Zoo raises chimp on human colostrum after mum accidentally drops newborn

Donated colostrum or breastmilk can be a lifesaver for human babies, but it is also keeping a newborn chimpanzee alive in central Queensland.

When the Rockhampton Zoo welcomed a new baby chimp last week the team was overjoyed.

However, zoo curator and chimpanzee specialist, Blair Chapman, said the 19-year-old first-time mother, alpha female Sile, struggled to carry its new young and accidentally dropped the hours-old baby from a height, fracturing its femur.

"She just didn't understand how to carry her properly,"

he said.

"She's doing overall well. She just has a lot to learn."

Mr Champman said after a flurry of vet visits and x-rays, the baby was fitted with a cast and was being hand-reared.

"Hand-raising is a very last resort with chimps," he said.

"She is under our care at the moment while she recovers, but the ultimate goal is to get her back with mum."

The baby's care involves 24-hour treatment, ensuring the infant meets all its milestones, doing exercises and keeping its leg elevated.

It also needed to be fed, which is where an unlikely hero stepped in.

Cherie Rutherford is a councillor with the Rockhampton Regional Council, which owns the zoo.

Cr Rutherford said a pregnant woman, Cassie, who is also a zoo "supporter", happily donated colostrum for the baby, to top up the two-hourly formula feeds.

Colostrum is a nutrient-dense first form of breastmilk.

"That gives her [the baby] best chance of having all the right antibodies," Cr Rutherford said.

"Chimpanzees share 98 per cent of their DNA with humans, so that's a really good thing that Cassie has been able to have that colostrum."

The new arrival was named Cassie, after both the woman who donated the colostrum and chimpanzee Cassius, who lived at the zoo for decades before its death last year.

"He was a beautiful soul and we thought it was very, very fitting that the new baby Cassie carries his name," Cr Rutherford said.

Baby, mum, recovering well

Despite the rough start, Cr Rutherford said baby Cassie was having positive interactions with mum, Sile, and the troop, through a barrier.

"[Cassie] comes to visit each day with her mum and also with the rest of the troop," she said.

"Wraps that she [Cassie] uses are also brought up to Sile, so that she's getting used to the baby's smell."

Mr Champman said the infant was "very genetically valuable", given her mother was from a different genetic line in Germany and her father, Alon, from Israel.

"He is also unrelated to the rest of the chimpanzee groups in Australasia, so those two together, she is a very genetically valuable."

The new arrival comes a month after another of the troop's female chimps, Mary, delivered stillborn twins, which Cr Rutherfod said was an "extremely sad" time.

"Our keepers, they feel that very deeply and they know there's always a risk that could happen," she said.

"Everyone was excited for Sile, but also extremely cautious and anxious."

Baby Cassie brings the troop up to eight members in total, with four males and four females.

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