Grieving chimpanzee seen carrying around dead infant for months

An ape named Natalia lost her baby just a few days after its birth—but she hasn't let go of it since then.

For the past three months, visitors to a zoo in Valencia, Spain have been seeing the heartbroken chimpanzee carrying around her deceased infant that's now in a decomposed state. According to Reuters, Natalia began doing so in February, after the death of her newborn. She's been seen with it even in the middle of social interactions with her fellow animals at the zoo.

In an interview with the media outlet, Miguel Casares, the head of Bioparc zoo, shared that such "is a conduct that has been previously observed in chimpanzees, not only in zoos but also in the wild." He stressed the importance of understanding the grieving process of chimpanzees, noting how unusual it is to take so long.

"Our visitors, who at first are quite shocked by the sight of a dead baby, understand as soon as we explain to them why we have left it and why we keep it under observation," he told the publication.

Zookepers have been keeping a close eye on Natalia, who also lost one of her children back in 2018.

According to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, chimpanzees have been observed "to exhibit emotional expressions, which contribute to their social cohesion."

The Journal of Trauma and Dissociation on chimpanzees states that such creatures are known to "experience and express joy, anger, jealousy, compassion, despair, affection, and a host of other emotions." Those who are deprived of normal living environments and social interaction "often succumb to depression and other emotional illnesses, from which many never fully recover."

IFAW said chimpanzees are considered endangered on the Red List of Threatened Species maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The number of adult chimpanzees is decreasing steadily, having seen a dramatic decline since the 1980s.