Scoop on Primates

Emotions are not the privilege of human beings.  Animals exhibit a wide array of emotions, but none so much as our "cousins" the great apes. They can be happy... They can be sad... They can enjoy peaceful moments... And according to a recent study, they can also experience midlife crisis. So, I went to the Medicine.net site and looked it up.  A "midlife crisis" is defined as " A period of personal emotional turmoil and coping challenges that some people encounter when they reach middle age, accompanied by a desire for change in their lives, brought on by fears and anxieties about growing older.  " For humans, this phenomenon can happen anytime around the age of 45 until we are  either old enough to have gained wisdom and find a renewed sense of wellbeing or too old to remember what we were feeling unhappy about.  (I started at 12, hoping the rest of my life would be a cruise but I haven't gained enough wisdom to end it yet.) Since...

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...

A lot has been written about the 2012 Rio Summit that just ended on June 22, yet not much optimism was expressed.  For many, this is just a repeat of the past summits and not much is expected to come out of it.  So, here are some highlights.   According to an article published in Business Standard , "the world leaders in their declaration said they recognized the crucial importance of enhancing financial support from all sources for sustainable development for all countries, in particular developing nations." ... "We further stress the importance of cooperative action n technology innovation, research and development.  We agree to explore modalities in the relevant forums for enhanced access to environmentally sound technologies by developing countries."   The San Francisco Gate wrote about the Hollywood celebrities who attended and spoke about biodiversity.  The article quotes Greenpeace Executive Director kumi Naidoo who speaking about the ongoing ...

We have all heard that stress can have harmful effects on our health.  The CDC published a paper entitled "The Effects of Childhood Stress on Health Across The Lifespan" which outlines that, although beneficial in small doses, stress can have very detrimental effects on those who have been exposed to it repeatedly from a very young age.  Abused and neglected children are particularly at risk.  Toxic stress can affect brain development, the immune system, learning and memorization.  It also increases a person's risk of depression, substance abuse and suicide into adulthood. Toxic stress includes bullying and there again, the effects on the victims' health are long lasting. According to a study conducted across a sample of 3,000 adults and published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, those who were bullied as children do suffer emotionally and physically as adults.  Symptoms vary and include depression, anxiety, fatigue, pain and frequ...

Are humans smarter than chimpanzees or vice-versa? It has been established for quite some time that great apes have a theory of mind.  They can relate to others, anticipate on their actions or perceived thoughts - like a chimpanzee pretending to be looking for a treat in a part of the enclosure where she knows the treat isn't in order to induce another chimp in error. Pushed by curiosity and a fascination with our fellow primates, we, humans, have dedicated a lot of time and thought to compare ourselves to them.  I recently stumbled upon a serious (yet funny for us in 2012) article in 1902 in Pearsons' Magazine, which dealt with the similarities of human babies compared to primate babies.  The goal was to explain the theory of evolution and the author ( Sydney Savory Buckman - geologist and palaeontologist 1860-1929 ) was trying to prove that humans did descend from an extinct monkey-like ancestor.  He was careful to emphasize:  "A man cannot be descended fro...

Last October, we started exploring how primates were perceived in various cultures and how they were depicted in art.  If for the most part, primates had a bad reputation in the Western world as symbols of the devilish functions in humans; in other cultures they were revered as gods. The Sacred Baboons In Ancient Egypt, hymadryas baboons were associated to Thoth and the Sun God Re. Hamadryas baboons are are not native to Egypt but were imported from Somalia, Ethiopia, Erithrea, Saudi Arabia and Yemen for the pleasure of the wealthy Egyptians. They were considered as vessels who could be inhabited by deities and were treated as such. Illustrations of baboons were found in tombs; baboons were mummified and many artifacts representing Thoth show a god with a baboon head. Even though baboons depicted on papyrii or in sculptures perform human tasks, there is no evidence that baboons were trained. King Sun Goku In Asia, Monkey King Sun Goku is a well known traditional chara...