
Worked with a male and two female chimps for a little while. Very chilled individuals. Never raised their voices and (as one might expect) very interactive with all the keepers. Was interesting comparison with the orangs which I was more familiar with. Never worked with gorillas or bonobos so cannot compare those species. I would also place gibbons high on the list of potentially wanting to rip your throat out. Known some individuals which were downright nasty.
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I have an idea that gibbons are one of the most likely animals to kill you….
 
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