mimicking human behaviour

An interesting story from national geographic.com

Bonnie's whistling isn't so surprising to her caregivers. The 140-pound (63.5-kilometer) orangutan at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., has been whistling for about two decades.

Now a new study suggests that the sounds she makes could hold clues about the origins of human language.



"The assumption is that someone was whistling and she probably picked it up from them," said animal keeper and study co-auther Erin Stromberg.

Lisa Stevens, the zoo's curator for great apes and giant pandas, said the key point is that the orangutan was not trained to whistle.

While orangutans can be taught new sounds with extensive training, Bonnie is the first indication that the animals can independently pick up the sounds from other species.

"It's something she spontaneously developed," Stevens said. "It wasn't a trick."

Mimicking Motions

Orangutans are known to imitate humans. Bonnie, for instance, sometimes sweeps up after herself, just as her caretakers do, even though the zookeepers don't encourage this behavior.

Lead author Serge Wich of the Great Ape Trust of Iowa, said orangutans in Indonesia have been seen pretending to wash clothes.

"We know they are capable of imitating these motor skills, but we never had any good indication of sounds for vocalization," said Wich, who presented his research on December 18 during a symposium at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Bonnie the Orangutan Whistling

1,000 Pets Rehomed!!

Pet Rescue Australia has reached their target to rehome 1,000 pets for Christmas.

Every email sent, every dollar donated has helped 1,000 pets find their way out of a shelter and into a home of their own this xmas. This is an amazing achievement and one worth celebrating.

It's sooo good to see this result that people do care about animals in shelters and they are looking to this option.

My mum

Mum has been ill of late. She worried me very much!! Mum has always had a few health problems which my family and I are used to now, but this time when mum was admitted to hospital for heart pains and told she may need a triple bypass due to 3 blocked arteries, this was scary.

I don't know what I would do without my mum, she is a wonderful, kind, beautiful person who I look up to and look forward to hearing from everyday.

She is now home from hospital on medication to try to clear those blockages and triple bypass as a last resort if all else fails.

I wanted to write a post to express how much I love her and put my prayers and good wishes out there for her.

Love ya mum and get well soon. Bring on 2009

This confuses my views on conservation...

This story from national geographic.com speaks about a study done over six years which now proves that protected Elephants in the wild live more than TWICE as long as those captive in Zoo's. This has really confused my views on conservation.

I do believe however that, unfortunetly, we have to have these animals in zoo's to educate people. As sad as it is, some people may not care for the elephants if they don't get the chance to see them in real life in a zoo. Hmm..the story still makes me kinda sad though.

"Wild elephants in protected areas of Africa and Asia live more than twice as long as those in European zoos, a new study has found.

Animal welfare advocates have long clashed with zoo officials over concerns about the physical and mental health of elephants in captivity.

"We're worried that the whole system basically doesn't work and improving it is essential," said lead author Georgia Mason, a zoologist at the University of Guelph in Canada. Until these problems are resolved, the authors are calling for a halt to importing wild elephants and breeding them in facilities unless an institution can guarantee long, healthy lives for its elephants. The study will be published tomorrow in the journal Science.

Mason and colleagues looked at data from more than 4,500 wild and captive African and Asian elephants.

The data include elephants in European zoos, which house about half of the world's captive elephants; protected populations in Amboseli National Park in Kenya; and the Myanma Timber Enterprise in Myanmar (Burma), a government-run logging operation where Asian elephants are put to work.

Only the survival rates of females were analyzed because of their importance to future populations.

The findings show that captive elephants live considerably shorter lives."

THE OTHER SIDE:

In 2004 Wiese co-authored a paper in the journal Zoo Biology showing the opposite of Mason's findings: that zoo elephants live as long as those in the wild.

He said that within the last decade accredited facilities have made huge improvements in the care of captive elephants by providing better nutrition to combat obesity, as well as environmental enrichment activities that reduce stress.

"Typically anti-zoo critics throw … in our face the things that the zoo community has already identified as issues that we need to work on," Wiese said.

remember, they won't stay babies forever!

I remember this add which was on TV when I was young from the RSPCA. I remember it because it featured this gorgeous Dalmatian puppy, and as it slowly grew to an adult and became more destructive and more costly, less loved. The message, they won't stay babies forever really relates to this story here.

A polar bear cub (1st picture) named Knut, was once a gorgeous and famous tourist attraction at the Berlin zoo. He is now getting the boot now he is a grumpy 2.5 metre tall adolescent.

The zoo defends his actions as "they just cannot afford to house/feed the bear anymore due to this current economic crisis." Ha! It's just the same as pet ownership. The Bear's keeper also passed away recently which has been blamed for the bears bad behaviour.

Supporters of the bear in Berlin are rallying to keep the bear there and trying to save money, however a number of animal refuges are expressing interest in housing the bear. The most popular contender is Gelsenkirchen Zoo, who not only have the space and resources, but also a suitable breeding partner, Lara, who is also adolescent.

Let's hope a positive becomes of this situation and they do breed which is another step forward in animal conservation.

So remember, all things cute and cuddly grow up eventually. They stay just as beautiful to me!

lolcats

Translation "grandpa kitty does not understand technology"

One of my fave sites, just sweet photos.