The Great Ape Information Network has collated and archived information on captive chimpanzees within Japan since 2002. As of July 1^st, 2014, a total of 323 chimpanzees were housed within 52 facilities across Japan, all registered in the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) studbook. JAZA has recorded information on captive chimpanzees within Japan since the 1980s. However, for individuals unregistered and/or deceased prior to this period, JAZA holds scant information. There are very few surviving reports on living conditions and husbandry of such individuals, particularly for the years preceding the Second World War (WWII) (up to 1945). Here we present the first detailed history of captive chimpanzees in Japan before WWII, following a systematic investigation of disparate records. The first record of any live chimpanzee within Japan was a chimpanzee accompanying an Italian travelling circus in 1921. The history of resident captive chimpanzees in Japan began in 1927 when a chimpanzee, imported into Japan by a visitor, was exhibited in Osaka zoo. In the 1930s, many chimpanzee infants were imported to Japanese zoos until in 1941 imports were halted because of WWII. By the end of WWII, there was only one single chimpanzee still alive within Japan, “Bamboo”, housed in Nagoya. In 1951, importation of wild chimpanzees into Japan resumed. In total, we identified 28 individuals housed within Japan before 1945, none listed previously in the JAZA studbook. Of these 28 individuals: 6 entered Japan as pets and/or circus animals, 21 were imported to zoos, and one was stillborn in zoo. Of the 21 zoo-housed individuals, 7 died within one year and 9 of the remaining 14 were dead within 5 years of arriving in Japan. Four individuals are recorded to have lived 7-8 years. Only one male individual, the aforementioned “Bamboo”, lived notably longer, to about 14 years.

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