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Don't Blow It!Once I saw a chimpanzee gaze at a particularly beautiful sunset for a full 15 minutes, - Adriaan Kortlandt
Source: Fox Photos as appeared in Cyclists Please Dismount and Other Photographs from Kodak Limited's "Humour '70" Exhibition For more information about the growing body of knowledge regarding the human-like qualities of apes, please see Waiting for a Turn further on in this section.
Modern-Day Frankensteinby Lawrence Hall Robert White, a scientist in Cleveland, recently told the British Broadcasting Corporation that he transplanted a monkey's brain into another primate and that the animal survived for a while after the operation. He didn't say where he conducted this grotesque experiment. White said his team was able to "transplant the brain as a separate organ into an intact animal and maintain it in a viable, or living, situation for many days. We've been able to retain the brain in the skull and in the head." He claimed that the monkey was conscious and capable of experiencing sensation since the nerves in its head were intact. White believes brain transplants could one day be used to treat paralysed people. But some British medical researchers view his claim as preposterous and his experiment as highly unethical. "This is medical technology run completely mad and out of all proportion to what's needed," says Dr Stephen Rose, director of brain and behavioral research at the Open University. Such an experiment, Rose says, is "scientifically misleading, technically and scientifically irrelevant and, apart from anything else, a grotesque breach of any ethical consideration." Source: The Star-Ledger (New Jersey) Wednesday 16 May 2001
A Pet's Pet
A female monkey fondly cuddles a puppy at a shop in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, 9 May 2002. Source: channels.netscape.com from Reuters photo credit Rafiqur Rahman
Source: greenapple.com
This One I Find a Wee Bit Disturbing...
Source: also www.greenapple.com I have great respect for chimps but, dress them up in clothes as you will, they are still wild animals and, as such, have possibilities of unpredictability. I think I would find a different babysitter if it were me. See also:
Gorilla at an Illinois Zoo Rescues a 3-Year-Old BoyA 3-year-old boy fell into an exhibit occupied by gorillas at the Brookfield (Illinois) Zoo, and was rescued by a female gorilla that cradled the child and brought him to zookeepers; the boy injured his head when he fell 18 feet onto the exhibit's concrete. Source: New York Times Saturday 17 August 1996 Sec 1 Pg 7 Col 5
Numerical Memory Span in a ChimpanzeeA female chimpanzee called Ai has learned to use Arabic numerals to represent numbers [1]. She can count from zero to nine items, which she demonstrates by touching the appropriate number on a touch-sensitive monitor[2, 3], and she can order the numbers from zero to nine in sequence[4, 5, 6]. Here we investigate Ai's memory span by testing her skill in these numerical tasks, and find that she can remember the correct sequence of any five numbers selected from the range zero to nine.
The chimpanzee Ai performing the 5-number ordering task in the "masking" trial. Humans can easily memorise strings of codes such as phone numbers and postcodes if they consist of up to seven items, but above this number they find it much harder. This "magic number 7" effect, as it is known in human information processing [7], represents a limit for the number of items that can be handled simultaneously by the brain. To determine the equivalent "magic number" in a chimpanzee, we presented our subject with a set of numbers on a screen, say 1, 3, 4, 6 and 9. She had already displayed close to perfect accuracy when required to choose numerals in ascending order, but for this experiment all the remaining numbers were masked by white squares once she had selected the first number. This meant that, in order to be correct in a trial, she had to memorise all the numbers, as well as their respective positions, before making the first response. Chance levels with three, four and five items were 50, 13 and 6%, respectively. Ai scored more than 90% with four items and about 65% with five items, significantly above chance in each case. In normal background trials, response latency was longest for the first numeral and much shorter for all the others, indicating that Ai inspected the numbers and their locations and planned her actions before making her first choice. In masking trials, response latency increased only for the choice directly after the onset of masking, but this latency was similar to those recorded in background trials, indicating that successful performance did not depend on spending more time memorising the numbers. In one testing session, after Ai had chosen the correct number and all the remaining items were masked by white squares, a fight broke out among a group of chimpanzees outside the room, accompanied by loud screaming. Ai abandoned her task and paid attention to the fight for about 20 seconds, after which she returned to the screen and completed the trial without error.
Ai's performance shows that chimpanzees can remember the sequence of at least five numbers, the same as (or even more than) preschool children. Our study and others [8, 9, 10] demonstrate the rudimentary form of numerical competence in nonhuman primates. Nobuyuki Kawai, Tetsuro Matsuzawa [1.] Matsuzawa, T Nature 315 57 - 59 (1985). [2.] Matsuzawa T, Itakura S & Tomonaga M in Primatology Today (eds Ehara A, Kumura T, Takenaka O & Iwamoto M) 317 - 320 (Elsevier Amsterdam 1991) [3.] Murofushi K Japan Psychology Research 39 140 - 153 (1997) [4.] Tomonaga M, Matsuzawa T & Itakura S Primate Research 9 67 - 77 (1993) [5.] Biro D & Matsuzawa T Journal of Comparative Psychology 113 178 - 185 (1999) [6.] Tomonaga M & Matsuzawa T Animal Cognition (in the press) [7.] Miller G A Psychology Review 63 81 - 97 (1956) [8.] Rumbaugh D, Savage-Rumbaugh, E S & Hegel M Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Behaviour Processes 13 107 - 115 (1987) [9.] Brannon E & Terrace H Science 282 746 - 749 (1998) [10.] Boysen S, Mukobi K & Berntson G Animal Learned Behaviour 27 229 - 235 (1999) Supplementary information is available on Nature's website or as paper copy from the London editorial office of Nature. Source: Nature Vol 403 6 January 2000
At the Spa
A Japanese monkey closes its eyes as it bathes in a hot spring in a valley
And the Masseuse
Golfing: Taking a Chimp Shot
Seven-year-old trained chimpanzee, Rudi, plays golf during "the animal wonder
Nuts to Healthy LivingTarzan's chimp is still alive and kicking, but he's had to give up booze and cigars
Cheeta the chimpanzee, the animal star of 12 Tarzan films in the '30s and '40s, celebrated his 75th birthday yesterday. by Ronald Atkin He was a movie star by age two, went on to have a 30-year film career and now lives in comfortable retirement as Bob Hope's neighbour in California where he is admired as a prominent local artist. Not at all bad, for a chimpanzee. The chimp, Cheetah, played alongside Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan in the classic Tarzan series of the 30s. The film has just been re-released, so Cheetah is back in the limelight. Not surprisingly, he's the world's wealthiest chimp. He's also one of the oldest - 67, but he doesn't look a day over 40. Until his retirement in 1967 Cheetah had virtually cornered the market in chimp roles. Fans still shed a tear over his final cameo performance alongside Rex Harrison in Dr Dolittle.
Old Ape - Cheetah today, and below, with Johnny Weissmuller and
In the United States, youngsters are falling over themselves to learn about the "real" Cheetah, and tour buses now drive past his house in Palm Springs in the hope of catching a glimpse of the great star. The guides say there is almost as much interest in Cheetah as in his close neighbours Bob Hope and Kirk Douglas. Cheetah lives with his companion and owner, actor Dan Westfall, who says he is honoured to share a home with the "last of the simian icons." Home, "Casa de Cheetah," also provides shelter for a multitude of apes, dogs, snakes and birds. The weekly pet food bill is in the region of $500. Cheetah, who worked with Weissmuller and O'Sullivan (as Jane) on 12 Tarzan films, was inherited by Westfall from his uncle, Tony Gentry, an animal trainer who went to work in Hollywood in the 1930s with animal expert Frank Buck. Gentry went to Africa to find chimps with movie potential and discovered Cheetah. Cheetah, who is still alert but taking things easy on account of his age, still gives interviews. He doesn't actually speak English, but, claims Westfall, can understand what is said to him. The interview begins with the star slumped on the sofa watching tv. "Put your feet down while you are watching tv," suggests Westfall kindly. Cheetah does as he is advised. "Blow your nose," is the next command. Cheetah takes out a hankie. Once comfortable, the chimp takes a can of soft drink and expertly opens it, before nodding as Westfall elaborates on the secret of Cheetah's success. For starters, there are cigars and booze. He likes both, or at least he did before Brigitte Bardot poked her nose in. The animal rights campaigner complained that they could do damage to Cheetah's health and threatened protests and demonstrations. So, Cheetah was denied his little pleasures. But he's still allowed his favourite food of burgers and chips along with monkey chow and fruit. These days he prefers to stay at home watching old films, especially his own, on tv, but on special occasions can be seen at his own table at McDonald's. He doesn't do as much painting as he once did. Works in his "apestract" style fetch between $NZ250 and $2,000 apiece. A couple of years ago he held a joint exhibition at London's National Gallery with human artist Peter Blake, of Sgt Pepper album cover fame. Chimps usually die before 50 so Cheetah appears to be a good ad for the a-little-bit-of-what-you-like-does-you-good philosophy, although at 82kg he is a little on the heavy side for his height - 1.37m (4ft 6in). - The Independent Source: The Evening Post Wednesday 10 November 1999
Male monkeys lose the hair on their heads in the same way men do. You can really see that by looking at the elderly Cheetah's photograph above. Is the ape named Cheetah? Or Cheeta? (See below.) Actually, his name is (was?) Jiggs and he has produced over 100 paintings. But does he weigh 180 or 140? Is he 4 feet tall or 4½? As you can see, this chimp is a bit of an enigma...
Tarzan's Cheeta's Life as a Retired Movie Starby John Roach Many Hollywood stars retire in the oasis of Palm Springs, California where they while away their golden years splashing paint on canvases, taking leisurely strolls, playing the piano, and flipping through the pages of magazines. Such is the life of 71-year-old Cheeta, the chimpanzee of Tarzan fame who celebrated his birthday a month ago. "He's the world's oldest chimp and in excellent condition," said Dan Westfall, who cares for Cheeta and several other retired showbiz primates at the Cheeta Primate Foundation in Palm Springs. Cheeta's "world's oldest" title is noted in the Guinness Book of World Records. Chimpanzees in the wild tend to live for 40 to 45 years and to the mid 50s in captivity, according to chimpanzee researchers. Activists for the proper care and treatment of chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates applaud Cheeta's age record, but caution against celebrating the lifestyle of chimpanzees that were stars in the entertainment industry. "Would you go to a movie if you knew the child actors had been kidnapped and been forced through abuse by their kidnappers to perform silly, demeaning acts?" asks Roger Fouts, co-director of the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute at Central Washington University in Ellensburg. Activists say that retired entertainment chimpanzees engage in human behaviours such as watching television and reading magazines because they were deprived of a natural lifestyle and were instead trained to behave like humans, often through physical abuse. "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that they are pretty dysfunctional," said Gloria Grow, co-founder of the Fauna Foundation which cares for neglected and abused animals in Quebec, Canada. For example, Grow said that several of the chimpanzees in her foundation's care, including those that were in the entertainment industry, do not know how to have intercourse or how to look after their young. "It is common scientific knowledge that taking mothers from babies has very serious consequences for the psychological well-being of both the mother and the infant, yet this is what happens to every trained chimpanzee," said Fouts. Abe Karajerjian, a biological anthropologist who works with Westfall in the caretaking of the animals at the Cheeta Primate Foundation, says Cheeta and his companions are provided with an environment and social structure that is more suitable to their species rather than perpetuating their human-like lifestyles and behaviours. "We just love them and love to do things for them," he said. "They made tons of people happy, they had to endure a lot to make people happy, and we want to give back to them, provide them with friends." Westfall, a comedian and actor, adopted Cheeta about 10 years ago from his uncle Tony Gentry, an animal trainer who worked in Hollywood and discovered Cheeta while on an animal talent scouting trip to Africa in the 1930s. The 4 foot (1.2 meter) tall, 142 pound (53 kilogram) chimpanzee starred in 12 Tarzan movies and had his last role 36 years ago in the 1967 musical film Doctor Doolittle. Cheeta now spends his days socialising with other apes and human caregivers. At times he seems fascinated by looking at other animals on television and in the pages of magazines like National Geographic, said Karajerjian. On a few occasions the media has spotted Cheeta taking a ride in the car with Westfall, who said that Cheeta "likes to go through the drive-thru and get a hamburger and a Coke." Cheeta's staple diet consists of fresh fruit, vegetables, and monkey chow, which is a nonhuman-primate version of dog food. In his earlier years Cheeta had a penchant for beer and cigars, reportedly drinking several cold ones a day. Westfall and Karajerjian said booze and smoke have not been a part of the old chimp's life since he came into their care 10 years ago. "Where he lives now nobody smokes and drinks," said Karajerjian. "I hate smoking and drinking and so why would I offer it to apes?" At the sanctuary the apes are provided with a variety of activities to stimulate their intellect and curiosity. One of the activities is painting, which Karajerjian says allows chimpanzees to mimic their innate behavior of inventing and using tools. Westfall says that Cheeta has developed a particular talent as an abstract artist and has trademarked Cheeta's creations as "Ape-stract." Cheeta uses a paintbrush and bright colours for his creations which are full of sweeps, swirls, and straight lines. "They are very pretty, actually," said Westfall, who sells his companion's work for $125 a piece. The proceeds go to support the Cheeta Primate Foundation, which Westfall started to raise money for unwanted showbiz animals. Cheeta is a rarity among chimpanzee actors in that he was used for films into his 30s. "Most of the chimpanzees used in the entertainment industry are used when they are quite young," said Rick Bogle of the Primate Freedom Project in Santa Barbara, California. The organisation works for the protection of nonhuman primates. Chimpanzees rarely act beyond the age of 10 because they become less manageable and less willing to follow directions, said Bogle. When the chimpanzees are retired, many of them are sold into biomedical research. Gentry, Cheeta's previous owner, feared a research laboratory was Cheeta's destination so he had asked in his will that Cheeta be put to rest. Westfall talked his uncle out of having Cheeta put to rest by promising to take good care of the chimp. Ex-entertainment chimpanzees are unfit for zoos, said Fouts, because they do not behave like regular chimpanzees. "And often times they are not socialised to other chimpanzees so they would be difficult to integrate into a social population," he said. Westfall said primate researcher Jane Goodall inspired him to start the foundation for unwanted showbiz primates. The other chimpanzees, orangutans, and monkeys in his care have starred in television commercials, nightclubs, and theatres, but none reached the star status of Cheeta. "There are also some from labs that we'd love to get sometime to save their lives and give them a good, healthy home to live in," he said. All of the animals in Westfall's care interact on a daily basis and with each other and their human caregivers. Westfall's house is not open to the public, but tour buses and children often stop in front where there is a statue of Cheeta. Terry Wolf, wildlife director at Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, Florida, which cares for about 35 chimpanzees, said that captive chimpanzees that were picked up from the entertainment industry and research facilities are living longer because humans are taking better care of them. "The quality of health care and diet in the past was traditionally not all that great," he said. Now humans have a better understanding of chimpanzee dietary, physical, and social needs, including the need for interaction to prevent the onset of deadly bouts of depression. Little Mama, a chimpanzee who starred in a travelling ice skating show before coming to Lion Country Safari in 1967, is thought to be 65 years old and like Cheeta is in good health. She is social and gets along well with her mates, who she lives with on a series of islands in the drive-through zoo, said Wolf. "Old age is something to be celebrated," said Virginia Landau, director of the Jane Goodall Institute's ChimpanZoo in Tucson, Arizona, which coordinates the study of chimpanzees in zoos and other captive settings. Donations or a request for a piece of Cheeta's Ape-stract art can be sent to Westfall: Dan Westfall Source: news.nationalgeographic.com National Geographic News 9 May 2003
This was created for an ad campaign developed by Christine Morgan Advertising Design, titled Source: koehlerstudios.com
The Word Made Fleshby Richard Dawkins Today we can read human and ape genetic legacies. In 50 years (or less), we could resurrect the past This has been the year the human genome was announced, all but a few last details. As an achievement, it ranks with putting a man on the moon. Both are triumphs of the human spirit, like climbing Everest ("Because it is there") but more so because each is the cooperative culmination of millions of person hours of highly skilled work, brilliantly conceived, intricately organised, drawing upon the accumulated science of centuries. The human genome is a mountain climbed, not by a couple of individuals but by the human intellect itself. We can all be proud of our species as it closes in on this summit of self-knowledge. Such projects are expensive, but worth it. They are examples of what we do when we live, rather than just work to stay alive. But they also contribute, in no mean strength, to the utilitarian business of staying alive. The medical benefits of the genome project will become increasingly evident during our (consequently extended) lifetimes. Over the half century since Watson and Crick's discovery, the number of DNA codons that can be sequenced per unit-cost (allowing for inflation) has increased exponentially, with a doubling time of about 27 months. If the trend continues, a doctor in 2050 will be able to call up, for the price of a chest X-ray, a genome printout for each individual patient. She will then prescribe not an average dose but the tailor-made remedy to fit each individual's genes. Enough of practicalities: as with the moon shots, the lasting benefits of the human genome project will flow not from reaching the narrow goal itself but from learning how to reach it. The new skills will be turned towards other goals. The chimpanzee genome will be sequenced in a fraction of the time taken for the human genome, which it closely resembles. The distinguished molecular biologist Sydney Brenner has made the startling suggestion that a sophisticated comparison of the two might then enable us to reconstruct the genome of the common ancestor that we share, the so-called missing link, which lived in Africa about six million years ago. Extrapolating Brenner's logic, our computers should then be able to split the difference between the missing link and ourselves, approximating the genome of an Australopithecine such as "Lucy", the famous three-million-year-old ape woman fossilised in the Ethiopian highlands. Such speculation is for the future, but it is a future measured in decades, not centuries. During the same decades, embryological science and cloning technology will also be advancing, and it is not excessive to speculate that, by 2050, a reconstructed Australopithecine genome might be used to bring into the world a living, breathing Lucy! And, by the same methods, a living Turkana Boy (Homo erectus, roughly intermediate between Lucy and us) and similar resurrections of the bridges that span the chimpanzee line of descent. Many of us will be horrified, rather than excited, by such a suggestion. But we are not living in 2050. Things will seem different then. Though free from irrational fears of "playing God," I admit to misgivings, which stem from compassion for the Lucy herself. It seems all too likely that she will be victimised and exploited as a tabloid freak show. On the other hand, I see positive ethical benefits flowing from the experiment, in the form of changes to our own attitudes. The same benefits in moral education would be delivered by a successful hybridisation of a human and a chimpanzee. Or from the discovery of a relict population of Lucys, surviving somewhere in the African bush. But cloning a new Lucy is more practicable, and it would shatter our speciesist illusions very effectively. People who cheerfully eat cows object violently to abortion. Not even the most vehement "pro-lifer" would claim that a human fœtus feels pain, or distress, or fear, more than an adult cow. The double standard, therefore, stems from an absolutist regard for the humanity of the fœtus. Even if we don't eat chimpanzees (and they are eaten in Africa, as bushmeat) we do treat them in otherwise inhuman ways. We incarcerate them for life without trial (in zoos). If they become surplus to requirements, or grow old and miserable, we call the vet to put them down. I am not objecting to these practices, simply calling attention to the double standard. Much as I'd like the vet to put me down when I'm past it, he'd be tried for murder because I'm human. Human means special, unique, sacred, of infinite worth, to be venerated as the possessor of "human dignity." Animal means to be treated kindly but put to human use, painlessly destroyed when usefulness is past, killed for sport, or as a pest. A rogue lion that kills people will be shot, not in revenge, not as a punishment, not as a deterrent to other lions, not to satisfy the relatives of the victim, but simply to get it out of the way: not punishment, but pest control. A rogue human who kills people will be given a fair trial, and if sentenced will probably not be killed. If he is killed, it will be with grisly ceremony, after appeals, and in the face of massive, principled objection. Of all the justifications offered for capital punishment, one that will never be heard is pest control. It has no place in penal theory. Humans, to the absolutist mind, are forever divided from "animals." A real, live Lucy would drive a coach and horses through this double standard. Of course we already know that we are cousins of chimpanzees. But the intermediates are all conveniently dead, so it is easy to forget. If we succeed in cloning a Lucy and a series of graded, mutually fertile intermediates linking us to chimpanzees, what would the pro-"lifers" do then, poor things? At the height of the apartheid idiocy, the South Africans set up courts to determine whether individuals should "pass for white." These obscene courts sometimes separated brothers, where one happened to be darker than the other. The pro-"lifers" would either have to go down that preposterous route, or embrace chimpanzees as human. And then, of course, we would be on the slippery slope, via gorillas, orang-utans, monkeys and so on, to the entire animal kingdom. This will not worry those of us who were never absolutists in the first place: who care more for the individual's capacity to suffer than for his divine human status. But it shows absolutism up as incoherent. The silly thing is that it shouldn't be necessary to clone a live Lucy. Anyone with an intelligent imagination should get the point from the undeniable fact that we animals are all cousins: it is the merest accident that the evolutionary intermediates happen to be extinct. But the absolutist mind - one of the great scourges of humanity - has never been richly endowed with either intelligence or imagination. Unfortunately, the absolutist mind needs to see the word made flesh. Come back Lucy! Richard Dawkins is the Charles Simonyi professor of the public understanding of science at Oxford. Source: guardian.co.uk Thursday 27 December 2001
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