If a pet breaks a bone, it often means expensive surgery or in some cases euthanasia. But in the wild, broken bones are a fact of life for many animals.
For example 20 per cent of skeletons from wild chimpanzees show at least one healed fracture, and up to 30 per cent of wild gibbon skeletons are seen to have at least one healed break (gibbons have even been observed brachiating through the canopy with one functional arm).
Living on sheer mountain faces or high up in the treetops poses obvious potential for broken bones, but injuries can also be sustained through fighting and other rough interactions with fellow members of the group, especially when individuals are young.
However, animals are extremely adaptive and can overcome even seemingly debilitating fractures. As long as the injury victim can still feed and avoid being eaten, and the break doesn't become infected, it stands a good chance of surviving and making some sort of recovery.
Read how a three-legged lion coped when she lost one of her hind legs in a snare
