CHIMP DIES AT L.A. ZOO; ROUGHHOUSING DEEMED CAUSE OF NEWBORN'S DEATH.

Byline: Robert Monroe Daily News Staff Writer

Toshi, a baby chimp whose unexpected birth caught Los Angeles Zoo keepers off-guard in January, was killed Monday by young male chimps whose roughhousing got out of hand.

The incident took place about 11:15 a.m. in the Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains exhibit, said zoo spokeswoman Judy Shay. It's the first time chimps have killed another at the zoo, after 11 births since 1979, she said.

Chief zoo veterinarian Charles Sedgwick said similar deaths of young chimps occur in the wild.

``We always feel bad. We don't get used to this sort of thing,'' he said.

The death occurred when Ripley, 2-1/2, and Glenn, 4-1/2, were playing with Toshi, who had recently started walking, he said. Such play is typical behavior in the wild, Sedgwick said.

Toshi's shy mother, Yoshiko, was letting the males play rough.

``They're just like young boys,'' Sedgwick said. ``They don't know what the hell they're doing.''

There had been debate among chimp handlers whether to separate the passive Yoshiko and her baby from the males, but Sedgwick said he made the final call.

``We do what we're trained to do, and we do what experience tells us to do,'' he said.

Human spotters watch the chimpanzee group throughout the day, and when several spotted the males becoming rough, they alerted head keeper Vicki Bingaman, who called the chimps into their pens.

``Just that fast the baby was dead,'' Sedgwick said.

The death will not change the zoo's policy of allowing juvenile chimpanzees to interact with infants, Sedgwick said.

Now at least, zoo keepers can solve the mystery of Toshi's paternity.

Toshi's birth to 8-year-old Yoshiko baffled zoo keepers because the zoo's three breeding-age males had all had vasectomies, and 44-year-old male Toto was considered too old to breed.

Zoo keepers had planned to wait to use DNA testing until Toshi was older and Yoshiko allowed people to come near her offspring.

Her body was removed from the compound, and there was evidence of a badly bruised abdomen and a hemorrhaged liver, officials said. Sedgwick said the injuries suggested the infant had been struck or pounced upon by the males.

The zoo keeps chimps of all ages together despite the risks so that young, vulnerable members of the group will learn behavioral skills as they would in the wild.

Keepers will continue to allow the males to interact with another newborn chimp, an 11-day-old female, and her mother, Gracie, 12.

``She's a tough number. She pops these young guys right and left,'' Sedgwick said. ``Nevertheless, we will maintain the same surveillance system. If it looks like they're getting the best of her, we'll pull them quicker.''

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PHOTO Yoshiko holds her newborn baby, Toshi, at the Los Angeles Zoo in this May 12 photo.

Nick Ut/Associated Press