Great apes drive old leaders to their deaths: Pensioner murder in Pongoland | Regional

Great apes drive old leaders to their deaths |

Pensioner murder in Pongoland

Leipzig – This cruel act shook employees and visitors to the Leipzig Zoo. The chimpanzees killed their former leader Robert (47) during opening hours!

Pensioner murder in Pongoland!

Robert was the boss of the monkey house for years, kept the group together and ended fights. Again and again Robert asserted himself against younger apes who wanted to surpass him.

But the years took their toll. By retirement age (chimpanzees live to be around 50 years old in captivity), Robert had long since fallen down the hierarchy. Hadn’t his former adversaries forgiven him for earlier arguments?

As zoo boss Dr. Jörg Junhold announced on Tuesday that a violent, aggressive argument broke out in Pongoland a few days ago. Group members pushed Robert to the edge of the ditch in the outdoor enclosure. The old monkey apparently saw no way out: A zoo observer watched as the cornered Robert went over the safety boundary and into the water.

Since chimpanzees cannot swim, the great ape drowned immediately. Shortly afterwards, nurses pulled the body out of the water.

Junhold: “We are deeply shocked by this event and have initially needed the last few days to process what happened. The pathological findings now available have confirmed that Robert drowned and that there were no other or internal injuries.”

Zoo spokeswoman Melanie Ginzel adds: “Disputes in chimpanzee groups are a part of the zoo, just as they are in the wild. Here in Leipzig, however, nothing like this has ever happened with this intensity. You don’t get involved in the group. The animals decide the ranking among themselves.”