Primatology.net

This image puts a whole new perspective to the Nintendo classic game, Donkey Kong. At the San Fransisco Zoo, a boy dropped his Nintendo DS into the gorilla enclosure. The following happened. I’m particularly loving the little one’s expression and body language.

San Diego Zoo welcomed the birth of a new baby gorilla last month. I just found the photos on ZooBorn, a blog that you maybe interested in if you’re into newborn animals. The details of the birth are documented on the ZooBorn post, so jump on over there to read up. Otherwise, enjoy these photos and have a good weekend!

A couple of the most popular posts of all time, here at Primatology.net, have been the cute-overload-esque ones, such as the baby macaque and white pigeon friendship and the orangutan and Sumatran tiger bond. Similar to the latter story, a new one has emerged of a chimpanzee named Anjana ‘adopting’ two white tiger cubs named Mitra and Shiva, over at The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (TIGERS) in South Carolina.

The story behind the adoption revolves around Anjana’s caregiver, China York, and the bond they share. China raised Anjana and Anjana has mimicked her human caregiver in caring for other animals at the institute, such as the new born white tiger cubs. The Daily Mail has more details, so jump on over there once you had your fill on the images.

Pictured in this post is Conchita, a three-week-old white-naped mangabey monkey who is being hand-reared at London Zoo. Her mother is recovering from a cesarean. Photos were found from this news piece.

Tool use among orangutans was first documented by Carel van Schaik. In 1994, Carel observed orangutans developing tools to help themselves eat, while conducting field work in Gunung Leuser National Park, in the northwest Sumatra.

Specifically the orangutans were using sticks to pry open pulpy fruits that have “Plexiglas needles” capable of delivering a painful jab covering them. Using the tools, the orangutans were getting past handling the prickly husk and into the nutritious fruit. From an anthropological viewpoint, tool use represents an aspect of culture, since the entire group participates in a behavior that has developed over time. One unique thing to clarify is that only Sumatran orangutans have been observed to use tools, not orangutans from Borneo.

Recently, Gerd Schuster co-author of Thinkers of the Jungle: The Orangutan Report, took this photograph of,

“a male orangutan, clinging precariously to overhanging branches, flails the water with a pole, trying desperately to spear a passing fish…

The extraordinary image, a world exclusive, was taken in Borneo on the island of Kaja…

This individual had seen locals fishing with spears on the Gohong River.

Although the method required too much skill for him to master, he was later able to improvise by using the pole to catch fish already trapped in the locals’ fishing lines.”

Pretty awesome image, no? If you wanna read more about orangutan tool use, here are three papers on the topic:

Schaik, C.P., Fox, E.A., Sitompul, A.F. (1996). Manufacture and use of tools in wild Sumatran orangutans. Naturwissenschaften, 83(4), 186-188. DOI: 10.1007/BF01143062

Call, J., Tomasello, M. (1994). The social learning of tool use by orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus). Human Evolution, 9(4), 297-313. DOI: 10.1007/BF02435516

van Schaik, C.P. (2003). Orangutan Cultures and the Evolution of Material Culture. Science, 299(5603), 102-105. DOI: 10.1126/science.1078004

With all the depressing news of gorillas being slaughtered and primates being brought closer to extinction, I wanted to share this photograph of an abandoned baby macaque, who was taken in by an animal hospital in Goangdong Province, China. He was very lonely until he made friends with a white pigeon.

In many cultures, the white pigeon or dove, is a symbol of peace and hope. It seems like this little birdy brought a lot of hope to this little macaque… two are now inseparable, and make for an awfully adorable friendship.

Read more about their heartwarming story over at the Daily Mail.

P.S. Doesn’t this remind you of the baby orangutan and tiger friendship?

One of Time Magazine‘s “Hero’s for the Planet 2000“, known for discovering new species (Callicebus bernhardi, Callicebus stephennashi, etc.) and focusing his attentions on protecting the rainforest has been convicted of failing to apply for a permit on behalf of the monkey refuge in his Brazilian home. It seems that without the permit (or license) Brazil sees the orphaned monkeys as stolen.

Dutch Biologist Marc van Roosmalen reported that he had previously filed for permits (1996, 1998, 2000) but received no reply from Ibama (the environmental protection agency). Apparently it is generally accepted that if you don’t receive word after 45 days, the application has been accepted. While officials have acknowledged that van Roosmalen did apply, they deny that the 45-day rule is “not explicit in the legislation.”

I first learned of this from Primate-Science listserv yesterday where the post began with a statement of shock before requesting suggestions on how everyone could help… feel free to post your own thoughts which I will gladly pass along.

(photo courtesy of the Apenheul Foundation via Radio Netherlands Worldwide)

Yesterday I shared with you news about the recently orphaned baby gorilla, Ndakasi. In today’s post I will show you a graphic photo of his dead mother. Her name is Rubiga, and she was shot in the back of the head. A autopsy confirmed this, removing two bullets from the back of her head.

I share Paulin’s sentiments. These photos are horrible.

“But it is the reality of what the Gorillas and the Rangers have been through since Friday. It is important that the world sees. I do not want to offend or upset, but it is what is happening.”

One of our more popular posts of all time has been the photos of the tiger and orangutan friendships I shared with you several months back.

To rekindle that interest, I’ve come accross a Reuters news piece on a similar friendship… but this time it is between squirrel monkeys and giant South American rodents called capybaras. And it is all taking place in a Japanese Zoo, Tobu Zoo.

An interesting cultural sidenote, I was reading about capybaras last night and how in countries like Venezula and Brazil, the capybara is to Easter as turkeys are to the United States’ Thanksgiving. That’s because Catholics consider capybaras a fish, mind you, because they live in water and thus are not considered meat for Lent. Crazy, I know.

But I digress, the photo to our right is of one such compainionship between the two species. The news blip on this gets way too technical, hypothesizing whether this is a unique frienship or it can happen in the wild and injectures of meekness, etc. While both species inhabit South America,

“their paths do not cross — capybaras live on river banks while the monkeys live in forests.”

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