Marlon’s Finger Injury

By Violet Bishop

Chimpanzees play rough. They can get into arguments with their groupmates and sometimes become aggressive. One morning in February, a caregiver heard the sounds of a disagreement in one of the habitats. Marlon appeared later that day to have a finger injury. We aren’t exactly sure how he got the injury, but luckily chimps are resilient. They are very good at healing on their own. 

The Finger Injury – Avulsion

Marlon had an injury to the middle finger on his left hand. Some of the tissue was hanging off around the tip of this finger. North Yard Supervisor Tawnya describes how they had hoped the injury would heal on its own. But, as Marlon began to try and clean his wound by pulling on his finger, he actually made it worse. It began to get infected.

Once the wound seemed not to be healing on its own, Tawnya worked with the veterinarian at the sanctuary to help Marlon. All the chimps are trained to present body parts to the caregivers. Caregivers commonly examine hands, and Marlon is a pro! He was always willing and ready to show his hand to Tawnya and the other caregivers. 

After careful examination, Marlon’s finger appeared to have a skin avulsion. The veterinarian decided it would be best if they removed the rest of the tissue. They sedated Marlon, removed the tissue, and cleaned the wound. Caregivers applied a wound spray on his finger for about a week to make sure it didn’t become infected again. Marlon also took ibuprofen for pain management and antibiotics. Chimps are very pain tolerant, and Marlon always cooperated with his caregivers about his medicine.

In addition to being pain tolerant, it is sometimes good for the chimps to feel their injury. Minor discomfort makes them more careful with their injury, reducing further damage. 

Resilience and Recovery

Marlon made a quick recovery. Because the sanctuary tries to keep the chimps in a natural environment, the veterinarian didn’t apply anything on Marlon’s finger after the procedure. He would have pulled a bandage right off. Marlon would clean his own injury, and wound spray ensured there would not be an infection. Marlon barely seemed to notice. He would climb, play, and eat like normal. He was very good at adapting to a shorter finger.

Marlon also loved the extra attention! He is a very human-oriented chimp, which isn’t always a good thing. But in this case he enjoyed the extra care from humans. Caregivers encouraged Marlon to rely on his groupmates to clean his wound. He would also receive extra attention from the females in his group. He has learned his place within the complex chimp group dynamic.

Despite having tissue removed, Marlon is actually growing a small fingernail! Part of his nail-bed remained after the procedure. Chimpanzees are incredibly resilient and heal quickly. Marlon is an example of how chimp’s recover with remarkable speed.

You can keep our medical supply stocked so we can respond to injuries like this by sending a gift from our Wishlist!