Explanation about diapers on baby chimpanzees

posted in 05 Jun 2009

SOROCABA SANCTUARY

Recently it has been promoted by the press that some specialists are critical to the fact that orangutans orphan babies, who live at Orangutan Island Foundation (Bukit Merah, in Malásia), wear diapers and are being cared by nurses.

As a biologist, I understand that there is no problem at all in taking care of these babies this way. After all, they are orphans and demand human care. For that, some procedures urge to be made, like the use of diapers. A baby of a great primate is like a baby human: defenseless and does need to be assisted 24 hours a day. If they were with their mothers, this nursing would not be necessary, as long as the mother would guarantee that their needs would be fulfilled. But, by being by themselves, there is no possibility as that. So, humans should play the role of “mothers”. At Sorocaba Sanctuary it has already being shown the examples of the spider-monkey babies and of little Sofia.

What people maybe do not understand is how much they are similar to humans. Chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas and bonobos are more than 95% similar to human beings. But this is not the question when the use of diapers is argued.

In a recent lecture at UFSCar (University in the country side of São Paulo state), a student questioned if it “would not it be a little bit exaggerated to put clothes and diapers on a baby chimpanzee”. In a first impression it can seem something surreal, awful, as it goes against nature. But, if we think about it we can see that there is nothing absurd about it.

First: in nature, the baby grabs his mother belly all the time, which guarantees a constant temperature. Without the mother, how the baby would maintain his body temperature? As most as we try, we are not able to keep the babies 24 hours a day grabbed on our bodies, offering this heat. Then, the use of clothes helps in the maintenance of the temperature.

Second: in the natural environment, the baby will pee and evacuate wherever he is, on the grass, trees or on land. And this does not compromise the hygiene of the place where he stays. An orphan, being nursed by humans, surely does not have control over his needs – just like a human baby. Then, if we let he does his needs where he stays, the care and maintenance of a clean environment would be hard to take. That is why they use diapers.

So, to the ones who are critical and to those who firstly have a negative impression about the use of diapers and clothes on non-human primates’ babies, this is the explanation to clarify the question.

Msc. Luiz Fernando Leal Padulla
Biologist

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