chimpanzees

Accelerated evolution of genes controlling bones of great apes 2 million years ago leading to humans

Scientists have identified the genetic changes which altered our skeleton in our evolution from apes to humans

This is not about the human-animal relationship which is the prime topic of this website but about the human-animal and our evolution from the great apes. Scientists at a number of institutions and universities – primarily Texas University and Columbia – have identified the genetic changes which took place during our evolution from apes to …

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Chimp siblings embrace on reuniting

Watch this video and think of animal sentience not ‘us and them’

Don’t think of ‘us and them’. Don’t be so arrogant as humans often are and think that we are superior to animals. This leads to abuse and exploitation. This is a beauty of a little video. So touching. So meaningful. Although they must have been separated. Was there a good reason for it? They are …

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Shackled primate in Asia

If animals had a religion, humans would be the DEVIL!!!

That is absolutely disgusting. I weep for that poor animal. – comment on Twitter. OMG – what sh*t. What horrors people get up to. I don’t want to sound racist. I want to be respectful of different cultures and races but this is obviously Asia somewhere and there is so much animal abuse in Asia. …

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Bullying chimps do best

Bullies in animal and human society do better. Discuss.

You know that the world’s species – animals and humans – have been created on the back of the survival of the fittest as per Charles Darwin (unless you are one of the world’s creationists in which case, I feel sorry for you). Well, in a world where the fittest survive the best, it is …

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Ape vine twizzling

Ape vine twizzling is equivalent to humans getting drunk

An interesting scientific study has come to the conclusion that after a hard day’s work, apes like to hang onto a vine and twizzle around i.e. spin around so that they become dizzy because it alters their consciousness in the same way that alcohol alters the consciousness of humans. It allows them to escape the …

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Gestures by chimpanzees and bonobos can be understood by humans, a fellow great ape

Chimpanzee gestures can be understood by fellow primates such as humans

Chimpanzees and bonobos use dozens of gestures to communicate with each other. They might be a request or an instruction. For example, as you can see in the Infographic below, a scratching movement across a chimpanzee’s torso means “please groom me”. Or a directed push would be an instruction to climb onto their back or …

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Fiona gives twig with leaves to mother to share the experience

Chimp Fiona shows her mother an interesting sprig of leaves in human-like behaviour

The latest observation of chimpanzee behaviour in the Kibale National Park, western Uganda, under a long-running study, revealed a form of behaviour that was formerly considered to be a uniquely human attribute. It is this: showing something interesting to another so that they can share the experience. The daughter chimp, Fiona, had picked up a …

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10 percent of Brits and 17 percent of Americans believed that they could beat a chimpanzee in an unarmed fight

17% of Americans believe they can beat a chimpanzee in unarmed combat

The title tells us of an interesting and I think startling statistic based upon a YouGov survey. YouGov is a polling company based in Britain and they surveyed Americans and Britons on their thoughts about unarmed combat with a range of wild animals becoming progressively more dangerous namely: rat, cat, goose, medium-sized dog, Eagle, big …

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Chimp drumming

Chimpanzees don’t say goodbye because they keep in touch through drum beats

Chimpanzees have their own drumming style. Some are much wilder than others, scientists have discovered when observing chimpanzees in a Ugandan rainforest where the males have developed their own signature drumbeat. They always use the same sort of tree species it seems with wide, flat, exposed roots (buttress roots) which allows the sound to be …

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Chimp greets woman and they hug. She later gives the chimp her jacket

Ukraine: escaped chimp is hugged by woman and he returns to zoo on keeper’s bicycle

NEWS AND COMMENT-KHARKIV, UKRAINE: The back story to this news item is the war in Ukraine and we know that Kharkiv has been attacked on numerous occasions by Putin’s forces causing death and destruction to civilians in their apartments. Set against that background we have a chimpanzee who escaped Kharkiv Zoo on Monday. There are …

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Bored chimp entertains himself by fogging up window to his enclosure and drawing on it

Captive, bored chimp fogs up window and draws to entertain himself

The video shows a chimpanzee using his intelligence to gently blow moist air from his lungs onto a glass window which is part of his enclosure with the object of drawing on the fogged-up window. He is entertaining himself. And watching him do this and seeing what I presume is his partner behind him curled …

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Chimps use crushed insects to treat wounds

Chimpanzees treat cuts with the haemolymph inside insects

NEWS AND COMMENT: Researchers have discovered that chimpanzees in Gabon, Africa, treat each other with the fluid inside an unknown insect (haemolymph) when they have suffered a wound which causes a cut. It is believed that this fluid contains something which helps to alleviate discomfort and heal the wound more rapidly. That is the observation …

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Adie and Chita

Woman has love affair with zoo chimp and is banned

NEWS AND COMMENT-ANTWERP, BELGIUM: This is a story which turns on the question as to whether a human can have a genuine love affair with an animal. Some people might not believe that it is possible. I’ve seen it before so it is possible. Although we don’t know the feelings of the animals if we …

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Kanyawara chimpanzee community living in Kibale National Park in Uganda

Older chimpanzees have more high-quality mutual friendships than when they were younger

As is the case for humans, older chimpanzees have more mutual friendships of better quality than when they were younger. When they are young they are more eager to find friendships which can end up being one-sided and of poorer quality. The reason for this change in quality of friendships over the lifetime of a …

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Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Speciesism - 'them and us' | Cruelty - always shameful

Note: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified.