If you’ve been following Paulin Ngobobo’s (senior warden with the Congolese wildlife authorities) blog Gorilla Protection, you’ve already seen this great pictures… but I can’t help but spread the good news. A newborn mountain gorilla was born on February 17th, 2007 in the Mikeno sector in the Congo.
Here are the great pictures and info [...]
March 2, 2007
Newborn mountain gorilla in the Congo
February 28, 2007
FEELIX Growing: Robots and the animal mind
BBC News recently reported on a pretty interesting three-year long research project that is not the typical non-human primate-focused research we usually highlight on this site, but I couldn’t resist bringing it up. The project, FEELIX Growing, a multi-national project is aiming to create robots that read and react to humans in an appropriate manner. [...]
February 22, 2007
Stress: Physiological effects and surrounding research
A big topic of conversation in zoos and other animal facilities is stress: Who suffers from it? What are the causes and repercussions? How can we identify it biologically? And what are the best ways to recognize the causes in hopes of alleviating the stress?
We have all seen stress in animals [...]
February 16, 2007
Ireland joins Canada in rejection of blood donors who work(ed) with monkeys
Late in 2006 we posted about a new question on Canada’s blood donor questionnaire and now it turns out that Ireland is following suit. Anyone who has handled monkeys or their bodily fluids will not be able to donate blood.
The reason is the same: the Simian Foamy virus.
It is noted that while the virus is [...]
February 13, 2007
A new baby for Tolkein: Howler monkey with restored sight gives birth
We’ve heard of modern medicine helping zoo animals in many ways (including Salome, a western lowland gorilla at the Bristol Zoo reproducing with the help of fertility drugs) and the Port Lympne Wild Animal Park adds another success to the list: cataract surgery. A howler monkey named Tolkein relied on the help of her caregivers [...]
January 25, 2007
Congolese Warden gains permission to access Patrol Posts in search of gorilla groups
Good news from WildlifeDirect’s Senior Warden, Paulin Ngobobo: permission was granted to allow access to the Patrol Posts enabling the wardens to search for gorillas and establish current group status.
His most recent entry reads as follows (but be sure to check out his blog for more details documenting his efforts):
“Yesterday we finally managed to have [...]
January 17, 2007
Unexpected birth at Chimp Haven
Photo by Amy Fultz
Despite all residents receiving vasectomies prior to arrival at Chimp Haven, the caregivers stumbled upon a surprise yesterday morning… a healthy baby chimpanzee in the arms of her mother.
Chimp Haven reports that their next step is to determine paternity and address the failed vasectomy.
This is an interesting occurrence given the recent management [...]
January 9, 2007
Human Zoo: Research project puts humans on display as a means to promote conservation and improve living conditions
In an interesting and bold research move in Australia, dubbed the Human Zoo, humans have been put on display at the Adelaide Zoo. Dr. Carla Litchfield, a lecturer in psychology at the University of South Australia, will be monitoring her volunteers as they are housed in an unused orangutan enclosure for about a month. [...]
December 28, 2006
Canada’s blood donor form now asks if you’ve ever worked with monkeys
The Canadian blood donor form has a new question, “Have you, in your past or present job, taken care of or handled monkeys or their body fluids?” The Canadian Press reports that it’s being used as a precautionary measure to avoid the Simian Foamy Virus (SFV), thought to be contracted through bites and scratches [...]
December 23, 2006
Examining the genetic variation between humans and chimpanzees may help develop cures for several diseases
In a paper from the November issue of Genome Research, researchers from the Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at the National Health Research Institutes are closely examining the genetic variation between humans and chimpanzees (I don’t have access to it yet – free online access is available to Genome Research articles 6 months after publication, [...]
