The primate care worker ‘sustained a partial amputation of the thumb,’ the Ohio institution said in a statement.
A worker at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden suffered a partial amputation of their thumb following an attack by a bonobo during a morning feeding on Friday, according to a zoo statement.
The employee has been stabilized and is currently receiving treatment at a hospital, the zoo reported in the afternoon update.
The incident occurred when the bonobo bit through a protective mesh barrier as the primate care staff was administering food and medicine to the animals during their morning rounds.
It remains unclear whether the bonobo physically contacted the worker or if the injury was caused by the barrier itself.
The zoo clarified that the event took place “behind the scenes” in the Jungle Trails habitat, which, as of last year, houses 10 bonobos.
“The incident happened behind the scenes, and no other staff members, guests, or animals were involved or harmed,” the zoo stated.
They confirmed that there was no breach of security and that no employees were present inside the core habitat at the time.
While the Jungle Trails habitat was closed for the day, a zoo spokesperson mentioned it was expected to reopen on Saturday.
“The Zoo is currently reviewing the details to determine what led to the incident,” the institution indicated in its statement. They did not disclose the identity of the specific animal involved.
Gilda, an 18-year-old bonobo, gave birth to a male offspring on September 8, and the zoo shared a video of the pair’s first public appearance in their habitat on September 30.
Bonobos, closely related to chimpanzees, are classified as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, with their population declining due to factors such as development, civil unrest, and mining activities in their native Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The nonprofit Bonobo Conservation Initiative highlights the difficulty in obtaining reliable population estimates, stating, “As few as 15,000 bonobos remain today,” on its website.
Known for their female-led social structures, bonobos are recognized as more peaceful, intelligent, and empathetic compared to other primates. Being the last of the great apes discovered by humans, officially designated as a species in 1929, researchers continue to make new discoveries about them and aim to uncover more insights.
A crucial area of research revolves around what bonobos can reveal about human behavior, as they share 98.7% of their DNA with humans, making them our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, according to the World Wildlife Fund.