Peaceable Primate Sanctuary

Lincoln Park Zoo, Facebook and Twitter

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:58:00 +0000

Lincoln Park Zoo is on Facebook and Twitter. You don't need a Facebook or Twitter account to view either. What's cool about the Facebook account are the photos and videos. The zoo is posting photos of collection changes (see you in Detroit, Lee!) and zoo fans can post their own photos! You can also view a video of the free flight area in Bird House. It's a small video so I hope LPZ, like other zoos, will have it's own youtube.com channel.

The Peaceable Primate Sanctuary is not on Facebook or Twitter. Should we be? Scott's very busy--the first group of baboons is arriving soon and the website is being revamped. Perhaps, down the road, after the baboons and Scott are settled in their new habitats, Facebook and Twitter may be more relevant and practical replacements for this blog.

Musicians for Apes

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:25:00 +0000

Here is an email I received last month from Harry Hmura, a professional musician and a Peaceable Primate Sanctuary supporter. Baboons are monkeys, not apes, but Harry supports us all:

Hello,

Hoping this email finds you well..,

Several years back I created m4apes, a foundation/web site, bringing attention to the cruel mistreatment of Great Apes used in entertainment and research and how breeders, trainers, Hollywood, corporations, live stage shows, etc continue to fail our closest living relatives. The web site, m4apes, has now become Musicians For Apes continuing to bring awareness and education of their likeness to us and yet the mistreatment they still face in entertainment, research, pet trade, habitat loss... We need to educate others of these damaging and outdated practices in an industry where they don't belong, "entertainment" and of their conservation. We need not consume the entertainment industry using apes, nor products which devastate them and their homelands and for change in alternative and modern research.

Please.., visit the new site, www.musiciansforapes.com Become a member, create a profile, network, interact reaching more people, musicians, fans, friends and the sanctuaries, organizations and the awesome people helping and caring. We need support from you, your friends, fans, associates... to Speak For Those Who Can't!

And if you're on facebook, please sign up again at the new Musicians For Apes group replacing the old, m4apes.

Awareness, education, regard and respect for others improves our lives and theirs, Great Apes and all of us above and below sea level....

Thank you,

harry

Harry Hmura Founder/director of Musicians For Apes www.musiciansforapes.com

www.harryhmura.com (new site & CD coming soon)

Kipenzi: Loved One

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:11:00 +0000

The National Zoo's Western Lowland Gorilla troop had a birth in January! Mandara, who was born at Lincoln Park Zoo in April, 1992 and is referred to as "super-mom", gave birth to a female on January 10th. The NZ is conducting a contest regarding the baby's name and I voted for Kipenzi which means "loved one".

You can view a video of Mandara and her infant and listen to a talk by their keeper above. You can read notes about the baby's growth at the NZ Primate Homepage.

The NZ has a photostream including video of not only Mandara and baby but also new arrivals and other animals at the zoo at: National Zoo. This is really exciting!

I'm hoping Scott will do something similiar at the sanctuary after the baboons arrive.

Red-Tailed Hawks at Martha's Farm

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:30:00 +0000

I will share a secret with you -- I love reading Martha Stewart's blog! She loves animals, wildlife and nature in addition to cooking, crafts and homemaking. Kind of like me. Martha's post today features red-tailed hawks. She took her photos with a Canon G10.

You can read more about the red-tailed hawk at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds website. You can listen to songs of this species, kind of cool when you have cats. The Cornell Lab was responsible for reintroducing the Peregrine Falcon on the east coast and establishing the Peregrine Fund in 1970.

In December,2004, I posted 3X about NYC's very famous pair of red-tailed hawks, Pale Male and Lola.

The Footprints We Leave Behind

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:51:00 +0000

From the New York Times:

Prints Show a Modern Foot in Prehumans

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Published: February 26, 2009
Footprints uncovered in Kenya show that as early as 1.5 million years ago an ancestral species, almost certainly Homo erectus, had already evolved the feet and walking gait of modern humans.

Studying the more than a dozen prints, scientists determined that the individuals had heels, insteps and toes almost identical to those in humans, and that they walked with a long stride similar to human locomotion.

The researchers who made the discovery, as well as independent specialists in human origins, said the prints helped explain fossil and archaeological evidence that erectus had adapted the ability for long-distance walking and running. Erectus skeletons from East Asia revealed that the species, or a branch of it, had migrated out of Africa as early as 1.8 million years ago.

No erectus foot bones have been found anywhere, but other well-preserved, yet incomplete, skeletons showed the species to be taller and less robust than earlier hominids. The strides of these footsteps suggest that the individuals were an average of 5 feet, 7 inches tall; one, presumably a child, was 3 feet tall.

The site of the discovery is about five miles east of Lake Turkana, near the village of Ileret, in northern Kenya.

Anatomists analyzing the Ileret prints said the heel, instep, balls of the foot and short toes were considerably distinct from the prints discovered in Tanzania and almost identical to modern humans. Most obviously, the big toe is in line with the rest of the toes, not angling away from other toes, as on an afarensis foot.

The footprints discovered in Kenya, researchers said, indicated that the erectus foot functioned much as a human foot does: the heel contacts the ground first; weight transfers along the arch to the ball of the foot; and the push-off is applied by the forefoot. In apes and apparently earlier hominids, this force comes from the midfoot.

Lieberman and Bramble believe we evolved legs longer than our arms for long-distance running. Read my post here about their theory.

Bears are plantigrade but other carnivores are digitigrade. Go to the excellent Animal Diversity Web at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology to learn more about locomotion. Watch the bear's feet in this youtube video walks as he first backs away from the cougar, then runs away:

Canines and cats are digitigrades. Toe walkers. Here is a video where you can view 3 species of carnivores, gray wolf, mountain lion and hyena, running:

What are baboons? Baboons are basically plantigrade quadrupeds. In other words, baboons walk and run on all four limbs using the soles of their hands and feets. Here's a youtube video of baboons running:

Live Giraffe Birth

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:16:00 +0000

The following is a video of a live Masai giraffe birth at Safari West. Safari West is a private wildlife preserve in Santa Rosa, CA. Altho it is not a zoo, it is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. (Note: I had to reduce the width to fit the blog page. If you are having difficulty viewing the video, the above title is a link to the video's page.)

Susan Frank is Wild About Pets

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 01:35:00 +0000

Susan Frank has a Chicago-based internet radio program called Wild About Pets on Fridays at 12PM.

Her inaugural show featured a very interesting interview with 2 occupational therapists, Diana Henry and Deanna Sava, the authors of “Sensory Tools for Pets: Animals and People Helping Each Other”. Diana and Deanna talked about their experiences working with oversensitive and undersensitive dogs and cats. Imagine a cat who is too sensitive to walk on grass!

Susan's second show featured an interview with Dr. Stanley Gehrt about the Coyote Project in Chicago.

What's cool about her program is that while you are listening to the interview, you can also view photos of the animals being discussed at Susan's website.

You can also add Susan's show as a RSS feed to your homepage! Now that is supercool!

Saying Goodbye to Andy

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 14:14:00 +0000

Hey gang, I have a story to tell you. When I was a little girl, about 4 years old, my mom and dad brought me to a zoo that had monkeys that you could hold and take pictures with. I took a picture with this cute little infant monkey that let me hold him like a baby, and from that day forward, I was determined to have a monkey of my own. I begged my parents for the rest of my days in their home to let me get a monkey and of course they said “NO” every time I asked. Boy oh boy, I should have listened to them. Seven years ago, I had been racing for four years and wasn’t planning on quitting anytime soon, but I wanted something really, really bad! I wanted to be a mommy. Well, motherhood definitely was NOT in the plans at the moment, so I did what I thought was the next best thing. I got myself a monkey. The cute little baby monkey that I had been wanting since I was 4 years old. He is a Black Capped Capuchin named Andy, and I got him from a breeder in Indiana when he was only six weeks old. I paid $5500 for him. Expensive, huh? Well guess what? That was the cheapest part! I had no idea what this monkey was eventually going to cost me.
Andy was the cutest thing I had ever seen. He was just like a baby. Wore diapers and drank from a baby bottle and even slept in my arms. I was finally a mommy. Well that didn’t last very long at all. In no time, he wouldn’t sit still, hated his cage, and was smart enough to break out of anything I put him in. He became extremely destructive, would not wear a diaper, became a very picky eater ,and, worst of all, aggressive! He bites! Hard!
I moved into my new home when Andy was about 3 years old. I had a special room built just for him. It is on the back side and center of my house. It is sunken in six inches with cement floors and a drain in the middle so that I can wash the whole thing down because he is VERY MESSY!!! It takes over an hour to clean his room and has to be done several times a week. Not to mention the circus act that takes at least two people to occupy him while getting the room cleaned. There are bars on the windows looking into my home so that he can see inside and bars on two of the windows looking outside. A third window to the outside is open to an outdoor cage. He has access to the both indoors and outdoors. Sounds like he has it made, doesn’t it? Well I thought so too. That room cost me a fortune. TWICE.
You see, monkeys are very smart. He can unlock windows and would open them all of the time, which is fine with the bars but not fine for my electric bill. So I rigged them shut. Well, he figured that out and broke the windows completely. So I had to get a screened-in patio that cost me 11 grand so that the mosquitoes would not infest his room and my house. The electric bill stays at a ridiculous rate.
He managed to pick at the walls enough until he could get his hands into it and then eventually tore giant holes around his room. He pulled out all of the insulation and the wiring. I had to contain him for a week while construction workers came in to rebuild the walls with a cement board, which, fortunately, he hasn’t been able to destroy yet. That cost me about four toes on my left foot. Just kidding, but it was about three more Gs.
Okay, so as I was learning the hard way how to contain Andy without him destroying my house, I thought we were finally getting somewhere. But then he started to become even more aggressive and demanding. My friends would come over and get too close to his outdoor cage, and before you know it, their cell phones were taken, or their sunglasses or earrings or necklaces. You name it ... if Andy could reach it, it was going to be his. I would have to go into his room to retrieve whatever he stole, but by the time I could get it back, if at all, it was destroyed beyond repair. Not to mention that I have scars all over my body from being attacked by him for trying to take what he had stolen away from him.
Andy is 7 years old now. He is still one of the cutest things I have ever seen, and he never ceases to amaze me with his intelligence and human similarities, but I have learned a great lesson over the last seven years. Andy is a primate. He is a wild animal. He is NOT and NEVER will be domesticated. He was born to be wild and was never meant to be a pet or a replacement for my child. He has spent seven years of his expected 45-year lifespan in captivity and all alone. Capuchin monkeys instinctively travel in packs. Andy now struggles with boredom and excessive loneliness. He constantly bangs on the bars for attention and destroys his toys or anything he can get to. He went through a stage where he was pulling out his hair on his tail. I can now only clean his room about twice a week because it is just too dangerous to handle him more than that. The fewer cleanings have put him in a horrible living situation, not to mention what it is doing to my home. I have to slide his food under the door because he is very possessive of it and will sometimes attack if he thinks I am going to take it away from him. The bites hurt really badly, and he has cut me open on several occasions, but the real pain is in my heart. I love him so much, and it hurts so badly when he is mean to me. I have to constantly remind myself that it’s not personal. It is his instinct.
After seven years, I now know that I can not give Andy the home that he needs and deserves. While searching the Internet, I found a primate sanctuary called Jungle Friends in Gainesville, Fla. It is located only 10 minutes from the racetrack that hosts the Gatornationals. I visited Jungle Friends during the rainout this year. I met Kari Bagnall, who runs the place. She is a wonderful woman who has given her life to saving monkeys like Andy, as well as monkeys who weren’t as lucky as Andy has been. She has more than 100 monkeys there at her sanctuary. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough room for anymore monkeys because they just can not afford to build anymore enclosures right now. Jungle Friends works with donation money alone and volunteer helpers, so I had to pay $5,000 to buy the supplies to have an enclosure built for Andy.

I have cried a river over this. I am crying my eyes out right now as I type this. What have I done?!!! What was I thinking?!! Please don’t ever make the same mistake I have. If you or anyone you know thinks they want a monkey, PLEASE DON’T DO IT! Don’t do it to them, and don’t do it to yourselves. Like Kari says, monkeys belong in our hearts, not in hour homes!!
I had to give up my baby of seven years so that he can live a better life. He is human-imprinted now and could not survive in the wild, so he will have to remain in captivity, but at least this captivity will be with other monkeys and in a much better place than I could ever provide for him. I want to say thank you with all of my heart to my mom and my Aunt Faye. If it were not for the two of them, I could never have had Andy for as long as I did. They were there every step of the way to help me with him. It takes at least three people to care for one monkey. Thank you mom and Aunt Faye, and I am so sorry that I did this to you guys. I know it is hurting you as badly as it is hurting me to let him go.
I am going to turn Andy’s room into a play room for my little girl. I want to paint monkeys on the wall to always remind me of Andy and my experience with him. I will surely be a great story to tell my daughter. I am going to miss him so much!

I would like to ask a favor of you. If at all possible, please visit the Jungle Friends Web site at www.junglefriends.org and make a donation and/or sponsor Andy or any of the monkeys there. If you do, please tell ’em it’s from Angelle and Andy’s friends.
Thank you so much for reading my story!
God Bless you guys.
Always,
Angelle

The above story came via monkeywire.net from Jungle Friends in a June 27, 2008 email to supporters. Kari Bagnall, director of Jungle Friends, and Angelle Sampey, motorcycle drag racer, appeared in a Primetime segment on the primate pet-trade.

You can find the Primetime show at youtube.com. The 2nd of 3 parts featuring Angelle and Andy appears below followed by a video about Jungle Friends. Kari Bagnall appears in both videos.

Chimpanzees Caught Up in the War

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:50:00 +0000

According to the United Nations, Thursday was the “International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.” On his way to the International Summit in Nairobi to find a solution to the current crisis in Eastern Congo, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the following:

“The natural environment enjoys protection under Protocol 1 of the Geneva Conventions. But this protection is often violated during war and armed conflict…The United Nations attaches great importance to ensuring that action on the environment is part of our approach to peace…Let us renew our commitment to preventing the exploitation of the environment in times of conflict and to protecting the environment as a pillar of our work for peace.”

Based on these words I hope that in Nairobi they are also considering the impact of the war on Virunga National Park, which is epitomized by the following picture taken in Goma a few days ago by a photographer working for AFP:

Soldiers here often take baby chimpanzees and monkeys as pets. You may remember that in August we confiscated a chimpanzee from an major in the army. We are trying to see what we can do about the chimpanzee being held at the moment. It was again seen not far from Samantha’s house and we are trying to identify the soldier holding the chimpanzee in the picture below:

It is difficult to put much emphasis on conservation and animal welfare when there is so much human suffering in the Congo. However, if we don’t try to do something about these chimps, no one will.

By Pierre @ www.gorillacd.com, the official website of Virunga National Park DR Congo

Congo Wildlife Rangers Missing

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:14:00 +0000

"Elie, the Commander of the Advance Force of Congo Rangers in Virunga National Park, talks about the dangers faced by his men in protecting the wildlife in the park, including the hippos and the critically endangered Mountain Gorillas."

Thousands flee as Congo rebels move into gorilla refuge
Congo Rebels Clash With Army, Seize "Endangered" Gorilla Park 39 Wildlife Park Rangers Missing In The Congo

The latest from the official website for Virunga National Park reports no ranger fatalities:

There is still a lot of confusion and misinformation regarding our Rangers who were at Rumangabo HQ 8 days ago who we have not yet managed to locate. Some remained at Rumangabo, some fled to Goma, and some traveled north towards Rutshuru and Kiwanja.

While we continue to compile this information, the good news is that we have had no reports of Ranger fatalities. Considering what happened last week this is a huge relief.

The above video is from Wildlife Direct, a nonprofit wildlife conservation organization established by Richard Leakey in 2006 to provide a voice and funds directly to those in the field protecting wildlife.

Virunga National Park was the site of 4 mountain gorilla murders last year. You can read more at my November 27, 2007 post: http://primatesanctuary.blogspot.com/2007/11/gorilla-massacre.html

On This Earth: Photographs from East Africa

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:32:00 +0000

Copyright by Nick Brandt

The above other-worldly baboon photo was taken by Nick Brandt, "On This Earth: Photographs from East Africa". Mr. Brandt has a new book coming out next October. The link above will take you to his eponymous website. You can get a Nick Brandt widgit for your google homepage at igoogle.com.

Why Monkeys Are Not Pets #2

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:29:00 +0000

From the Florida primate sanctuary Jungle Friends:

The young woman whose hand is pictured here says: "I thought Kaylie was the perfect child. I bottle-raised her from infancy. She slept with me, went to do shopping errands with me and was part of the family. When she was a baby capuchin, I would never have imagined that as a three-year-old Kaylie would attack me with no warning."

"The nerves in my hand and wrist were so severely severed that I will likely never regain use of my hand despite all of the surgeries I have endured."

"Kaylie lost her life. She was euthanized by authorities. Anyone who acquires a monkey thinking it will be a suitable pet is embarking upon a tragic journey… painful and heartbreaking."

People look at small monkeys, like a capuchin, and think "Oh, how cute!" Because of their size, they look manageable. But, they are still wild animals. And, wild animals are capable of anything.

Brookfield Zoo's New Orangutan!

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:46:00 +0000

A female Borneo orangutan was born October 6 at Brookfield Zoo. The link to
Brookfield's website is above and you can view a video of mom and the baby at
this link: http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2008/10/rare-orangutan-born-at-
brookfield-zoo.html

In Hard Times for Humans, Hardships for Pets, Too

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 19:02:00 +0000

Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

Jenny Daniel, a volunteer at Animal Care and Control of New York City, with Bricky, who was given up by its owners this week.

By TINA KELLEY

Published: October 17, 2008

With all the talk of bulls and bears lately, what’s happening to cats and dogs?

Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

Adoptions are down, and more abandoned pets are coming in. Some pet owners “can’t even afford food,” an official said.

At New York City’s main animal shelter, monthly calls to the volunteers who can help people keep their pets through tough financial times doubled, to 225 from 115, between January and September.

“We knew how valuable the program was, but now something like this hits, and people can’t afford vet care,” said Richard P. Gentles, the director of administration services for the shelter, Animal Care and Control of New York City. “Some can’t even afford food.”

Volunteers who work for the shelter’s four-year-old Safety Net program provide struggling pet owners with low-cost boarding or pet-training services, food donations, lists of apartment buildings that allow pets, even legal help if a landlord is trying to illegally evict a pet owner.

As the country’s financial crisis has deepened, more pet owners are asking the shelter for help.

Sadie Judge, 50, has been living with friends and relatives ever since she got sick and lost her teaching job at Brooklyn College as well as her apartment.

“I kept saying, ‘At least I’ve got my kitty cats,’ ” Ms. Judge said. But in early September, without her permission, she said, her roommate’s boyfriend took her four cats, Michael, Michelle, Molly and Gunzu, to Animal Care and Control, on East 110th Street between First and Second Avenues.

Ms. Judge said that after learning from her niece where her cats had been taken, she was told that she had 24 hours to get them out or they would be put up for adoption. But she had nowhere to take them. She was in tears when she happened to look up and see the Safety Net poster. Within two days, her cats were in two separate foster homes, and she hopes to get them back when she finds permanent housing.

Animal Care and Control took in 9.4 percent more pets in the first half of 2008 compared to the same months in 2007. However, in the 12 months that ended in August, 168 fewer dogs were adopted than in the previous 12 months.

“Probably because of the crisis, fewer people could make a commitment to adopt,” Mr. Gentles said. “It will be a huge problem for us if it continues.”

He said the agency needed to recruit three times the number of new foster homes for pets to keep up with demand, in part because many people who serve as foster petkeepers end up adopting them and leaving the program.

The situation is much the same at shelters throughout the country.

Betsy Saul, founder of Petfinder.com, a national pet adoption Web site, said that smaller shelters simply did not have enough food, while donations were plummeting. A survey conducted by her site found that 57 percent of shelters and rescue groups were seeing a decrease in adoptions.

“We’re hearing that individuals who are caring for feral cat populations with their own money or small rescue groups are feeding them bread soaked in water now, because there’s not enough cat food,” she said.

Veterinarians are concerned that pet owners may hold off on medical treatments, like hip replacements, that were more common during flush times, Ms. Saul said. And because research has shown that a typical pet owner starts considering euthanasia once the cost of treating an ill pet surpasses $500, they fear that more owners will make that choice sooner than they have in the past.

Kristen Levine, president of Fetching Communications, a public relations firm based in Florida that works with the pet industry, says veterinarians are finding that pet owners have become more likely to skip annual checkups to save money, even though early diagnoses can detect illnesses that get more costly over time.

“Some vets are offering special incentives for wellness visits, like a free microchip or free nail trimming, for giving something back to owners for recognizing the importance of preventative health care,” Ms. Levine said.

In the worst case, pets become homeless. The number of strays taken in by Animal Care and Control in September increased by almost 300, to 2,902, from last year. As the city’s only open-admissions shelter, Animal Care and Control has to euthanize animals after all adoption and foster care resources have been exhausted. Last year, it euthanized 15,768 animals, 55 percent fewer than in 2000.

At that shelter on Wednesday, two women — one of them crying — were surrendering a dog together. They declined to speak to a reporter because they said they were too upset. Nearby, another man was surrendering a stray cat, explaining that someone had dumped it in an alley near his apartment on the Lower East Side.

“If I could keep him I would, but I have three at home,” said the man, Ted Sterns, the chief stage manager for Merkin Concert Hall on West 67th Street, adding that the cat was trained to use a litter box and seemed to have been a pet. “Somebody dumped this poor baby out.”

But some people may find that as their savings evaporate, their need for companionship may grow stronger. This weekend at Madison Square Garden, the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals will be holding its annual Adopt-a-Cat day, with hundreds of cats and kittens looking for new homes. Prospective owners can fill out a survey that will color-code their personalities to match with available animals.

On average, a cat costs $1,000 a year to maintain, compared with about $1,500 a year for a dog, Ms. Levine said. Having a pet can bring healthy returns, especially during bear markets.

“They comfort us; they don’t care if your 401(k) lost money today,” Ms. Saul of Petfinder.com said. “They’re one of the few people in the family who are not going to be stressed out about what you did with your money.”

Dumb Gorillas Need Not Apply

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 03:52:00 +0000

Rollie, other apes at Lincoln Park Zoo show smarts in tests

By William Mullen |Chicago Tribune reporter

October 15, 2008

Rollie, a female gorilla at Lincoln Park Zoo, is disproving the conventional wisdom that gorillas are somewhat less intelligent than their great ape cousins. (Tribune photo by Chris Walker / October 15, 2008)

When the frozen blueberry rolled out of a tube near a 42-inch touch-screen computer in the Lincoln Park Zoo's great ape house, a lowland gorilla named Rollie popped the berry into her mouth, gleefully stomped her feet and let out a celebratory hoot.

Rollie had correctly solved a seven-step number puzzle on the screen, winning a treat and an enthusiastic cheer from a keeper. But her skills are also being noticed outside the confines of the zoo.

Conventional wisdom has it that gorillas are somewhat less intelligent than their great ape cousins. Rollie's surprising success at her morning research routine is challenging those assumptions, suggesting she might in fact be faster on the uptake than chimpanzees and orangutans. A report on her work recently caused a stir at the biennial meeting of the International Primatological Society Congress in Scotland.

"Gorillas have always had a reputation of being a little bit slower-witted than other great apes," said Steve Ross, who supervises cognitive and behavioral research for the zoo's primate research arm, the Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes. "They aren't as dynamic as chimps socially, and they don't show the mechanical cleverness that orangutans display."

Ross admits he subscribed to the theory himself.

"This study can't generalize for all gorillas, but because [Rollie] has been such a quick learner, it suggests that gorillas in general are smarter than we have given them credit for," he said.

Ross' immediate aim in studying primate cognition and intelligence is to devise preference tests that allow animals to "talk" to keepers, expressing what foods they like and don't like and reporting on good and bad features of their habitats. But exploring animal cognition also is a way of looking at the history of human intellect and language, giving insights into how they evolved.

Chimpanzees and orangutans are studied often at primate and medical research laboratories worldwide. But captive gorillas—perhaps too temperamental as adults to be used as research subjects—aren't often kept outside of zoos, so they are far less studied.

Lincoln Park, in fact, is the only place in the world that is doing touch-screen testing with both chimps and gorillas.

"It is exciting to see that [Rollie's] performance is comparable with other great apes," said Tara Stoinski, a Zoo Atlanta primatologist. "What is really exciting is to see this kind of work being done with gorillas because so little research is being done on gorilla cognition."

Ross first started training some chimpanzees in 2005 to do tasks on a touch-screen computer. He waited some months before training Rollie as his first gorilla subject.

At first, she merely had to touch the blank computer screen to get a reward. Later, she would be rewarded only after touching a floating numeral 1 about 2 inches high. When the number 2 was added, she was not rewarded unless she touched the numbers in the right sequence. Rollie can now touch the numbers 1 to 7 in order.

Ross emphasizes that Rollie, age 12, is not counting.

"This . . . is mastering the task of sequencing—categorizing—which is an important cognitive skill that humans depend on," he said. "We memorize sequences so that we can remember phone numbers, understand a calendar or perform dance steps. The most important use of the skill is language in which we learn the rules of syntax, what parts of speech come first, second and third."

The exercise Rollie works on is similar to one used elsewhere to test other animal species that display high intelligence, including pigeons, rhesus and capuchin monkeys, lemurs and chimps.

Still, "there are some big differences in the research regimes," Ross said. "A rhesus monkey in a lab setting might have 1,000 trials at a time, while we have very limited time with our apes, doing 30 trials at a time."

The animals' motivation to perform varies too.

"The testing period with the snack rewards may be the highlight of the day for lab animals," Ross said. "In the zoo . . . our animals live with families, friends and intergenerational companionship, [so] there isn't as much motivation to learn a skill on a computer for token rewards. That makes Rollie's performance all the more impressive."

Thus far, she has outperformed Optimus, a 9-year-old male chimp being measured in an identical test regimen.

Ross has begun broadening his gorilla data by recruiting two other apes for the computer exercises: Kwan, a regal 19-year-old male silverback, and Azizi, an impish 4-year-old male who is showing signs of being an even faster learner than Rollie.

There are differences in style when gorillas and chimpanzees work the computer, Ross said. Chimps, like humans, let their hand hover, index finger extended, in front of the screen before touching the icon they want. Gorillas use knuckles instead of fingers to touch, and their hands sweep recklessly across the screen before striking the target. Sometimes they accidentally swipe a wrong number on the way, aborting the test.

As a reward, chimps like sugarless, jelly bean-like Primatreats in banana and piña colada flavors. But the first time Kwan smelled a Primatreat, the gorilla threw it out of his cage. Gorillas prefer frozen blueberries or dried pasta.

And some animals, including Rollie, don't much care if they are rewarded or not.

"Rollie is a really motivated gorilla," Ross said. "All of the animals participate willingly in the experiment, but Rollie seems to enjoy the computer tasks so much, she will even do it without getting a food reward, but just for the joy it gives her."

wmullen@tribune.com

Primate News

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:32:00 +0000

(above jpg came from www.sepiamutiny.com)

Sitting Pretty But For How Much Longer? A barrow-load of orphaned orangutans http://tinyurl.com/4buqoq

More than 100,000 Gorillas Found in Congo
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/08/05/congo.gorillas/index.html

Chimps Aren't Chumps
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/opinion/21ross.html
This article is by Steve Ross, animal behaviorist, at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Female Spider Monkey Adopts Rat as Offspring in Mexican Zoo
http://tinyurl.com/4zcjuz

Great Ape Trust of Iowa to Provide Home to Orangutans from Entertainment Industry
http://www.greatapetrust.org/media/releases/2008/nr_45a08.php

Humans Meet Primates In A Wild Corner of Uganda
http://tinyurl.com/54kxy7

Ape Returns to the Wild with Lady Love
http://tinyurl.com/4bohqj

World's Oldest Gorilla Celebrates Birthday http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/05/09/gorilla.old.ap/
note: Jenny passed away Thurs 09/04/08 due to an inoperable stomach tumor. The tiny URL for the news story did not work. However, it's the first hit if you google Jenny gorilla.

Chunky Monkeys Put On Diet at Japanese Park
http://tinyurl.com/53j9ln
2 Orangutans Captured After Escaping from Busch Gardens http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356597,00.html

British Actress Atkinson Adopts Abused Chimp
http://tinyurl.com/4lmb56
Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre http://www.monkeyworld.org/

One monkey killed, another monkey missing from Vancouver Zoo
http://tinyurl.com/6ljdol

Ape Genius Reveals Depth of Animal Intelligence
http://tinyurl.com/42boo4
A video is available for viewing at this news story.

Putin's Adorable Birthday Present

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:25:00 +0000

Putin's Adorable Birthday Present

(ALEXEY NIKOLSKY, AFP/GETTY IMAGES/)

This tiger cub, which was presented to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at his birthday, looks out from his basket in Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on Friday, Oct. 10.

This tiger cub will end up in a sanctuary. This may sound like an easy solution but most animal sanctuaries are nonprofits entirely supported by donations and limited, like any animal welfare organization, by space, staff and resources.

Providing an animal's nutritional needs alone is very expensive. Add in healthcare, shelter expenses, property taxes, utility bills, transportation, salaries, expenses related to fundraising, maintenance and basic upkeep and, well, you get the picture.

I noticed at www.icanhascheezburger.com that some of the photos were of wild animals: leopard, sloth, lion cub and fox and they appeared to be pets. I emailed the website and asked them about their policy regarding wild animals as pets. I am waiting for a reply.

So Think About This When You're Staring at a $8K Loss In Your 457 Plan

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:00:00 +0000

Nature loss 'dwarfs bank crisis'

By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website, Barcelona

The global economy is losing more money from the disappearance of forests than through the current banking crisis, according to an EU-commissioned study.

It put the annual cost of forest loss at between $2 trillion and $5 trillion.

The figure comes from adding the value of the various services that forests perform, such as providing clean water and absorbing carbon dioxide.

The study, headed by a Deutsche Bank economist, parallels the Stern Review into the economics of climate change.

It has been discussed during many sessions here at the World Conservation Congress.

Some conservationists see it as a new way of persuading policymakers to fund nature protection rather than allowing the decline in ecosystems and species, highlighted in the release on Monday of the Red List of Threatened Species, to continue.

Capital losses

Speaking to BBC News on the fringes of the congress, study leader Pavan Sukhdev emphasised that the cost of natural decline dwarfs losses on the financial markets.

"It's not only greater but it's also continuous, it's been happening every year, year after year," he told BBC News.

"So whereas Wall Street by various calculations has to date lost, within the financial sector, $1-$1.5 trillion, the reality is that at today's rate we are losing natural capital at least between $2-$5 trillion every year."

Coyote Attack in LA park

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:18:00 +0000

Coyote bites jogger in Griffith Park

The 25-year-old woman was attacked near the carousel. Parks officials again warn against feeding animals in the area.

By Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
3:25 PM PDT, October 8, 2008

A coyote bit a female jogger near the Griffith Park carousel, leading parks officials to repeat their warning that people feeding animals in the area could prompt such attacks.

The 25-year-old woman, who was not identified, was bitten at 8:40 a.m. Tuesday near the merry-go-round, which is on the park's eastern edge near the tennis courts and just south of the golf course, said Jane Kob, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department.

Even though the bite was described as a small puncture wound, a park ranger advised the woman to seek medical treatment.

A report of the incident noted that nearby trash cans had been emptied and there was no food, possibly leading the coyote to act aggressively, Kob said.

"People have continued to feed coyotes and other wildlife despite posted signs," Kob said. "The message is please don't feed them because they expect it and then it becomes a behavioral thing."

Chief Park Ranger Albert Torres said the woman was caught by surprise.

"She didn't notice the coyote, the coyote noticed her," he said

He said coyotes nip at each other when they disagree or there are dominance or survival issues. He said the expectation of food could have prompted such a response.

Coyote attacks are rare but not unprecedented in Griffith Park. In 1995, a 15-month-old girl from Nevada suffered several puncture wounds on her thigh when a coyote attacked in the same area where the jogger was bitten.

That and other coyote attacks in the city led the City Council to overturn a ban on coyote trapping, which was revised to allow trapping as a last resort.

The above photo was posted at moduseundi.blogspot.com.

1 in 4 Mammals Threatened, Study Says

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:14:00 +0000

There are only about 143 adult Iberian lynxes left in the world.

by JAMES KANTER

Published: October 6, 2008

BARCELONA, Spain — An “extinction crisis” is under way, with one in four mammals in danger of disappearing because of habitat loss, hunting and climate change, a leading global conservation body warned Monday.

“Within our lifetime, hundreds of species could be lost as a result of our own actions,” said Julia Marton-Lefèvre, the director general of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or I.U.C.N., a network of campaign groups, governments, scientists and other experts.

Among 188 mammals in the group’s highest threat category — critically endangered — was the Iberian lynx, which has an estimated population of 84 adults and has continued to decline as its primary prey, the European rabbit, has fallen victim to disease and overhunting.

The report, presented at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, formed part of a Red List of Threatened Species issued annually by the group.

The fishing cat, found in Southeast Asia, was moved to the second most threatened category, endangered, from vulnerable, because of habitat loss in wetlands. The Caspian seal, also now endangered, has declined in population by 90 percent over the past 100 years because of unsustainable hunting and degradation of its habitats.

Jan Schipper, the director of the global mammal assessment for the I.U.C.N. and for Conservation International, an environmental group, said it was hard to draw a direct comparison with the last detailed survey on mammals, in 1996. New species have been identified, others discovered, and the criteria used to assess species have been made more broadly applicable across all animals and plants.

But he gave a mostly bleak assessment.

“Although 5 percent of mammals are recovering, what we observe are rates of habitat loss and hunting in Southeast Asia, Central Africa and Central and South America that are so serious that the overall rate of decline has steadily increased during the past decade,” Mr. Schipper said.

Amphibians, too, are facing an extinction crisis, with at least 33 percent either threatened or extinct, the I.U.C.N. reported.

Holdridge’s toad, found only in Costa Rica, was declared extinct. The Cuban crocodile, illegally hunted for its meat and skin, was moved to the critically endangered category.

Making the list for the first time were Indian tarantulas, highly prized by collectors and threatened by the international pet trade. The Rameshwaram parachute spider, whose habitat has been eroded by new roads, was found to be critically endangered. The spiders’ “natural habitat has been almost completely destroyed,” the group said.

Not every part of the report was bleak. The African elephant was removed from the vulnerable list and was listed as “near threatened,” although its status varied depending on location. The I.U.C.N. said increases in the population of the elephants in southern and eastern Africa were big enough to offset any decreases taking place elsewhere.

Funny!

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:04:00 +0000

This is one of the funniest websites ever. I laughed so hard, I was crying! Cat pictures with captions written from the cat's point of view. Enjoy! The link is above!

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:39:00 +0000

Assistant Wildlife Director Lisa Birkle looks at the injured shoulder of a brown pelican at the Wetlands Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach. The pelican was one of 11 that were found with their wings intentionally injured or broken at Bolsa Chica State Beach. The rest did not survive.

11 pelicans found with wings broken at Bolsa Chica beach

Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times

Only one has survived. Wildlife officials say the attacks appear to be intentional: 'Someone is snapping the wings backward.' A $5,000 reward is being offered to catch the perpetrators.

By Mike Anton, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 20, 2008

Eleven pelicans have been found on Bolsa Chica State Beach this week with their wings intentionally broken, prompting an investigation by federal wildlife authorities and the offer of a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

The sole pelican to survive is being cared for at the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, which put up the reward.

A brown pelican eats smelt in a cage...
U.S. to probe slashing attacks on...Ten of the birds were less than a year old and were probably feeding in the water, said Lisa Birkle, the center's assistant wildlife director, adding that residents have reported seeing fishing boats close to shore in recent days.

"The birds targeted are new birds arriving from the Channel Islands," she said. "They are young and inexperienced and don't have a fear of humans. . . . Because they're so hungry, they'll go right up to people."

With ocean temperatures around 70 degrees, small fish that would normally provide food for the birds near the water's surface have submerged deeper in search of cooler water.

Nine pelicans were found Monday by a Bolsa Chica lifeguard. The two others were found near the same lifeguard tower in subsequent days. Birkle said the injuries were consistent.

"Someone is snapping the wings backward," she said.

Because the pelicans were found wet with sand packed into their exposed wounds, it is suspected that they were injured in the water and dragged themselves up on shore.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the incidents, Birkle said.

mike.anton@latimes.com

Primate News Round Up

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Mon, 19 May 2008 02:28:00 +0000

(jpg from sepiamutiny.com)

http://buzzfeed.com/peggy/monkey-bartenders
Monkey Bartenders

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004351728_cookies16.html
Girl Scouts take a stand: Just say no to Thin Mints

http://www.kormorant.co.za/2008/02Feb/28Feb/Monkey.htm
Male vervet monkey survives brutal arrow attack

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080228124415.htm
Chimps May Have A 'Language-ready' Brain

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/gorillas_laga_drori.php
Keeping Gorillas In Our Midst

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/67725864.html
Human Viruses Jumping to Wild Apes

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/14797594/detail.html
Owner Of Monkey Accused In Burke County Attack Blames Lotion

Roadkill Stats Surprise Scientists

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:33:00 +0000

The scientists focused their survey on four Indiana roads covering 11 miles, through urban and rural areas. Glista, then a Purdue University researcher who is now a scientist with the Indiana Department of Transportation, and colleagues DeWoody and Travis DeVault counted road kill on the routes twice weekly for over a year. They used a GPS unit to mark locations, also noting the weather and surrounding habitats.

Back at Purdue, they compiled the information into a database and were shocked by the results.

During the survey, they found 10,500 dead animals representing 69 species. Ninety-five percent were amphibians and reptiles, with bullfrogs and other frogs, often too damaged to fully identify, topping the list. The most frequently listed birds and mammals were opossums (79) and chimney swifts (36). The bodies of shrews, skunks, voles, muskrats, mice, raccoons, squirrels, Eastern cottontails, song sparrows, European starlings, American robins, turtles and snakes were also documented.

Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
The above photo is from Getty Images

Cops Kill Cougar On The North Side

zoogeek@me.com (ZooGeek) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:08:00 +0000

Ever since I read "The Beast In the Garden", I knew it was just a matter of time. The book was published in 2003 and now, 5 years later, we have our first cougar killed in Chicago in Roscoe Village (roughly 3100 North to 3500 North and 2000 West to 2400 West).
The cougar was male, about 3 1/2 feet long and weighed 122 lbs. No information about its age or general condition was given at the Chicago Tribune's necropsy. It was not reported if this was an Eastern Cougar, an endangered species.

Cougars are the most versatile of the big cats. They are found as far north as Canada and as far south as Patagonia in a variety of habitats from desert to swamp to mountains. They are powerful predators. After killing their prey, they drag it to a place where it is cached. Can you imagine doing that to a deer or a full grown man?

The opening paragraph of "The Beast In The Garden" began with the death of Scott Lancaster, an 18 yo who went for a run behind his school. He didn't return. Running triggers the predator/prey response. The mountain lion stalked and ambushed Scott Lancaster as he ran. His body was found eviscerated and guarded by the lion which was shot and killed.

I lived for a year in Roscoe Village from September, 1988 to September, 1989 at 3307 N. Hoyne, a block from where the cougar was cornered and killed. Roscoe Village had opossum at that time. Since then, coyotes and dwarf earred rabbits have joined the city. Add in the dogs and cats everyone has and humans who like to jog when it's dark outside or children playing in the yard, and you have a plentiful food source for a carnivore like a cougar.

Peaceable Primate Sanctuary

Lincoln Park Zoo, Facebook and Twitter

Musicians for Apes

Kipenzi: Loved One

Red-Tailed Hawks at Martha's Farm

The Footprints We Leave Behind

Live Giraffe Birth

Susan Frank is Wild About Pets

Saying Goodbye to Andy

Chimpanzees Caught Up in the War

Congo Wildlife Rangers Missing

On This Earth: Photographs from East Africa

Why Monkeys Are Not Pets #2

Brookfield Zoo's New Orangutan!

In Hard Times for Humans, Hardships for Pets, Too

Dumb Gorillas Need Not Apply

Rollie, other apes at Lincoln Park Zoo show smarts in tests

Primate News

Putin's Adorable Birthday Present

Putin's Adorable Birthday Present

So Think About This When You're Staring at a $8K Loss In Your 457 Plan

Nature loss 'dwarfs bank crisis'

Coyote Attack in LA park

Coyote bites jogger in Griffith Park

1 in 4 Mammals Threatened, Study Says

Funny!

11 pelicans found with wings broken at Bolsa Chica beach

A brown pelican eats smelt in a cage...

U.S. to probe slashing attacks on...Ten of the birds were less than a year old and were probably feeding in the water, said Lisa Birkle, the center's assistant wildlife director, adding that residents have reported seeing fishing boats close to shore in recent days.

Primate News Round Up

Roadkill Stats Surprise Scientists

Cops Kill Cougar On The North Side