By Daniel Hohler •
August 1, 2009
For years and years, humans considered themselves the one and only makers of tools. Homo sapien literally means “wise man” because we were so intelligent that it was us humans, and us humans alone, who could even have the brain capacity to create a tool. It was considered the key feature of the genus Homo.
Well, that was until people actually decided to carefully look at other animal’s social behavior. It was not until the mid to late 1900’s that people realized “oops us humans are not the only ones to use tools.” Primatologists discovered chimpanzees creating tools for fishing termites out of their mounds, and stones for crushing nuts from their hard shell. Other researchers discovered that gorillas make beds from foliage, as well as sponges out of chewed up leaves.
By Daniel Hohler •
July 29, 2009
Before I get into this important topic, please read my article on cancer dedicated to someone special to me, each view constitutes a larger donation to cancer research. http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/27/help-me-fight-cancer/
Problem
Almost one half of non-human primates are at risk of extinction, and none more so than gorillas. Gorillas are disappearing at an alarming rate, mostly a victim of their surroundings. Political unrest, wars, poachers, miners, and loggers all converging in a perfect storm of brutality and human depravity, killing one of our closest living relatives. Gorilla’s DNA is 98-99% an exact match for human DNA, just barely trailing our closest living relatives (genus Pan, chimpanzees and bonobos). Unfortunately for the gorillas, they occupy a region rich in tin, diamonds, gold and coltan (a rare mineral used to create capacitors for cellphones, games consoles and laptops).
By Gavin Hudson •
April 8, 2009
Male chimpanzees are able to exchange meat for sex with females, a recent study of wild chimps in Côte d’Ivoire found.
Notorious B.I.G.’s “more money more problems” way of thinking may not be true for male chimpanzees looking to mate. It turns out that male chimps who bring home the bacon–so to speak–have twice as much sex over the long term. This, despite meat making up only 1.4% of the diets of wild chimps.
By Gavin Hudson •
March 5, 2009
On April 3, celebrated primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall will turn 75.
These days, Jane Goodall spends most of her free time traveling the world to speak to youth about the importance of environmental conservation.
That is, if you can call it free time. She might be going on 75, but she keeps the tightly packed schedule of a woman less than half her age. From book tours promoting her most recent book on vegetarianism to college lectures (where she gladly demonstrates her famous chimpanzee greeting call) to a morning giving positive feedback to youth about a classroom nature or community project, Dr. Goodall, or Dr. Jane, as her many friends and fans call her, has dedicated her life to making the world a better, greener, happier place.
