Scoop on Primates

According to this report from UNEP, gorillas are more than ever endangered and could become extinct within the next 15 years. It is everyone's responsibility to raise awareness about this issue and lobby for ethical business practices that will lead to economic growth in the DRC as well as in Rwanda thereby reducing poverty and providing the human population there alternatives to poaching and warfare. For those interested, the complete UNEP report is available on-line.

Giant African snail farms are being considered as a solution to curb down the bushmeat trade that continuously decimate the gorilla population at the border of Nigeria and Cameroon. What people need is an easy source of protein that will discourage them from pursuing the illegal trade of primate meat. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has been working closely with the Nigerian government to do just that - give local population access to a sustainable source of protein. The International Development Research Centre has led research projects in Nigeria since the late 1990s in order to combat malnutrition in a population deprived of the bare necessities and for whom dairy products are not commonly available.  Their findings concluded that the giant African snail was a natural local resource that would address population needs through systematic farming. Nutrition experts say that giant African snails are made of 15% protein, 2.4% fat and 80% water.  They are also very ...

I just finished reading Frans De Waal's "The Age of Empathy" and just recently listened to a lecture by Dr Robin Murphy entitled "Does Rule Making Make Us Human?" De Waal is a primatologist of world fame, Robin is a Darwinian psychologist. One studies primates, the other studies rats.  Both relate stories of animals showing real signs of empathy - such as sharing food, returning grooming, trying to rescue a fellow. Rats refusing to press a lever that would release food if the consequence is a fellow rat being shocked - Robin relates the story of a rat depriving himself of food for several days in order to avoid inflicting pain to his friend. De Waal argues that empathy is an innate ability that many animals have.  Empathy, he argues, implies having a sense of who we are and he relates experiments involving dolphins and primates able to recognize themselves in a mirror.  If a primate mother dies, other females take care of her orphan.  He even mentions cro...

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...

You most likely have come across apes using some form of language that they learned from humans. Koko communicates with a set of symbols.  Washoe, Nim and other chimps were taught sign language. Scientists are still finding evidence that monkeys and apes in the wild are using different calls to identify various things.  The howler monkeys (see video link below) announce themselves with a loud scream to dissuade anybody who might even think about going into their territory.  Most monkeys have alarm sounds they use to warn the rest of the troup when a predator is nearby, so everyone can run to safety. Yet, humans have not been able to crack the code that would allow our species to communicate with other primates.  Is it because primates lack a language as such? In an article published in the NY Times on January 12, St Andrews University (Scotland) Dr Klaus Zuberbühler confirms that monkeys have specific sounds for specific situations or predators.  Campbell's m...

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.

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!