Dausmann KH, “Physiology: hibernation in a tropical primate.“, Nature. 2004.

僕が研究の世界に足を踏み入れるきっかけとなった論文。病院時代にぱらぱらと見ていたNatureのサイトでタイトルを読んだ瞬間、興奮で胸の動悸がおさまらなかったのをよく覚えている。

ポイントは二点とおもわれる：

1. 冬眠する霊長類が存在する
2. 冬眠中途覚醒は環境温の影響を受ける

この論文が発表されるまでは霊長類に冬眠種は確認されていなかった。もちろんマダガスカル島という熱帯地方で冬眠種が見つかったことも驚きではあったが、この論文の一番大きな功績は冬眠中途覚醒(IBA; interbout arosal)が環境温に左右されることをドキュメントしたことにある。

冬眠中途覚醒とは数ヶ月間冬眠する哺乳類が2週間に1回程度、きわめて短期間、活動期と同レベルの体温にもどる現象である。体温上昇が何かしらの生理現象の結果なのか、体温上昇そのものが生命維持に必要なのか議論がなされてきた。

この論文は後者を強くサポートする報告となっている。主役であるFat-Tailed Dwarf Lemur （フトオコビトキツネザル）は、冬眠中は環境温とほぼ同じ体温になるわけだが、外気温が比較的低い環境で冬眠しているサルはIBAがみられるのに対して、外気温が一定レベルを超える環境で冬眠をしているサルはIBAがみられなかったのである。すなわち、IBAは体温上昇そのものが何かしらの意味を持っていることを示唆している。

ちなみに、Katharin Dausmann本人から聞いた話だが、フトオコビトキツネザルは冬眠前後で必ず同じ番（つがい）で生活をするそうだ。冬眠中も記憶が保たれているのか、単純に好みが保たれいるだけなのか、興味があるところである。

The recent announcement that researchers invented a blood pressure cuff for gorillas got me thinking about high blood pressure. It’s an ill of modern life, even for gorillas.

We are all living in a sort of zoo-like captivity, eating bad food and sitting around doing nothing. And some of us are more prone to high blood pressure than others. All the women on my mother’s side of the family , these skinny Polish women, had it, and died from it (except for my Mom), thus we call it “The Chmielinski Curse.” And yes, I got it too.

Here’s how high blood pressure works. Take a box of perciatelli, the larger species of the pasta genus.

Grab a handful and look at the ends, such as in this foto that is too close to be in focus. Each strand has a hole that runs all the way through the pasta.

Now imagine cooking that pasta and then smothering it with a watery marinara sauce (no tomato chunks please). The sauce passes right through the percatelli. But then imagine putting a fire hose at the end of a bunch of perciatelli and blasting marinara into it at high pressure. Even al dente, those percs would blast apart.

And that’s why I, and my gorilla friends, take our meds every day.

http://www.getoutthebox.org/

” A nonprofit for at-risk youth”

Hey Supporters Join our facebook cause page @ http://apps.facebook.com/causes/383281/77128247?m=7d205f0f and Invite your friends!!

http://www.youtube.com/getoutthebox1

(Man, this is the sweetest babysitting gig ever.  The kid smears the food on his face, and I get to lick it off.  I hope he managed to get some dessert on the other side.)

That’s got to be the cleanest baby in history, Samantha M.

It is great news that the top two leaders of the FDLR have been arrested in Germany.  Not only for human rights, but also for conservation.

As the article says, begin dismantling the FDLR and the Congo basin might be able to leave behind the terrible conflict that has ravaged the area.  It is not a guarantee that the situation will improve, but it is a step in the right direction.

Conflicts in areas with endangered biodiversity present a multitude of problems.  In this case, FDLR rebels hiding in the forests of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo were in direct competition with endangered mountain gorillas, with lethal consequences.  The horrific death of those gorillas was, for all intents and purposes, a murder – the killers didn’t even attempt to sell the gorilla meat on the black market, as is practiced in that area.  Additionally, the rebels harassed the local people, preventing them from going about their daily lives.  Some forest rangers couldn’t go to work even though they wanted to, leaving the gorillas further exposed.  Hopefully now the violence in the area will recede.  Hopefully.

The thing is, as a conservationist, how can you ask someone to protect wildlife if they can barely protect themselves?

Un amigo, que estudió unos años de biología, tiene una teoría muy interesante sobre los hombres. No sobre la humanidad, sino sobre la parte de la humanidad masculina. No sé cuanto de ciencia tiene, pero como este chico es lo más parecido a un científico que he conocido nunca, me parece posible.
Este amigo dice que el sector masculino de la población mantiene ciertas pautas, que si se miran de cerca, se detectara nuestro pasado evolutivo.
Es bastante cómico ir con él y sus amigos biólogos, los que se recibieron, a cualquier sitio. Todos parecen compartir su teoría. Si vamos a un bar y los hombres vamos a buscar las bebidas a la barra, alguien dice: “los machos traen el alimento a sus mujeres” Así todo el día. De manera que terminas la jornada sintiéndote un mono.
Como verán me tienen completamente convencido.
Uno de los ejemplos que me dio este amigo es que en las familias, en el momento que los niños crecen y se convierten en adolescentes suele haber conflicto entre los hijos varones y el padre, más allá de los temas sicológicos que, como argentinos, nunca descartamos.
Este período es en que desvalorizas a tu padre y piensas que tú jamás vas a ser como él; que es bastante fácil superarlo en casi todo y que, básicamente no sabe nada de nada. Solo para después de unos años darte cuenta que ser padre es bastante complicado y que uno hace lo que puede, lo que le parece adecuado o que, simplemente, improvisa.
Que todas esas decisiones que tomas todos los días con respecto a los hijos te dejan preocupado, preguntándote si cualquier cosa que hayas dicho, hecho o pensado será, más perjudicial que beneficiosa. Si los estas ayudando a vivir o los marcarás para toda la vida.
Poca gente puede hacer tanto daño involuntario a otra persona como los padres. Los hijos escuchan las cosas que decimos y les influyen de una forma que no podemos ni imaginar.
Una vez una madre me comentaba, delante de su hija, que ella prefería los varones. Las niñas no le hacían mucha gracia. Yo la miraba alucinado. Miraba a la madre y miraba a la hija, haciéndole señas con los ojos para que notara que su niña estaba ahí, su única hija… Fue en vano. La mujer interpretó que no la estaba entendiendo así que se explayó, dio detalles, se puso enfática…. La hija no se fue a jugar, no se distrajo, no la miró pero escuchó todo…
Un padre me dijo delante de su hija también, que tener hijos era un coñazo (Coñazo, en castellano ibérico, significa algo malo, plomo. Pesado, aburrido). La hija lo miró con cara de “¿Qué me estas contando?” y el buen señor confirmo: “Te quiero mucho pero tener hijos es un coñazo”. El sicólogo parece que se esta construyendo un chalet gracias a esa frase….
Un día le estaban pintando las uñas de los pies a mi hijo. La hermana se las había pintado y él también había querido. Dije “qué le están haciendo a mi hijo” en tono de enfado. Pensando que le hacia una broma a la amiga que le pintaba las uñas. Al rato el enano desaparece un rato y como cuando no oyes a los niños, sospechas… fuimos a ver. El pobre estaba con el pie en el bidet intentando limpiarse las uñas de los pies solito. Intenté explicarle que no me importaba, que era una broma, que le quedaban muy bien las uñas pintadas, incluso hice que me las pintaran a mi pero nada. No hubo forma. El niño escuchó lo primero que yo le dije y se quedó con eso. Hubo que despintarlo y me quede con las uñas pintadas un par de días hasta que mi mujer me levanto el castigo.

Volviendo a los primates. En la adolescencia, según mi amigo, es el momento en que también se cuestiona al macho dominante de la manada. El macho viejo y experimentado ve como otro macho joven, fuerte y alocado intenta imponerse y se produce el inevitable choque. En los primates el tema se resuelve con una buena pelea en la que el perdedor se tiene que ir. En nuestro caso el tema pasa más por una tirantez permanente hasta que el macho joven comprende su lugar y se termina por ir en unos años.
Ahora que los chicos, en España más a menudo pero también en Argentina, se van de su casa a los 30 y pocos, debería consultarle a mi amigo por su teoría.
Habría que diferenciar los que no se van porque no pueden de los que se quedan por elección. Los que no se van hasta tener su casa comprada, con su televisor de plasma, su coche nuevo etc. Esos jóvenes que se quedan por comodidad en casa, que tienen 30 y su mamá aun les hace el desayuno, han perdido su lado más salvaje y rebelde. Nadie te hace el desayuno todos los días de tu vida sin que tengas que pagar por eso de alguna forma. Es un panorama que asusta ¿no? Si la juventud no es un poco primate estamos jodidos.
El mate. No sé si esto tiene que ver con nuestra evolución o es cultural. Tendré que pedirle a mi amigo que me lo aclare. En la inclusión de los chicos a la ronda del mate hay un tema de iniciación, o aceptación. Cuando tú viejo, vieja, tío etc. te acepta en la ronda del mate, sos adulto. Es la aceptación de que hay otro adulto en la “manada”. Cuando sos chico ves pasar el mate y te morís porque te pasen alguno pero nunca lo hacen. Sentarse a tomar mate, mano a mano con la vieja o el viejo es como la graduación del fin de la vida infantil.
Otro ejemplo, mi favorito, es el de los hombres argentinos y los asados. Mi amigo afirma con una convicción encomiable, que puedes saber quien es, o quisiera ser, el macho dominante del grupo por la persona que esta detrás de las brasas de un asado. En la casa familiar el asado lo hace el padre. Jamás se me ocurriría ponerme a hacer el asado en casa de mi papá si él esta presente. Eso no se discute. El asado lo hace él salvo que este lesionado y no se sienta con fuerzas. Ahí se nota nuestra evolución. En lugar de darle un garrotazo en la cabeza y echarlo de la casa decimos: “sentate viejo que yo hago el asado”. Pero repito solo en caso de extrema debilidad del progenitor.
Cuando el asado es entre amigos la cosa es más complicada. Si miran bien y están atentos, verán que se desarrolla en torno a la parrilla una sorda lucha. No siempre el que comienza el asado es el que lo termina. Hay uno que termina desplazando los demás, uno termina convertido en el dueño de la parrilla. Es el que decide cuando están hechos los chorizos, si hay que abrirlos en mariposa o salen como están…
No hay violencia, normalmente, pero no sé de un asado hecho por dos hombres. Todos van abandonando hasta que, como en la película de los inmortales, solo queda uno.

La mujer argentina sabe que si su marido (llamaremos marido a todo el que convive con su pareja) es de su misma nacionalidad, es la persona que le va a hacer los asados el resto de su vida (o lo que dure la vida juntos) siempre que sean en casa. Es su lugar, su papel. Uno puede resignar el lugar de asador si va a comer a la casa del suegro pero ¿En su casa? Nunca.
Esta mujer comprende que si su marido es malo haciendo asados (cosa rara pues tampoco es tan difícil hacer uno medianamente bien) tendrá que comer asados feos cada vez que su marido organice uno, o hacerse vegetariana. Es la forma más sencilla de identificar a la persona que desempeña el papel de macho de la casa. Solo un hombre más evolucionado y que quiera mucho a su mujer, tanto como para permitir que otro macho ocupe su lugar junto al fuego unas horas, deja que otro haga el asado en su terreno.
Mi padre una vez quemó un asado, fue allá por el 77 y aún lo recuerdo. Pero lo quemó quemó, no tenia remedio ni salvación posible. La carne y el carbón no se diferenciaban… Se sentó en la cabecera de la mesa y sin decir nada, nos miraba con cara de asesino cuando insinuábamos que se le había pasado un poco. No solo era cara de asesino, era cara de sufrimiento también. Para un hombre de nuestros pagos (nuestra patria, en argentino básico) vive como una gran tragedia un incidente así. Fue la única vez que mi padre quemó un asado y fue todo un acontecimiento… que todos disimulamos comiendo carne quemada de la forma más elegante que pudimos. Para no mortificarlo aun más y para evitar que volara algún cachetazo, todo hay que decirlo.

En mi casa hago los asados yo y cuando uno viene e intenta decirme lo que tengo que hacer, siento surgir el primate que hay en mí y me dan ganas de darle con la palita para mover el fuego.
En mi última visita a la argentina hubo 3 asados de la familia en zona neutral (la casa de mi cuñada sin marido, para que se entienda). Los hicimos los tres concuñados, uno cada uno, por riguroso orden.
En el que me toco a mi uno de mis concuñados me puso unos trozos de carne a la parrilla sin consultarme… es el día de hoy que no le hablo.
… una cosa así no se perdona fácilmente como podrán comprender

La universidad Pablo de Olavide de Sevilla concederá el máximo reconocimiento nombrando Doctora Honoris Causa a Jane Goodall. Ya posee numerosos premios, como el Príncipe de Asturias, y un largo etcétera, por sus investigaciones y publicaciones como primatóloga a nivel internacional. La investidura será en la UPO el próximo 25 de noviembre.

Es realmente importante que se reconozca la labor de una pionera en investigación, con 50 años de trabajos científicos a sus espaldas, durante muchos de los cuales una mujer difícilmente era aceptada y aún menos reconocida en el mundo de la ciencia.

Podéis encontrar más información en el siguiente enlace:

http://www.upo.es/diario/2009/1029_1.htm

I have just found this video on boingboing.net and this really is how teaching should be. Enjoy half an hour of witty interesting knowledge about the uniqueiest of the primates by Robert Sapolsky renowned professor of neurology, neurological sciences, neurosurgery and biological sciences at Standford.

Haflingers do have a variety of creative techniques for attracting attention to themselves when someone walks in the barn, especially around feeding time. Over the years, we’ve had the gamut: the noisy neigher, the mane tosser, the foot stomper, the stall door striker, the play with your lips in the water and splash everything, and most irritating of all, the teeth raked across the woven wire front of the stall. Some Haflingers wait patiently for their turn for attention, without fussing or furor, sometimes nickering a low “huhuhuhuhuh” of greeting. That is truly blissful in comparison.

Most creative of all, however, was our mare, Nuance, who did not live up to her name in any way. She was the least “nuanced” Haflinger we’ve owned. Her chosen method of bringing attention to herself was to bump her belly up against her rubber water buckets that hang in the stall, making them bounce wildly about, spraying water everywhere, drenching her, and her stall in the process. She loved it. It was sport for her to see if she could tip the buckets to the point of emptying them and then knock them off their hooks so she could boot them around the stall, destroying a few in the process. Nothing made this mare happier. When she had occasion to share a big stall space with one of her half-siblings, she found that the bucket bouncing technique was very effective at keeping her brothers away, as they had no desire to be drenched and they didn’t find noisy bucket bumping very attractive. So her hay pile was hers alone–very clever thinking.

This is not unlike a wild chimpanzee that I knew at Gombe in Tanzania, named “Mike” by Jane Goodall, who found an ingenious way of rising to alpha male status by incorporating empty oil drums in his “displays” of aggression, pounding on them and rolling them down hills to take advantage of their noise and completely intimidating effect on the other male chimpanzees. Mike was on the small side, and a bit old to be alpha male, but assumed the position in spite of his limitations through use of his oil drum displays. So Nuance, my noise and water splashing mare,  became alpha over her peers.

We humans have our various ways of attracting attention too. Some of us talk too much, even if we have nothing much to say, some of us strut our physical beauty and toss our hair, while some of us are pushy to the point of obnoxiousness. And some of us are real bluffers, making a whole lot more noise and fuss than is warranted, but enjoying the chaos that ensues. Meanwhile we may leave a wake of destruction behind us–not unlike my mare with her soaked stall, and mangled buckets–all done to make sure someone notices.

I’ve learned I need to quit stomping and quit knocking the door in my impatience, quit hollering when a quiet greeting is far more welcome. And I need to quit soaking everyone else with my water–after all, it yields me nothing more than empty buckets, and eventually I get very thirsty and wish I hadn’t been so foolish. As my horses are trainable to have better manners, so am I.

And I really am trying.

My good friend Davis Mac-Iyalla is an Anglican Christian from Nigeria. He had to flee Nigeria for his life and has come to the UK. Why? Because he is Gay.

When we sent an Open Letter to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in May, Davis joined in on behalf of Changing Attitudes Nigeria.

The Guardian Newspaper published an Open Letter from Davis to the Primates of the Anglican Community in reference to the action of some in Uganda and the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. The Anglican Primates in the West have been spectacularly, shockingly and inexcusably silent. It isn’t surprising that the African Primates have been silent – but that in and of itself should highlight the true cost of the ‘gay debate’ within the Church.

The letter follows:

To the Archbishop of Canterbury and primates of the Anglican Communion,

I am writing to you to call on the Church of England and the wider Anglican community to condemn Uganda’s proposed anti-homosexuality bill, which will make gay relations between disabled people and those under 18 a capital offence. “Carnal knowledge against the order of nature” – as homosexuality is termed in Ugandan law – is already punishable with life imprisonment. However, if passed, the new bill will widen the scope, including promoting homosexuality, aiding and abetting homosexuality and keeping a house “for purposes of homosexuality”. This means that the relatives and friends of gay couples could face execution if they allow them to stay in their homes.

The anti-homosexuality legislation proposed and enacted in Uganda and many other former British colonies has caused misery for many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, many of whom are forced to flee their countries due to this persecution. Religion is often cited as a justification for state and non-state violence against LGBT people. As a gay refugee from Nigeria who has faced this persecution, I am well aware of the misery LGBT people can go through in Africa. As a practising Anglican Christian, I believe it is crucial that the Anglican Communion unites to prevent the killing of people on the grounds of sexuality.

I would like to remind you that the Lambeth Resolution 10 in 1978 recognised the need for pastoral concern for those who are homosexual. Resolution I.10 from 1998 commits the communion “to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ.” It also condemned the “irrational fear” of homosexuality and called on the communion to assure homosexual people that “they are loved by God.”

Legislation of the kind proposed in Uganda is based on irrational hatred and a desire to entrench the stigmatisation of LGBT people. There is no place for love, understanding or acceptance in such laws. As such, the Church of England has a duty to condemn the anti-homosexuality legislation and put pressure on those MPs who support such laws. Whatever the divisions within the communion about homosexuality as a moral issue, Anglicans should unite in condemnation of violent persecution and discrimination of LGBT people whoever and wherever they are, particularly when it is carried out in the name of Jesus Christ.

Davis Mac-Iyalla

Washington, D.C. — Outraged legislators renewed calls for banning human-animal hybrids after researchers at the Frankenstein Institute for Extremely Scary Science announced the creation of a “lambaby.”  According to a spokesperson for an angry mob that stormed the Institute, “arghle grumble blaarphle rhubarb rhubarb!”

I have just one word for you, Brynne M.: PASICKIE!

A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the contagious yawn might be be an important reflection of our very humanity. Or should that be baboonery?

Italian researchers observed yawning behavior in the Gelada (Theropithecus gelada)–a highly social herbivorous primate native to the Ethiopian highlands.

The baboons were found to be more likey to “catch” a yawn from a close social acquaintance than a stranger. These findings lend support to a theory that contagious yawns are a reflection of the capacity for empathy, in both humans and our close primate relatives.

I gave a talk at NHP 2009 about copy number variants among rhesus macaques.  You can reach the abstract of this talk from here.

Hace unos días me pasaron una noticia ilustrada por una fotografía que me pareció alucinante. En ella se ve a un grupo de chimpancés asistiendo en silencio al traslado del cadaver de una hembra que formaba parte de su manada.

Chimpances despidiendo a una de su grupo

Es increible todo lo que nos parecemos… Os invito a leer la noticia entera, ya que merece la pena

La fotografía apareción en el número de National Geografic y ha dado la vuelta al mundo. La autora es Monica Szczupider.

Vía: Cadena SER

A while back, Meg featured some orangumazing photos of Suryia and Roscoe, the orangutan and hound-dog buddies.  Now, thanks to sender-inner Marilyn T., you can see the heartwarming story of how they met.  On your mark, get set, awwww!

Nambi, her daughters Nora and Night, and the young sub-adult male Zalu are travelling together in the south when they hear calls near by; immediately nervous, they stop and glance around. Suddenly two strange females appear: an older adult and a young sub-adult who is in swelling, a sign that she might be coming into her fertile period. Nambi and her daughters seem relatively uninterested, but Zalu is keen to check out this attractive young newcomer and moves over to sit near the younger female.

It’s quite unusual for a strange adult female to be found in another group’s territory without being in swelling; chimpanzees can be highly territorial – brutally attacking and sometimes killing strangers that stray across into their community area. To the local females any new female represents competition for them and their offspring; however for the males, new females represent a new chance to mate. Arriving with the large pink genital swelling that signals the oestrus period is a way of attracting the favour and, by association, the protection of the community males. Straying across territory lines without it is a very risky move.

While the younger female is quite relaxed, the adult newcomer is clearly nervous and pant-grunts submissively to Nora; this seems to be the wrong move and Nambi suddenly starts to pant-hoot and scream loudly – a sure sign she’s trying to get the attention of other members of the Sonso community, not something that bodes well for the strange adult. Sure enough, within a few minutes the top two males, Nick and Musa, arrive displaying energetically. They move immediately over to the new female, but show no signs of attacking and after she pant-grunts to them they both relax.

While so far Nambi hadn’t seemed particularly bothered by the adult female, the fact that when the males turn up they appear to be accepting of this new potential competition doesn’t seem to be at all what she had in mind. She apparently decides she’s going to have to do something about this unwelcome visitor herself. The top female in the Sonso group, Nambi is a force to be reckoned with and she now attacks the strange adult, biting her in the back and leaving her bleeding. The males are still sitting on the fence; they don’t seem keen to drive off this potential new addition to their group, but they seem equally unwilling to risk incurring Nambi’s wrath by doing anything to defend the stranger. After the attack the Sonso chimps start to move away, but although this gives the strangers a clear opportunity to escape they make the strange decision to follow the Sonso group. The young sub-adult female with her swelling gets plenty of attention and avoids any real hostility, but again the adult female is not so lucky. Another big male, Zefa, arrives and starts to attack her, this time everyone joins in and she is brutally beaten and dragged along the floor.

Over the course of the day other Sonso community members come and go – two more females Janie and Juliet arrive and the adult female is attacked for a third time. Not until 4pm, when the Sonso chimps are enjoying a last feed and starting to think about finding a nesting site for the night do the two strangers disappear back into the thick undergrowth.

While the male chimpanzee hierarchy has been well documented, we are only starting to get a glimpse of the complex social dynamics that govern female community structure. DNA based paternity research suggests that some females seem to copulate outside of their community on a regular basis and observational work has shown how peripheral community females seem to juggle membership of several communities. Days like this one highlight just how little we understand about the complex social lives of our forest cousins. What could have motivated the adult female to visit a neighboring group when she wasn’t in oestrus? And why stay after the first, or second attack? What was her relationship to her young companion? Why did Zefa (the gamma male) attack her when the top two males had not – was he trying to curry favor with the powerful Sonso females? The only thing we can be certain of is that more research is required, and that we are more than happy to keep searching for the answers!

I found this article very interesting, and regardless of what it concluded, I would have answered the question with a yes. Clearly other animals can feel compassion, so why not primates, our closest relatives?

Yesterday, I attended the SAFE event at the Auckland Museum entitled ‘Speaking for Animals on Show‘, set up for the purpose of launching the group’s newest educational initiative: the Animals on Show resource, the third in the Animals and Us series of resources designed to reach secondary school students and encourage their interest in human-animal studies.

The event itself was very well put together, and had three notable speakers: (1) Jeffrey Masson, Auckland based author on animal issues who spoke on animal emotions and the importance of respecting animal needs in making decisions about them; (2) Nichola Kriek, SAFE’s education officer, who was the co-creator of the Animals on Show resource and talked about how it was developed and its purpose, and (3) Michael Apted, Hollywood director of Gorillas in the Mist and other notable films.

The presentations were extremely interesting, but the highlight was undoubtedly Apted, who spoke of his experiences in filming Gorillas in the Mist, and the challenges of working with wild animals.  It’s notable that when Hollywood first talked about making this film, there was a move to use chimpanzees instead of gorillas, and actually train the chimps into using gorilla ’suits’.  Apted talked about actually visiting the ‘training facility’ – which was established before he was brought onto the project – and the horror of seeing what was going on.  He immediately shut down this plan, and decided instead to film entirely in the wild.  A short film showed us the making of Gorillas in the Mist, and set the scene.  The amazing visuals shot for that movie – which is well worth seeing – were shot in a natural setting, with no lights or props.  Just a camera, a director, an actor (Sigourney Weaver), a local guide, and lots of wild mountain gorillas.   Essentially, the plan was to shoot the gorillas in their natural setting, with as many interactions as possible, and subsequently build the movie around it!   Apted spoke about how he and Weaver were overwhelmed by the experience, and how it helped turn him into an animal advocate.

I was very impressed.  As I’ve indicated in a previous post, I think we need strong advocates for the ‘animal friendly’ perspective in every setting, and Apted seemed genuinely interested in the cause.  It was certainly great of him to come over (during a break from filming in Queensland) and lend his gravitas to the SAFE event, which was very well received.

If there was anything that troubled me even slightly, it was his response to my question, posed during a public Q & A after the speech, about whether Hollywood has made progress in this area, and whether he would ever feel conflicted about working with trained animals.  His response was that Hollywood has made tremendous strides in this area, and that cruelty to animals on set would never be tolerated today.  Seems to me that the response either misunderstood my question, or missed the point.  The problem with trained animals today lies not on the set, that’s for sure.  I have little doubt that good Hollywood films spend a lot of money to ensure that animals they use are not harmed, and I think there is a case to be made that some animals can be placed in films in a way that’s acceptable to anyone but the most ardent proponent of non-animal use (the use of dogs in some cases, for example, does not particularly bother me, so long as the use is well-monitored).  But there are animal uses that should trouble all of us – especially involving primates, who are Hollywood favourite – and the problem lies not on set, but in the obtaining of these animals and the training process beforehand (for example, consider recent movie, The Hangover, and the use of a tiger therein).  Check out this article from the ALDF, which sets out in some detail the evils of primate use in Hollywood, and the horrors required to get an animal ready to ‘act’.   Struck me as at least a little bit troubling that Apted seemed unbothered by the problem, focusing narrowly on the on-set use instead of where the real harm lies.

Nonetheless, that was a minor quibble about a fantastic event, and shouldn’t diminish from the overall tone and theme.  Also worth noting is the way in which SAFE is continuing to ‘up the ante’ in terms of professionalism in advancing animal causes.  It’s not just about street protests anymore.  The organisation recognizes that rendering its message acceptable and bringing new allies on board is an essential part of advocacy in the 21st century.   This was SAFE’s second major event at the Museum this year, following on its spectacular fundraising function that focused on the Lovepigs campaign in July.

Finally, a word about the reason for the event itself.   The Animals and Us campaign may wind up being SAFE’s biggest and most valuable contribution to animals in the long term.  These slickly packaged resources are simply phenomenal.  I have copies in my office, and can tell you they are ingenious, designed carefully to comply with NZ curriculum requirements and get young people to think hard about animal-human issues.   At the launch, Nichola Kriek talked about the success SAFE’s been having with the resource – and soaked in some well-deserved applause.  As many animal advocates have noted, changing the industrial complex surrounding meat and dairy is going to be a long-term process, and reaching young people and showing them how animals are treated, and getting them to think about why it’s wrong, is critical.

Congratulations to SAFE – both for a great event, and a superb resource.

Is culture uniquely human? Many people would instinctively answer yes, but there is now a well established body of research that questions whether we may be wrong to assume this. Over the years a number of behaviours have been proposed as the answer to the puzzle of what makes us human – planning, tool use – all have fallen by the wayside as observations of their use by other species ruled them out. In recent years some of the hottest scientific debate has centered around the question of culture. Frequently hindered by the lack of agreement over what exactly culture is, there is still no doubt that the debate has stimulated exciting observations and experimental research in species that range from chimpanzees to crows. Some primatologists argue that there are group-specific behaviours seen in chimpanzees that can not be explained away by ecological or genetic factors; these must be transmitted socially from generation to generation, and that this constitutes a form of culture.

Observations such as the nut-cracking in wild west African chimps inspired a body of experimental research – now Sonso PhD researcher Thibeaud Gruber has added to the debate with new evidence recently published in the journal Current Biology. He and his colleagues present the findings from a series of experiments conducted with two Ugandan chimpanzee communities: one in Kanyawara and here with our own Sonso group. Both groups are the same sub-species of chimpanzee and live in similar forest environments but show some interesting behavioural differences. Kanyawara chimpanzees regularly use stick tools to extract honey, a behaviour never seen at Sonso. When both groups were presented with the same controlled task of extracting honey from holes that had been drilled in logs, the Kanyawara chimps spontaneously manufactured stick-tools while the Sonso chimps used either their fingers or the leaf sponges that are normally used for collecting drinking water from tree holes. Given the absences of differences in genetic or environmental factors, the researchers concluded that the chimps must be relying on their local cultural knowledge to solve the new task.

For more information the full article is currently available in the online journal of Current Biology as: Gruber et al. 2009. Wild Chimpanzees Rely on Cultural Knowledge to Solve an Experimental Honey Acquisition Task.