The Sacred Monkey

In Ancient Egypt, hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas) were the sacred monkeys - they were chosen as the representatives of Thoth, the messenger of the Gods.  Thoth was also represented as an Ibis bird.

Hamadryas baboons are not native to Egypt, they are found in Somalia, Ethiopia, Erithrea, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.  How they got to Egypt is unclear. It is probable that they were imported from Nubia and then sold in Egypt as pets or to temples where they formed colonies.
Baboons were not only chosen as the representatives of Thoth, but also as representatives of the Sun God Re.  This could be due to the fact that baboons bark at the rising sun.
During the 26th Dynasty, sacred baboons were buried in the Ibis necropolis near Tuna-el-Gebel.  Some mummified baboons were also discovered by archeologists.

space primates

In the 1950s and 960s, many non-primate beings were used for space research.  They were the heroes of the time but their fleeting fame was only that.  They had to endure hours of testing in various machines so that someday mankind could set foot on the moon and launch into the exciting adventure that space exploration must be.

A lot of these creatures died after their brief travel into space, others were sent out to labs to help humans in other ways.  Fortunately not all of them have a dismal fall, some chimps are lucky and have landed in a sanctuary called "Save the Chimps " located in Fort Pierce, Florida, founded in 1997 by Carol Noon.

Check out this footage from Universal News about Space Monkeys in the 1950s .

If you happen to have any images, old magazines of the time, please contact me as I am doing some research on the subject and would be interested in getting my hands on anything relating to this.  Thanks!

Sharing Culture and Language with Bonobos

Listening to Susan Savage-Rumbaugh is inspiring.  She knows bonobos. She understands them and attempts to make the rest of us see what some refuse to see.

The "forgotten ape" as Frans DeWaal like to call the bonobo, is not a pervert or  a beast.  It is a gentle, beautiful, intelligent creature, able to communicate and learn tasks by watching others.    An expert at resolving conflicts in a peaceful manner.

Through her studies , Savage-Rumbaugh is demonstrating that the capabilities of a species are not solely determined by biology but mainly by exposure to other cultures.

In this very inspiring video you will see bonobos writing, starting a fire, playing pac-man, grooming their baby.

Bonobos are an endangered species living in the Congo.  The estimated population of bonobos in situ is around 5,000.  It was estimated to about 10,000 in 1990.

Can Primates Bear Grudges?

Some of you may have heard about elephant attacks against humans.  These wonderful creatures have an extremely good memory and apparently do bear grudges and have been witnessed around the world attacking humans in retaliation for taking over territory that once belonged to them.

In December of 2000, a story originally published by Saoudi newspaper Al-Riyadh and picked up by other newspapers, including French Libération , recounted the incredible attack of a car on a road linking Mecca to Taëf.  Apparently, a car drove over a hamadryas baboon and left him dead on the road.  The members of his troop waited three long days until the car came back and launched an attack against it.  One of the baboons (a leader?) screamed when the car appeared thereby starting the bout of stone throwing at the vehicle.  The driver got out safe but the windshield was shattered.

This attack is very interesting - it tends to indicate that baboons are aware of death and that they can bear a grudge and wedge war against a perceived enemy.

In "A Social History of Dying", Allan Kellehear writes:
"The famous South African ethologist Eugene Marais (1973), author of The Soul of the Ape, records thh story of a mother chacma baboon whose offspring is accidentally injured some weeks after its birth.  When the infant is taken away, the mother shows endless signs of distress, including ceaseless calling into the night. The infant dies in treatment and is returned to the mother. The mother greets the infant with sounds of endearment, touching it with her hands and lips.  But after recognizing that the infant is dead she loses interest in the body, even when the deceased is removed from the cage.  This chacma baboon recognized death."

In "The Descent of Man: and selection in relation to sex" by Charles Darwin, Adrian Desmond and James Moore, one can read the following passage: "Sir Andrew Smith , a zoologist whose scrupulous accuracy was known to many persons, told me the following story of which he was himself an eye-witness; at the Cape of Good Hope an officer had often plagued a certain baboon, and the animal, seeing him approaching one Sunday for parade, poured water into a hole and hastily made some thick mud, which he skilfully dashed over the officer as he passed by, to the amusement of many bystanders.  For long afterwards the baboon rejoiced and triumphed whenever the saw his victim."

So, much like humans, it is possible that monkeys, as well as apes, have some awareness of the end of life and can retaliate.  The good thing is that they can also show compassion and love.

In "The Descent of Man: and selection in relation to sex" by Charles Darwin, Adrian Desmond and James Moore, one can read the following: "...Rengger observed an American monkey (a Cebus) carefully driving away the flies which plagued her infant; and Duvaucel saw a Hylobates washing faces of other young ones in the stream.  So intense is the grief of female monkeys for the loss of their young, that it invariably caused the death of certain kinds kept under confinement by Brehm in N. Africa.  Orphan monkeys were always adopted and carefully guarded by other monkeys, both males and females.  One female baboon had so capacious a heart that she not only adopted young monkeys of other species, but stole young dogs and cats, which she continually carried about."

The Missing Link - New Findings

The discovery of "Ardi" in 1994 in Ethiopia may well have been the missing link scientists had been searching for.  This week scientists revealed the result of this 15 year long study.

The partial skeleton of a female Ardipithecus ramidus, nicknamed "Ardi", is estimated to be about 4.4 million years old.

This hominid seems to have been the ancestor to both humans and apes.  However, evidence shows that she did not knuckle-walk but walked standing upright.  This means that our ancestors walked straight over one million years ealier than previously thought.  

This changes the theory that prevailed until now - i.e. humans must have been walking on all fours.  Since apes also descend from Ardi but they knuckle-walk, this also means that knuckle-walking is an adaptation and that therefore apes evolved as much as humans did.

For more information read:
Discovery in Ethiopia casts light on human origins - Reuters .

Discovery of "Ardi" sheds light on human origins - The Vancouver Sun

Discovery Channel videos

Spinning Bonobos and Gorillas Running Through London

This week I want to share two very cool videos.

The first one shows Bonobos having a lot of fun in their enclosure.  I wouldn't be surprised if trapeze artists take inspiration from these beautiful apes.  (Drum roll) And now watch the amazing
"Spinning... Bonobos ".

The second is about the 7th gorilla run that took place in London on 9/28 to raise funds to save the endangered gorilla population.

Enjoy and please leave a note on the blog if you know of other events like the Gorilla Run.

Is There A Purpose to Yawning?

Yawning is contagious.  No doubt about it.  We've all experienced it.  I even yawned back and forth with my dog until I decided to leave the room to make it stop.  I am actually yawning just writing about yawning.  It is insane!

Well, great apes are not immune to this debilitating habit that seems to spring out of nowhere for no apparent reason.  We yawn when we are tired, bored, anxious and ... when others yawn.
Now, thanks to a study coming out of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University we have proof that chimpanzees do too.  When shown animated cartoon chimpanzee characters yawning, the real chimps yawned in response.

Some suggest that yawning may have served a purpose, like signaling all individuals within a group that it was time to sleep.  This is certainly one way of looking at it.

Others, like Professor Robert Provine at the University of Maryland who spent years studying phenomena like yawning, think our response to others' yawning has everything to do with how we relate to one another.  (Check out why we yawn for more info).

This is exactly the reason for the study conducted at Yerkes.  The goal is to give us more insight on empathy.  Yawning when others do may prove that we are in touch with others' feelings.  Understanding how we react to fictitious characters in movies, animations or games, could help us design programming that would help autistic children deal with their emotions.

The End of Monkeying Around...

Do you, like many people, occasionally procrastinate and put off to tomorrow what could be done right away?  I do it regularly at the end of the month, when bills need to be paid or when the oven needs cleaning or simply when instead of studying or working I'd rather watch reruns of old shows or play fetch with my dogs.
Well, it turns out that this procrastination business is not just human.  Our fellow primates experience bouts of laziness too.

In a recent study by researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health near Washington DC, Dr. Barry Richmond and his team have succeeded the impossible.  They are putting lazy chimps at work and turning them into super heroes by giving them a chemical that blocks dopamine production.

When I heard about it I had visions of Brave New World and human robots attached to their desks - working for nothing, never asking for vacation...

For details, check out this article from the BBC News .

Station Fire forces the Wildlife WayStation to Evacuate All Animals

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 residents need us today.  They need our help to recover from the devastation the Station Fire is leaving behind it.  This is the only safe heaven these animals know. This is their home.  It is the only place they can finish the rest of their lives after serving years in labs for research, acting in movies or being treated as commodities.

Please make a donation online today at the Wildlife Waystation website.

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide to this wonderful institution and the many wonderful animals who live there, some of whom I consider "friends".

My Friend the Baboon and Why I Love Primates

Today,  I feel like talking about the primates I know and why I am so interested in them.

My first encounter with primates was at the zoo as a child.  My father would say: "Let's go see your cousins, the chimps!"  Some kids may have been offended at the implied comparison between themselves and hairy, not so attractive primates.  I, on the other hand, was delighted.

Then I grew up, went on my merry way to jobs around the globe that had nothing to do with primates. Until one day at the Los Angeles zoo... I was sketching near the gorilla enclosure, as I had done every week-end for the last month, when something unusual happened.  A female gorilla sat at the edge of the enclosure, looked at me straight in the eyes and smacked her lips a few times. She then extended her left hand in my direction, as if to offer one of the leaves she was eating and smacked her lips again.  She repeated her behavior the week-end after, so without thinking I smacked my lips back at her.  We went at it for a good 3 minutes before she had enough and moved further away. 

That experience gave me a glimpse into a world I would later come to discover more intimately.  

I read about Jane Goodall and others who dedicated their lives to understanding apes and monkeys, but nothing changed dramatically the way I perceived primates until I read "Next Of Kin - My Conversations with Chimpanzees" by Roger Fouts.  

Fouts writes: "When I looked into Washoe's eyes she caught my gaze and regarded me thoughtfully, just like my own son did.  There was a person inside that ape "costume".  And in those moments of steady eye contact I knew that Washoe was a child, no matter what she looked like and no matter what acrobatics she performed in the top of a tree."

This is exactly the feeling I had when the gorilla "spoke" to me at the zoo.  There was someone in there.  I felt an urgent need to get involved.  I wanted to save the apes, raise awareness about their plight, the fact that most are on the brink of extinction.  So, when I found out there was an exotic animal shelter in my hometown where I could volunteer and do something positive for apes and monkeys, I enrolled. 

I have been volunteering for over two years now and have made many non-human primate friends.  They all have a different personality. They have their preferences for food, for their peers and for humans.  Their emotional lives are rich and complicated.

One of my best friends is a female olive baboon named Lucy.  She lip-smacks at me very hard as soon as I arrive and seems happy to see me.  We look at each other, I give her treats and we lip-smack some more.  I clean her cage and we lip-smack again.  Our relationship is simple but important to me.

I suspect it is important to her too because on a couple of occasions, she did not hesitate to show me how disappointed she was in me.  The two or three times I had to go away for a couple of weeks, she punished me when I returned by depriving me of her friendly lip-smacking.  She briefly acknowledged my presence by throwing a cold glance at me and resolutely moved away from me.  The first time it happened, I was taken aback.  I did not know what was going on.  I talked to her, offered her treats, which she refused before staring into emptiness away from me.  She clearly looked peeved.  Finally, towards the end of my shift, she came, took a treat and gave me a pitiful lip-smack, as if to say: "Alright, I forgive you this time, but don't do it again."

I now know what to expect, but I must say it does feel pretty weird to be scolded by a monkey.

Zakayo Blows 44 Candles!

Chimps can live a long time - till their forties in captivity.

Last Saturday, Zakayo, the poster boy of the Uganda Wildlife Education Center (UWEC) in Entebbe, celebrated his 44th birthday among his human and non-human primate friends.

Zakyao has been a resident at the UWEC since 1976 and has made it his mission to take care of 8 other chimpanzees who became residents since their rescue.  

Zakyao's reaching maturity is proof of the hard work the UWEC has been doing to preserve the declining population of chimpanzees.

Zakayo likes to climb trees and likes to spend time with two females, Amida and Ruth, whom he is particularly fond of.

Happy Birthday Zakayo and may many chimps live and prosper as you do!

Tree-climbing or Knuckle walking? That is the Question.

Up until this week, the assumption was that homo sapiens evolved from a knuckle-walking primate ancestor.  It seemed logical enough.  Two of our wrist bones fused, thereby making it easier for our ancestors' gate to be more stable while knuckle-walking.  But this week, the shattering news reached those of us interested in primates.  

Knuckle-walking?  Not so!  According to a new study published by Tracy Kivell and Daniel Schmidt, Independent evolution of knuckle-walking in African apes shows that humans did not evolve from a knuckle-walking ancestors.  Homo sapiens, they say, descend from a tree-climbing ancestor who then came down and evolved to bipedalism.

As a matter of fact, the authors argue the data they collected would indicate knuckle-walking evolved twice - thereby placing chimpanzees and bonobos in a different knuckle-walking category than gorillas.  They found that the wrist bone structure of gorillas is very different from that of chimpanzees and bonobos, our closest relatives.

Gorillas spend more time on the ground and in trees.  This, Kivell and Schmidt argue, would tend to indicate that our far away ancestor was a tree-climbing ape rather than a knuckle-walking one.

Knuckle walking evolved at two different times - medicalnewstoday.com.

Abducted Twin Baby Gibbons Still Missing

The night of July 15, twin baby gibbons were ruthlessly stolen from Parc Zoologique de Frejusin France.    

Gibbons are an endangered species and like with other primates, the birth of twins is extremely rare.  The scoundrels who abducted the baby gibbons, who were still feeding on their mother's milk, put the life of these toddlers at risk.  They also left their mom in an acute state of distress.  

Their only motivation is greed and they must be stopped.  

Should anyone hear about baby gibbons for sale, they should report them immediately to their local authorities, Interpol and contact the Frejus zoo director Mr. Guy J. Masquefa at zoofrejus@orange.fr. 

The babies have been separated from their mother for over three weeks.  The more time passes, the slimmer the hope of finding them alive.

To report wild life crimes, you can contact Interpol Wildlife Crime Working Group.

Chimps and Music

We (humans) are not alone in our appreciation of music.  A recent study conducted in Japan shows a baby chimp, named Sakura, pulling on a cord to repeat music she wants to play again.

The tunes used in the experiment last about 30-40 seconds, some are pleasant and some dissonant.  Sakura, the baby chimp, demonstrated over and over her preference for pleasant music tunes over dissonant ones.

Similar studies have demonstrated that human babies have a keen ability to appreciate music from a very young age, a few days old; yet testing music appreciation on non-human baby primates had never been done before.  Sakura had never been exposed to music prior to hearing the tunes in the lab.

If a "music gene" exists, such as was speculated in 2000, humans and chimps may be sharing it.

If so, what would Mother Nature have endowed us with such a gene?  What is its function?

Some speculate that it may have helped our ancestors to survive in the wild.  This is only speculation at this point, yet worth investigating further.

References:

Music on the Brain - Harvard press

BBC - Earth News - Chimps Born to Appreciate Music

Mountain Gorillas Safe From Devastating Brush Fires

Last Saturday, a brush fire which started at the border of Uganda and Rwanda in the Mufumbiro Mountains, quickly spread and forced the endangered population of gorillas to flee.

The region, which harbors 200 animal species, including the pygmy chimpanzee, commonly known as bonobo, is always at risk due to brush fires started by those who need to exploit the area for survival.  According to Uganda authorities, the fire that raged from Saturday on was indeed started by a farmer harvesting honey.

Due to a severe shortage in water, the fire could not be put out immediately and continued to rage until July 21.

Local authorities reported that the gorillas are safe.  

A huge relief since the population of mountain gorillas counts only about 700 individuals.

Sad News for Bostonians and the New England Zoo

Due to severe budget cuts mandated by Mass. Governor Deval Patrick, the Franklin Park Zoo may have to close its doors and euthanize some of its residents, zoo officials announced on July 10.  

Gov. Patrick specified these are only a fraction of a substantial $150 million cut aimed at rebalancing the State budget.  

The zoo, which operates on more than 10 million dollars a year, has been receiving 60% of its funding from the State, most of which will disappear. 

These are terrible news not only for an institution that was created in 1913, but also for many Bostonians who may no longer be able to bring their families to an affordable hang out in these tough economic times. 

On July 11, zoo officials corrected the scary statement they had made the day before.  What they meant was that the State would have to take care of the animals and may have to destroy some of them; the zoo would not euthanize any.

Whether the zoo or the State end up destroying the animals is a serious matter that we should ponder.  If this can happen to the New England Zoo, how many other zoos or institutions caring for animals will be affected throughout the nation this year?  

If you want to help, please sign the petition to save the New England Boston Zoo.

Read more on this story:

Boston.com 

USAToday.

The origins of laughter

When tickled, everyone laughs.  Those of us who know some animals quite intimately will agree that they do show signs exhibiting something similar to glee and joy.  Sometimes I could swear my dog is laughing. He's got a great sense of humor and enjoys playing tricks on me.

Scientists at the University of Portsmouth, England, are now shedding some light on the origins of laughter.  Marina Davila Ross, head of the research, recorded human baby laughs and analyzed them in comparison to sounds great apes make when they are tickled, thereby revealing the roots of laughter.

You can learn more about it, view and hear apes laughing at the links below.

"Tickling Apes Reveals Laughter's Origins" - usnews.com

"Tickled apes yield laughter clue" - bbc news

"Apes Laugh, Tickle Study Finds" - national geographic news.

Ida - A Primate in Transition

Scientists think that the split between the primates that became anthropoids and the lower primates occurred over 40 million years ago.  Ida, who was discovered in the fossil-rich region of Messel in Germany, could be just that - a primate in transition, one of those primates who gave rise to our own ancestors.  This is why her discovery is so important.  The recovered skeleton is complete, which is also a rare occurrence and should prove to be a wealth of information for paleontologists.

Below are links to an article published in time.com (the layman version) and the original paper published in PLoS One (for those of you who want all the details).

Ida: Humankind's Earliest Ancestor!  (time.com)

 

Complete Primate Skeleton from the Middle Eocene of Messel (PLoS One)

Girls Like Guys Who Treat Them Well!

Who wouldn't prefer a generous guy to a rat?

Obviously not chimpanzee females.  They like their man to share a bite with them once in a while and they'll never forget him for it.

Males are just regular joes, they see this transaction as an investment.  I give you some meat, you give me "love".

Chimpanzee males are apparently so patient, that, not only do they offer meat to sexually receptive females, but also to those who have not responded to their advances yet.

They're thinking long term investment.  

This has now been documented in a paper written by two primatologists from Leipzig, Germany, Cristina Gomes and Christophe Boesch.

More info at the Science Now website in this article: Chimps Trade Meat for the Chance of Sex. 

You may also remember an article written by Michael Gumert (see post from January), that demonstrated a similar practice among long-tailed macaques.

Highlights on Some of Many Conservancy Issues

Seven years after her first visit, Dr Jane Goodall will return to Boise, Idaho, to talk about conservancy at the zoo.  According to Steve Burns, the zoo Director, "charismatic animals" can help convince humans to be more careful about the environment, thereby ensuring the stability of our ecosystem and the stability of society at large.

For more information, read this great interview of Dr Goodall at IdahoStateman.com.

The St Louis City website also has a very interesting article relating to social unrest in Madagascar and how it can impact negatively the ecosystem there and put species. already at risk, closer to the brink of extinction, including primates such as the sifaka lemurs.

More bad news, according to a recent study by renowned primatologist Birute Galdikas who addressed a large audience of students at New Mexico State University in March, orang-utans are not much longer for this world, unless we, humans, do something about it right now.

Some of the steps she recommends are "to avoid buying products that use palm oil derivatives" and to promote ecotourism in Borneo and Sumatra.

Chimpanzees on the brink of extinction in the wild

An article published this week in the Birmingham Examiner and based on research conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology indicates that the latest census show a 90% decrease in the wild chimpanzee population in Ivory Coast.

The reasons are deforestation, the growth in human population, poaching and civil war.

The surviving population is mainly located in protected areas, such as the Tai National Park, which will lose external financial support in 2010.

Read the article in the Birmingham Examiner.

For more info, visit the site of the Planck Institute.

Visit this link for information on Ivory Coast and Tai National Park.

Religion, Primate Research and Ethics

Is Religion opposed to evolution?

As far as Buddhism is concerned, there is no opposition.  As indicated by the Dalai Lama in his new book "The Universe in a Single Atom", if a buddhist concept goes against scientific proof, then science must be accepted.  For more info, check out this review from the New York Times.

In the speech he gave at Harvard University in 1993, Daisaku Ikeda, another Buddhist scholar, said: "Buddhism provides a philosophical basis for the symbiotic coexistence of all things.  Among the many images in the Lotus Sutra, a particularly compelling one is the merciful rain that falls everywhere, equally, moistening the vast expanse of the earth and bringing forth new life from all the trees and grasses, large and small.  This scene, depicted with the vividness, grandeur, and beauty characteristic of the Lotus Sutra, symbolizes the enlightenment of all people touched by the Buddha's Law.  At the same time, it is a magnificent tribute to the rich diversity of human and all other forms of sentient and non-sentient life.  Thus, each living thing manifests the enlightenment of which it is capable; each contributes to the harmony of the grand concert of symbiosis.

In Buddhist terminology, "dependent origination" (engi) describes these relationships.  Nothing, nobody exists in isolation.  Each individual being functions to create the environment that sustains all other existences.  All things are mutually supporting and interrelated, forming a living cosmos, what modern philosophy might term a semantic whole.  That is the conceptual framework through which Mahayana Buddhism views the natural universe."

However, for most of the Christian world and religions based on the theory of the existence of God, there seems to be no cross-over and this could prove dangerous indeed.

This is why I was relieved to find an article that seems to open the door to exploration.

In a presentation she gave on "Chimpanzees, Bonobos, and the Future of Theological Reflection", Dr Nancy R. Howell said: “Theology typically has limited itself by anthropocentrism (the belief that humans are the central element of the universe), and in so doing, we have missed a more complete picture of God’s relationships and of nature’s value”. “Theologians have written for decades about ecology in a broad sense, but my research wonders how Christian thought might be deepened and enriched by focus in some detail on creatures similar to humans."

For more details, read the article published in The Laurinburg Exchange.

In light of our many religious beliefs or lack thereof, is it ethical to conduct tests on primates? or any animals for that matter?  And when we do so, don't we owe these animals to treat them right for the sacrifices we, humans, make them do on our behalf?

It is important for us to keep our eyes open and make sure abuse on any "sentient or non-sentient beings" happen.  Please check this article about PETA's allegations of abuse on monkeys used for experiments at the Oregon National Primate Research Center.  Please also visit StopAnimalTests.com.

Let us respect every living thing around us and protect our environment.

Chimps remain friends for years

We're familiar with male bonding in human society.  Chums bumping chests at a football game, buddies hanging out around the barbecue, talking about cars, work and girls.  Guys going hunting together, sharing a beer, doing business together.

Rarely do we think of male bonding as a non-human primate activity.  Yet, it is a phenomenon that has been documented among chimpanzees and is being talked about.

We now know that chimps remain friends for a long time.

Gorillas: Skating on Thin Ice

As we had indicated earlier in this blog, 2009 is the Year of the Gorilla.

On January 15, humans dressed in gorilla costumes performed a dance on ice at the Natural History Museum of London.  This was part of the UNEP launch of the Year of the Gorilla.

This year will be marked by a number of initiatives to educate and raise awareness on the plight of one of our closest relatives.  More research will also be done in Cameroon and Nigeria to improve community-based conservation efforts aimed at protecting the Cross River Gorilla.

Check out this UNEP link to read more about the Projects to Save Africa's Rarest Ape and see pictures of the skating gorillas.

Is Testing on Primates Ethical?

Is medical testing on primates ethical?

This is a hard question but to me the answer is unequivocal and resounding.  NO.

There are currently alternatives that are viable, faster, more accurate and do not cause suffering of living beings - stem cell testing.

I have been reading a lot about the plight of many primates and chimps in particular have had to suffer incommensurably for the sake of medical testing.  Sometimes for good, sometimes in vain.

Chimps share 99% of their DNA with human primates, this is why they are perfect test subjects, yet we, humans, are able to turn a blind eye and conveniently deny this fact when it comes to the rights these creatures should be granted naturally.

I heartily support the Great Apes Project and I sincerely believe primates should be given basic rights.  

I strongly encourage you to check out the "Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History" documentary on PBS.

The Oldest Profession in the World - Not only for Humans

Paying for physical reward with a member of the opposite gender is a practice documented since times immemorial.  Many poems and mosaics well illustrate the fact in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.

We are now finding out that this practice is not specific to human primates only.  

Longtailed macaques do exactly that, as reported by Michael Gumert, a Psychology researcher at Hiram College, OH, in the results of his 20 months study of macaques in Indonesia.