Monkeywire

Wall painting of a seated baboon with his penis aimed forward, from the tomb of Tutankhamen, not a wall clock, but you get the idea. Hanna-Barbera vibes.

"So strong was the Egyptian interest in the baboon penis that it was employed as the central feature of their water-clocks. Carvings of seated male baboons were created in which water flowed through a hole in the phallus, marking the hours."
- Desmond Morris (2013)

You want to avoid a design that requires a large rectangular block as background (no to #2, 3, 10; #4 could work if you eliminate the gold background). Too much attention is drawn to the border, resulting in less impactful imagery. The shirt color itself should be the background.

Clip of a text-only newspaper article (SF Chronicle, 2/8/1970): "They got our smell and suddenly, making noises exactly like a train, they burst out headed toward us. We had nowhere to go. The ranger made 'people' noises by rattling chains and keys. Finally, they halted, turned and ran off."

Baboon researcher Thelma Rowell told a journalist in 1970 how she avoided a conflict in the African bush after accidentally scaring a group of elephants.

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight Dr. Jane Goodall Interview: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

She taught the world so much, including teaching John how to eat a banana. Rest In Peace, Dr. Jane Goodall. Thank you for spending some time with us. youtu.be/izUzqUrhbh0

Jane Goodall, ethologist and conservationist, has died. She was 91

the story behind this cartoon is absolutely wild. A lawyer at the Jane Goodall Institute sent Gary Larson's comic syndicate a letter calling it "inexcusable", "absolutely stupid", and hinted they might sue them.

No one at the institute asked Goodall if she was offended. (she wasn't)

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Echoes of Our Origins Baboons, Humans, and Nature

Whoa, Shirley C. Strum has a new book out! Her 1987 book about her baboon field work, Almost Human, was an accessible and fun read, and I just finished Primate Encounters, edited with Fedigan (2000). Thrilled to check this one out! press.jhu.edu/books/title/...

Two patas monkeys, presumably a mother with a juvenile, in a tree, huddled together and looking out, as if on alert. Photo by Scot/flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottummy/16245466018/

Patas monkey females in a caged group have been observered suckling the infants of other females. In the wild, females take each others’ babies after they reach 3 weeks, making it difficult for some field researchers to tell which infant belongs to which. Photo: Scot/flickr #primates

In the 50s, Japanese scientists proported to determine the dominance hierarchy of indigenous macaques by throwing an orange at them and seeing who got it. Scientists later realized that throwing food at monkeys was no test of natural behaviors but a good way to start a fight.

Chimps 'lager a day' in ripe fruit fuels drunken monkey theory Scientists say chimps consume the equivalent of a bottle of lager a day from dining on ripe fruit.

"This is the first study to make clear how much alcohol they might be consuming." #primates

China zoo bans visitors from letting chimp watch short videos over eyesight fears Cheeky chimp Ding Ding develops film clip habit, zoo staff worry while online observers tell visitors to respect primate’s animal rights.

Kinda torn here as to whether this is an argument against screens or zoos.

Up until 1965, the average primate in a zoo survived ~18 months

Yes, maybe someone thought the chimp looked more "handsome"?

The idea that chimps were "white," btw, was also promoted by Yerkes (the founder of primatology in the US was a eugenicist). Not sure how many of the "experts" in 1925 had ever even seen an adult chimp; chimp faces darken as they age.

Newspaper story from November 12, 1924 has the bold headline: MAN'S DESCENT SAME AS APE TYPES. Subheads clarify with "White springing from chimpanzee, yellows from orang-outang, blacks from gorilla" and "This is theory of Dr. Crookshank, anthropologist, who has data on man's origins. The article is illustrated with photos of a juvenile chimpanzee, gorilla, and orangutan -- but an editor confused the chimp with the orang and mislabeled them. From the Los Angeles Evening Post-Record (this story was syndicated and other newspapers did not mix the two apes up) https://www.newspapers.com/image/678206838/

You’d think 1924 editors would have needed to really struggle to make this racist bit of psuedoscience even stupider but somehow they managed.
www.newspapers.com/image/678206...

Any chance these talks will be recorded and available for public view after the fact?

#primates

Horror moment monkeys invade home, steal baby and drown him in water drum A child was kidnapped by a monkey before being found dead in a water drum.

You see a story like this from India — twice! — and think: people must be killing their kids are blaming it on macaques.

Nope, CCTV footage confirmed at least the first incident. #primates

Sri Lanka monkey survey sparks skepticism & oddball ideas for deterring crop raiders COLOMBO — As Sri Lanka grapples with severe agricultural losses caused by wildlife species ranging from primates to peafowl, in March, the government launched a nationwide, five-minute rapid visual ce...

Citizen-science goes awry, exaggerating monkey numbers.

Proposals for deterring them include "disguising dogs as leopards, having people dress as large langurs and applying leopard feces to fruit trees." #primates

Quand il se met à applaudir 😭❤️‍🩹 #animaux #singe TikTok video by Plumes

The channel for this singer-songwriter (Plumes) who performs for zoo and other captive animals is pretty wonderful.

Our public library has it on order. I am the 8th hold.

A grid of 20 abstract paintings in primary colours and black, 10 of which were done by amateur human artists and 10 by captive chimpanzees. Each painting has lines, dots or splodges, sometimes overlapping and many, sometimes sparse. Being abstract, they do not depict any particular thing. I will put which ape made which paintings in a reply, to avoid giving the game away here.

Half the paintings in this image are by amateur human artists, and half by chimpanzees. Can you tell which ape made which? And why you think so?

Intriguing new study led by Larissa Mendoza Straffon on intentionality in art 🧪🏺🎨

[see reply below for answers]

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Maharashtra villagers hold funeral for monkey killed in stray dog attack. Watch videos A village in Maharashtra’s Dhule district held a funeral and five days of mourning for a monkey killed in a stray dog attack, with rituals drawing nearly 3,000 people.

#primates

Chimps, Humans and Macaques All Love a Little Drama Our social voyeurism may have deep evolutionary roots

Another study finds that both chimpanzees and human children prefer watching social interactions of their peers, as opposed to solitary individuals

A very large brown rodent (a capybara) with a much smaller, similarly colored monkey relaxing on her friend’s back, adorably.

Baya, a howler monkey @denverzoo.bsky.social has recently been seen hanging out with, cuddling, and riding her new capybara pal Rebecca. (Photos: Erik Bowker ) #mammals #primates

The taxidermied body of an infant chimpanzee with his lips open, as if pant-hooting, while a blond human toddler rides on his back. Before the chimp died, Ladygina-Kohts charted his development alongside that of her son. Joni survived in her care for 2.5 years.

Sure, Ladygina-Kohts was a pioneering comparative psychologist in 1935, but did she really need to stuff her dead chimpanzee Joni and let her toddler ride him?

Photo of a book chapter title that reads "8: Benefits of Friendship to the Male" above a photo of two olive baboons copulating. In the book, anthropologist Barbara Smuts defines "benefits" in the evolutionary sense.

Did the phrase "friends with benefits" start with the literature on baboons?

This is from Barbara Smuts' _Sex & Friendship in Baboons_ (1985). #primates

Someone needs to tell the Cleveland museum that Barbary macaques don’t have tails

Baby gorilla Zeytin set for return to Nigeria after rescue from smuggling in Istanbul - Türkiye Today

This is the little guy who traffickers tried to ship to Thailand in a cargo box in December