Extract from ABC News
Zoo staff will continue to look after Cassie for the forseeable future. (Supplied: Rockhampton Regional Council)
In short:
Rockhampton Zoo workers are continuing to hand-rear a baby chimpanzee after a failed reunion attempt with its mother.
Chimp Sile gave birth to Cassie in June, before dropping her and breaking her leg.
What's next?
The zoo is in talks with primate experts from around the world to determine next steps, with no made decision yet.
Keepers at a central Queensland zoo are continuing to hand-rear a baby chimpanzee after its mother showed aggression during an attempted reunion of the pair.
Chimp Sile gave birth to Cassie at the Rockhampton Zoo in June, then dropped her, breaking the baby chimp's leg.
Cassie then had to be hand-reared by keepers, until she was fully healed.
Rockhampton Zoo curator Blair Chapman nursing baby Cassie, who is receiving 24/7 care by keepers. (Supplied: Rockhampton Regional Council)
Zoo curator Blair Chapman said the team had facilitated interactions with Cassie and the rest of chimp troop through screens.
"We were seeing all the positive signs leading up to attempting the first introduction," Mr Chapman said.
However, things did not go as planned.
"Unfortunately, Sile did show aggression towards Cassie, so we did end up having to cease the introduction and pull Cassie back out," he said.
Keepers then separately attempted to introduce Cassie to another adult female, Mary, who gave birth to stillborn twins earlier this year.
"Because of the positive behaviour that we were seeing with Mary showing a lot of interest — Mary asking for the baby — we proceeded with that introduction," Mr Chapman said.
But Mary was also aggressive, resulting in minor injuries to Cassie.
"She did have some bruising on her belly … and a couple of bite wounds on her bottom."
Rockhampton Zoo staff have been sharing baby Cassie with the troop, with some positive reactions. (Supplied: Rockhampton Regional Council)
Next steps unclear
During the hand-rearing, keepers have been trying to mimic all interactions as closely as they can to chimpanzee behaviour.
"Hand-raising is an absolute last resort … Obviously, we needed to intervene because of the substantial break that she had to her femur," Mr Chapman said.
"[But] she's around the chimps all day, she vocalises to them, they vocalise to her.
"As soon as dad kicks off to do a display, she's there, it's pretty adorable to see."
Cassie is the daughter of 19-year-old alpha female Sile and the troop’s alpha male, Alon. (Supplied: Rockhampton Regional Council)
Cassie is fed a bottle roughly every three hours and keepers also wear a "chimp vest" when caring for her.
"They've been made in-house by one of our amazing keepers and her mum," Mr Chapman said.
"That's to encourage her to cling, because, obviously, chimpanzee females are quite hairy … so the infants usually cling to that hair, she's on that all the time."
Baby chimpanzee Cassie is being hand-reared by Rockhampton Zoo keepers. (Supplied: Rockhampton Regional Council)
Mr Chapman said the team was continuing to speak with primate experts from around the world to determine next steps.
"I won't speculate on anything at this stage, we are still having discussions," he said.
"Chimps are very unpredictable, so you never know how things are going to go.
"Aggression in chimps is known, and you go with what you're seeing … just, unfortunately, it's not the outcome we hoped for."
Baby chimpanzee Cassie was named after chimpanzee Cassius who was a resident at the Rockhampton Zoo for almost 40 years, and also a local woman named Cassie who donated colostrum. (Supplied: Rockhampton Regional Council)
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