![]() Although health is an informative parameter of welfare, it can be measured from a variety of biological samples. The health of wild ape populations has been a focus of conservation goals, largely based on population density and demography, e.g., for heavily managed populations such as the mountain gorilla ( Gorilla beringei beringei) where veterinary care is not uncommon. While approaches for assessing animal welfare in captive settings appear to be becoming a standard care practice, more applications would fit well in the realms of conservation. Whereas poor welfare can modify an animal’s behavior, biological functions, cause stress, frustration, abnormal behavior, reduce reproductive fitness, and sometimes result in death. Positive welfare can indicate successful efforts and good health of animals. Describing welfare falls on a spectrum between positive and negative states. However, state of being is rather complex and contextual, and the facets that influence it include nutrition, sociality, space-use, illness and mental health. In captive animal studies, behavior and physical health are two general indices that caretakers and researchers use to assess an animal’s welfare. Welfare is also a general term for state of wellbeing. ![]() Welfare is a measurable indicator in caretaking that reflects how individuals physically and mentally cope in their environment. A summary of the current literature on approaches to measuring wild chimpanzee health and welfare status, to our knowledge, has yet to be done. Second, we call for a fresh, in-depth discussion on wild chimpanzee welfare issues is of foremost importance to inform conservation projects and particularly settings where humans and chimpanzees may interact, because such conversation can reveal how specific or general welfare measures can (a) inform our knowledge of an individual’s, group’s, and population’s welfare, (b) provide additional measures from the study of wild chimpanzee ecology that can guide the welfare of captive chimpanzees, and (c) can enable comparative study of welfare across wild populations. We found a lack of information pertaining to nutritional consumption rates of daily diets. We discuss variation in macro and micronutrients in food items consumed and their role in chimpanzee health across chimpanzee subspecies from multiple study sites. Here, we have two aims: first, broadly review the scientific literature regarding nutritional data on wild chimpanzee foods to get a better understanding what nutrients foods comprise of, and second, highlight important findings on wild chimpanzee nutrition and welfare pertaining to diet. Yet, in wild animals, including great apes, scoring nutrition or health comes with many challenges. Finally, this review may be useful to captive primate managers and those who frequently look to the behavioral ecology of wild chimpanzees to inform guidelines and standards for individuals in their care.Īdequate nutrition is essential for individual well-being, survival and reproductive fitness. We call for researchers to standardize welfare measures for individuals in wild populations as well. Additionally, although there has yet to be a standardized approach that assesses or scores individual or group welfare in wild chimpanzees, we include information from multiple study sites across the species range that is relevant to nutrition and more broadly, physical welfare in wild chimpanzees. Here, we (1) highlight findings from the scientific literature on macro and micro nutritional content of foods consumed by wild chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes) and (2) discuss aspects of their diet, foraging activity, and health pertaining to what chimpanzees need. Thus, understanding the nutritional makeup of food choices is essential in health evaluations for wild and captive conspecifics alike. Adequate nutrition is a key factor in primate reproduction, longevity, and welfare.
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