Anyone going to HBES 2008?
The annual Human Behavior and Evolution Society meeting is on next week in Kyoto, Japan. Anyone going? Looks like there's going to be a lot of interesting primatology talks...
Could Nim do this?
Back in the 1970s, a chimpanzee named Nim Chimpsky took part in a Columbia University research study called "Project Nim."
Project Nim was led by Herbert Terrace, a psychologist at Columbia who was attempting to find out if a chimpanzee could learn to communicate using American Sign Language.
"Everyone knows that words are learned one at a time," but something happens when children begin to combine words and create true language, Terrace says.
Ask Frans de Waal
Over at the Freakonomics blog, the primatologist Frans de Waal answers readers questions on ...how polygamist sects mimic the mating systems of animals, and why bonobos eat after sex, amongst other things.
Chimpanzees aren’t endangered because they’re on TV
This week in Science - The inappropriate use and protrayal of Chimpanzees:
In 2005, a survey (see the table, left side) was conducted at the Regenstein Center for African Apes (RCAA) at the Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago, IL). (...) The final question of the survey asked respondents to select which of three great ape species (chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans) were considered endangered in the wild. Of those choices, 95% of respondents thought gorillas were endangered, 91% thought orangutans were endangered, but only 66% believed chimpanzees to be endangered. (...) Respondents were informed that, in fact, all three great apes were classified as endangered and then asked for a reason why they thought a particular ape was not considered in this category. No prompting with answers was provided, and all responses were recorded by the interviewer. Of the 250 respondents who were willing to provide explanations for their choice, the most common reason for the category chosen (35%) was that chimpanzees were commonly seen on television, advertisements, and movies and, therefore, must not be in jeopardy.
Dear Zoo Visitor…
Dear Zoo Visitor:
Sorry to hear about your disappointment during your visit, but, yes, “sexual” behavior is normal for bonobos in the wild, including juveniles. In fact, most behaviors, obviously all those involving juveniles, that involve two or more bonobos in “sexual” activity are not really sexual in the sense of procreation, rather they are social. “Homosexual” behavior in bonobos like what you may have witnessed is not analogous to that seen in humans, regarding either intentions or anatomy. It appears that much of the sexual activity is a form of bonding, appeasement and displacement that replaces some of the grooming and aggression seen in other species.