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tagged w/ Primates
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"Extinct" Monkeys With Sideburns Found in Borneo | Sweet Photos
National Geographic...
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Pictures: "Extinct" Monkeys With Sideburns Found in Borneo
Miller's grizzled langur
"Extinct" Monkey
Photograph courtesy Eric Fell
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A Miller's grizzled langur pauses while drinking water from a mineral spring, or sepan, in 2011. Feared extinct, the monkey species has been "rediscovered" on the Indonesian island of Borneo, a new study says.
Scientists stumbled onto several of the primates last year during a biodiversity survey of the Wehea Forest, a 98,000-acre (40,000-hectare) habitat in Indonesia's East Kalimantan Province (map). Previously known to live only in a small area along East Kalimantan's central coast, the Wehea discovery extends the species' range.
Numbers of the 13-pound (6-kilogram) langur—known for its white, bristly beard and sideburns—had declined in the animal's coastal habitat due to deforestation, hunting, and large human-caused fires in the 1990s. Later surveys turned up no evidence of the monkey.
"I've been working [in Wehea] for four years—I study primates, and I've never seen it" until now, said study co-author Stephanie Spehar, a primatologist at the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh. "The fact we found it did come as a big surprise to all of us."
Particularly exciting was that an independent survey team led by study co-author Brent Loken of Ethical Expeditions simultaneously spotted the langurs in another part of the forest. This suggests there are at least two healthy populations and not just an isolated group, said Spehar, whose study appears this month in the American Journal of Primatology.
"We were thrilled when we met up and showed each other our photos," she said.
—Christine Dell'Amore
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Published January 20, 2012
.National Geographic... . Pictures: "Extinct" Monkeys With Sideburns... more-
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Going ape: Ultraviolence and our primate cousins
IF YOU like to think of chimps as wise, rational tool-users, gorillas as gentle giants, or bonobos as sexed-up hippie apes, be prepared for a shock. Among African Apes, a collection of field diaries, is primatology given the Tarantino treatment.IF YOU like to think of chimps as wise, rational tool-users, gorillas as gentle... more-
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Isabel Behncke: Evolution's gift of play, from bonobo apes to humans
With never-before-seen video, primatologist Isabel Behncke Izquierdo (a TED Fellow) shows how bonobo ape society learns from constantly playing -- solo, with friends, even as a prelude to sex. Indeed, play appears to be the bonobos' key to problem-solving and avoiding conflict. If it works for our close cousins, why not for us?
TED Fellow Isabel Behncke Izquierdo studies the social behavior (and play behavior in particular) of wild bonobos in DR Congo.With never-before-seen video, primatologist Isabel Behncke Izquierdo (a TED Fellow)... more-
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Orphaned Gorillas Are Given a Safe Haven | Photos | Videos
Orphaned gorillas find a safe haven
From Jessica Ellis, CNN
December 17, 2010 5:19 a.m. EST
Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo (CNN) --
In a remote, rural area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund has opened the country's first rehabilitation center for Grauer's gorillas.
Called GRACE (Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education), the center's goal is to teach orphaned gorillas how to survive in the wild as a new, self-sufficient "family," with the longer-term goal to release them into a natural habitat in a neighboring forest in the Congo Basin.
These young gorillas are physically and emotionally fragile, most having suffered from extremely traumatic conditions and experiences. Many have been violently taken from the forest by poachers, intent on selling them either as bush meat or for the animal trafficking trade.
CNN's Jessica Ellis and Ferre Dollar recently followed the first group of gorillas to be transported to the forested area from a temporary facility in Goma, in eastern DRC.
The pioneering young orphans were airlifted to GRACE by a helicopter donated by MONUC, the United Nations peacekeeping force in the DRC -- a first for a U.N. mission. Traveling by road would have been almost impossible due to poor infrastructure and potential trauma to the animals.
Mapendo, Amani, Kighoma and Ndjingala were all originally snatched from the forest and their families by poachers. They are all Grauer's gorillas, a subspecies related to the Mountain gorilla, but live exclusively in eastern DRC.
Sandy Jones is the confiscated gorilla rehabilitation manager for the Dian Fossey Fund and now the manager of GRACE. "All of the gorilla species are endangered because Congo is so unexplored they have not done a real census on how many Grauer's gorillas there are," she says.
"But at the rate at which we know they are being killed and the forest is being destroyed we are really concerned that if things aren't stopped and changed now they can be wiped out very soon."
This freshman class of GRACE gorillas range in age from between one and five years old. Mapendo, whose name means "love," was rescued in December 2007. She was confiscated along with a male gorilla but he only survived for two days.
When Amani -- which means "peace" -- was rescued a year ago she had a large wound on her leg. "It seemed obvious that her mother was shot and she was caught in the crossfire," Jones explains. "It took many weeks to heal but now she is walking perfectly normal."
Kighoma -- "drums" -- is the only male in the group. He arrived in May 2009, and Ndjingala was rescued earlier this year. She is only a year old and was named after the place from which she was taken.
"A lot of primates, when they are taken by poachers, they have ropes around their hips and it digs in and so they have bad wounds and Ndjingala suffered from that," Jones says.
The Dian Fossey gorilla fund and the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project have been caring for rescued gorillas in temporary quarters in Kinigi, in Rwanda, and in Goma.
Now they (the gorillas) are in the real forest and they are climbing and getting some forest food, so they are happy.
"What I know is that many of them have died," says Dr. Eddie Kambale of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project. "We may have, I can say, about 20% that have been taken from the forest."
The GRACE center is the first facility of its kind in east Central Africa. It has room for up to 30 young gorillas to live in species-typical groups and roam through 350 acres of natural habitat.
Kambale helped bring the four orphans from Goma to GRACE. "The gorillas are enjoying this place compared to where they were," he says.
"In Goma there was too much noise and dust from the road; here is less pollution so this will be good for their health. Now they are in the real forest and they are climbing and getting some forest food, so they are happy."
The remaining rescued Grauer's gorillas currently cared for by the Dian Fossey Fund and Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project will leave Kinigi on a second airlift scheduled for early next year.
"Having the gorillas here will help give the people a glimpse of the world of gorillas," says Debby Cox, of the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance.
Cox worked with the local community to build the infrastructure for GRACE. "When the local people see gorillas as so much like us -- they live in families, the infants need their mothers, they hug each other -- you immediately get an empathy coming," she says.
"So we need to work with the people in this area, and that helps create stability and that creates confidence too."
While for decades the world has only heard bad news from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, conservation is striking an increasingly important chord of awareness among the people.Orphaned gorillas find a safe haven From Jessica Ellis, CNN December 17, 2010 5:19... more-
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New Monkey Discovered in Myanmar Sneezes When It Rains
New Monkey Discovered in Burma Sneezes When it Rains
by Rachel Cernansky, Boulder, Colorado on 10.27.10
Myanmar snub-nosed monkey.jpeg
Image: Reconstructed photo of the monkey by Dr. Thomas Geissmann
Conservationists have found a new species of monkey in northern Burma that has such a uniquely shaped nose, its upturned nostrils fill with water when it rains, causing it to sneeze. On rainy days, the monkeys are known to sit with their heads tucked between their knees.
Known in the local dialect as mey nwoah, or "monkey with an upturned face," the snub-nosed monkey is thought to be critically endangered, with an estimated population of 300 or less, according to Fauna and Flora International.
Local populations told the Primate Conservation Programme the monkeys were easy to find on rainy days, because people can hear the sneezing.
The monkey, which is mostly black with white fur and protruding lips, has been named Rhinopithecus strykeri by conservationists, according to the BBC.
All snub-nosed monkeys are endangered, and while other species are known to exist in China and Vietnam, this is the first to be found (by scientists) in Burma. Since no photos are available yet of the monkey alive, the photo above is a Photoshop reconstruction by Dr. Thomas Geissmann "based on a Yunnan snub-nosed monkey and the carcass of the newly discovered species."
AFP reports that the monkey is geographically isolated from other species because its habitat, an area in Kachin State, is separated by the Mekong and Salween rivers. Like most primates and other endangered species, its habitat is threatened by deforestation due to logging, both local and by Chinese companies operating illegally. Local hunting is also a problem, and better enforcement is needed to combat the illegal international wildlife trade.New Monkey Discovered in Burma Sneezes When it Rains by Rachel Cernansky, Boulder,... more-
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Animal Rights Groups Face Off with Federal Laboratory Scientists Over the Fate of Chimps
Almost 200 have had a long break from testing that dates to NASA's early days, but that could end.
By Michael Haederle, Los Angeles Times
September 3 2010
Ever since the first of their number arrived in New Mexico half a century ago as test subjects in the fledgling U.S. space program, nearly 200 government-owned chimpanzees were routinely injected with viruses and used to test everything from experimental vaccines to insecticides.
They have enjoyed a decade-long respite from research at an indoor-outdoor habitat on Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo, but now the government wants to move the chimpanzees to a Texas laboratory, where they might face renewed testing.
The plan has animal welfare groups and elected officials squaring off against federal scientists at a time when Congress is considering legislation that could shut down federal chimpanzee testing altogether.
Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives, sharing between 94% and 98% of our DNA, which is why some scientists see them as ideal research subjects. The similarity extends to their cognitive abilities. Chimps are intelligent and self-aware, even able to plan future actions.
"These animals have been put through the wringer and they deserve to be retired," says Kathleen Conlee, a program manager with the Humane Society of the United States, who has worked in a primate breeding facility and a great ape sanctuary. "The Humane Society doesn't think a laboratory environment can ever meet the psychological needs of a chimpanzee."
Moving the chimpanzees to the Southwest National Primate Research Center in San Antonio is expected to save $2 million a year in upkeep, while making more of a dwindling number of research animals available for crucial medical testing, said Harold Watson, a program director in the National Center for Research Resources at the National Institutes of Health.
John L. VandeBerg, director of the San Antonio primate center, says the chimpanzees are needed to test potential vaccines for diseases, such as hepatitis C and hepatitis B, because they are the only species other than humans that can become infected with those viruses.
"We only use chimpanzees when it's not possible to do critical experiments with any other species," VandeBerg said. The primates are well cared for, he said, and only about 100 are used in research at any time.
"They are not people, they are animals," he said. "I believe it's our ethical responsibility to do the research to alleviate the pain, suffering and deaths of millions of human beings."
VandeBerg concedes past abuses in chimpanzee experiments, but he says research now "involves procedures that are no different than those that are used every day in human clinical medicine. It generally involves drawing blood samples from a vein, just as we do with people; we've all had that done."
There are fewer than 1,000 research chimpanzees in the U.S., about half of them under NIH management. Their numbers are slowly declining because of a federal moratorium on breeding and deaths due to old age. The oldest, a female named Flo, turns 53 on Sept. 29.
Although the U.S. is virtually the last country in the world to permit invasive testing of chimpanzees, VandeBerg and others have argued for the resumption of a breeding program to permit further biomedical research.
Meanwhile, the Great Ape Protection Act, which would phase out invasive research on federally owned chimps and retire them to sanctuaries, has been introduced in Congress with bipartisan support.
Announcement of the plan to relocate the chimpanzees when the current third-party management contract at the Holloman facility expires in May 2011 prompted New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Tom Udall, the state's junior U.S. senator, to urge the NIH to reconsider. Richardson paid a visit to NIH headquarters in Bethesda, Md., in August to press the point but made little headway.
The Holloman chimpanzee colony traces its origins to the 1950s, when NASA acquired chimps for research during the early days of Project Mercury. By the 1970s they had become part of a breeding program, and the Holloman facility was leased to the late Dr. Frederick Coulston, a controversial toxicology researcher who used them to test insecticides and cosmetics.
Later, the chimps were managed by New Mexico State University, but during the early 1990s ownership was transferred to Coulston, who by then had started the nonprofit Coulston Foundation and built a nearby private facility in which the chimpanzees were housed in cramped steel-and-concrete cages with little room for exercise.
There were persistent accusations of severe abuse and neglect on Coulston's watch, with nearly 50 chimpanzees and monkeys dying from disease, poor veterinary care and experimentation amid documented violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
By the time the Coulston lab went bankrupt in 2002, nearly 300 chimpanzees had been transferred to Save the Chimps, a nonprofit organization that operates a sanctuary in Florida. The remaining 186 chimpanzees have been housed as a reserve population at the Holloman facility, which is now managed by Charles River Laboratories under a 10-year contract that expires next year. About 60 others that were at Holloman have been transferred to other facilities over the past decade.
The plan to transfer the Holloman chimpanzees to Texas has riled national animal welfare organizations, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the New England Anti-Vivisection Society and Animal Protection of New Mexico. An alert from the Humane Society in late July resulted in 25,000 protest letters addressed to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, which oversees NIH, the society's Conlee said.
"They're certainly not going to move these chimpanzees without hearing about it from the public," Conlee said. "We're not against human disease research. We want them to use the money in a better fashion than they do."
Some experts question the scientific premise behind continued use of chimpanzees as an animal model for HIV and hepatitis research. Although it is true that chimpanzees can be infected with viruses like HIV and hepatitis C, they do not develop symptoms.
"They're an abject failure," said Dr. John Pippin, a retired cardiologist who works for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. "They have contributed nothing to the development of a vaccine for either disease."
He chalks up the continued reliance on animal models to scientific inertia. "It's an enormous industry," he said. Animal research accounts for between $12 billion and $13 billion annually in federal grant money, and 42% of NIH protocols are for animal research, he said.
Pippin contends it is more appropriate to experiment on cell cultures grown from human tissue for vaccine development. In the quest to develop an HIV vaccine, some of the most promising research is in studying the immune response of so-called elite controllers — the small number of HIV-infected people who have never gone on to develop full-blown AIDS, he said.
Watson of the National Center for Research Resources acknowledges the strides that have been made in developing new ways to develop and test vaccines, but he insists that the chimpanzees are still needed because their infection process closely mimics that in humans.
"The alternatives are something that we're very sensitive to, and our scientists are constantly looking for and finding alternatives for certain things," Watson said. "But as it stands right now, there's not really an alternative to chimpanzees for evaluating the vaccine."Almost 200 have had a long break from testing that dates to NASA's early days,... more-
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A tiny primate is rediscovered after 65 years
After a 65-year disappearance, the mysterious Horton Plains slender loris (Loris tardigradus nycticeboides) has been photographed for the first time, reports the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
The tiny primate appeared to have gone extinct in 1939 after its Sri Lankan forest habitats were clear-cut to create tea plantations. A chance encounter in 2002 led to a massive expedition to find the animal, and after nearly 1,000 nocturnal surveys in 120 forest areas researchers have discovered that the loris was, indeed, still among the living. Not only did the team manage to photograph the animal (a loris subspecies) for the first time, they caught three of them long enough to measure them. (They're just 20 centimeters long, by the way.)
Anyway, that's the good news. The bad news is that the Horton Plains slender loris is still pretty darn rare. Researchers fear there may only be 100 or so of these animals left, which would make it one of the five most endangered primate species. They also say the number could be as low as 60—which would, indeed, make it the world's rarest primate.
This rediscovery "improves our knowledge of this species, but we need to focus our efforts on the conservation and restoration of the remaining montane forest where this species still exists," ZSL conservation biologist Craig Turner said in a prepared statement. "Currently, this accounts for less than 1 percent of the land area of Sri Lanka."
The team's work in Sri Lanka isn't done. They are studying all loris species in Sri Lanka to determine their needs as well as the threats they face.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=slender-hope-a-tiny-primate-is-redi-2010-07-19After a 65-year disappearance, the mysterious Horton Plains slender loris (Loris... more-
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A Reclusive Primate, in Sri Lanka, Has Been Caught On Camera for the First Time Ever
Reclusive primate caught on camera for first time
July 19, 2010 10:15 a.m. EDT
Photo: The Horton Plains slender loris has never been photographed before -- and only seen four times since 1937.
__________
(CNN) -- Wildlife researchers in Sri Lanka have photographed one of the world's most reclusive primates for the first time.
Sightings of the Horton Plains slender loris -- a small nocturnal primate with extremely thin arms and legs and huge round eyes -- are so rare that the creature has only been seen four times since 1937.
Conservationists feared the species had become extinct during a 63-year gap between sightings from 1939 to 2002.
Populations of all types of slender loris, which are native to the rainforests of Sri Lanka and southern India, have been in decline in recent years because of destruction of their forest habitat by logging, agriculture and development.
That prompted an 18-month study of the creatures led by researchers working for the Zoological Society of London's Edge project -- a conservation initiative dedicated to raising awareness about the plight of animals on the brink of extinction. Researchers from the University of Colombo and the Open University of Sri Lanka also took part.
Research leader Saman Gamage said more than 1,000 nocturnal studies in 120 different forest areas had been conducted as part of the study.
"This discovery is a great reward for the ongoing field research we undertake across much of south-western Sri Lanka," Gamage said.
ZSL Conservation biologist Dr. Craig Turner said the study was the first close examination of a Horton Plains slender loris ever conducted.
The pictures show a 20-centimeter long male adult sitting on a forest branch forest. Conservationists have discovered it appears to have shorter and sturdier limbs than other loris; a possible adaptation for the cooler, high-altitude montane -- or cloud -- forest in which it lives.
That could mean the Horton Plains slender loris is a distinct species in its own right, said Gamage. Results of the study are published in the latest edition of the journal Primate Conservation.
"We are thrilled to have captured the first ever photographs and prove its continued existence -- especially after its 65 year disappearing act," said Turner.
"The discovery improves our knowledge of this species, but we need to focus our efforts on the conservation and restoration of the remaining montane forest where this species still exists. Currently this accounts for less than one percent of the land area of Sri Lanka."Reclusive primate caught on camera for first time July 19, 2010 10:15 a.m. EDT... more-
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Hang Around for Reasons to End the Palm Off on Palm Oil | Wonderful Species on the Brink of Extinction, In Part for Cosmetics
Hang around for reasons to end the palm off on palm oil
GABRIELLA COSLOVICH - The Sydney Morning Herald
June 30, 2010
Wonderful species on the brink of extinction, in part for cosmetics.
We took our four nieces to the Melbourne Zoo recently. The things we saw. Butterflies hatching in cocoons shaped like precious jade pendants. A cassowary with a pelt of feathers so glossy and thick that it looked like something Kate Moss would wear down the runway. Seals that shot through the water like rockets, sleek and euphoric as they darted and flipped, creatures of awesome grace underwater, clownishly awkward above.
Mali, surely the cutest baby elephant in the world, so small, so fat, so wrinkly. My nieces squealed in horrified delight as one of the adult elephants discharged a torrent of urine and a canon fire of poo. Of course, I laughed too.
But it was a day of conflicting emotions. I marvelled at the miraculous beauty and diversity of nature, and wondered whether one day such variety would be found only in the safe confines of a zoo. What kind of world would my nieces inherit? Many of the animals we saw were endangered, among them the siamangs, tree-dwelling primates, found mainly in the tropical rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia.
The fragility of life struck me as I looked at a couple of these shaggy creatures, nestled close together. They looked straight back, with melancholy, knowing eyes. One of them ever so gently groomed its mate. Those hands. Long, delicate, expressive, uncannily human as they softly swept across its mate's black fur, checking for bugs, for dirt.
Next door lived their cousins, the orang-utans, auburn-haired trapeze artists extraordinaire, effortlessly swinging, whirling, pivoting on their artificial jungle of ropes.
Endangered trapeze artists. On the brink of extinction. Of course, I knew this in that dim, foggy way we have of knowing many things we'd rather not. But coming face-to-face with an orang-utan made it impossible to ignore.
One of the greatest threats to orang-utans is the clearing of their natural habitat in the forests of Malaysia and Indonesia to make way for oil palm plantations. According to a 2007 United Nations report, between 1967 and 2000 the total oil palm area in Indonesia grew from fewer than 2000 square kilometres to more than 30,000 square kilometres. The demand for palm oil was expected to double this area by 2020.
As forests are cleared for plantations, confused orang-utans can be found wandering into the newly planted areas that used to be their home. They're an intimidating sight, and it's common for them to be killed by plantation workers.
Palm oil is now ubiquitous. It's found, according to the UN, in one out of 10 supermarket products, including margarine, baked goods, sweets, detergents and lipsticks. But it is not necessarily labelled as ''palm oil'' in the ingredients list - it might be called palmate, or sodium laureth sulphate (which can also be from coconuts), or glyceryl stearate, or scores of other mystifying variations. The zoo is urging people to sign an online petition requesting Food Standards Australia New Zealand to make it compulsory to clearly label palm oil as ''palm oil'' - the chance to sign the petition ends today.
Now, I'm not a huge fan of processed food, so I didn't think I'd be causing too much trouble. Nonetheless, after our visit to the zoo, I checked the contents of my bathroom cupboard. What I found was highly unsettling.
According to the Australian Orangutan Project, more than 1 million kilograms of palm oil makes its way to Australia each year - and my bathroom had an arsenal of the stuff. Even products from companies that promote themselves as somehow more virtuous and natural than the rest included palm oil (albeit not labelled as such) in the fine print. My favourite shampoo and conditioner had ''retinyl palmitate'' in it. My (cheap) deodorant had ''steareth-2'', a chemical containing palm oil. My lip balm had ''glyceryl stearate'' in it, so too did my face cream, exfoliant and hand cream.
How many orang-utan scalps was I personally responsible for? I had no option but to sign the petition, and reconsider my purchases. People can have an effect on the demand and use of palm oil - they did last year when public pressure compelled Cadbury to stop using it in its chocolate.
My face cleanser, by the way, was in the clear, no palm oil or synonymous chemicals were detected. Although it did have something in it called methylchloroisothiazolinone. Thought I'd do a cross-check. The online ''cosmetics database'' rated it as hazardous and to be avoided. And that's a whole new stratosphere of anxiety.
Gabriella Coslovich is an Age senior writer.
http://www.orangutan.org.au/assets/images/adoptions/infants/carlos_tn.jpgHang around for reasons to end the palm off on palm oil GABRIELLA COSLOVICH - The... more-
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Four endangered mountain gorillas die in Rwanda
Four highly endangered mountain gorillas have been found dead in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park, likely because of extreme cold in their mountain habitat, experts said Thursday.
Some of the group were found still alive but dying earlier this week by trackers from the Karisoke Research Centre in the mountains of north-west Rwanda.
"While the cause of death has yet to be determined, the gorillas are thought to have died because of the extreme cold and rainy conditions," the World Wildlife Fund said in a statement.
"The gorillas? current range is high on Mount Karisimbi, and at high altitude it will be even colder," WWF said.
The wildlife group said there were no signs of foul play but that the dead gorillas, one female and three infants, have been sent for autopsy to determine the cause of death.
The four were part of a research group called Pablo.
"Unless the post mortem results show something contagious, it may be just a natural event ... likely to be down to the cold weather," said Ian Redmond, a gorilla expert who is chief consultant with the UN's Great Ape Survival Partnership.
"As in human populations, an extreme cold spell can be the cause of death for weak or ill individuals who might have otherwise recovered," Redmond told AFP.
Karisoke research centre was founded in 1967 by Dian Fossey, the US primatologist who brought mountain gorillas to the attention of the public and who was brutally murdered in the Virunga National Park in 1985.
"The sudden death of the four is not only a great shock but also a big loss for Rwanda and for the whole conservation team," said Rica Rwigamba, a tourism and conservation official at the Rwanda Development Board.
The Virunga volcanoes on the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are home to about half of the world's 700 mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei). The other half live in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
Gorilla tracking is a major draw for tourists in Rwanda, with visitors paying 500 dollars for a permit to spend an hour with the primates in their bamboo forest habitat.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gb2hOzVW2TGZ2etDI4r_ZxLlfhIAFour highly endangered mountain gorillas have been found dead in Rwanda's... more-
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Wildlife Trade Gone Viral - Illegal Wildlife Trade
Report by the Wildlife Conservation SocietyThe United States is the world’s biggest consumer of imported wildlife and wildlife products.
According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, more than ONE BILLION individual animals were imported into the country between 2000 and 2004. Many were sold as pets. In the same time period, more than 11 MILLION POUNDS of bushmeat and other animal products crossed into our borders.
Often, this trade in wildlife not only breaks the law, but delivers health risks to the nation’s residents, too.
In New York City, a major hub for the trade, the Wildlife Conservation Society is working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to uncover these potential threats. More than 70 percent of zoonoses (diseases that affect both animals and humans) stem from human contact with wildlife. Monkey pox, SARS, and HIV/AIDS (via human infection with simian immunodeficiency virus) have all impacted public health through the consumption or trade of wild animals.
“The movement and mixing of humans, wildlife, and domestic animals as part of the illegal global wildlife trade encourages transmission of disease and emergence of novel pathogens,” said Dr. William Karesh of WCS’s Global Health program. “Our pilot project, still in its early stages, will help identify whether pathogens are entering the U.S. via bushmeat and other illegal wildlife.”
Now, at main entry points for people and goods into NYC and the U.S., inspection officials and health experts have taken hundreds of samples of wildlife and wildlife products. Since the project’s launch in 2008, they have uncovered parts from at least 14 species—great apes, monkeys, rodents, and bats—tucked inside luggage and mail parcels.
http://www.wcs.org/new-and-noteworthy/smuggling-wildlife-and-disease.aspxReport by the Wildlife Conservation SocietyThe United States is the world’s... more-
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Thailand's "Safari World" Theme Park to Allow Shocking Orangutan Kickboxing
A safari theme park in Thailand has been slammed by animal lovers for its macabre way of attracting tourists by featuring orangutan kick boxing matches.
Previously, the zoo was closed six years ago on charges of animal cruelty for using the animals in the dangerous sport. Animal rights activists say that some of the orangutans, weighing up to 250 pounds, could cause serious harm to each other in a boxing match.
Safari World, on the outside of Bangkok, has been drawing huge crowds that cheer orangutans forced to wear boxing gloves and trained to trade punches and spin kicks.
As the heavyweights of the jungle duke it out, female orangutans parade around in bikinis displaying the round number.
According to an investigative report, after the 30-minute shows, the orangutans are returned to their dark, dingy charges.
"It's sad that people would find this entertaining," the New York Daily News quoted Debbie Leahy, director of captive animals for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, as saying.
"When you see these animals performing what are completely unnatural tricks...they're not doing it because they want to, they're doing it because they're afraid not to," Leahy said.
The Daily Mail of London obtained video exposing the barbaric matches at Safari World and showing tourists cheering wildly as apes pummel each other.
While organizers insists the orangutans have been trained to pretend as if they've been knocked out, disgusted animal rights activists warned of the abuse the 250-pound animals endure while being trained.
Orangutans previously rescued from other entertainment parks showed signs of abuse upon arriving at an animal refuge in Indonesian Borneo, they said.
"It is heartbreaking that such practices still go on," Grainne McEntee of the wildlife rescue group Borneo Orangutan Survival told the Daily Mail.
The Thai government shut down the Safari World monkey matches in 2004, and seized 48 orangutans that had been illegally smuggled from Indonesia.
It's unclear why the bizarre show is once more allowed to go on. (ANI)
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/5593665-shocking-ape-kickboxing-in-thailandA safari theme park in Thailand has been slammed by animal lovers for its macabre way... more-
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The “Missing Link” Between Man and Apes Found, Complete Skeleton. Photos – Video…
A “missing link” between humans and their apelike ancestors has been discovered.
Telegraph.co.uk
By Richard Gray
Science Correspondent
03 Apr 2010
The new species of hominid, the evolutionary branch of primates that includes humans, is to be revealed when the two-million-year-old skeleton of a child is unveiled this week
For the Full Story..The “Missing Link” Between Man and Apes Found, Complete Skeleton. Photos – Video…http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/04/03/the-missing-link-between-man-and-apes-found-complete-skeleton-photos-video/
Scientists believe the almost-complete fossilised skeleton belonged to a previously-unknown type of early human ancestor that may have been a intermediate stage as ape-men evolved into the first species of advanced humans, Homo habilis.A “missing link” between humans and their apelike ancestors has been... more-
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Humans driving extinction faster than species can evolve
For the first time since the dinosaurs disappeared, humans are driving animals and plants to extinction faster than new species can evolve.
A fifth of the world's known mammals, a third of its amphibians, more than a quarter of its reptiles and up to 70% of its plants are under threat of extinction.
Nearly half of all primates are in danger of becoming extinct.
Much more at link...For the first time since the dinosaurs disappeared, humans are driving animals and... more-
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Half of World's Primate Species Endangered
(CNN) -- Nearly half the world's primate species are in danger of extinction, according to a report released Wednesday by a major conservation group.
The main threat facing primates -- including apes, monkeys, and lemurs -- is tropical forest destruction, with the illegal wildlife trade and commercial bush meat hunting also playing roles.
Scientists say primates are humankind's closest animal relatives.
Of the world's 634 primate species, 48 percent are threatened with extinction, according to the report, issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Switzerland-based group calls itself the world's oldest global environmental organization.
"This report makes for very alarming reading," said Christoph Schwitzer, an adviser to the group, in a statement. "Support and action to help save these species is vital if we are to avoid losing these wonderful animals forever."
A handful of primate species count populations in the dozens. For example, there are just 60 to 70 Asian monkeys known as golden headed langurs, found only on an island in Vietnam's Gulf of Tonkin.
There are fewer than 100 remaining northern sportive lemurs, which live in Madagascar, and around 110 eastern black crested gibbons, found in northeastern Vietnam.
The report, which details the 25 most endangered primates, has been issued biannually by the International Union for Conservation of Nature since 2000. It will be formally released Thursday at Britain's Bristol Zoo Gardens.
http://www.newsweek.com/media/72/EndangeredPrimates_TEASE.jpg(CNN) -- Nearly half the world's primate species are in danger of extinction,... more-
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Deciphering the Chatter of Monkeys and Chimps
Deciphering the Chatter of Monkeys
By NICHOLAS WADE
Walking through the Tai forest of Ivory Coast, Klaus Zuberbühler could hear the calls of the Diana monkeys, but the babble held no meaning for him.
That was in 1990. Today, after nearly 20 years of studying animal communication, he can translate the forest’s sounds. This call means a Diana monkey has seen a leopard. That one means it has sighted another predator, the crowned eagle. “In our experience time and again, it’s a humbling experience to realize there is so much more information being passed in ways which hadn’t been noticed before,” said Dr. Zuberbühler, a psychologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
Do apes and monkeys have a secret language that has not yet been decrypted? And if so, will it resolve the mystery of how the human faculty for language evolved? Biologists have approached the issue in two ways, by trying to teach human language to chimpanzees and other species, and by listening to animals in the wild.
The first approach has been propelled by people’s intense desire — perhaps reinforced by childhood exposure to the loquacious animals in cartoons — to communicate with other species. Scientists have invested enormous effort in teaching chimpanzees language, whether in the form of speech or signs. A New York Times reporter who understands sign language, Boyce Rensberger, was able in 1974 to conduct what may be the first newspaper interview with another species when he conversed with Lucy, a signing chimp. She invited him up her tree, a proposal he declined, said Mr. Rensberger, who is now at M.I.T.
But with a few exceptions, teaching animals human language has proved to be a dead end. They should speak, perhaps, but they do not. They can communicate very expressively — think how definitely dogs can make their desires known — but they do not link symbolic sounds together in sentences or have anything close to language.
Better insights have come from listening to the sounds made by animals in the wild. Vervet monkeys were found in 1980 to have specific alarm calls for their most serious predators. If the calls were recorded and played back to them, the monkeys would respond appropriately. They jumped into bushes on hearing the leopard call, scanned the ground at the snake call, and looked up when played the eagle call.
It is tempting to think of the vervet calls as words for “leopard,” “snake” or “eagle,” but that is not really so. The vervets do not combine the calls with other sounds to make new meanings. They do not modulate them, so far as is known, to convey that a leopard is 10, or 100, feet away. Their alarm calls seem less like words and more like a person saying “Ouch!” — a vocal representation of an inner mental state rather than an attempt to convey exact information.
But the calls do have specific meaning, which is a start. And the biologists who analyzed the vervet calls, Robert Seyfarth and Dorothy Cheney of the University of Pennsylvania, detected another significant element in primates’ communication when they moved on to study baboons. Baboons are very sensitive to who stands where in their society’s hierarchy. If played a recording of a superior baboon threatening an inferior, and the latter screaming in terror, baboons will pay no attention — this is business as usual in baboon affairs. But when researchers concoct a recording in which an inferior’s threat grunt precedes a superior’s scream, baboons will look in amazement toward the loudspeaker broadcasting this apparent revolution in their social order.
CONTINUED...Deciphering the Chatter of Monkeys By NICHOLAS WADE Walking through the Tai forest... more-
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Monkey Will Be Sent to Mars
No one asked him if he wants to go.-
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emptiness of space to primates in under 10 minutes depiction -awesome
And No One Knows Why!!!! says it all! click on the link if vid doesn't play-
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Titus the legendary mountain gorilla silverback dies of old age
The "Gorilla King" Titus has passed away from old age.
September 2009. On the morning of Sept. 14, trackers at the Karisoke Research Centre found the legendary silverback gorilla Titus, dead on his night nest in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. He was 35, which is quite old for a male mountain gorilla. Titus had been the dominant male in one of the gorilla groups studied for many years by Karisoke and was the subject of the documentary "Gorilla King" TV series.
Born in 1974
Titus' eventful life began in 1974, observed by Dian Fossey and her research assistant Kelly Stewart, daughter of actor Jimmy Stewart. Kelly was the first to see the newborn, so she named him Titus after a character in a novel she was reading. His mother, the elderly Flossie, lived in Fossey's Group Four, led by his father, Uncle Bert. Fossey noted in Gorillas in the Mist that Titus seemed to be "underdeveloped and spindly" and had difficulty breathing. He soon overcame these disabilities, the first of many challenges he faced in childhood.
Father killed by poachers
When Titus was 4 years old, poachers killed his father Uncle Bert, his uncle Digit, and his younger brother. Soon after, a newly arrived silverback named Beetsme killed Titus' infant sister, causing his mother and older sister to flee to another group. Titus was left at age 5 to live with a few unrelated males, including Beetsme and Tiger, that were soon joined by Peanuts and two others. The group remained all-male for several years, until another group's silverback died and five females came to join the bachelors. Beetsme eventually drove off all the other males except for Titus, who was favoured by Papoose, the dominant female.
Even tempered
An unusually even tempered and skillful leader, Titus maintained his dominance over a group of some 25 individuals without difficulty for many years.
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Please follow link to learn more about Titus and his incredible story...
* Follow the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International on Twitter.com and get the latest updates http://twitter.com/savinggorillasThe "Gorilla King" Titus has passed away from old age. September 2009. On... more-
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gorilla hands for sale: 6 USD
"The Bushmeat Crisis" - the commercial hunting of many critically endangered species
(DRC, Africa)
GORILLA HANDS FOR SALE AT A MARKET IN THE
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO... FOR 6 US DOLLARS.
*WARNING: GRAPHIC & DISTURBING IMAGES
This slideshow includes other critically endangered species also for sale.
Some are STILL ALIVE.
Please follow link to 'Endangered Species International' (ESI) for more information & to see what you can do to help..
For the first time, ESI reveal's photos of their field monitoring using undercover methods at key markets in the republic of Congo. Their research reveals that most of illegal bushmeat sold in markets originates from one single region where primary and unprotected rainforest still remains.
ESI estimates about 300 gorillas are illegally killed each year for the bushmeat market in the city of Pointe Noire.
With your help, ESI can stop the illegal commercial hunting of endangered species in Central Africa.
DID ANYONE HEAR THIS?
$6.OO...
THIS IS UNEXCEPABLE!"The Bushmeat Crisis" - the commercial hunting of many critically endangered... more-
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