Aug 21 2008
From BBC News:
A mystery monkey caused uproar at a busy train station in Tokyo, Japan.
Police tried to capture the creature with nets, but it climbed down and ran away through the crowds of commuters.
It remains unclear where the monkey came from – it could be a stray pet, or a wild monkey from a mountain area near Tokyo.
Jul 16 2008
From the Great Ape Trust:
A group of orangutans who appeared in Hollywood films, television commercials and magazine advertisements is being relocated to Great Ape Trust of Iowa – a significant move that begins to close the curtain in the United States on the decades-long use of orangutans in the entertainment industry. Great Ape Trust, a scientific research facility in Des Moines, Iowa dedicated to the study of primate intelligence and behavior, will triple its orangutan population from three to nine.
The first of the new residents, 3-year-old Rocky and his 19-year-old mother Katy, arrived safely at Great Ape Trust on Saturday, July 12, from the Los Angeles area, where they had been privately owned by Steve Martin’s Working Wildlife, co-owned by Steve and Donna Martin. Their company specializes in providing trained animals for entertainment and advertising.
In discussions with Dr. Robert Shumaker, director of the orangutan research program at Great Ape Trust, the Martins decided to donate these orangutans to The Trust and discontinue their use of orangutans in entertainment.
…
Jul 01 2008
From Telegraph:
The Indian girl has become virtually inseparable from an Indian Langur named Ramu which her parents adopted when an attack by stray dogs left him orphaned.
Parents Anil and Rashmi Mehta now see Ramu as the perfect addition to their family.
“Ramu has made all the difference to our family, I feel as if he is part of my life like Diksha,” says Mrs Mehta from their home in Bharauch town in the north-western Gujarat state.
…
Jun 19 2008
The Great Ape Trust in Iowa is returning to normal after the floods which caused so much disruption.
The ape homes are now clean and dry after a heroic effort by staff.
Jun 18 2008
From the Guardian:
British psychologists working in the forests of western Uganda have recorded the first evidence of sexual politics influencing the mating calls of our closest primate ancestors.
Researchers spent 10 months in the Budongo forest observing and recording calls from a community of 78 chimpanzees, only eight of whom were adult males.
They found that chimpanzees varied wildly in the extent of their calls during mating, but noticed a pattern that had never been spotted before. Audio recordings revealed that females were more vocal during sex if there were other high-ranking males around, but that they toned the noise down significantly when aggressive females were nearby.
The findings suggest that chimpanzees are able to use their calls for more complex social communication than previously thought.
…
Jun 13 2008
The Great Ape trust of Iowa has been caught up in the floods. Fortunately, all the apes are safe in their well-designed buildings. All non-essential personnel have been evacuated.
The trust has contingency plans to evacuate the apes to zoos temporarily in the event of an emergency.
It looks like the worst is over, and things are beginning to return to normal. It’ll take a while to clean up the damage though.
May 01 2008
If you haven’t come across it before, I recommend you take a look at the Gombe Chimpanzee Blog. It is now hosted by the Jane Goodall Institute.
You can follow the movements of the chimps in Google Earth, giving you a good sense of exactly where on Earth they are.
