lunes, 22 de diciembre de 2008

La conciencia animal

A día de hoy, nadie duda que los grandes simios y sobre todo los chimpancés exhiben una serie de comportamientos que pueden calificarse de “inteligentes”. Pero ¿tienen una conciencia de sí mismos? ¿y de los otros? ¿y del mundo que les rodea?

 

Dada la dificultad de abordar la evaluación de la conciencia animal desde un punto de vista científico, se ha optado por estudiar otro tipo de comportamientos que de manera indirecta puedan proporcionarnos información sobre esta autoconciencia. La capacidad de autorreconocimiento de la propia imagen corporal sería un ejemplo ampliamente utilizado. Si una animal es capaz de reconocer el reflejo de su imagen se considera como una prueba de la conciencia de sí mismo.

 

A modo de ejemplo, presentamos un pequeño vídeo (http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=X6ffFtn_txo)  en el que Juanito, nuestro chimpancé más joven, muestra signos inequívocos de autorreconocimiento de su imagen corporal. En procedimiento utilizado fue mostrar a Juanito su propia imagen a través de la pantalla de una cámara de vídeo. Como podréis ver en el vídeo, Juanito muestra conductas indicadoras de autorreconocimiento como: explorar partes del cuerpo inaccesibles a simple vista (boca, codo), comportamientos autodirigidos (golpearse, inspeccionarse), comportamientos extraños y exagerados, así como el reconocimiento incluso de la imagen de otros individuos de su grupo a través de la pantalla.

 

Esperamos que disfrutéis del video y que sirva para que todos conozcamos un poco más sobre la inteligencia y el comportamiento de los chimpancés.



jueves, 14 de agosto de 2008

New Rare Lemur Group Found in Swamp

lemur photo


July 22, 2008—A new population of wrinkly-faced, bamboo-eating lemurs has been found in a swampy region of east-central Madagascar—more than 240 miles (400 kilometers) from the other only known group of the primates, listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union, conservationists announced today.

The 2007 finding comes after years of rumors that the so-called greater bamboo lemur had been sighted in the Torotorofotsy wetlands. Now that it's confirmed, the newfound group has renewed experts' hopes that the species will survive.

"Finding the extremely rare Prolemur simus in a place where nobody expected it was probably more exciting than discovering a new lemur species," conservation geneticist Edward Louis of Henry Doorly Zoo said in a statement.

Louis coordinated the joint research mission between the zoo and MITSINJO, a Malagasy nonprofit. The work was supported by the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation and Conservation International.

(Read about three new species of palm-size lemurs found in Madagascar in 2006.)

Scientists suspect that 30 to 40 of the lemurs—known for cracking open giant bamboo with their powerful jaws—live in the wetland, where bamboo is still their main staple.

The new group joins another population of about a hundred animals in the island's northern bamboo forests, which are under threat from illegal logging and habitat destruction, according to Conservation International.

—Christine Dell'Amore

Photograph courtesy Jonathan Linus Fiely/Conservation International

"Cross Dressing" Lemurs Appear Male to Avoid Conflict




Matt Kaplan
for National Geographic News
July 24, 2008
 
Young female red-fronted lemurs in Madagascar adopt male coloration to dupe their aggressive female groupmates, a new study found.

These "cross dressing" primates thus avoid the wrath of older females, which would attack them to reduce sexual competition.

All red-fronted lemurs are born with the same greyish brown fur and rusty-red crowns that distinguish adult males. 

At 7 to 17 weeks later, females' coats change to a cinnamon hue, and their crowns become white.

"We knew from our longer-term observations that there was a lot of female aggression in red-fronted lemurs," said study author Claudia Fichtel of the University of Göttingen's German Primate Center.

"Females compete fiercely over limited breeding opportunities, and we wanted to know if hiding femininity was a way to avoid being attacked," Fitchtel said.

(See a photo of an endangered ring-tailed lemur.)

Not a Target

German researchers monitored a wild lemur population in the Kirindy forest in western Madagascar for five months and recorded behavioral changes as their coats changed color. 

But the scientists also faced a problem: Since all infants appear male, the theory that young sport different colorations to thwart conflicts is tricky to investigate. 

This led Fichtel and her colleagues to look very closely at older females and monitor their attacks. 

They found that males and all young females disguised as males were not targeted by the hostile older females.

Fichtel and her colleagues argue that appearing male has evolved as a defense to keep females from attacking until the masquerading females are strong enough to handle it. That tends to be between 7 and 17 weeks of age.

(Related: "Rainfall Helps Baby Lemurs Survive, Tooth Study Shows" [November 14, 2005].)

Red-fronted lemurs are not the only primates whose youngsters are colored differently than adults. 

In other species this disparity has often been explained as an adaptation that makes infants more noticeable to groupmates. Adults are then more likely to care for and protect infants, Fichtel added.

The study appears in the July issue of the Journal of Physical Anthropology.

Female Dominance

"This provides a fresh perspective into why some primate offspring have a dramatically different coat color," said Sylvia Atsalis, a primatologist at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

"It tickles scientific minds to think—through a new perspective—about a condition that occurs in many species," she added.

More in-depth analyses should be made into female lemurs and their behaviors, other scientists said.

"There has been a long-running argument about how aggressive red-fronted lemurs are to each other," said Alison Jolly, a primatologist at the University of Winchester in the United Kingdom.

"Most of their social life is cuddling and grooming, [but] once in a long while females viciously throw other females out of the group, or more rarely, they have been seen to kill and actually eat another animals' infants," she said. 

"The question is, Is infanticide or targeting so rare that it couldn't have much influence over evolutionary time?"

(Read: "Ecotourism Driving Tibetan Monkeys to Infanticide" [July 20, 2007].)

Patricia Wright, a primatologist at Stony Brook University in New York, added that genetic tests should be done to see how lemurs perceive color.

"We've only recently learned that not all lemurs see color," Wright said.

"Sometimes only females have color vision, a trait that makes males dependent upon them for finding berries and secures female dominance."

Newfound Monkey Species "Rarest in Africa," Expert Says




Steven Stanek
for National Geographic News
August 4, 2008
 
A recently discovered African monkey could soon be extinct, scientists report.

The first comprehensive study of a three-foot-tall (one-meter-tall) monkey discovered in Tanzania found that just 1,117 individuals exist, according to researchers with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). 

The Rungwecebus kipunji on Monday was listed as "critically endangered"—the highest possible threat level before extinction—by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in response to the WCS research. 

"Without a doubt, they are the rarest monkey in Africa, and I would imagine there are very few with such small numbers in the world," said Tim Davenport, Tanzania country director for the WCS, who led one of the two research teams that separately identified the primate in 2005.

Davenport helped IUCN to assess the conservation status of the kipunji. 

Mike Hoffmann, a Washington-based program manager for IUCN, said his organization relies on information from researchers in the field about animal populations to determine a species' conservation status. 

"They've got very good information," Hoffman said of Davenport's teams. "This is information from people working on the ground conducting detailed surveys."

New Genus

Davenport said the main threats to the kipunji are poachers and illegal logging in its habitat in Tanzania's southern highlands and the Udzungwa Mountains, which rise 8,000 feet (about 2,400 meters) above sea level.

As adults, the brownish gray, long-haired monkeys weigh up to 40 pounds (18 grams) and emit a unique "honk-bark," so named because it sounds like "a goose followed by a dog," Davenport said.

Originally scientists thought the monkey was a new species of mangabey, but in 2006 DNA analysis revealed it to be an entirely new genus of primate named Rungwecebus—the first genus discovered in Africa since 1923.

Patricia Wright, a primatologist at New York's Stony Brook University, said: "If it is indeed its own genus, then it becomes even more important that we save it." 

The primate could disappear in 20 to 50 years without safeguards to preserve it, said Wright, a member of National Geographic's Conservation Trust Advisory Board.

(The Conservation Trust is part of the National Geographic Society, which also owns National Geographic News.)

Counting Each Individual

The WCS study—published in the July issue of the journal Oryx—was the result of more than 2,800 hours of fieldwork by scientists. 

Davenport said most primate censuses estimate populations through sampling and statistical extrapolation. 

"What we decided to do was a little bit more time consuming ... actually try and count every individual," he said. "It was a bit of an unusual study." 

It took 20 researchers six months to map the movements of 34 separate groups of kipunji, using GPS mapping systems. Each group has 30 to 36 individuals.

The team found the monkeys—which sport distinctive, upright crests of hair on their heads—live in a range of just 6.8 square miles (17.7 square kilometers) in two remote regions, which explains why they eluded Western scientists for so long. 

The researchers said the kipunji's tiny population and "shyness" also contributed to the primate's obscurity.

Primates Newly Listed as Critically Endangered


PHOTOS: New Primates in IUCN Critically Endangered List



August 12, 2008—Numbers of the black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata)—which, like all lemur species, is found only on the African island of Madagascar—have dwindled as a result of predation and habitat loss.

Last week the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) added several species and subspecies of primates, including the ruffed lemur, to the "critically endangered" category in its Red List of Threatened Species.

The additions were made as part of a study by hundreds of experts that suggests half of the world's apes, monkeys, and other primates are in danger of extinction.



PHOTOS: New Primates in IUCN Critically Endangered List


Gray-Shanked Douc 

Scientists first discovered the gray-shanked douc (Pygathrix cinerea) in 1997. Native toVietnam, fewer than a thousand of the primates are believed to exist. 

Two years ago an IUCN survey estimated that 65 percent of Vietnam's primate species were considered "endangered" or "critically endangered."

In August 2008 the conservation organization released a new report that estimates 70 percent of Asian primate species are considered "threatened," "endangered," or "critically endangered." The gray-shanked douc is among the primates that are now listed as critically endangered



PHOTOS: New Primates in IUCN Critically Endangered List


Cotton-Top Tamarin 

The cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus)seen above was photographed at Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure in Salina, Kansas.

About 1,800 members of the squirrel-sized monkey species native to Colombia live in captivity. Fewer than a thousand of the primates, newly listed as "critically endangered" by the IUCN, are found in the wild.


PHOTOS: New Primates in IUCN Critically Endangered List

Celebes Black Macaque 

A Celebes black macaque (Macaca nigra)strips ripe fruit from a fig tree in Tangkoko-Dua Saudara Nature Reserve on Sulawesi, one of two Indonesian islands that serve as the primate's sole habitat.

The monkey species is often mistaken for a type of ape, owing to its black coloring and a truncated tail.

Slightly more than a hundred thousand of the primates are thought to exist. In August 2008 the IUCN added the species to its list of critically endangered animals.


PHOTOS: New Primates in IUCN Critically Endangered List
Pennant's Red Colobus Monkey 

A male adult Pennant's red colobus monkey(Procolobus pennantii) is photographed in the wild on Bioko Island, 20 miles (32 kilometers) off the coast of Cameroon in central West Africa. (See more photos of animals on the island.)

Of the continent's 13 red colobus monkey species, 11 are listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. The nonprofit added the Pennant's red colobus monkey to its list of critically endangered animals in 2008. 


PHOTOS: New Primates in IUCN Critically Endangered List

Highland Mangabey 

Three years ago scientists discovered a new monkey species known as the highland mangabey (Lophocebus kipunji), or kipunji, seen above, in a mountainous region ofTanzania in East Africa. 

Experts estimate that fewer than a thousand of the medium-size, long-tailed tree-dwellers live in the wild, a figure that led the IUCN to list the primate as "critically endangered" in 2008. (See"Newfound Monkey Species 'Rarest in Africa,' Expert Says" [August 4, 2008].) 

Among the hundreds of primate species and subspecies known to science, 53 have been discovered since 2000. 

Where have all the monkeys gone?



Nearly half of the monkeys, apes and lemurs in the world are in imminent danger of disappearing from the planet, according to a new survey. The news comes even as a separate new census has uncovered far more gorillas than expected.

The International Union for Conservation conducted its first survey of the 634 known primates in five years and found that 48 percent face extinction. Particularly at risk are the great apes like 
orangutans

"The situation is far more severe than we imagined," said Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International and chairman of the IUCN's primate group, at the release of the analysis in Edinburgh. Although
tropical forest destruction remains the main cause, "in many places, primates are quite literally being eaten to extinction."

Asian primates are at particular risk, with nearly all of the monkeys of Vietnam and Cambodia dying out, including gibbons, langurs and leaf monkeys. And in Africa, relatively obscure species of red colobus monkeys may already be extinct: Bouvier's red colobus and 
Miss Waldron's red colobus have not been seen in at least 25 years.

But the news out of Africa isn't all bad. A survey by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the government of the Republic of Congo turned up more than 125,000 
western lowland gorillas—a formerly critically endangered species. That more than doubles the entire known population of the human relative.

The key to their survival -- and the reason so many gorillas had been hidden for so long --was the remoteness and inaccessibility of the 
jungle fastnesses and swamps where they make their home. "We knew from our own observations that there were a lot of gorillas out there, but we had no idea there were so many," said Emma Stokes, who led the survey efforts, at the announcement in Edinburgh.

Unfortunately, the hopes for a similar find of African red colobuses or Asian gibbons are not as good, according to the IUCN.

Extinction Threatens Half of Primate Types, Study Says

Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
August 5, 2008
 
About half the world's apes, monkeys, and other types of primates are in danger of extinction, according to a new study that predicts a bleak future for many of humankind's closest relatives.

Primates are falling prey to intense hunting and rapidly losing their habitats to deforestation, the study released Monday said.

"[This is] a very important and absolutely horrifying report," said primatologist Frans de Waal, director of the Living Links Center at Emory University. 

"There have been isolated pieces of data around for years, which have sketched an ever darker picture," de Waal said, adding that the report supports the bleaker prognoses. 

Hundreds of international experts helped to classify 634 primates for the Red List of Threatened Species using criteria established by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). They found nearly half the species and supspecies are endangered. 

Scientists have discovered 53 new primate species since 2000, including 40 on Madagascar alone, and no one knows what others may exist. Some could vanish before they are even known to science.

(Related story: "Newfound Monkey 'Rarest in Africa,' Expert Says" [August 4, 2008])

The report, released at the 22nd International Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland, was funded by Conservation International (CI), IUCN, the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation, and Disney's Animal Kingdom. 

"Scary" Situation in Asia

The news was particularly bad for Asian primates—more than 70 percent of which are listed as "vulnerable," "endangered," or "critically endangered."

"I think what's most alarming is just how bad the situation is in the Asian region, particularly in Southeast Asia," said Mike Hoffmann, an IUCN scientist based in Washington, D.C. 

"In countries like Vietnam and Cambodia pretty much 90 percent of the primate fauna [including gibbons, monkeys, and langurs] is at risk of extinction. That is pretty scary." 

Many primates are caught between the two distinct threats: hunting and habitat loss. 

In a statement from Edinburgh, CI's Russel A. Mittermeier said, "Tropical forest destruction has always been the main cause, but now it appears that hunting is just as serious a threat in some areas, even where the habitat is still quite intact." 

"In many places, primates are quite literally being eaten to extinction," added Mittermeier, president of CI and longtime chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Primate Specialist Group. 

Hunting feeds an insatiable appetite for bush meat, but it also satisfies demand for the primate pet trade and the many body parts used in traditional Chinese medicine—particularly in Southeast Asia. 

IUCN's Hoffmann added, "When you go into even some of the protected areas there, you just don't see anything. The forest is pretty much empty." 

Glimmer of Hope?

De Waal said the primates' plight appears grim. 

"It is reason to be extremely pessimistic," he said. "This situation can be changed only with the explicit support of governments in the primates' native countries as well as the international community."

But IUCN's Hoffmann stressed that such support could turn the tide. 

"We already know that if we invest in targeted conservation action we can see results," he said. 

Conservation efforts in Brazil, for example, led the black lion tamarin, and golden lion tamarin to be downlisted to "endangered" from "critically endangered" in 2003. 

"The problem is that [conservation efforts] require continuous investment," Hoffmann said. 

"Once you initiate a conservation action plan, you're probably going to see some rewards, and species recovering, but then you cannot assume the species is safe." 

Hoffmann encouraged people in primate-poor locales like the Unites States and Europe to get out and visit nations that have primates. 

"See what people are doing on the ground to save these species," he said. "Local conservation NGOs are out there doing fantastic work. Ask how you can get involved in some way." 

Sue Margulis, of the University of Chicago and the Lincoln Park Zoo, said conservation can also start much closer to home. 

"It's painfully easy to ignore the role that each of us can play in primate conservation, because the ex situ work is so far removed from our daily lives," she said. 

"However, it's critical that we recognize that even small things that we do can make a conservation impact, and do whatever we can in this regard, whether it is recycling cell phones or purchasing products made with sustainable palm oil [which combats deforestation], we need to act." 

Emory's De Waal said that all primates have intrinsic value as species and play important roles in their environments. 

"Primates also help us understand ourselves and our evolution, since we are primates," he said. 

"It's a pathetic situation that half our relatives may disappear."

Gorilla "Paradise" Found; May Double World Numbers

Dan Morrison
for National Geographic News
August 5, 2008
 
Deep in the hinterlands of the Republic of the Congo lies a secret ape paradise that is home to 125,000 western lowland gorillas, researchers announced today.

The findings, if confirmed, would more than double the world's estimated population of gorillas.

Western lowland gorillas are a subspecies classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Their numbers have been devastated in recent years by illegal hunting for bush meat and the spread of the Ebola virus. Just last year scientists projected the animals' population could fall as low as 50,000 by 2011.

Now those predictions may have to be dramatically reworked to incorporate findings released today by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

A first ever ape census in northern Congo found 73,000 of the gorillas in that country's Ntokou-Pikounda region and 52,000 more in the Ndoki-Likouala area. 

The Ndoki population includes an obscure group of nearly 6,000 gorillas living in close quarters in isolated swamps near Lac Télé.

"We knew there were apes there, we just had no idea how many," said WCS's Emma Stokes, one of the lead researchers in the two-year project.

The gorillas have thrived thanks to their remoteness from human settlements, food-rich habitats, and two decades of conservation efforts in one of the world's poorest countries, Stokes said. 

Shy, But Plentiful

Lowland gorillas are more common than their mountain cousins. The animals are found in tropical forests and swamps in Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon.





Wary of humans, gorillas are notoriously hard to tally in the wild.

To assess their populations, WCS researchers instead used data on the numbers and ages of so-called sleep nests, temporary bedding made of leaves and branches.

Each group of lowland gorillas has a range of about 7.7 square miles (20 square kilometers), and the animals build the nests to sleep in each night before moving on in the morning.

The census work involved crossing hundreds of miles to count nests, then loading data into a mathematical model that estimated the number of gorillas living within a defined area.

In the 17,400-square-mile (28,000-square-kilometer) Ndoki-Likouala region, for example, the nest census found an estimated population density of 1.65 gorillas per square kilometer (equal to about 0.3 square mile).

This means that about 46,200 western lowland gorillas likely live in the area, which runs west of the Sangha River to the border of the Central African Republic.

An additional 6,000 gorillas reside in the region's 646-square-mile (1,040-square-kilometer) Batanga swamps. These wetlands, which are inaccessible to humans for more than half the year, house an estimated five to six apes per square kilometer.

"That's the highest density I've seen," Stokes said, adding that the data suggest Ndoki-Likouala is the subspecies' "largest remaining stronghold."

The discovery "shows that conservation in the Republic of Congo is working," said WCS president Steven Sanderson. 

Almost half the surveyed area lies within officially protected zones or inside timber concessions where logging companies have banned transport of protected animals and weapons on their roads.

Researchers hope the latest census will encourage the government of Congo to establish a new national park in the Ntokou-Pikounda region. 

The census was presented today at the International Primatological Society conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, and some of the data will appear in an upcoming issue of the conservation journal Oryx. 

Perils of Counting Apes

Several experts greeted the survey findings with a mix of excitement and caution. 

"If these new gorilla census figures are confirmed by further surveys, it would be the most exciting ape conservation news in years," said Craig Stanford of the Jane Goodall Research Center at the University of Southern California.

"Nest census data are notorious for varying from one method to the next, however, and I think we should be cautious before assuming the world's known gorilla population has just doubled."

Nesting data were among the factors used in a 2007 IUCN population assessment that placed the western lowland gorilla on the organization's Red List of Threatened Species. 

IUCN estimated the gorillas had declined by more than 60 percent over the past 25 years, and its scientists projected the apes' population could fall to 50,000 as the deadly Ebola virus penetrated deeper into their habitat. 

That report came with a caveat about the reliability of nest counts: "Technical problems with the conversion of ape nest density to estimates of gorilla density preclude a rigorous estimate of range-wide gorilla abundance."

Peter Walsh of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, led the 2007 IUCN assessment. He repeated those concerns when he learned of WCS's findings in northern Congo. 

"It is not that I think that the numbers are necessarily too high," Walsh said. "It is just that I do not trust the assumptions made by the estimation models that are being used."

Nature's Secrets

John Oates, professor emeritus of anthropology at Hunter College in New York, noted that "what does seem clear is that there are still plenty of western gorillas in northern Congo."

He remains cautious, however, about whether the new research should signal a change in status for the great apes.

In addition to habitat loss and hunting, in recent years Ebola has ravaged gorilla habitats bordering the Ntokou-Pikounda survey area, killing 60 percent of the apes in nearby Odzala National Park.

While WCS's Stokes said her survey found "no evidence of Ebola in Ntokou-Pikounda, our general philosophy is Ebola can hit anywhere, anytime."

And with a 90 percent mortality rate among infected gorillas, Stokes thinks the animals deserve all the protection they can get. 

In general, the WCS findings demonstrate that our intensely observed planet still has its biological secrets, added Richard Bergl, curator of research at the North Carolina Zoo.

"It is extraordinary that in this day and age," he said, "there could be a population of a hundred thousand or more gorillas that were essentially unknown to science."

125.000 gorilas encontrados

Os dejo un enlace donde podreis ver un vídeo sobre la noticia en la web de National Geographic,

miércoles, 18 de junio de 2008

Chimp’s Sex Calls May Reflect Calculation



Intricate as the mating dance may be among people, for other primates like chimpanzees and baboons it is even more complicated. This is evident from the work of researchers who report that the distinctive calls made by female chimpanzees during sex are part of a sophisticated social calculation.

Biologists have long been puzzled by these copulation calls, which can betray the caller’s whereabouts to predators. To compensate for this hazard, the calls must confer a significant evolutionary advantage, but what?

The leading explanation involves the way female primates protect their offspring. Male chimps and baboons are prone to kill any infant they believe could not be theirs, so females try to blur paternity by mating with as many individuals as possible before each conception. A side benefit is that by arranging to have sperm from many potential fathers compete for her egg, the female creates conditions for the healthiest male to father her child.

The calls that female chimps make during sex seemed to be just part of this strategy. By advertising a liaison in progress, biologists assumed, females stood to recruit many more partners.

But the study, by Simon Townsend, Tobias Deschner and Klaus Zuberbühler, shows that in making calls or not, the females take the social situation into account.

The researchers monitored the lively love lives of seven female chimps in the Budongo Forest of Uganda, making audio recordings of nearly 300 copulations. In two-thirds of these encounters, they found, the female made no sound at all. This finding undermines the thesis that the principal purpose of copulation calls is to instigate rivalry among males, the researchers reported online Tuesday in the scientific journal PLoS One.

Unlike female baboons, who give a staccato whoop at each copulation, the chimps seem much more aware of the social context. Chimps are particularly likely to be silent and conceal their liaisons when higher-ranking females are nearby. They were most acoustically exuberant when cavorting with a high-ranking male.

The reason may be that other higher-ranking males are likely to be around, too, and by advertising her availability to them a female chimp may gain many influential protectors for her future infant.

The calculus changes when higher-ranking females are around because they are likely to attack the caller and break up the fun. To avoid incest, young females leave their home group and try to integrate with neighbors by offering themselves to socially important males. But the resident females tend to be obstructive, perhaps because they see them as competitors for male protectors and desirable feeding areas.

A similar use of copulation calls could once have existed in the human lineage but if so, it may have lost its evolutionary advantages when human societies developed their distinctive system of pair bonding and made intercourse a largely private activity.

Dorothy Cheney, an animal behavior expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said that copulation calls usually occurred in primate species where the females have visible sexual swellings during their receptive period. Because swellings do not occur in humans, it is hard to speculate about the relevance of chimp sexual calls to human behavior, Dr. Cheney said.

Though human vocalizations during intercourse have not been much studied, they do have “a quite elaborate acoustical structure, which suggests some kind of communicative function,” said Dr. Townsend, who is at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Copulation calls are not a feature of public life in Western societies, but the situation could be different in hunter-gatherer groups, which enjoy little privacy.

“I can imagine that these sort of signals may still be very much perceived by other group members and give a female a high degree of control over her willingness to copulate or let others know her sexual state,” said Dr. Zuberbühler, also of the University of St. Andrews.

The female primate’s strategy of blurring paternity could be useful in human societies, too, especially when the rate of illegitimacy is high. “Whether or not this happens in humans I don’t know,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar went on.”

Female chimpanzees have sexual swellings that remain visible for several days, but they ovulate on just one day. A female gives her copulation calls throughout the period, concealing her most fertile time from the males.

“If she was truly interested in meeting with the best males, she should do all her calling during that narrow window when it matters,” Dr. Zuberbühler said. “But she doesn’t. She conceals the time of ovulation by calling throughout her cycle.”

Study: Chimps calm each other with hugs, kisses



WASHINGTON (AP) — For most folks, a nice hug and some sympathy can help a bit after we get pushed around. Turns out, chimpanzees use hugs and kisses the same way. And it works. Researchers studying people's closest genetic relatives found that stress was reduced in chimps that were victims of aggression if a third chimp stepped in to offer consolation.

"Consolation usually took the form of a kiss or embrace," said Dr. Orlaith N. Fraser of the Research Center in Evolutionary Anthropology and Paleoecology at Liverpool John Moores University in England.

"This is particularly interesting," she said, because this behavior is rarely seen other than after a conflict.

"If a kiss was used, the consoler would press his or her open mouth against the recipient's body, usually on the top of the head or their back. An embrace consisted of the consoler wrapping one or both arms around the recipient."

The result was a reduction of stress behavior such as scratching or self-grooming by the victim of aggression, Fraser and colleagues report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Frans de Waal of the Yerkes Primate Center at Emory University in Atlanta said the study is important because it shows the relationship between consolation and stress reduction. Previous researchers have claimed that consolation had no effect on stress, said de Waal, who was not part of Fraser's research team.

"This study removes doubt that consolation really does what the term suggests: provide relief to distressed parties after conflict. The evidence is compelling and makes it likely that consolation behavior is an expression of empathy," de Waal said.

De Waal suggested that this evidence of empathy in apes is "perhaps equivalent to what in human children is called 'sympathetic concern.'"

That behavior in children includes touching and hugging of distressed family members and "is in fact identical to that of apes, and so the comparison is not far-fetched," he said.

While chimps show this empathy, monkeys do not, he added.

There is also suggestive evidence of such behavior in large-brained birds and dogs, said Fraser, but it has not yet been shown that it reduces stress levels in those animals.

Previous research on conflict among chimps concentrated on cases where there is reconciliation between victim and aggressor, with little attention to intervention by a third party.

Fraser and colleagues studied a group of chimps at the Chester Zoo in England from January 2005 to September 2006, recording instances of aggression such as a bite, hit, rush, trample, chase or threat.

The results show that "chimpanzees calm distressed recipients of aggression by consoling them with a friendly gesture," Fraser said.

Consolation was most likely to occur between chimpanzees who already had valuable relationships, she added.

The research was supported by the Leakey Trust.

lunes, 12 de mayo de 2008

ÚLTIMAS PLAZAS LIBRES 2008

Benvolguts amics i amigues,

Us informem que en cas de què estigueu interessats encara disposem de les últimes places lliures pels cursos d'Etologia de Primats Nivell 1 i Nivell 2 del primer i segon semestre de 2008 de FUNDACIÓ MONA. Us informem que les últimes convocatòries d'aquest any 2008 seran els propers mesos de juliol i agost. En total haurem ofertat 130 places durant tot el 2008, 33 més que durant 2007.

Els cursos es rependran el proper mes de març de 2009, i ja començarem a impartir el nivell 3.

NIVELL 1:
Convocatòria del 23-24 de maig: 4 places lliures
Convocatòria del 20-21 de juny: no hi ha places disponibles
Convocatòria del 25-26 de juliol (ÚLTIMA CONVOCATÒRIA NIVELL 1 DE 2008!!): 15 places lliures

NIVELL 2:
Convocatòria del 30-31 de maig: 3 places lliures
Convocatòria del 27-28 de juny: 3 places lliures
Convocatòria del 1-2 d'agost (ÚLTIMA CONVOCATÒRIA NIVELL 2 DE 2008!!): 15 places lliures

Per a més informació i reserves: recerca@fundacionmona.org ; 972 477 618

Cordialment,

*****

Apreciados amigos y amigas,

Os informamos que en caso de que esteis interesados aún disponemos de las últimas plazas libres para los cursos de Etología de Primates Nivel 1 y Nivel 2 del primer y segundo semestre de 2008 de FUNDACIÓN MONA. Os informamos que las últimas convocatorias de este año 2008 seran los próximos meses de julio y agosto. En total habremos ofertado 130 plazas durante todo el 2008, 33 más que durante 2007.

Los cursos se retomarán el próximo mes de marzo de 2009, y ya comenzaremos a impartir el nivel 3.


NIVEL 1:
Convocatoria del 23-24 de mayo: 4 plazas libres
Convocatoria del 20-21 de juny: no hay plazas disponibles
Convocatoria del 25-26 de julio (ÚLTIMA CONVOCATORIA DE NIVEL 1 DE 2008!!): 15 places lliures

NIVEL 2:
Convocatoria del 30-31 de maig: 3 plazas libres
Convocatoria del 27-28 de juny: 3 plazas libres
Convocatoria del 1-2 d'agost (ÚLTIMA CONVOCATORIA DE NIVEL 2 DE 2008!!): 15 places lliures

Para más información y reservas: recerca@fundacionmona.org ; 972 477 618

Un saludo,
-- 
--
Miquel Llorente

Unitat de Recerca i Laboratori d'Etologia
Centre de Recuperació de Primats
FUNDACIÓ MONA

Carretera de Cassà, km1
17457 - Riudellots de la Selva, Girona
Spain

Telf.: 00 34 972 477 618
e-mail: recerca@fundacionmona.org
web: http://www.fundacionmona.org
blog: http://fmrecerca.blogspot.com/
Cursos Etologia: http://etologiaprimates.blogspot.com/

miércoles, 7 de mayo de 2008

World's Rarest Gorillas Gain New Refuge



Dan Morrison
for National Geographic News
April 22, 2008

The rarest gorillas in the world are being protected in a new sanctuary nestled in the mountains of Cameroon, the government announced recently.

A community of 20 Cross River gorillas now live in the Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary, the first exclusively dedicated to this subspecies of western lowland gorilla.

The apes are listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union: As few as 250 to 300 survive.

The animals are scattered over 11 mountain and forest sites in Cameroon and Nigeria, driven to the verge of extinction by hunting and loss of habitat.

Cameroonian Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni announced the Kagwene sanctuary in a decree on April 3.

(See an illustration of a Cross River gorilla, recently named one of the 25 most endangered primates.)

Every Ape Counts

Researcher Jacqueline Sunderland-Groves has studied Cross River gorillas since 1997. She established the Wildlife Conservation Society research team working in the area.

The Kagwene sanctuary is "a major conservation achievement for this subspecies," Sunderland-Groves said.

Cross River gorillas are the northernmost and westernmost subspecies of gorillas. Their diet is more diverse than that of western lowland gorillas, and Cross River gorillas are found in a wider range of habitats, including lowland forests, mountain forests, and grasslands.

Richard Bergl is curator of conservation and research at the North Carolina Zoological Park in Asheboro.

"Given the small size of the Cross River gorilla population, every single individual is important for the long-term survival of this subspecies," he said.

"Wildlife populations of this size can be very sensitive to the loss of even a few animals," he said.

Another Link in the Chain

More than 60 miles (97 kilometers) to the west of Kagwene lies the only other sanctuary where Cross River apes can be found: an eight-year-old preserve on Afi Mountain in Nigeria.

Conservationists want to create a chain of sanctuaries—a wildlife corridor—that would protect the gorillas living between Afi and Kagwene.

This would allow them to safely travel—and mate—between localities, ensuring continued genetic diversity.

"This subspecies [is] patchily distributed across a broad landscape, and protection across their range requires a network of protected areas and corridors," Sunderland-Groves said.

A 2006 action plan by researchers calls for a chain of sanctuaries that would cost U.S. $4.6 million to establish.

"Kagwene on its own would perhaps not have a huge impact because it protects just one part of the population and its habitat," said John Oates, professor emeritus at Hunter College in New York, who helped write the plan.

"But getting the area protected is a step in getting the larger landscape better managed, from a conservation point of view.''

(Related: "Two New Wildlife Parks Created in Congo" [September 25, 2006].)

Gorillas Are People Too

Though ringed by human settlements, the gorillas at Kagwene have a leg up other great apes.

While gorillas elsewhere in Cameroon and Nigeria are vulnerable to poachers, "Kagwene is unique, in that the gorillas were not traditionally hunted by local communities," Sunderland-Groves said.

Many local people believe that gorillas are actually humans and therefore cannot be killed, she said.

(Related: "Gorillas Found Tossing 'Weapons,' Study Says" [January 30, 2008].)

"Unfortunately, the strong belief in totemism [or kinship] in relation to gorillas is not widespread and only a handful of villages across the gorilla range believe that the gorilla is their particular totem," said Aaron Nicholas, a researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Still,"there seems to be a common recognition that the gorilla is a unique animal and a general acceptance that the hunting of gorillas should not be allowed," Nicholas said.

The sanctuary, which has served as a Wildlife Conservation Society research station for several years, will continue to be managed by the nonprofit. The refuge will also be staffed by local villagers trained in conservation.

"Protecting any population of these gorillas is critical to their future," said Rebecca Stumpf, a researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"Protecting more would be preferable."

World's Rarest Gorillas Gain New Refuge



Dan Morrison
for National Geographic News
April 22, 2008
The rarest gorillas in the world are being protected in a new sanctuary nestled in the mountains of Cameroon, the government announced recently.

A community of 20 Cross River gorillas now live in the Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary, the first exclusively dedicated to this subspecies of western lowland gorilla.

The apes are listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union: As few as 250 to 300 survive.

The animals are scattered over 11 mountain and forest sites in Cameroon and Nigeria, driven to the verge of extinction by hunting and loss of habitat.

Cameroonian Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni announced the Kagwene sanctuary in a decree on April 3.

(See an illustration of a Cross River gorilla, recently named one of the 25 most endangered primates.)

Every Ape Counts

Researcher Jacqueline Sunderland-Groves has studied Cross River gorillas since 1997. She established the Wildlife Conservation Society research team working in the area.

The Kagwene sanctuary is "a major conservation achievement for this subspecies," Sunderland-Groves said.

Cross River gorillas are the northernmost and westernmost subspecies of gorillas. Their diet is more diverse than that of western lowland gorillas, and Cross River gorillas are found in a wider range of habitats, including lowland forests, mountain forests, and grasslands.

Richard Bergl is curator of conservation and research at the North Carolina Zoological Park in Asheboro.

"Given the small size of the Cross River gorilla population, every single individual is important for the long-term survival of this subspecies," he said.

"Wildlife populations of this size can be very sensitive to the loss of even a few animals," he said.

Another Link in the Chain

More than 60 miles (97 kilometers) to the west of Kagwene lies the only other sanctuary where Cross River apes can be found: an eight-year-old preserve on Afi Mountain in Nigeria.

Conservationists want to create a chain of sanctuaries—a wildlife corridor—that would protect the gorillas living between Afi and Kagwene.

This would allow them to safely travel—and mate—between localities, ensuring continued genetic diversity.

"This subspecies [is] patchily distributed across a broad landscape, and protection across their range requires a network of protected areas and corridors," Sunderland-Groves said.

A 2006 action plan by researchers calls for a chain of sanctuaries that would cost U.S. $4.6 million to establish.

"Kagwene on its own would perhaps not have a huge impact because it protects just one part of the population and its habitat," said John Oates, professor emeritus at Hunter College in New York, who helped write the plan.

"But getting the area protected is a step in getting the larger landscape better managed, from a conservation point of view.''

(Related: "Two New Wildlife Parks Created in Congo" [September 25, 2006].)

Gorillas Are People Too

Though ringed by human settlements, the gorillas at Kagwene have a leg up other great apes.

While gorillas elsewhere in Cameroon and Nigeria are vulnerable to poachers, "Kagwene is unique, in that the gorillas were not traditionally hunted by local communities," Sunderland-Groves said.

Many local people believe that gorillas are actually humans and therefore cannot be killed, she said.

(Related: "Gorillas Found Tossing 'Weapons,' Study Says" [January 30, 2008].)

"Unfortunately, the strong belief in totemism [or kinship] in relation to gorillas is not widespread and only a handful of villages across the gorilla range believe that the gorilla is their particular totem," said Aaron Nicholas, a researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Still,"there seems to be a common recognition that the gorilla is a unique animal and a general acceptance that the hunting of gorillas should not be allowed," Nicholas said.

The sanctuary, which has served as a Wildlife Conservation Society research station for several years, will continue to be managed by the nonprofit. The refuge will also be staffed by local villagers trained in conservation.

"Protecting any population of these gorillas is critical to their future," said Rebecca Stumpf, a researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"Protecting more would be preferable."

Ape Genius reveals depth of animal intelligence



By Paul Eccleston
Last Updated: 5:01pm BST 02/05/2008

Chimpanzees in Senegal make and sharpen spears with their teeth to go hunting. Like our own ancestors they have learned to use tools to kill their quarry more effectively.

Ape genius: A chimp turns a handle on an experiment device (left) and a chimp examining red cups
Ape genius: A chimp turns a handle on an experiment device (left) and a chimp examining red cups

They use their colossal strength to thrust their spears into holes in trees where they suspect nocturnal bushbabies are sleeping.

Anthropologist Jill Pruetz believes she has made a landmark discovery - a species other than humans learning - and passing on - the skills to make a lethal weapon.

The generation of ideas and sharing a skill is a scientific definition of culture.

In another part of Africa a young chimp lowers himself gingerly into a cooling pool and squealing with excitement - in exactly the same way as a human child would. Apes are supposed to be afraid of water but this one is actively using the water as a tool to enjoy a dip.

advertisement

In controlled laboratory experiments another chimpanzee called Judy quickly learns how to use a complex series of manoeuvres, turning wheels and pulling handles in order, to obtain a piece of fruit from a specially constructed wooden slot machine. But even more remarkably other chimps watch her success and then learn the skill themselves.

Learning by imitation is regarded as an essential skill for culture.

Apes display rudimentary traditions which could be interpreted as culture but are they really bright enough to develop a proper culture?

The apes are all stars of a new film - Ape Genius - which gives a fascinating insight into the depth of intelligence of animals who share 99 per cent of human genes. In it they reveal the skills, reasoning powers and emotions that were once thought to be uniquely human.

The stars include Koko a gorilla who understands sign language, Azy an orangutan maths champion, and Kanzi a bonobo who understands more than 3,000 words of English.

The film demonstrates that apes are more like us than we ever imagined and only the lack of a few mental skills has prevented them making the giant evolutionary development steps taken by their human cousins.

What's the little difference that makes the big difference and how big is the gap between Them and Us?, the film asks.

In west Africa Japanese researchers watch a mother care for sick two-years-old infant. She puts her paw on his forehead in exactly the way as a parent would check for a temperature in a child. As the baby chimp's life ebbs away she cares for him devotedly and when he dies she carries him around on her back for weeks almost refusing to accept that he is gone.

It is impossible to know what she is thinking but not difficult to recognise that she is stricken with grief.

"When I see the scene of the mother looking at the baby, I really recognise the emotional life of chimpanzees are so similar to us," says one of the researchers.

But if apes have the power to reason, learn skills, feel emotion and co-operate in a frenzied tree-top hunt for Colobus monkeys as chimpanzees do, why don't we have a planet of the apes?

The film reveals that although apes will co-operate to obtain food they don't have a shared commitment, they don't have the passion to urge or cheer on a tribe member and they do not have control of their emotions. They are also violent, impulsive and display deadly rivalry.

Although they can be taught to recognise symbols and words they don't have the mental capacity to contribute to a 'conversation' - and they don't make small talk. And most important of all although they can imitate, they can't teach or build on the achievements others have made - unlike more successful humans.

Their mental rocket is on the launch pad but it hasn't taken off, the film concludes.

  • Ape Genius will be shown on the National Geographic Wild Channel on Thursday May 8 at 9.00pm
  • jueves, 17 de abril de 2008

    Un equip d'antropòlegs reconstrueixen la veu dels neanderthals

    La veu (bé, en realitat una imprecisa vocal, la e) dels neanderthals ha tornat a sonar a la Terra uns 30.000 anys després de l'extinció de l'espècie. Un equip d'investigadors pertanyents a la Florida Atlantic University (Estats Units) han recreat el so aproximat que emetien aquests homínids, segons ha publicat aquesta setmana la revista científica britànica New Scientist.
    Unes restes fòssils trobades a França, d'una antiguitat de 50.000 anys, han permès a un equip capitanejat per l'antro- pòleg Robert McCarthy reconstruir, en primer lloc, una laringe del també anomenat Homo neanderthalensis, que va habitar a Europa i gran part de l'Àsia oriental. Després, amb l'ajuda d'un sintetitzador computeritzat, li han donat veu.
    Una e no sembla, especialment quan s'escolta, gran cosa. El so metàl.lic del sintetitzador impedeix, encara que es tanquin els ulls i s'obri la ment, acceptar amb emoció que s'està davant de tota una vocal fòssil, davant un viatge en el temps sense precedents. Però els científics estan entusiasmats. Sostenen que s'obren al seu davant grans possibilitats d'explorar les diferències entre el llenguatge dels neanderthals i els seus parents més moderns.

    BUSCANT LA FRASE
    El professor McCarthy, en realitat, confia que la seva laringe de neanderthal emeti pròximament una frase completa. Dir-ne frase, amb tot, pot ser un excés, perquè l'articulació de vocals d'aquella espècie extingida és molt més tosca que la de l'home actual.
    "Ells haurien parlat de forma una mica diferent", ha assegurat l'antropòleg, que dubta que els neanderthals fossin capaços fins i tot de reproduir totes les vocals actuals, i menys encara amb tota la seva varietat d'accents.
    Ja als anys 70, el lingüista Phil Liberman, de la Brown University de Rhode Island (EUA), havia teoritzat sobre la parla dels neanderthals a partir d'un càlcul teò- ric sobre les dimensions de la seva laringe. Liberman, que ara ha col.laborat en la investigació de McCarthy, ja va anticipar llavors que la conversa dels neanderthals havia de ser inevitablement molt tosca. El sintetitzador li ha donat la raó.

    jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008

    Semester of Study Abroad in Equatorial Guinea:

    Educational Organization:
    Drexel University (Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program)

    Date Posted:
    2008-03-25

    Program Description:
    Now in it's sixth year, this study abroad program on the tropical Central/West African island of Bioko (Equatorial Guinea)is based on a field research course (Field Research in Tropical Ecology, 4 cr) taught by Dr. Tom Butynski, an experienced field biologist renowned for his work on African primates. Each student, in partnership with a local Equatoguinean student, pursues an individually designed research project. Additional courses( Field Methods in Tropical Ecology; Natural Resource Economics; Environment and Society; Spanish Language and African Culture) are taught at the National University of Equatorial Guinea ("UNGE") in English by USA-educated faculty. In addition to the coursework at UNGE in the capital city of Malabo, the semester includes 2 weeks at the Moka Wildlife Center in the central highlands, and a one week expedition to the remote southern coast of Bioko Island. The program is limited to 8 students per semester. It is offered in conjunction with the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program (www.bioko.org). Academic credit is issued by Drexel University.

    Enterance Qualifications:
    The program is open to undergraduates (junior or senior) and recent graduates seeking a serious research experience in an unusual tropical country (with low human population, spectacular unspoiled wilderness, and recent wealth from oil) with seven species of monkeys (drill, black colobus, red colobus, red-eared guenon, crowned guenon, putty-nose monkey, Preuss's monkey). Applicants are expected to have a GPA of at least 3.0/4.0 and at least 1 year of Spanish (the official language of Equatorial Guinea)

    Tuition / Fees:
    The program fee of $14,200 includes tuition, housing, field experiences and Drexel University transcript. Additional details at Drexel website (www.drexel.edu/studyabroad/) and BBPP website (www.bioko.org).

    Support (schlolarships, travel):
    Scholarships are available to help defray the costs for disadvantaged students.

    Start + End Dates:
    18 September - 14 December, 2008

    Application Deadline:
    15 May 2008

    Comments:
    This study abroad program was formerly offered by Arcadia University's Center for Education Abroad. The change in faculty affiliation to Drexel led to the change in sponsoring university, and the associated delay in publicizing the program has left 2 positions open.

    Contact Information:
    Daniela Ascarelli
    Office of Study Abroad, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street
    Philadelphia, PA 19104
    USA

    Telephone Number:
    215-895-1704

    Fax Number:
    215-895-6184

    Website:
    http://www.drexel.edu/studyabroad/

    E-Mail Address:
    studyabroad@drexel.edu