Baby Gorilla Born at the San Francisco Zoo

Monifa, a female gorilla at the San Francisco zoo, recently gave birth to a baby boy. 

Here are links to pictures and a video of the cute baby.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cheek Pouches

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...
Read more

Do Monkeys and Apes Have Spiritual Rituals?

Image
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 ...
Read more

Holding Hands

Image
We use them every day, yet we do not realize how much we rely on them. Hands are a wonderful thing. They help us feel the world, take things, prepare food, create tools, build houses, feed ourselves, communicate and express love or dislike with a slap. Michel de Montaigne expressed it very well when he wrote: “ Behold the hands, how they promise, conjure, appeal, menace, pray, supplicate, refuse, beckon, interrogate, admire, confess, cringe, instruct, command, mock and what not besides, with a variation and multiplication of variation which makes the tongue envious. ” Many expressions used in common language refer to them - such as: " healing hands ", " he's putty in her hands ", " a show of hands ", " in good hands ", " to give a hand ", " helping hands " to list but a few. They are mentioned in songs, like in this old French one from Charles Trenet: " Place your hand in my hand, your heart against my heart a...
Read more