Cheek pouches are pockets between the jaw and the cheek used to temporarily store food. Many rodents, marsupials and monkeys have them. Apes and New World monkeys do not have cheek pouches. Old World monkeys have cheek pouches but do not use them with the same frequency. For instance, baboons in the wild don't seem to use their cheek pouches as much as they do in captivity. It was long believed that cheek pouches were the result of an adaptation to ground foraging, to store food in high risk situation while on the ground and consume it later high in a tree, however Ciochon and Feagle argue that cercopithecines who live mostly arboreal have the largest cheek pouches. ( Primate Evolution and Human Origins ). Unlike those of rodents, primates' cheek pouches secrete large quantities of amylase - which converts starches into sugar. In her book " Primate Behavioral Ecology ", Karen Strier writes: " this adaptation for digesting unrip fruits, which are o...
The news coming from Los Angeles the last week have been particularly difficult to watch. The wild fires have been raging across the Angeles Crest Forest putting at risk both people and animals. As some of you may have seen and heard on various news outlet, the Wildlife Waystation staff have been working hard to protect all their animal residents. Nested in Little Tujunga Canyon in the Angeles Crest Forest, the Wildlife Waystation is in a vulnerable position against the Station Fire. The unimaginable happened and all the animals have had to be evacuated in a record time. Moving stressed wild animals is no easy task. It is dangerous and it requires the expertise of skilled professionals. Despite all the help provided by generous volunteers and people who care about this 30 year old institution, the Wildlife Waystation has incurred huge costs to rent equipment and temporarily relocate its animals to various institutions. The Wildlife Waystation and its resi...
Assuming we agree the theory of mind applies to monkeys and apes, what could prevent us from thinking that, much like our early human ancestors, they too lend significance to external phenomena they have no control over? Thunder, fire, the moon, the sun, waterfalls can stir awe, wonder or fear in humans. Why couldn't the same natural phenomena stir similar emotions in animals? In "J.T., JR, The Biography of an African Monkey" (1928), Delia J. Akeley , first wife of the famous taxidermist Carl Akeley , recounts her life with J.T. the female vervet monkey she adopted and whom she studied. She writes: "While the porters were busy cutting down the undergrowth to clear a site for the tents, I gathered an armful of flowers and maidenhair ferns. I was arranging them in a paraffin tin (my safari vase) when J.T., who was tied to the limb of a tree, attracted my attention by her excited manner and peculiar cries. In an effort to learn the cause of her agitation I ...
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