Scoop on Primates

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...

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...

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...

Bonobos at the Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary for orphaned bonobos in the DRC were part of a recent study led by Dr. Hare of Duke University (NC) and Suzy Kwetuenda from the sanctuary. In this study, a bonobo was given access to food, while another was in an adjacent room. The bonobo with access to the food had two choices: eat the food alone or open the door and let the other bonobo join in to share the food.  Test subjects preferred to voluntarily open the door and share their food. Chimpanzees (and some humans I know) would rather stuff their faces than share with a friend. In his book entitled "Our Inner Ape", Franz De Waal relates an experiment he led.  He introduced two juvenile rhesus macaques (not a species known for peace making skills) among stumptail monkeys for five months. During their stay with the stumptail monkeys, the two rhesus monkeys learned to engage in reconciliation and grooming.  At the end of the experiment, these two juveniles continued to be more...

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.