When it comes to figuring out which individual among a group of primates is the most dominant, some scientists simply look for the one that’s being the most assertive or aggressive. New research suggests this approach grossly underestimates the social complexity of nonhuman primates, and that there’s more to social…
Prior to developing the capacity for speech, toddlers communicate their desires, demands, and discontent using a diverse repertoire of physical gestures. As a new study shows, there’s a significant amount of overlap between the gestures employed by human children and those made by other ape species, a finding that’s…
In a twist that rivals cinema’s best, a new study published Tuesday in Royal Society Open Science suggests a horrible truth: We’ve been the damn dirty apes all along. It found that beds made by one of our closest primate relatives, chimpanzees, contain little personal filth, meaning germs and parasites from their own…
Since time immemorial, humans have had a knack for being complete and utter dicks to the other animals we share our planet with. Often, we even manage to screw things up for other species without meaning to. A study published earlier this month in the journal of Emerging Infectious Disease has retroactively uncovered…
There is no permanent good in this world. One minute, everything seems fine. The next minute, the forces of darkness steal away Chantek, the beloved, 39-year-old signing orangutan.
Humans are the only animals known to develop Alzheimer’s disease, an age-related brain disorder that causes impaired cognitive functioning and other behavioral problems. Or at least, that’s what we thought. For the first time ever, researchers are claiming to have found signs of the disease in the brains of elderly…
Humans may have big, bulbous brains, but when it comes to pure muscle power, we’re often considered the weakest of the great apes. Even chimpanzees, who are significantly smaller than us, exhibit levels of strength that are practically super-human by our standards. New research shows the degree to which our primate…
Like humans, gorillas and chimpanzees can get infected by Ebola. To protect our closest relatives from this dreaded disease, and to prevent the virus from spilling over into human populations, scientists have now developed an oral vaccine to combat Ebola in the wild. It sounds very promising, but the researchers have…
It was only a drill. Staff at the Tama Zoological Park in Tokyo recently chased an unlucky coworker dressed in a droopy chimpanzee suit during an escaped animal drill. Eventually, the zookeepers shot at the costumed human with a tranquilizer gun, loaded the poor guy into a truck, and hopefully, paid for all the beers…
This week, Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, the founder of The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, posted an Instagram video of a chimpanzee wearing an HTC Vive virtual reality headset. There’s no sound, but the brief clip shows the chimpanzee sweeping its hands across the headset and reaching out to grab at the…
There is hope for original ideas in Hollywood after all! Isaac Adamson’s Black List-topping script told from the point of view of Michael Jackson’s pet chimp, Bubbles, will be made into a stop-motion animated film produced by Community’s Dan Harmon.
The National Institutes of Health has announced that it’s bringing its chimpanzee testing programme to an entire halt, sending its 50 remaining primates to sanctuaries.
Nature is not known for its tender compassion. But for the very first time, biologists have captured footage of a chimpanzee mother in the wild caring for her severely disabled child. The infant lived for only 23 months.
A group of chimpanzees has been observed eating clay. Scientists think that they’re after the clay because it contains a very important element that helps neutralize problematic parts of their diet.
The Jane Goodall Institute, in collaboration with other animal welfare groups, has successfully petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to declare a new rule under which all chimpanzees—both wild and captive—must be protected as an endangered species.
Turns out that African apes and humans have more in common than previously thought. Observations made in the jungles of Guinea show wild chimps sipping alcoholic tree sap from leaf sponges, followed by some characteristically drunken behaviors.
Earlier today, a NYC judge heard arguments on the rights of two chimps being used for science experiments. During the two-hours of proceedings, the president of the Nonhuman Rights Projects described the chimps as “autonomous and self-determining beings.” A decision on their fate is expected in one to two months. More …
For the first time in U.S. history, a supreme court has granted a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of two lab chimpanzees, effectively recognizing them as legal persons. While the future of the chimps has not yet been decided, it’s a huge step forward in establishing personhood status for highly sapient animals.
This remarkable video was shot as part of a 29-month study of chimps crossing what’s often a dangerously busy road in Uganda’s Kibale National Park. Unlike in studies conducted of quieter roads, here the apes cautiously looked both ways, moved rapidly, and made sure all in the group made it across safely.
If the history of lobotomy itself weren’t infuriating and horrifying by itself, the development of the procedure would be. Because the experiment that gave Antonio Egas Moniz the idea for the lobotomy in the first place was actually a partial failure, yet Moniz chose to focus on the “positive.”
