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.

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

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

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 resi...
Read more