Scoop on Primates

I am very sad to write this post.  The Wildlife Waystation - a unique organization I am grateful to be volunteering at is in urgent need of financial support. For over thirty years, the Wildlife Waystation has rehabilitated wild animals, educated adults and children alike about wildlife, wild and exotic animals and has provided a shelter for exotic animals who would not otherwise be alive.  It is the home of many varied species, lions, tigers, bears, wolves, primates, but also pigs, lamas, exotic birds and many more. I urge anyone reading this post to please, forward this information to your friends and families, visit the Wildlife Waystation website, visit the Wildlife Waystation Official Fan Page on Facebook and if you can, make a donation today . Thank You in advance.  Anything you can do, will be appreciated and tremendous help for this worthy non-profit. onlinecourses.net

In my last post I talked about primates making art.  Today, I want to talk about primates featured in artwork and how different cultures perceived (and maybe still do) perceive primates. There is no shortage of paintings featuring primates and many come to mind. They tell us about our history.  The painting below by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) depicts Prince Edward of Wales with a monkey.  The monkey is not represented realistically.  It has a striped tail, similar to that of ring-tailed lemurs and ears we often see in mythical creatures found in Gothic art, possibly ears of a dragon.  It was customary for foreign dignitaries to offer exotic animals to European royalty, so it is possible that the prince possessed a monkey at one time. In his book "Henry VIII: the king, his six wives and his court", Nick Ford specifies that the monkey the prince is holding is a guenon "which signifies wealth and exotic taste". Kuntsmuseum collection, Basel, Swit...

When visiting Lascaux and admiring the beautiful rendition of horses, one cannot help wondering how primitive humans became such beautiful artists.  The paintings date back about 17,000 years; yet the people of Lascaux knew what they were doing.  For instance, they deliberately chose to use protruberances in the stone to add relief to the rumps of the creatures they were depicting. Where does art come from?  Do we have an innate ability for it?  Can other creatures make art?  Could our primate cousins create art and deliberately choose to depict what they see or experience on paper? A couple years ago, I visited with "Cheetah", a chimpanzee residing in Southern California and I bought a painting he made.  The strokes are very free and colorful.  Some are strong, others are light - and I must say the composition is not bad for monkey art. In the 1950s and 1960s, when psychologists and primatologists teamed up to teach chimpanzees how to sign or use p...

I recently read a paper published by Dr Hope R. Ferdowsian in which she and her team explore the effects of captivity on primates and their use in research.  "Since nonhuman animals, including chimpanzees, are frequently used in research, there is an ethical imperative to understand the potentially adverse effects of captivity and their use in research.  The association of pathological behaviors with captivity in nonhuman primates has been noted for decades" says the report. It goes on to explain that symptoms of PTSD, depression and anxiety disorders have been proven to result from severe repeated trauma in humans.  However, no study of psycho-pathology has ever been conducted on nonhuman primates. Since chimpanzees, like all great apes, demonstrate abilities of self-awareness even in infancy, they have strong attachment to their mothers and have a great memory of events and places, it would be logical to find out if captivity and experimentation can lead them to exhib...

In times when a word is stubbornly stuck on the tip of my tongue, or when I accidentally call my neighbor Steve when his name if Jack, I seriously wish I were a chimp! Especially since I found out that chimp brains do not age the same way as human brains do. According to a study published by Chet Sherwood of The George Washington University, humans are paying a price for evolution - i.e. brain shrinkage.  Sherwood and his team set about to determine whether chimps' brains also experience noticeable aging. Using MRI to measure various brain areas in groups of humans from age 22 to 88 and chimpanzees from age 10 to 51, the scientists discovered that chimpanzee brains age with much less degeneration than human brains do. Sherwood's conclusion is that "the high energy cost of a large brain in humans leads to more wear and tear that cannot be easily repaired because most neurons are not renewed", thereby making human brains more vulnerable to degenerative diseases such...

An article published in Science Daily in January 2010 talked about the importance of siblings on human children's socialization.  Their influence is such that as adults, and long after we have departed the nest, our lives are still considerably influenced by them socially and emotionally. The article was based on studies carried out by Professor Laurie Kramer (Illinois University) on siblings as "agents of socialization". Friends are also very important in socialization and have a considerable influence on us, especially during our teen years.  Studies show that adolescents often pick up smoking as a result of "peer pressure". Our parents teach us right from wrong, how to behave in public, clean up, eat properly.  They teach us the basics, as well as the love and care we need. Similarly, m onkey and great ape mothers are instrumental in the development of their offsprings. They protect them from danger, feed them, teach them the essential skills they will ne...

There is nothing sadder than a parent mourning an infant.  Such experience is not limited to humans. Non human primates (as well as other animals) mourn their dead family members and friends. Or at least they do show sign of sadness, grief and stress related to the death of a companion. In "Baboon Metaphysics, The Evolution of a Social Mind" Dorothy L. Cheney and Robert M. Seyfarth write about the theory of mind in baboons, the rudiments of consciousness and self-awareness. They describe the social life of baboons and how each individual acquires and constantly updates their knowledge about individuals' status and ranks within the group and talk about how female baboons react to loss: "The greatest stressors affecting female baboons are unpredictable events over which they have little control: predator attacks and infanticide." They go on to explain how female baboons cope by enlarging their social network, increasing their grooming activities and thereby lo...

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 ...

As humans we tend to believe that we can outsmart animals of any kind and when it comes to monkeys and apes, we are generally pretty sure our good looks are not the only determining factor of our superiority. Many have tried over the years to test animal intelligence, but how fair is it? Most tests are based on the use of language and they've all been developed by humans for humans. How can we compare the intelligence of a chimp to that of a capuchin monkey to that of a goat or a pig?   What is intelligence? Howard Gardner talks about multiple forms of intelligence in his book "Frame of Mind, The Theory of Multiple Intelligences" published in 1983.  His work, which is in direct line with that of John Dewey, has had considerable influence on methods of education in the United States. According to Gardner there are nine forms of intelligence :  * naturalist - the ability to discriminate between living entities * musical - the ability to discern sounds, pitch and rythm * ...

The Associated Press reported last week that five people in possession of exotic animal body parts, including gorilla and chimpanzee heads and hands, were arrested in Gabon. The market for exotic animal body parts is varied - some parts are used in rituals, some are used as trophies, others yet are used for meat (refer to Bushmeat post December 2008 on this blog for more info). According to an article published in the Gorilla Journal in 1999 by Angela Meder , even though most people now use western medicine, some traditions are still alive.  For example, eating gorilla meat is believed to transfer the strength of the gorilla to the person consuming it; keeping dried gorilla hands is said to bring good luck. Read:  Gabon arrests 5 found with ape heads and body parts   (AP). Poachers are a reality those dedicated to the conservation of non-human primates have to contend with, however education and solutions to curb down poverty are key. There are many initia...