Prime Earth: Latest News

Hands and Brains Are Super Cool in Humans. Turns Out, They're Super Cool in Gibbons Too!

2017-03-31T17:31:00.002-04:00

Quoting Fan et al. (2017): “Group-level manual laterality in humans is related to hemispheric functional lateralization and cognitive functions”.... Just kidding, sometimes hand and brain stuff can sound very complex and confusing, we know! So here's the lowdown just for you:

The intricate and detailed connections in primates between how our brains function and how our hands work IS really complex. And it’s REALLY cool too! Because when you take a moment to pause and appreciate how amazing it is that you can think a thought in your mind with your imagination and then actually bring that idea to life in the physical world by using your hands, it’s an astonishing reminder of just how amazing our human bodies really are.

Your dog can’t do that. Nor can your cat, or the bird flying by outside. Not even that raccoons who manage to pull the lid off the garbage cans no matter how hard you try to stop them from getting in there, can use their brains and hands the way we do.

Human hand use is pretty special, and so are our complicated brains, but it hasn’t always been this way for us and in fact, it took many years of evolution coordinating our hand use and brain development together to create the fine tuned finger movements and complicated brains we have today.

Across the globe, researchers who have studied hand use in humans have found that all humans have a greater tendency to be right handed over left handed, but even more importantly – essentially all humans prefer to use one hand more often than the other, rarely preferring both equally - and that special preference in humans has been linked to our complex brains. (That’s what that first sentence of this post says 😊)

Even though our brain may look like one big lump of scrunched up tissue in the photo, different parts of our brains actually control different sets of skills we use everyday as we move about in the world. The cells at the back of the brain, for example, control our eyesight and vision, while the cells in the centre on the left side control our tongue during speech. This allows humans to do many things at once, like carry on a conversation while preparing a meal – walking, talking, carrying and cutting up vegetables all without skipping a beat to stop and think about it.

Complex hand use has been linked to complex tongue movements, and these body parts and movements are controlled by a specific area of the brain, leading researchers to suggest that language and tool use may have evolved together over human history.

Gibbons, like humans, have complex communication skills. They are also some of our closest living relatives, preceding orang-utans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos. So when researchers are trying to figure out how humans developed preferences for hands to begin with (a key trait that may have led us down the path of developing complex brains over time) – looking at our ape cousins is a good place to start. If gibbons demonstrate hand preferences, like other apes and humans do, then we could infer that preferring to use one hand when doing things like reaching for a tasty fig in a tree top or reaching for a tasty apple out of the fridge, is likely the result of our old lifestyle habit of hanging in the trees.

Our ancestors, like gibbons today, likely lived in the tree tops, but instead of walking on top of branches on all four legs like monkeys do, their bodies were designed to swinging below the branches – meaning they would hang from one arm while reaching out to the tips of tree branches to get the best tasty fruits to feast on.

A recent study published in the journal Primates by Morino et al (2017) suggests that siamangs and gibbons tend to be left-handed when performing tasks! And this is a big deal, because it tells us that way, way back in evolutionary history; before apes got bigger bodies (like orangs and chimps), before humans started walking on two feet (like we do today), before we started crafting tools to manifest our imaginations through cultural objects, the hand-brain connection was developing in history – laying the groundwork for our hands and brains to get more and more complicated as time progressed.

Understanding the relationship between handedness and brain function, and learning about the development of these skills in our closest living relatives is key to helping scientists understand a wide range of seemingly unrelated issues such as dyslexia, stuttering, developmental neurobiology, and the origins of human language and tool use. Ultimately, it helps us to understand ourselves better, as well as the similarities and differences that make us who we are, and connect us to all the other valuable living species with whom we share this magnificent and fascinating world.

It's super cool most gibbons appear to be left-handed.
The closer we look, the more we discover - we are all more alike than we are different.

---

Sources Cited:

Penglai Fan, Chanyuan Liu, Hongyi Chen1, Xuefeng Liu, Dapeng Zhao, Jinguo Zhang, and Dingzhen Liu (2017) Preliminary study on hand preference in captive northern white-cheeked gibbons (Nomascus leucogenys). Primates. Springer: DOI 10.1007/s10329-016-0573-8

Luca Morino, Makiko Uchikoshi, Fred Bercovitch, William D. Hopkins, and Tetsuro Matsuzawa. (2017) Tube task hand preference in captive hylobatids. Primates. Springer: 1-10

The Sweet Side of Saving Gibbons: the perils of palm oil

2017-03-31T15:56:00.000-04:00

Indulge in the sweet side of saving gibbons this Easter by reading the labels of all the chocolate and candy products you buy to ensure they are palm-oil free.

Palm oil is pretty much everywhere, it’s one of the most widely used vegetable oils in the world, and a very popular choice amongst manufacturers due to its high yield and versatility. But there are alternatives if you look for them and it just takes a few extra seconds to scan the label of the products you buy to ensure they are palm oil free.

Why do we recommend avoiding palm oil completely?

Sadly palm oil development for global consumption is the main culprit fueling deforestation in South-East Asia. The top three regions where palm oil is produced are: Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, where more than 85% of the global supply of palm oil is grown. The industry is linked to major environmental and humanitarian issues driving deforestation, habitat degradation, climate change, animal cruelty and indigenous rights abuses in the countries where it is produced, as the land and forests must be cleared for the development of the oil palm plantations.

In December 2014, new European Union laws made it mandatory for palm oil to be included on product labeling and not hidden as generic vegetable oils. But that’s still not the case in other parts of the world, so here’s a handy list of palm oil ingredients to look for when reading labels to ensure the products you buy are palm-oil free.

Note: This list is not exhaustive of all the alternative names for palm oil and not exclusive to food products (e.g. sodium lauryl sulphate is a foaming agent found in soaps & detergents), but it's a good start and can be used when reading the labels of all the products you buy to ensure they are palm oil free.

INGREDIENTS & DERIVATIVES CONTAINING PALM OIL:

· Vegetable Oil

· Vegetable Fat

· Palm Kernel

· Palm Kernel Oil

· Palm Fruit Oil

· Palmate

· Palmitate

· Palmolein

· Glyceryl

· Stearate

· Stearic Acid

· Elaeis Guineensis

· Palmitic Acid

· Palm Stearine

· Palmitoyl Oxostearamide

· Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3

· Sodium Laureth Sulfate

· Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

· Sodium Kernelate

· Sodium Palm Kernelate

· Sodium Lauryl

· Lactylate/Sulphate

· Hyrated Palm Glycerides

· Etyl Palmitate

· Octyl Palmitate

· Palmityl Alcohol

Be sure to pick up one of our handy "Perils of Palm Oil" tips cards at one of our next events for the perforated wallet card version of this list that you can carry with you to the grocery store for every visit!

Join Us!

2017-03-07T16:54:00.000-05:00

The world is an amazing place and we're on a mission to live in harmony with nature and create a more compassionate world... are you coming?

Like us on Facebook or visit our website at www.primeearthonline.org.

Unlocking the Cage Special Event Announcement

2017-01-03T16:49:00.000-05:00

NEW SPECIES ALERT!

2017-01-02T16:46:00.000-05:00

A study published in the American Journal of Primatology this month has described a new species of hoolock gibbon ranging in eastern Myanmar and southwestern China.

Now these aren't an entirely new group of animals never seen before, but researchers looking at their pelage colouration and song patterns have determined that certain gibbons previously identified as Hoolock leucogenys are actually distinctive enough from other leucogenys species to warrant a new name classification.

The new scientific name is: Hoolock tianxing and the new common name they recommend is: "Skywalker Hoolock Gibbon".

A Direct Connection To Star Wars?

Well it just so happens, as the authors explain in their paper, that "tianxing" means heaven's movement or skywalker in mainland Chinese phonetic alphabet - a name they picked referring to the unique mode of locomotion gibbons use termed: brachiation.... But we also happen to know that principal investigator Peng-Fei Fan and his colleagues are also huge Star Wars fans 😉

Reflecting on Harambe & The Value of Life.

2016-05-31T16:43:00.000-04:00

Recent events at the Cincinnati Zoo have been bombarding our PE newsfeeds lately and while I am pleased by the outpouring of emotion all over social media from concerned people, the rampant attacks and finger pointing is also driving me nuts. So I offer some perspective here in an effort to help make sense of a tragic incident for our friends and followers who may be wondering what to think, and to provide some useful tips for the next time you visit a zoo…

First, it's important to recognize that this was a terrible tragedy and the Cincinnati Zoo Staff/Response Team faced an incredibly difficult decision.

As far as I am aware, they followed their protocol to protect the child. I think Jeff Corwin has done a great job of discussing the facts we know as outside observers and offers some important points to consider (unlike Jack Hanna who made several problematic statements). Zoos have come a long way since the Cincinnati Zoo was first established in the 1930s, and often AZA accredited zoos do many wonderful things to support conservation efforts for animals in the wild, but make no mistake about it: zoos are prisons for the animals that they house. And they house those animals for our entertainment.

Many people are throwing blame and calling for accountability from the zoo and particularly the parents (quite viciously attacking the mother of the child in their commentary, sadly). I’m not blaming either of them. They are part of a much larger issue that plagues all of us, particularly each and every one of us who frequent zoos here in North America, and that is: in our collective culture, we believe that human lives are more valuable than other animals.

That’s why zoos exist. That’s why zoo enclosures have open area moats separating the visitors from the animals. That’s why the vast majority of people frequenting zoos wreak havoc as soon as they enter running from one area to the next calling to the animals, throwing things into enclosures, and banging on glass windows.

Perhaps at this point you might be thinking: “True, but I’ve never done any of those things, so this doesn’t apply to me." But sadly, we’ve all seen it happen and rarely do we tell people doing it to stop taunting the animals. Why not? Probably because, other than such behaviour annoying you, you might not have been able to think of a good reason to give for why they should stop such rude behaviour. Plus realistically, it simply happens so frequently, and so relentlessly, that the madness of such hyper activity at the zoo simply wears everyone out, including you. So no one speaks up.

It wears out the animals too. And remember they are trapped.

Believing that human lives are more valuable than animals creates a destructive sequence of thoughts and behaviours in our every day lives, and here’s why:

First, it allows us to trap other animals and put them on display.
Second, it allows us to rank the value of other animal species so that it appears to us to be a tragic loss when an endangered species’ life is taken but it’s not quite such a big deal when that pesky raccoon or deer or mouse in the house is hunted, trapped, and killed in our own backyards.
And finally, believing human lives to be more valuable than others sets up the clear and basic assumption that in any interaction with an animal no matter how harmless or potentially dangerous the situation may be, we perceive that ultimately there is always an underlying choice to be made between one life or the other.

This is a very dangerous way to live, my friends, because it is entirely based on fear and fear is an instinctive response - in our modern world it is often irrational.

People fear gorillas and consider them to be dangerous beasts. This, gorillas most certainly are NOT. But we can’t expect every person to know the intimate details of gorilla lives, as well as the intimate lives and behaviours of all the animals that we gawk at in zoos while running from enclosure to enclosure. So what can we do? Zoos exist. People are excited to see animals. And many of us are slow to relinquish our ideas of human superiority.

What I consider to be the most valuable lesson to come out of Harambe's untimely death is simply this: WE ALL NEED TO BE MORE CONSIDERATE OF OTHERS (no matter who or what they are). And that’s a very simple and basic lesson to teach our youth. It’s also one of the most important things they can learn because when we are more considerate of others, we realize we are all more alike than we are different and this dissipates fear.

Teach your children to respect animals by appreciating the similarities and respecting the differences among us. Kids get it, and they think it’s cool. Kids can understand very easily, very early on, that other animals are valuable and interesting creatures who live interesting and different lives than humans. Elementary, high-school, and university students can all get this too, it’s not just for the young tots.

Then when you visit zoos, treat the animals with respect.

Tell your kids, explain it clearly and honestly to help them understand: these animals are trapped here, they may be well cared for but they cannot leave this space, and, though it is not ideal, it is a GREAT PRIVELEDGE to be in their presence in this space. It should not be taken lightly; look at how they move and rest and eat and breathe like us. Look at where they are sitting in their space or the objects they are interacting with. Ask your kids, what do you think the animal may be thinking about right now? Ask your children, what do they notice that is similar and different from one animal to the next – How is the gorilla like us? How is it different from the lion? How is the lion like us? What is the same? What is different?

Teach them to see themselves reflected in another.

Embrace the opportunity to show them how to be nice to others by teaching children to respect other animals for their power and their grace. We do not need to fear them. We are more alike than we are different.

Since zoos do exist, preferably they should be designed and created to protect their residents from the "intruders" who come to see them. But right now, they are not. So it’s important to remember, as zoo visitors, yes - all animals have instincts and behavioural patterns, but these animals also know nothing of the “outside world”. They are confined to the limits of the enclosures that house them, for most of them those enclosures are all they have ever known, and those enclosures are ultimately designed not to protect them from you, but to ensure YOU can get a good view of them at a distance presumed to be safe enough for you (the rational thinker) not to have contact with them. The assumption here is that "common sense" in humans will prevent people from crossing the line that separates 'man from beast'.

When we believe a human life to be more valuable than the animal on display, designing zoo enclosures thinking of humans before others would be a reasonable assumption. But we all know humans to be quite foolish creatures; we have proven that repeatedly on many occasions.

Over the past 3 decades, zoos have made major strides in altering their enclosures to be more enriching for the animals they confine. I hope Harambe’s death will force zoo administrators across the globe to reconsider the design of their enclosures once again - using this tragedy as motivation to ensure, not only are the animals they confine more stimulated in their environments for their overall health and wellbeing, but also that they are well protected from the threats they face from the one species that is disturbing and dictating the facets of their lives both in the wild and in captivity.

Let’s not forget that it is this one species that is relentlessly destroying their natural habitats, their populations, and confining them to captivity in the first place, all for its own gain and entertainment – all actions resulting from superiority thinking.

If you take one message away from this piece, please let it be this: the decision was flawed from the start and inevitable. It never was between Harambe or the child. The only policy that should have been in place is: how do we ensure BOTH valuable lives come out of this situation alive and safe.

We are all valuable.

We are all a part of this world.

We are all connected.

We must learn, as a rational – thinking, feeling species – to be more considerate of others, enabling us to focus on the similarities and accept the differences in order to share our space, without fear, in peace.

- - -

The next time you visit a zoo, please be respectful of the animals. Treat them as you would like to be treated. You can come and go from this space freely. They cannot.

Wanderlust

2013-06-28T10:49:00.000-04:00

Wanderlust: an irresistible desire to travel to understand one’s very existence.

…

Moments before midnight on January 25^th 2007, I stepped off a Boeing 777 and shuffled my way through air-con-icebox corridors following a wave of people into the expansive white warehouse style rooms of the Suvarnabhumi airport. I collected my backpack and walked out into the thick humid Bangkok air for the very first time. I climbed into the prearrange car service I set up only a few hours earlier from Hong Kong, and was rocketed off to a mysterious hotel booked by my friend who’s flight was delay until the next day.

It’s been 6 and a half years since that initial tentative excursion, but now traveling to Thailand is just a habitual part of my way of life. I think about it all the time. My friends will tell you I talk about it all the time. Sometimes I even take it for granted, and “I could never do that” comments from friends and strangers when referring to my life startle me. Anyone can do this, I think to myself, people are just people everywhere you go.

The fact that I work so far from home and travel often is not an unforeseen component of my life. On my “List of Things to Do” that I started compiling back in high-school, there are 34 countries I want to visit. Surprisingly, Thailand was never on the original list. It’s funny how things work out.

Every time I go to Thailand it’s a new experience, and that’s one of the really cool things about traveling and moving around a lot that I appreciate so much, no matter how hard it can be at times. It’s just that simple fact that even when you’re going to the same places things change; and when things change and you can see it happening, it’s a pretty freaking awesome reminder of how vibrant and amazing this world really is.

In the day to day routine of life, it’s easy to miss those changes – one day just blends into the other and things appear to stay the same. But nothing ever stays the same, everything changes. Sometimes those changes can smack you in the face when you expect things to be a certain way, which isn’t always easy and can really hurt quite a bit. Sometimes there is intense resistance and turmoil before the calm sets in. Everyday I’m learning more and more how to accept things as they are and just roll with the transformations. It can be a demanding process, acceptance, but it’s always worth it.

This trip I did things I’ve done before: spent time with old friends, and ran around the jungle like usual. But I also did several things I’ve never done before: ate crickets and chicken feet, zoomed around on the back of a motorcycle going way too fast down hills most of the time, watched the sun rise at Nong Pak Chi watchtower, walked through the Chiang Mai Night Market like a tourist, went ziplining in the forest canopy in Mae Kampong…and relished in the sweet rejuvenation of my love of adventure for just being out in the world, soaking it in (as opposed to studying it so intensely for my research)… as always it was a fantastic trip.

Now I’m back and there is much work to be done compiling and editing videos, dissertation stuff, writing papers…it’s back to the grindstone – the 90% hard work. But it was a glorious 10%. And I can’t wait to tell you what the gibbons have been up to since I last left.

Sorry we weren't able to keep you updated as we went throughout the trip as we expected but stay tuned, there’s more to come…

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We have arrived!

2013-06-01T21:55:00.000-04:00

We are finally here! After months of planning, Josh and I touched down in Suvarnabumhi late Thursday night and made our way out of the airport to our hostel for some much needed sleep after a long journey!

For the past two days we've been puttering around Bangkok going to the malls and markets to pick up supplies for the rest of our stay in Khao Yai.

It's been an interesting two days, I'm absolutely amazed by how many things have changed since I left in such a short time, just over a year and a half ago. Mostly it's just new construction: new renovations to the malls, new sky scrappers, new stores, new streets and roadways. But the people and the atmosphere is still the same: friendly faces, intense heat and lots of traffic noise.

We start the trek out to Khao Yai in about two hours, and may not have internet access for a few days to a week, but I will continue to post more updates as frequently as I can.

Can't wait to get back and see all my friends again, and most of all SEE THE GIBBONS!!!

Everything still feels a little surreal right now, I've been gone for a long time. Too long.
It's time to get back to the jungle!!

Josh posted some pictures from our day at the Chatachuk Market on the JPP facebook page last night, take a look here: www.facebook.com/jackieprimeproject

Stay tuned, there's so much more to come!!

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Only a few days left to give.

2012-12-30T12:38:00.003-05:00

We're into the final countdown, only 4 DAYS left!
Help make it happen for the Jackie Prime Project with our Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.

Contribute today: http://igg.me/p/278625/twtr

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Now Is the Start

2012-12-19T11:02:00.001-05:00

Help make it happen for the Jackie Prime Project! Only 15 days left!!
Please contribute to our Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign: http://igg.me/p/278625

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Giving Back to Thailand.

2012-11-20T12:43:00.002-05:00

Three years ago I landed in Bangkok, tired from a really long flight from Canada, worried about how I was going to get out of the airport with all my baggage/field equipment, and feeling very aware of the fact that I was completely alone on the other side of the world. Armed with some research equipment, a video camera, and a solid pair of hiking boots, I had arrived in Thailand to begin my PhD research and was moving into the jungle to study primates at UNESCO World Heritage Site, Khao Yai National Park. It was the start of my biggest adventure to date.

The for next two years I would live with Thai locals as the only foreign researcher in one of Thailand’s largest, and most celebrated, protected rainforests. And relying only on the kindness of strangers, I had to learn the local language fast and figure out how things worked to make new friends in order to survive so far away from home.

I documented my journey in this blog for my friends and family to read, but soon the blog grew into a more meaningful enterprise. An audience was building of students and interested readers looking to learn more about the animals I study, my relationships with the Thai locals in a foreign culture, and my experiences with nature.

In a nutshell, you guys already know: it was the best experience of my life and I'm so thankful so many people were interested in reading about my adventures!!

When I finished my research and returned home from Thailand at the end of 2011, I knew things couldn’t end there. I had to do more. More people need experiences like mine to gain perspective of themselves and find their place in the world; more opportunities needed to be available for young adults to experience other ways of life and consider the essential interrelatedness of humans and nature. And most importantly, I had to find a way to give back to the local communities and people who, though they had very little themselves to give, enriched my life and shared with me all that they had, taking care of me while I lived so very far away from home for so long.

And so, I initiated the Jackie Prime Project (www.jackieprime.org).

The Project
The main purpose of the Jackie Prime Project is to create opportunities for young adults to experience other cultures and live in nature, developing their skills of compassion, self-value/confidence and empathy, and to educate people about the interconnectedness of humans and nature.

With the help of a few of my friends and dedicated student volunteers, I have created an enthusiastic group of peers to help me build my vision and share it with others. We believe that knowledge of the connections between humans and nature through active participation in the world fosters harmony, empathy for others, and globally responsible individuals.

We're still a small group, but with your support we can create opportunities for other students to venture outside the classroom and experience the world first hand in a fun, safe, and educational way. But to really turn our work into positive action we need a bit of money, and so we initiated a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo.

The purpose of this fundraising campaign is to help us raise funds to initiate our prospective core programs:

The Core Programs:

provide a public platform for students in anthropological, biological, environmental studies/work to showcase their work on our website
create a mentorship network to mediate opportunities for high school and undergraduate students to connect with graduate students in their prospective area of interest and gain hands on fieldwork experience for future careers/higher education
promote activities that teach global responsibility through experiential education trips abroad
provide educational materials, resources and supplies to underprivileged youth living in rural Thailand in the Nakon Ratchasima Province of North-Eastern Thailand where Khao Yai is located
produce educational videos that highlight ongoing JPP activities and humanitarian work, showcase current academic fieldwork by graduate students and professors around the globe, and detail conservation and environmental topics to keep viewers informed

We need money to:

continue to build and maintain an interactive website for our project
cover printing and translation costs for posters we made to educate park visitors and staff about the dangers of human-wildlife contact, promoting appropriate activities for nature appreciation (e.g.: Don’t feed the monkeys, put garbage in provided dispensers, etc.)
cover distribution costs for our humanitarian efforts to provide clothing and school supplies to young kids living in the Khao Yai area
purchase additional video equipment to produce our educational videos
cover travel expenses for our volunteer staff trial-expedition before opening these trips to the general public through our website

Your contribution would allow us cover the production costs for developing our initiatives, permitting us to develop a strong organization of volunteers working to create opportunities for high school and undergraduate students, and help underprivileged kids in rural Thailand go to school with the right equipment to get the most out of their education.

To contribute choose a perk from our Indiegogo campaign here: http://igg.me/p/278625?a=1771354

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BIG NEWS: JPP is on Indiegogo!!

2012-11-19T07:00:00.000-05:00

We're raising money to start-up our programs!

The Jackie Prime Project is run entirely by volunteers and we need a little extra support to help get things going.

So this weekend we launched our very first fundraising campaign for the Jackie Prime Project!! It's a global crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo.com, which means anyone can contribute by claiming perks to help us get started as an organisation.

You can read the full campaign (and contribute) here: http://igg.me/p/278625

Our goal is to raise $5000.00 and the campaign will run for 47 days.

We are trying to raise start-up funds to help us apply for charity registration, buy some new camera equipment, cover some expenses for our first activities (printing education posters about monkeys & gibbons for Khao Yai, and buying new uniforms for kids in Khao Yai to have for school), and cover travel expenses for a staff trip to Thailand with our student volunteers (3 people will go).

The purpose of the trip is to go through a trial-run expedition with staff to ensure things run smoothly for future students and JPP members when we open up this option to the public the following year.

For each trip we run there will always be a mix of living in, and learning about, nature at Khao Yai, while also giving back to the local community in need. And portion of the funds we raise will be used on our staff trip to distribute school uniforms and school supplies to kids in need living in Khao Yai.

We will also use funds to have posters we designed translated into Thai and printed to give to Khao Yai National Park. These posters will be located in all the tourist facilities around the park headquarters promoting appropriate activities for nature appreciation to park visitors, educating them about the dangers of human-wildlife interactions (e.g.: Don't feed the monkeys). This is a continuation of a project I began in December 2010 with Tik when the popular Thai television program Navigator came to Khao Yai to talk with me and my Thai team about monkeys and gibbons (Navigator Year 6, Episode 85 *Thai version, our segment starts about 9mins into the program).

People can contribute to our campaign by claiming one of the perks (ranging from $10 to $1000) and depending on what you contribute/claim you can get anything from a postcard from Thailand to some JPP merchandise, to a special photo of a gibbon or a chance to Skype with me and the JPP team and my friends in Thailand this coming June 2013 :)

In addition, we've also updated some of the pages on our www.jackieprime.org website and in the next two weeks we will be posting the new Gibbon Guardians pages too.

So, the JPP team has been hard at work this year and it's very exciting!! Our volunteers have been doing some great work behind the scenes to help build a strong foundation for our organisation to run and I am so appreciative of all their hard work!!

If you and people you know want to contribute (even just $10 would help), please check out our website (www.jackieprime.org) and our Indiegogo campaign (http://igg.me/p/278625).

Please tell everyone you know :)

We have a vision: A world in which all people respect each other & nature.

Help us build the Jackie Prime Project, contribute and claim your perk at Indiegogo: http://igg.me/p/278625

We greatly appreciate your support!

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Jane Goodall, Gibbons, and A Little Girl’s Dream.

2012-09-20T19:56:00.000-04:00

Many people ask me how I got into studying gibbons for a living, and quite honestly there is no direct answer to that question, because it wasn’t a direct route. When I was growing up in Burlington, I wanted to be many things: first on the list (so I’m told by my parents) was a “ballerina hockey player” but that’s too far back for me to even remember saying, and I don’t really dance or skate these days so that was probably a bit of a stretch.

One clear target that I do know from as far back as I can remember is that I always wanted to get my PhD. By the time I was about 4 or 5 years old, I had firmly established in my mind that I wanted to be called “Dr. Prime” when I grew up because that’s my Dad’s name (he has a PhD in chemistry), and I wanted to be like my Dad. So from the moment I first started school until this very day, that destination has always firmly held the course, and thus likely guided the navigation parameters since then.

The rest of the story follows with many sentences that start off with “I was lucky enough to have/get…” and end with “…so I took that opportunity and just went with it.”

Since the time I announced that I was going to become a primatologist and left home 9 years ago to start this path, Jane Goodall’s name and story has been a fundamental element woven into my journey. People don’t always know what Primatology is, but they do know who Jane Goodall is. And it seems no matter who you tell (outside of Primatology) that you study monkeys and apes for a living, around the world the immediate response is “Oh, like Jane Goodall.” For a while, that even became the go-to clarification for when family and friends tried to explain what I do and people’s faces started to become somewhat perplexed: “She wants to be like Jane Goodall.” (Aah, I see now.)

Perhaps it’s somewhat pejorative to fuss over semantics but to be honest my objective has never been to be like Jane Goodall, it has always been to make my own place beside her.

I know I sat in the Burlington Performing Arts Centre for the BG EcoAwards last night with a completely different perspective than anyone else in the theatre. And as Jane wowed the crowd with her famous chimpanzee greeting call and the narrative of her life story intertwined with her message of hope for the future and the success of her work with JGI thus far - all familiar stories to me, all familiar issues, and all familiar experiences, I thought about how hard it all is. How everyday is a struggle and a reward all rolled into one. How Primatology looks so great and adventurous in pictures (and it is), but it’s also a lonely treacherous and thorny route to take.

After the presentation, a crowd formed in the main lobby for the book signing, I was ushered into the designated media room with a few journalists and photographers, a ridiculous uneasiness overtook me as I glanced at the set up of the room. A few chairs (~10) were set up across from a table with water glasses and 3 more chairs. This was an odd experience, certainly not a scientific conference. There was no time to chat about primates. Then Jane walked in with her people who explained there were only a few minutes for questions, and David from Burlington Beat.ca moved towards her to introduce me.

It’s overwhelming to be standing in a room with a bunch of strangers while experiencing some very personal emotions. Here I was in my hometown, my Dad had accompanied me to the event, and here I stood in these serendipitous circumstances about to be introduced to the woman who’s pictures in National Geographic magazines I once admired as a little girl while thinking to myself “I could do that!”

I wanted to talk to Jane about gibbons. But no one else in the media room cared about that.

My emotions got the best of me, and the rest is pretty blurry. We hugged. There were lots of photos taken. Someone asked me to write my name down. I gave Jane a Jackie Prime Project: Gibbon Guardian tote bag from our organization. She handed it to someone else. Soon it was all over and I was back in the lobby with everyone else.

At the end of the entire night, I was the second last person in line for Jane to sign my book. She was clearly extremely exhausted and nearly ready to fall over. They handed her my book and she paused before signing her name.

“If you are ever in Thailand and have time to see the gibbons,” I said, “I will take you to them.”

She perked up a little bit and looked up at me with what almost seemed like envy and longing.
“Ohhhhh,” she quietly exclaimed, “wouldn’t that be wonderful.”

I smiled, “It would be wonderful. I want to introduce them to you. Please, anytime, just contact me.” She smiled weakly but with immense sincerity and I took my book.

And that will be the moment I most cherish from meeting this iconic woman who has made a dramatic impact on the world and Primatology and changed the way we think about humankind. Because in that brief instant the link we share reverberated clearly: we both know what it’s like to be at home in the forest with the apes, and we both know that life is most vibrant in the jungle.

“It's not about how to achieve your dreams, it's about how to lead your life, ... If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

---
Very special Thanks to Burlington Green and the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada for hosting last night, it was a great event.

And an extra special THANK YOU to BURLINGTON BEAT.ca for introducing me to some wonderful people in Burlington: Mayor, Rick Goldring, and Burlington Public Library CEO, Maureen Barry, and for working behinds the scenes to set things up for me to specially meet Dr. Goodall!!

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Welcome to Burlington Dr. Jane Goodall.

2012-09-19T07:30:00.000-04:00

In honour of Jane Goodall's talk in my hometown of Burlington, ON, tonight, I am reposting a piece I wrote about my experience volunteering at the Chimpanzee Human Communication Institute prior to starting grad school titled: "Appearances Can Be Deceiving"

Enjoy :)

---

One day when I was volunteering at the Chimpanzee Human Communication Institute in Ellensburg, Washington, where Washoe (the famous chimpanzee trained in American Sign Language) and her family live, an argument broke out between the chimps.

At the time there were 4 chimps living in the facility, in order of dominance rank: Washoe, her adopted son Loulis, Tatu, and Dar. I was in the observation area recording their independent, seemingly peaceful, behaviour for a paper project conducted by Dr. Mary Lee Jensvold when the tension broke out and chaos ensued.

The chimps were screaming loudly, jumping from platforms to the ground, and swinging on fire hoses and tires hung around the enclosure for enrichment; toys and magazines (other enrichment items) were being thrown around the air as the chimps chased each other around their enclosure. It was an intense moment and all of us humans just observed in awkward silence.

I remember everyone stopped what they were doing. A few volunteers and staff were sweeping in a nearby area closed for cleaning. But they stopped and looked down at their feet, just listening and waiting for the argument to stop. The people once talking in the outside hallway to the viewing area went silent. This ruckus the chimps were making was so powerful it felt like everyone in the building was becoming anxious and uneasy.
My heartrate sped up a few beats. This was a serious altercation I was observing.

It’s never comfortable to witness a family argument, regardless of the species. But in a brief moment of clarity during the commotion, I focused right on Washoe (the dominant female and head of the family) who was standing in one spot of the enclosure screaming (as chimps do when they vocalize) and frantically signing to the others as they jumped around her.

She was repeatedly signing: “Hug, Love” over and over and over again.
Just standing there, calling to the others, and signing “Hug, Love” “Hug, Love” “Hug, Love”

Amidst the apparent chaos and calamity of a chimpanzee argument, the dominant female was actually calling for peace!

Within a few seconds, Dar swooped past her, touched her shoulder and then stationed himself on a nearby platform. Washoe stopped signing and screaming, then everyone else settled down and the chimps went back to their quiet, independent activities.

Few experiences in my life have been as momentous as witnessing that brief and simple interaction between chimpanzees, and I never would have known anything about what was really happening between those chimps if Washoe didn’t know and use sign language to communicate in that instant.

Many people think that animals are aggressive, barbaric creatures, and certainly an argument between chimpanzees would appear this way to any human observer. Loud and chaotic, speaking a language we don’t understand, wild animals can appear threatening and dangerous. So we develop fear of them and disconnect; convince ourselves that humans are more civilized than brutish apes.

But animals are more complex than we initially see, and with a little understanding and awareness it becomes quite clear that most of the time they are just like us and we are just like them.

Washoe (~Sept 1965 – Oct 30, 2007)
Picture Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washoe_(chimpanzee)

To learn more about Washoe and CHCI visit: http://www.cwu.edu/~cwuchci/

And read Dr. Roger Fouts AMAZING book: Next of Kin

---

Can't wait to hear Dr. Goodall's talk at the Burlington Green Awards tonight.
This is an amazing opportunity Burlington! Hope to see you all out there!
Come over and say Hi :)

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Back to School...

2012-08-14T18:25:00.001-04:00

School is starting once again and for me this is a momentous occasion because it marks the beginning of the last year I’ll ever be in school…as a student. I started school when I was 4 years old and I’ll be ending this epic three decade journey with a new title, a few extra letters around my name, a certified piece of paper in a frame, and a brain so stuffed with information that it mostly just seems like a jumbled muddle of words.

I’ve been in Graduate School longer than most of my Thai friends have EVER been in school. And that’s tough to think about. Not because grad school takes forever in Anthropology, but because school is so valuable, yet totally taken for granted in our North American lives that it hurts to stop and consider it in a humanitarian perspective.

Most people are impressed when they hear that you’re working on your doctorate in any field of study. Some disciplines have more clout to astonish then others. Anthropology usually gets looks of pleased confusion (What’s Anthropology?); Primate Studies gets some “Ooo’s and Aahh’s” (after you explain what a primate is – I study monkeys and apes), but for the most part, all people really seem to want to know after you say you’re still in school well beyond ‘normal’ years of schooling is: when will you be done? And, what will you do with that?

Well, for the first time ever I can, realistically, say: I’ll be done this year.
And the answer to the second question logically follows: I can do whatever I want.

That’s the point. Because school isn’t about how much time you spend there. Maybe you wanted to get out of school as soon as possible, maybe you thought better things were coming in the ‘real world’. But for people doing their doctorates like me, we don’t see it that way. That’s why we’re still in school. We’re working on the stuff we want to work on right now; we’re improving our lives, challenging our minds, and still growing up just like everyone else. And ya, it takes a long time, and no, we don’t like how long it takes either. But let’s put things in perspective: getting your doctorate is not a prison sentence. It’s not about putting in your time, getting a piece of paper, and walking away having paid your dues.

Education is life. And it requires the same determination, dedication, and effort to get through as any other worthy path life offers. There are ups and downs; roadblocks, detours, obstacles, mountains to climb, and hills to roll down; along with dazzling opportunities for personal growth and experience. Everyone questions themselves throughout the entire process of grad school. Many people quit before finishing their degrees. All the rest of us want to quit, but don’t. The difference between who stays and who goes is usually deeply personal.

That’s life.

A few years ago, I was stressed and strained to max capacity before taking my candidacy exams, I sighed in my advisor’s office and said: “I just need to get through this and it will get better.” To which she promptly responded: “It doesn’t get any easier, it just keeps getting harder after this.”

Ugh. That’s not what people want to hear when they're emotionally drained or feeling uncertain. We want to hear it's all gumdrops and lollipops from here on out. You do the work, and then live in a field of dreams with cloudless skies and rainbows, watching unicorns run in slow motion, glorious and free.

Apparently that never happens.

As with any push towards excellence, the further you go, the harder it gets. But see, what you learn by persevering through any training regime is that the world is not in actuality a terrible scary place you have to scurry through on your way to a pristine field of dreams. The world is actually quite malleable, and it changes. It’s impressionable, and because of that, it’s subject to your imprint – and you can make your mark on this world in a big, big way.

So you stop wanting an ending with unicorns and lollipops, and you start wanting a story with challenges and variation. Then after a while, when you know you’ve done the work, you start believing in yourself to the point where you want the opportunity to prove yourself in the world.

And you learn that success doesn’t look like this:

But rather, it looks more like this:

And you’re Ok with that because (though you’ve likely never seen a real unicorn) you’ve seen your fair share of rainbows and cloudless skies along your way. And you’ve frolicked in your dreamy fields a few times, but now you have even bigger ideas running just ahead of you to catch up with. So you push to run harder than before and you write your own story (the best stories cover a significant amount of time).
---
Since people don’t know so much about what anthropology is really like, they often think my life is one big vacation: I work on my own time, I live to inspire others, I have everything handed to me because I’m lucky, and I take extended holidays in the jungle. But that view is a little skewed. Yes, my story so far has been pretty great, but this is what an anthropological life really looks like:

It’s books and scattered papers. It’s computer screens and post-it notes. It’s lists of things to do made into charts and grids. And it’s thinking, thinking, thinking until you can’t think anymore, then thinking more, then readily admitting you’ve lost your mind and gone insane so you can have that breakthrough moment and write just one sentence that finally makes sense. Then it's back to more thinking. It’s staring at a pretty picture from a better time in your life on the wall in your office and sleepless stressed out nights. It’s being broke, all the time. It’s being challenged by basically everyone around you. It’s people rejecting your ideas, challenging your proposals, and tearing apart your research, so you can build it back up. It’s doubt. It’s exhaustion. It’s having faith in the bigger picture. It’s editing, so…much…fricking…editing… And it’s standing in a room of over 100 students trying to keep their attention long enough to spark a thought in their mind that sticks: the world is bigger than you currently imagine. And it’s standing in a room of 20 students trying to convince them to SPEAK UP ‘cause their thoughts and opinions matter: you are an important part of this giant world! And it’s grading papers, grading exams, grading projects; making posters, giving presentations, putting yourself out there by sharing your thoughts, and standing in conference rooms with intellectual giants feeling so very, very small.

90% of the time it’s a tremendous challenge, and really not all that glamorous.

90% of the time it’s just regular lifework, just like everyone else.

And a few weeks or months of a year, if you’re truly fortunate, it’s a chance to stand in a foreign place with a question, giving your best effort in a hopeful attempt to unearth the answer.

10% of the time it is glorious.

And you know what, I really kinda love it. :)

---

I have no special skills that equip me to be successful at anything I do. I’ve tried to find it a million times, but nothing makes me particularly special. I’m a primate; that makes me persistent by nature. I’m a human; that makes me adaptable and enduring by natural design. I’m putting in my 10,000 hours at school; that makes me skilled at what I love to do.

So for those of you heading back to school and considering your moves ahead this year, please keep this in mind: school is not a prison sentence, it's not about putting in your time.

This is your life, you can make it extraordinary.

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Remarkable People and the Relentless Pursuit.

2012-07-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

One summer about 15 or so years ago, I was at the cottage making lunch between swimming and soaking up the sun. The local news was on tv reporting about sporting events around the Muskoka area.

I wasn’t paying much attention, but I was aware the tv was on, and they were talking about this (relatively unknown at the time) sport called triathlon…still not paying much attention. Apparently there was a big event going on in Muskoka …still not paying attention. And they were talking about this young “up and comer” guy who was this hopeful 'big deal' athlete... or he was already somewhat of a big deal, not totally sure, ‘cause I still wasn’t paying much attention…. But I got that his name was Simon. And when they interviewed him (though to be honest, I can’t fully remember if he said it on tv or I read it in the local paper the next day), he told a story about throwing up on one of the drink stations in the middle of the run, feeling better, and going on to finish the race... and that part really got my attention.

Why would a story about throwing up make me like someone? I don’t know. But at that moment I decided triathlons would be in my future. And I wrote it on my list of things to do: “start doing triathlons when I turn 30” (for some reason I thought you had to be older to do them, and I guess I had other stuff to do first).

Yup, just to reiterate: I singled out the sport of triathlon, carried it around in my mind for just under a decade, started training when my 30^th birthday approached, and actually achieved my goal (competing in 2 races - my 1st tri & my 2nd tri - before I left for Thailand), all because some guy named Simon told a story about vomiting during a race, and I thought that sounded like something I wanted to get into…? (Side note, if you're interested: I now train to compete in Sprint Tris.)

But there’s more to this story then just how I got interested in triathlons, because after that vomit story sparked my interest, that Simon guy seemed to keep popping up again and again.

Not long after that summer, I was sitting in the lounge of an indoor go-cart track watching my friends race. The Sydney Olympics were on TV. People were running on the screen. I was watching my friends go around the track. But I kept hearing this voice in the background “Simon coming to the finish…” “Simon… something, something…Canada…Simon… Canada…Simon…” I could hear the crowd explosively cheering on the TV, and the announcer was full-on freaking out. My eyes became glued to the screen, and I so vividly remember standing, poised with emotion, staring at the screen in that lounge all alone, watching Canadian Simon Whitfield cross the finish line, becoming the first ever gold medalist in an Olympic Triathlon at the 2000 Summer Games.

“Hey that’s the guy that puked on the drink table in Muskoka!” and I was hooked for life. Which has been devotion well spent, as that kid on the local news has gone on to achieve a great many things and become (and continues to be) a true Canadian Icon. To quote his website biography for you:

Simon has continued since Sydney to pursue his sport with a passion and professionalism second to none. The rewards have followed the hard work: 12 national championships, 14 world cup victories, and, perhaps most significantly, in 2008 at the Beijing Olympic Games, in a race where he was counted out by everyone but himself, a stunning silver medal. *(Note: See him win silver in Beijing here)

Now I don't know Simon Whitfield personally, but someday I intend to shake his hand and let him know how much I appreciate him for being himself and sharing his relentless pursuit with the rest of us. I'm not an Olympic athlete, but paying attention to him all these years has helped me put together my own dream and helped focus me on learning how to make it happen for myself.

Maybe it was his blatant honesty that caught my attention so many years ago. Maybe it was his reoccurring presence over the years that made me stick with my own plans. Maybe it was just his pure Canadian awesomeness that I just love and appreciate so much more, since I’ve been “out-of-town” these last few years.

Whatever it is, he’s got it.

People that make you believe in yourself are remarkable,

be on the lookout for them everywhere you go.

Because it just might be the kid on the local news talking about vomit.

---

The definitive representative for Canada as flag bearer for the London 2012 Games!

Watch Simon lead our remarkable athletes into the Olympic Stadium in London in just 12 days!!

Picture Source

Here are some links to some Simon Whitfield stuff you should check out:
His website & twitter feed.
A cool video: Day in the Life - Training with Simon Whitfield
And What My Phone Saw & Triton Triathlon

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Appearances Can Be Deceiving.

2012-06-01T13:26:00.000-04:00

One day when I was volunteering at the Chimpanzee Human Communication Institute in Ellensburg, Washington, where Washoe (the famous chimpanzee trained in American Sign Language) and her family live, an argument broke out between the chimps.

At the time there were 4 chimps living in the facility, in order of dominance rank: Washoe, her adopted son Loulis, Tatu, and Dar. I was in the observation area recording their independent, seemingly peaceful, behaviour for a paper project conducted by Dr. Mary Lee Jensvold when the tension broke out and chaos ensued.

The chimps were screaming loudly, jumping from platforms to the ground, and swinging on fire hoses and tires hung around the enclosure for enrichment; toys and magazines (other enrichment items) were being thrown around as they chased each other around their enclosure. It was an intense moment and all of us humans just observed in awkward silence.

I remember everyone stopped what they were doing. A few volunteers and staff were sweeping in a nearby area closed for cleaning. But they stopped and looked down at their feet, just listening and waiting for the argument to stop. The people once talking in the outside hallway to the viewing area went silent; this ruckus the chimps were making was so powerful it felt like everyone around was becoming anxious and uneasy. My heartrate sped up a few beats. This was a serious altercation I was observing.

It’s never comfortable to witness a family argument, regardless of the species. But in a brief moment of clarity during the commotion, I focused right on Washoe (the dominant female and head of the family) who was standing in one spot of the enclosure screaming (as chimps do when they vocalize) and frantically signing to the others as they jump around her.

She was repeatedly signing: “Hug, Love” over and over and over again.
Just standing there, calling to the others, and signing “Hug, Love” “Hug, Love” “Hug, Love”

Amidst the apparent chaos and calamity of a chimpanzee argument, the dominant female was actually calling for peace!

Within a few seconds, Dar swooped past her, touched her shoulder and then stationed himself on a nearby platform. She stopped signing and screaming, then everyone settled down and the chimps went back to their quiet, independent activities.

Few experiences in my life have been as momentous as witnessing that brief and simple interaction between chimpanzees, and I never would have known anything about what was really happening among those individuals if Washoe didn’t know and use sign language to communicate in that instant.

Many people think that animals are aggressive, barbaric creatures, and certainly an argument between chimpanzees would appear this way to any human observer. Loud and chaotic, speaking a language we don’t understand, wild animals can appear threatening and dangerous. So we develop fear of them and disconnect; convince ourselves that humans are more civilized than brutish apes.

But animals are more complex then we initially see, and with a little understanding and awareness it becomes quite clear that most of the time they are just like us and we are just like them.

Washoe (~Sept 1965 – Oct 30, 2007)
Picture Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washoe_(chimpanzee)

To learn more about Washoe and CHCI visit: http://www.cwu.edu/~cwuchci/

And read Dr. Roger Fouts AMAZING book: Next of Kin

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How rats taught me I’ve got what it takes to succeed.

2012-05-23T16:21:00.000-04:00

When I moved into my field house in Thailand to begin my dissertation research, I wasn’t exactly moving into 5-star lodging for a spectacular vacation. The previous resident had left in a rush and didn’t tidy up before leaving. And the current residents… the rats… hadn’t really kept the place up to pristine sanitation standards, nor were they intent on moving out anytime soon.

Field stations are notorious for NOT being the ideal, most comfortable living quarters; oftentimes set up in remote, relatively inaccessible places with no electricity, and sometimes even without access to clean water.

My house in Thailand by many standards, relative to other primate field stations my peers and colleagues reside in, actually DOES seem like extraordinary accommodation with 24hr electricity, an outdoor hose with running water (not drinkable, but safe enough to use for cleaning), an indoor toilet in the Thai-style bathroom, and the hot water shower (I installed the second day I arrived).

But when I first arrived with the intention to settle in to the space for the next year or so and saw the grubby conditions, I knew I wouldn’t last longer than a month if I didn’t overhaul the space and make it my own. And with my parents coming from Canada to visit just two months after my arrival in Thailand to experience firsthand what my “exciting, adventurous” life is REALLY like (read: *sigh* why did she go into anthropology of all things…? Or, perhaps more reasonably: my baby girl is on the other side of the world marooned in the abyss of treacherous nature!!), dropping out and running home wasn’t an option. I had to survive, which meant I had to clean up (Survival Tip #5).

So, I immediately started to clean with all that I had: a squeegee, some rags, and the outdoor hose. I started with the dishes, and that’s how I first met Jambee. Without saying a word (because at that time I couldn’t speak Thai and she can’t speak English) she squatted down beside me and began helping with the dishes. Then she went inside and cleaned the bathroom while I started on the kitchen. Never have I been more impressed with the kindness of a stranger. Our only means of communication consisted of exasperated gasps, the universal signs of human facial expressions and gestures, and A LOT of laughter. As I watched her I was certain I could never have cleaned that bathroom on my own. It was horrid.

In fact, there were other places I just couldn’t bring myself to clean either: behind the fridge, the grey (formerly white) walls, the dilapidated kitchen corner with the massive hole (aka, rat entrance) that exposed the plumbing pipe (waste disposal only) underneath the toilet… I did the best I could at the time, cleared an area for myself, kept it tidy and avoided the rest.

Not long after that came the worst day ever, when one of the rats died behind the fridge.

That was the beginning of a long battle against the rats to claim ownership of the house. And it culminated one and half years later,when I was plastering a hole with my bare hand, fighting a rat on the other side who was pushing the wet plaster back at me as I filled the hole.

And it was in that moment that I realized that during my time in Khao Yai I had grown from a bumbling city girl, crying over poking a dead rat with a stick attempting to fling it out of the house, who avoided the “too gross to clean” areas, into a self-determined woman on a mission to reclaim my house.

Over the months prior to plastering that hole, I had built a new wall (with friends) to fix that decrepit kitchen corner, covered or sealed all the other exposed holes in the house I could I find, and cleaned everything, EVERYTHING with no exceptions – wiped down the walls (Jambee thought I painted while she was gone over the weekend, but I had just washed the walls), reoriented and cleaned behind the fridge, cleaned out and sterilized the base of the fridge that was filled with stagnate water enjoyed by the rats (they liked to hide under the fridge when I walked in on them in the kitchen), and built a make-shift sink and installed a toilet hose to upgrade the previous squatter toilet into a manufactured version more consistent with North American preferences.

As I pushed back and cursed at the rat, only a blobby-goo of wet plaster between our hands, I emphatically proclaimed (in Thai and English) that I wasn’t backing down, so he better get the *bleep* out of here. In the moment, I was taking on a little rat, but much bigger than that rat-human hole-plastering showdown I was demonstrating everything I had learned in my time living on my own on the other side of the world: that with experience and understanding I had the confidence to conquer my fears and take on any challenge.

Even a little measly rat.

Picture Source: Dharma Comics (https://www.facebook.com/#!/dharmacomics)

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When life gets complicated…

2012-05-18T20:09:00.001-04:00

Script from an actual conversation I recently had (inadvertently) with a few friends.

Friend 1: "So, what are you going to do?"

Friend 2: "I'll have to do something different... I want it to be.. be... more like... I have to start thinking out-of-the-box like Jackie"

Jackie: "What box?"
;)

Source: http://www.fromupnorth.com/2011/03/various-quotations-222/

Finishing your PhD is hard work; you spend a great deal of time swimming around in your head, trying not to drown in your thoughts. I’m not sure how successful I have been with this lately. But what’s for certain is that I’m not blogging about it, cause it's been a while since we last chatted, eh. :) I love what I do. I love gibbons. LOVE.THEM. But not every part of doing what you love is that wonderful. Sometimes it can be grueling getting from point A (blissful life in the forest) to point B (back to blissful life in the forest).

As many of you know, I haven’t always been a fan of living where I am now. It’s not that there is anything truly wrong with this place, it just isn’t for me. I don’t fit in here. But more significantly, because I get down about how I don’t fit in here, I lose my sense of self and this bums me out.

When I returned from Thailand and decided to go back to campus to finish writing my PhD, many people who care about me warned that going back was a bad idea. But I felt very strongly it was something I had to do. It was something I needed to prove to myself, I think. Prove that I could get through it; that I was strong enough to survive discomfort, isolation; the anxiety of grad school. In many ways, living here is more isolating and uncomfortable then leaving for the other side of the world. Maybe it’s because the strange and new carries with it the exotic appeal of adventure, but living in a familiar, yet slightly different place (between Canada and America), creates unsettling tension of things being just “slightly off” in an prickly way. At least to the point where you can’t just brush off the weirdness with the soothing self talk of “well, they just do things differently here.”

A few months ago, when I was most dejected from obstacles with my work and living here again, a friend of mine kicked me in the pants (figuratively) with a jolting comment: “You’re always talking about compassion and kindness, but you aren’t being very compassionate right now. Everyone always hates on America, it gets pretty old after a while.” This launched me into a reactive lecture on all the good things that this country does for the world, simply just to uphold my honour, I think, since my feelings were hurt by not living up to my own standards. But I really do believe in all those things I said.

The thing is: There is good everywhere.

Everywhere.

But sometimes we get so absorbed in our own drama; we end up drowning in the lake looking for water.

My daily runs (aka: the only time I leave the house and stop working on my dissertation) have never been the same since that conversation. People are nicer when I pass them on the trails. Turns out the sun is just as beautiful here in the mornings as it is in Canada (shockingly). Some of the trees here even look like the ones I stared at day in and day out with the gibbons and macaques in the rainforest. Odd how I never noticed that before.

Looking at the similarities and differences in life is a fine balance. Peer too far in either direction and it can throw you off track, sometimes without you evening knowing it.

I still don’t fit in here. But I’m learning how to be myself wherever I go. And that’s the whole point of why I came back, even though I didn’t fully understand that on my 12 hour drive south from the border back in January.

So, can I check this off as a mission accomplished? Never. As always, this is just life in progress.

What lessons have you learned recently?
I hope you're all still working on finding the interconnectedness of life.

Source: http://www.fromupnorth.com/2011/03/various-quotations-222/

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The Power of One

2011-09-19T11:51:00.005-04:00

My plan for coming to Thailand was simple: do my fieldwork and train for more triathlons. I figured with free time after the forest, endless good weather (meaning no Canadian snow), and hills as far as the eye could see, Khao Yai would be the best place for me to learn how to become a better athlete. There’s no place to swim here, but I could run and bike for hours on end. So when I arrived in January 2010, I put on my sneakers and I started to run.

I’m not going to lie, running here sucks. It’s hard. It’s really, really hard. And after 1.5 years, it’s still not getting any easier. “Khao Yai” translates directly from Thai to English into “Big Mountain” and that’s exactly, quite literally, what this place is: a damn, big mountain. Even the “flat land” has hills; they just aren’t as steep as the “real hills”. :) But I made the commitment to myself to run, so I continue to put on my shoes and go.

Not long after I started running was the Best Day Ever when I made my first Thai friend: Jambee.

I couldn’t speak Thai and she couldn’t speak English, but she showed me her running shoes, put them on when I put mine on, and we ran together around the park. I told her I couldn’t speak Thai very well but I wanted Thai friends and so I would learn to speak Thai if people talked to me. She told me she wanted to run before I arrived, but had no friends to run with her and never went. I then told her I would “husband” run with her because I mixed up the Thai words for “always” with “husband.” She shook her head and then told me she would run with me whenever I went.

Before Jambee and I started running in the park no other females exercised around here. In fact, though the kids played soccer together in the parking lot some nights and some of the park rangers got together in the dry season months to play “da-gaw” (think of a cross between volleyball and soccer) pretty much no one else exercised around here, with the exception of three men: Boon Ying, Boon Tah and Chaleam, all three veteran endurance runners who go out every morning for a 10+km run starting at 5:30am.

When Jambee first started running with me she got a lot of “flack” from the other Thais, shouting things like: “Where are you going with the foreigner?! What are you doing with the foreigner?! WHY ARE YOU IN THE CAR WITH THE FOREIGNER?!” ha ha. But she always responded to their exasperated questions by simply saying: “I want to run.”

It took about two weeks of us running together before the shifty eyes of the Thai people directed towards me turned into shy, happy glances and smiles. People would gleefully call out to Jambee on their motorbikes as they drove by and honk their car horns to say hi. It took about 2 months before people started talking to me about running, and that soon became, and continues to be, the hot topic of conversation for any Thai person wanting to talk to me.

I have always been appreciative that everyone noticed and seems to be pleased by my running efforts, though sometimes it felt odd. When Chaleam, my field assistant – not a runner, just another guy named Chaleam – would introduce me to people he would include “She runs everyday” in the standard description: "She’s a researcher. She studies gibbons. She comes from Canada. She can speak Thai now. She runs everyday." Tourists would take “drive by” pictures of me running along the road as they passed in their cars and eventually that turned into people actually stopping me to talk and asking to have their picture taken with me (because seeing foreigners is rare and exciting to them, a picture of me running is NOT glamorous by any means).

When people saw me out and about around the park, and after my Thai improved considerably from practice with Jambee, questions about when I would run, how far I would run, how much I run, why I run and descriptions of where people saw me running were all anyone would ever speak with me about. And after a while I started to wonder why everyone seemed to be so obsessed with my running, until one day Rebecca pointed out: maybe they just want to talk to you and that’s all they can think of to talk about with you; since they see you running it’s common ground. (Good call, Rebecca.) That reality check quickly reminded me to refocus on their smiles and enthusiasm during our conversations and to not be too concerned about the content. :)

After about 5 months of running daily, much to my surprise, it appeared that other people around the park were starting to get the spark to run too. Though Jambee and I were the only two who would consistently run, others were joining us when they could. Two girls that live/work near my house, Ting and Boom, started running with us when they had time in the evenings, and one morning when I was driving into the forest I passed by Poom, the girl who works at the main Visitor Centre convenience store, running along the road near her house. So Jambee and I made plans to occasionally run in the morning with Poom. On the first day with Poom we ran 5km; the usual for Jambee and I, but 3 extra kms for Poom who normally only ran 2km near her house. When I asked if she was Ok and could she handle it? She replied by saying “It doesn’t matter; I have friends to run with so it’s very fun.”

Over the following weeks, three other women (whose names, I unfortunately do not know) started walking our route in the evenings (they wanted to exercise but couldn’t keep up with us running). And another woman began alternating between running with her son occasionally and walking with the other ladies.

When Navigator showed up in November 2010 to do a special feature on the park and after we spent some time together looking for animals, one day after they had stopped filming here they called from Bangkok and to say they wanted to come back to film a lead into the segment on gibbons with me.

"We want to show Thai people that they can come to Khao Yai to exercise here like you do.” They said, “Bring all your friends that run with you and we will meet you for your evening run.”

And so, since Tik (the Navigator) is the “Thai Superstar” who makes all the females swoon in this country, I invited every female in the park I knew – whether they usually ran with me or not, to come running that night. :) The women had already been on my case for weeks about how I was spending time with him and how foolish I was to be photographing the animals in the park instead of him, and how thoughtless it was of me for not inviting him to come eat at the restaurant so they could meet him. So this was the perfect opportunity.

“Don’t worry about running.” I said, “it won’t be much but this is your chance to meet him, so come with me!”

Everyone was very excited, but Thai people are also extremely shy – in the end, only Jambee came with me.

In January 2011, Jambee came in second place in the Khao Yai 3k fun run to celebrate the birthday of the first park chief. It was a great day, she outran nearly everyone in a come from behind feat of determination and people still talk about how my pants fell down while I was racing.

In the following months, my running partners started to dwindle, people were getting busier with more tourists visiting the park and my data collection schedule was less uniform, making my running times more sporadic. But I kept at it as best I could on my own, and people still stopped to talk to me about running all the time. When I would head out with my sneakers on the men around the office would ask: are you going running now, where are you running and how far are you going? But they would always decline, laughing, when I invited them to come with me.

Then one day I was sitting at the restaurant talking with Bahn when I noticed a man running along the street by the campground office.

“Muak runs here almost every day now when he has time,” explained Bahn. Muak is one of the office staff at the Pha Kluai Mai campgrounds where I live. Turns out his son was running too, with a friend in the afternoons near the office to prepare for soccer. And one evening I met Chan – the office manager at Pha Kluai Mai – running along my running route. He told me he had started running 3km everyday in the evenings. Not long after that encounter, Jambee told me our neighbour Baw had started running along the road near our houses where Muak runs in the evenings. So it turns out, the men weren’t running with me, but they had started to run after all.

Tong-Sai, Baw’s younger brother, is another one of my neighbours. He’s really shy and quiet, but always happy and seems genuinely content with life at all times. He doesn’t say much, but asks about running when I stop to talk to him. Once I invited him to come running with me, but he explained: though he wanted to run, he couldn’t because of a heart condition. Jambee explained further but the Thai was pretty complex, so I’m not sure of the details.

Tonight Jambee and Bahn went to the Monday Market, but I said I didn’t want to go because I wanted to run instead. I ran 10km back and forth on the old golf course (my usual running route in the evenings), during my run I met up with three woman walking, and a tourist who comes to bike here often who, incidentally, I found out tonight, has a brother living in Vancouver that owns a Thai restaurant “Siam Thai” and has traveled to Victoria, Vancouver, Lake Louise, Banff, Toronto and Quebec. And as I was finishing off my final lap of 2km, much to my wonder and surprise, I met TONG-SAI jogging lightly along the path. He ran/walked back and forth just once (2.5km). I nearly exploded I was bursting with so much joy to see him trying and doing what he could!
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It’s been about 1 year and 9 months since I moved into the majestic Khao Yai National Park to begin my dissertation research on white-handed gibbons and pig-tailed macaques. As most of you know from following my blog, or chatting with me for more than 5 seconds, it’s been a pretty amazing expedition and I’ve been blessed to be surrounded by wonderful people and given tremendous opportunities while living here.

Running at Khao Yai was a simple commitment that I made to myself before I even got here. I don’t run for other people; I just do it for myself. If no one ever went with me, that’d be Ok. I’d keep trying as best I could. I never expected anyone here to run with me or be interested in it. In fact, prior to coming here, I thought Thai people would think it to be very “unfeminine” and see me as a foolish, brutish foreigner trying to be strong like a man instead of soft like a lady. But since I started running here so many months ago, I have been astounded to see how this small commitment I made to myself grew into something much bigger than me around the park. This has led me to the following conclusion:

If you think what you do doesn’t matter, think again. Even if it’s just something you do for yourself, we are all connected, we are primates – this makes us social creatures, this makes us matter to each other, so we pay attention to each other. And even when you think no one is watching, your seemingly small efforts to improve yourself could be the spark that ignites the fire inside one other person that will lead to numerous others.

All it takes is one person, doing what they can, showing it can be done, and putting in the effort… to influence many.

"Be the change you want to see in the world." - Ghandi

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Simple moments of consideration hold the most value.

2011-09-04T00:06:00.002-04:00

Next week I’ll be heading to Bangkok to give a talk on my dissertation work at the International Symposium for Biodiversity and Ecology of Wildlife in Thailand at Chulalongkorn University.

I’ll be in Bangkok for three days with the students and professors for the symposium, and then in the following days we will travel around the country to visit some field sites to see long-tailed macaques, stump-tailed macaques, pig-tailed macaques and gibbons.

I’ve been in the house most of this month concentrating on compiling some data to present and putting the presentation together, so I’ve been working late into the night and sleeping in the mornings. My schedule is kinda wonky and I haven’t been spending much time with people around Khao Yai. For the past two nights, I actually had dreams that I was trying to talk to my friends around here, but other people kept interrupting me and causing distractions preventing me from communicating with my friends.

This morning Jambee came over with an iron.

She said, “I haven’t seen you for many days, I miss you.”
“I know, I miss you too, I've been working so much lately." I said.
“When will you go to Bangkok?” She asked.
“Tomorrow afternoon,” I said, “I will be there for 3 days, come back for one day to go into the forest by myself, then the students will come visit.”
Then she said, “You will need to look good for your work, so we must iron your shirts.”

Jambee set up a blanket on the floor and plugged in the iron, while I got three ‘dressy’ shirts. She ironed all three meticulously while humming to herself and occasionally murmuring “three shirts for three days.” She told me to hang them up now and pack them lightly tomorrow so they don’t get creased too much, and asked if I had anything else to iron. I said no, so she went to look at all my clothes to verify.

I thanked her profusely and we set a time to go running together this evening.

This is what I do in my spare time...

2011-09-01T02:46:00.000-04:00

JPP: Photography

2011-08-26T12:01:00.000-04:00

Just posted a few new pics at: www.facebook.com/jackieprimeproject.
Album title: "Creatures that are not primates at Khao Yai"
This one is my favourite.

Elephant

Newborn Monkey - Ozzy's first offspring.

2011-08-13T11:22:00.001-04:00

Look at that face, so precious.

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My First Thai Food

2011-08-06T06:28:00.004-04:00

A year and a half ago, I posted a message about my adventures with heating up pork buns (Why Did We Invent Cooking?). That was back when sweet chili sauce was a necessity to fix all Jackie-made foodstuffs and when the answer to the question: What do you eat? Was: lots of cereal and fruit.

In August 2010, I decided to go Primal (no pasta, no bread, no excess sugar, no cereal, no…rice? see Mark’s Daily Apple). Not an easy task when you live in a country that appears to consider rice to be more important than water.

“I am no longer eating rice,” I declared to my friends at the restaurant after the decision was made. They stared blankly at me then said: “but if you don’t eat rice, you can’t go to the bathroom.” Well that explains why so many people eat rice around here…

I started frying up veggies and eggs at home and for eating in the forest, and continued going to the restaurant for my afternoon meal of Thai food (now minus the rice) with my friends. This lasted for about a month. Turns out, rice is important for digesting Thai food when you eat it everyday. And trying to work up to running 20k continuously without those extra complex carbs and sugar boosters was proving to be really difficult… I really missed my cereal.

It took a few months but eventually I managed to adapt a fairly balanced “as Primal as I could be” nutrition regime that worked with my endurance goals and daily forest excursions, and included occasional small servings of rice with my Thai food.

One night in March, when Kazunari came back to collect more data, as I started making myself dinner he exclaimed: “You are cooking food!” ha ha… by then I was used to it and forgot that once this was a really odd sight. :)

One day I came home from Tesco with green onions, Jambee said “Oh, for Pad Thai?” “Heck no!” I exclaimed, “I can’t make Thai food. These go with potatoes.” “You are in the restaurant helping them make food everyday!" She responded. "Why can’t you make Thai food yet?” … uh, good question.

Though I help the girls in the restaurant when I have free time and there are many tourists here, I never actually MAKE the food. I fry eggs for them, chop vegetables, peel the plastic wrapper off these weird sausage-like-sweet-hot-dog things that Thai people gobble up in the mornings. I watch them toss this and that and this again into the wok and take mental inventory of all the ingredients in the kitchen. I taste the food when they ask me to test it before they serve it and I stare blankly at them when they say “What else should I add to it?” – I don’t even know what’s already in there!

But then one day Bahn stopped making the Spicy Thai salad that I like so much because she doesn’t think she can make it properly. “It’s not delicious, I won’t make it.”

“It’s so delicious! I want to eat it all the time!” I protested. But she would not make it.

And so the stimulus was set in motion: I’ve been watching them make Thai food for a while now, I know what all the ingredients are, Bahn won’t make the Thai salad and it’s “so easy!” What if I did try making Thai food on my own?

This week I came back from the grocery store with ingredients to make three Thai dishes: pad gra-pow gai, pad prik gang gai, and yam woonsen.

My first Thai dish:

Pad Gra-pow Gai sai Kai Dow = Stir fried basil chicken with a fried egg

It really tasted like it too!! There was a bit too much soy sauce and sugar did end up all over the kitchen floor, but otherwise an excellent self-made meal. :)

AND the best part about this whole plan was that during the whole production and consumption I came up with a genius idea for a conservation initiative for the Jackie Prime Project; anyone looking to invest in a “Khao Yai comes to Canada” themed restaurant? :)

The moral of today’s story: Try new things, you just may be inspired to create something exceptionally amazing from the whole experience even better than a plate of food.

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