September 2011
41 posts
7 tags
10 tags
Promiscuous Apes Make More Sperm
Chimpanzees produce 200 times more sperm than gorillas, the world’s largest primates, and 14 times more than orangutans, scientists based in Japan reveal.
Promiscuous ape species have bigger testicles, and the latest discovery finally provides evidence that they also produce more sperm.
Scientists previously proposed that chimps have large testicles because several males mate with a...
12 tags
Video Suggests Mother Chimps May Grieve Death Of...
The death of a baby chimp caused responses in a mother chimpanzee not typically seen directed toward live infants, but it’s unclear whether she was actually mourning, researchers say.
The new report may help improve understanding of how chimpanzees, one of humans’ closest primate relatives, respond to and learn about death, the study authors noted.
In the study, the researchers...
8 tags
Ugandan Chimpanzees May Be Hunting Red Colobus...
Red colobus monkeys in Uganda’s Kibale National Park are being hunted to extinction—by chimpanzees. According to a study published May 9 in the American Journal of Primatology, this is the first documented case of a nonhuman primate significantly overhunting another primate species.
(The taxonomy of Ugandan red colobus monkeys is in dispute. Some scientists consider them a species,Procolobus...
8 tags
Monkeys Urinate On Themselves To Attract A Mate
Capuchin monkeys, that are found across Central and South America, routinely urinate in their hands and rub the liquid around their body.
The reason for the strange habit has been a mystery to scientists for years.
Some thought the urine lowered body temperature, while others claimed it enabled the monkeys to identify particular individuals by smell.
Now the mystery has been solved. A new...
5 tags
3 tags
4 tags
5 tags
8 tags
Bonobos Make Most Noise When Mating With High...
The new study by researchers at the University of St Andrews suggests that females produce copulation calls as a way of showing off high powered relationships during sexual interactions. The psychologists set out to study vocal communication in apes, in particular investigating the social use of copulation calls in female bonobos.
Bonobos, the sister species of chimpanzees and closest living...
2 tags
5 tags
7 tags
Autism In Another Ape
Rambunctious one-year-old Teco, a third-generation captive-born bonobo at the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa, has an ape’s usual fondness for games and grapes. But perhaps because of trauma from a difficult birth (his mother was in labor for 60 hours) or a genetic predisposition, Teco is different from his bonobo peers in ways that resemble autism in young children. He could not cling to...
5 tags
5 tags
6 tags
WatchThe very rare Silky Sifaka. It is estimated that there are only around 200 of these left, and, as females only come into Oestrus for a couple of days a year, reproduction is pretty slow, too.
From BBC Nature
4 tags
6 tags
3 tags
9 tags
Orang Pendek Quest Begins In Sumatra
Wow, this would be amazing if they are able to take photos of this animal. It may sound a little silly - Cryptids and all - but from the descriptions and sightings, it certainly sounds as if there is a brand new species of primate in Sumatra - one that is particularly humanoid. Hair samples have been described as similar to that of Orangutans, but a little different, and the tracks have a...
7 tags
WatchBonobos and Chimpanzees are compared in an intelligence test
14 tags
Primate Young
Proof that Chimpanzees actively teach. Before this, it was believed that only humans actually teach one another, and primates learn through cultural transmission. Not so.
A young female Gorilla is deserted by her mother soon after she suffers horrendous injuries. Her father, the Silverback, ‘adopts’ her.
The first Gorilla to be born at London Zoo in 23 years.
...
7 tags
Two things I always hear about Evolution are,
1) If we evolved from monkeys / apes, why do they still exist?
and
2) The belief that we evolved FROM the other great apes.
This little graph makes it a bit clearer for those who may not understand - the evolution of us, the human ape, can be a little confusing when you just read about it.
You see, we had common ancestors. We share 99% of...
6 tags
Bolivian Grey Titi Monkeys: It's a Family Affair
A Gray Titi Monkey was born at the Bronx Zoo in April and has just now gone made it’s debut on exhibit with mom. In fact, you can hear them sing together early in the morning. Gestation for the Bolivian gray titi monkey is about 132 days, a little over 4 months. A single baby is usually born; very rarely, twins are born. Gray titi monkeys live in family groups, which usually consists of...
4 tags
New White Monkey Species Found In Sri Lanka's...
The members of Galle Wildlife Conservation Association say that they have identified a new species of white monkeys from Sri Lanka’s World Heritage site of Sinharaja rain forest.
The researchers have confirmed that the new species was not an albino of the common black monkey found in Sinharaja forest.
Chairman of Galle Wildlife Conservation Association Madura de Silva said that they...
7 tags
9 tags
9 tags
Getting “Mean Girled” In The Baboon World: The...
By now, I know of few people who haven’t seen the movie, Mean Girls. But in case you haven’t, here’s what you should know about it: the story is essentially an explanation of social cliques and aggressive teenage girl behavior. As a study recently published in Behavioral Ecology suggests, this agonistic behavior between females in cliques is not exclusive to human primates, but is found in our...
7 tags
Simple Moral Test Clearly Displays Prosociality In...
A paper released this earlier this week has been first to document spontaneous prosocial behaviour in chimpanzees, finally drawing a line under the question as to whether the welfare of others is considered during choice making in this species; a controversial topic, where such behaviours have been often concluded to be absent in any primate apart from humans (generally from research within the...
3 tags
New Species Of Snub-Nose Monkey Sneezes When It...
Almost by definition, species unknown to science are often tough to track down. But researchers seeking out a new species of primate in northern Myanmar were assured by locals that the monkeys aren’t hard to find at all. You just have to wait for it to rain.
The new species, a previously unknown type of snub-nosed monkey dubbed Rhinopithecus strykeri, has a nose so upturned that the...
7 tags
Proboscis Monkeys Have Been Filmed Regurgitating...
The first monkey that acts like a cow has been discovered — one that regurgitates to give its food another chew, just as cattle do. Cows, goats, sheep and other ruminants chew plants, let their meals soften in their stomachs, and then throw up the larger bits into their mouths to munch on this cud some more. This chewing helps them break down their food and get at all the nutrients within. ...
7 tags
(Some Of The) Lemurs Of Madagascar. Fantastic...
11 tags
Like Humans, Chimpanzees Can Engage In Guerrilla...
People are not alone in waging war. Their closest living cousins, chimpanzees, also slaughter their own kind—in brutal attacks that primatologists increasingly view as strategic, co-ordinated assaults rather than random acts of violence. But however tempting it is to see these battles through the lens of human warfare, the motives for chimp-on-chimp violence are poorly understood. In...
5 tags
2 tags
5 tags
8 tags
Milwaukee County Zoo Uses Technology To Engage...
Primates all over America are discovering the Apple iPad - and that includes Mahal and his surrogate mother, M.J., two of the Milwaukee County Zoo’s orangutans.
The zoo is using four donated iPads, plus another belonging to a volunteer, for enrichment activities that include free apps (finger painting, music) and videos of other animals at the zoo.
Keepers also are considering using...
9 tags
Scientists Claim Capuchins 'Understand Using...
Researchers claim to have conducted experiments showing that monkeys can be taught how to spend money and even know how to find a bargain.
Scientists from Yale University carried out a series of tests with capuchin monkeys by giving them coin-like tokens to see if they would trade them for food items.
Academics discovered that the animals held on to the tokens as though they valued them, as...
