Clipmarks | Apes Clips

chimps show "grief"

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:15:37 GMT

clipped by: boozich

UNITED in what appears to be profound grief, more than a dozen chimpanzees stood in silence from their enclosure as the body of one of their own was wheeled past

When a chimp called Dorothy, in her late 40s, died of heart failure, her fellow apes seemed to be stricken by sorrow.

As they wrapped their arms around each other, Dorothy's keeper gave her an affectionate stroke on the head and settled her into the wheelbarrow that carried her to her grave.

Until recently, describing scenes like this in terms of human emotions such as grief would have been dismissed by scientists

But growing evidence suggests higher emotions, such as grieving and a understanding of death, may not be a human preserve.

Chimpanzees

have often been seen apparently grieving for family and tribe members by entering a period of mourning after a death

Is this haunting picture proof that chimps really DO grieve?

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:51:26 GMT

clipped by: pennyserenade

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

United in what appears to be deep and profound grief, a phalanx of more than a dozen chimpanzees stood in silence watching from behind the wire of their enclosure as the body of one of their own was wheeled past.

This extraordinary scene took place recently at the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center in Cameroon, West Africa.

When a chimp called Dorothy, who was in her late 40s, died of heart failure, her fellow apes seemed to be stricken by sorrow.

As they wrapped their arms around each other in a gesture of solidarity, Dorothy's female keeper gently settled her into the wheelbarrow which carried her to her final resting place - not before giving this much-loved inhabitant of the centre a final affectionate stroke on the forehead.

Where did different languages come from?

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:22:35 GMT

clipped by: JULIE PENKOVA
clipper's remarks: And why was there a need for them?

Clip Source: www.asktheatheists.com

Where did different languages come from and why was there a need for them?

If things evolved and adapted to better suit the environment, then why would humans have all these different languages? This only creates a huge barrier and has absolutely no benefits.

Human beings had already spread far and wide by the time speech as we know it developed (certain precursors are even present in apes), which means several distant groups of humans developed their own languages independently.

After the initial development of speech, whenever one social group of humans split permanently into two each faction would continue to develop unique vocabulary and grammar, first creating separate dialects and eventually diversifying into entirely different languages.

The animal in us, the human in them

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:17:23 GMT

clipped by: pennyserenade

Clip Source: www.theglobeandmail.com

The book of nature is like the Bible: Everyone reads into it what they want.” So writes eminent primatologist Frans de Waal about a third of the way into his latest, The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society. As nature readers go, de Waal is among the most accomplished. He has spent the better part of 30 years studying chimpanzees and bonobos, sometimes in the wild, but mostly in his capacity as director of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Ga.

And what a sobering education the apes have given him. For six books, de Waal has chronicled their scheming and their turf battles, their amazing problem-solving abilities and sexual politics. From the start, it has been clear to de Waal that the apes represent a kind of proto-human society, with many of our same patterns and preoccupations.

We now throw Darwin's Theory Finally into the TRASH CAN

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:39:32 GMT

clipped by: leevardi

Clip Source: projectavalon.net

I have had many arguements about this in the past... Is this Vindication!!!

Oldest "Human" Skeleton Found--Disproves "Missing Link"

Scientists today announced the discovery of the oldest fossil skeleton of a human ancestor. The find reveals that our forebears underwent a previously unknown stage of evolution more than a million years before Lucy, the iconic early human ancestor specimen that walked the Earth 3.2 million years ago.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...s-ramidus.html

Humans didn't evolve from chimps...

The discovery of the skeleton of an early human, who lived 4.4 million years ago, shows that humans did not evolve from chimpanzee-like ancestors.

Instead, the missing link - the common ancestor of both humans and modern apes - was different from both, and apes have evolved just as much as humans have from that common ancestor, say researchers.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/wor...ve-from-chimps

Do Cleaners Contain Toxins?

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:50:56 GMT

clipped by: ljsdesign
clipper's remarks: The 1976 law, according to Earthjustice "requires household and commercial cleaner companies selling their products in New York to file semi-annual reports with the state listing the chemicals contained in their products and describing any company research on these chemicals' health and environmental effects."

Clip Source: green.yahoo.com

a February lawsuit that sought to enforce an arcane New York law requiring the disclosure of ingredients in cleaning products, Sen. Al Franken -- the recently minted senator from Minnesota -- has introduced a bill that would require disclosure across the country.

as evidence mounts that certain chemicals in some products may be unhealthy, even in small doses.

Ingredients in cleansers could contaminate indoor air or lead to more subtle developmental, hormonal, or reproductive effects, according to laboratory studies on those specific ingredients

Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Church and Dwight, and Reckitt-Benckiser

are being targeted because they did not respond to a request to disclose their ingredients as apparently is required by law

You can read more about the lawsuit on the Earthjustice website and the industry's response.

ingredients of concern

ethylene glycol ethers

other solvents

alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs)

surfactants called ethanolamines

chlorine and ammonia in combination.

Tags: ecology, health, toxic, bill, 1976 law

Ethiopian ape-woman recasts missing link debate

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:32:37 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

The skeleton of an early human who lived 4.4 million years ago shows that humans did not evolve from chimpanzee-like ancestors, researchers said.

Instead, the missing link - the common ancestor of both humans and modern apes - was different from both, and apes have evolved just as much as humans have from that common ancestor, they said.

The researchers stressed that "Ardi" may now be the oldest known hominid, but she was not the missing link.

"At 4.4 million years ago we found something pretty close to it," said Tim White of the University of California Berkeley, who helped lead the research team.

They described the partial skeleton of a female representative of Ardipithecus ramidus. The hominid species lived 4.4 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia.

The 1.2 metre-tall creature is a million years older than "Lucy" - the skeleton of another species called Australopithecus afarensis that is one of the best-known pre-humans.

Tags: archaeology

World's oldest human-linked skeleton found

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:06:14 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

The story of humankind is reaching back another million years with the discovery of “Ardi,” a hominid who lived 4.4 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia.

The 110-pound, 4-foot female roamed forests a million years before the famous Lucy, long studied as the earliest skeleton of a human ancestor.

This older skeleton reverses the common wisdom of human evolution, said anthropologist C. Owen Lovejoy of Kent State University.

Rather than humans evolving from an ancient chimplike creature, the new find provides evidence that chimps and humans evolved from some long-ago common ancestor — but each evolved and changed separately along the way.

But Ardi has many traits that do not appear in modern-day African apes, leading to the conclusion that the apes evolved extensively since we shared that last common ancestor.

Tags: human, history, archaeology, science, evolution

Humans didn't evolve from chimps

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:33:37 GMT

clipped by: hotdoge3

Clip Source: www.stuff.co.nz

Humans didn't evolve from chimps

MEET THE ANCESTOR: An illustration shows a probable life appearance in anterior view of Ardipithecus ramidus.

Instead, the missing link - the common ancestor of both humans and modern apes - was different from both, and apes have evolved just as much as humans have from that common ancestor, say researchers.

The scientists stress that "Ardi" may now be the oldest known hominid, but she was not the missing link. "At 4.4 million years ago we found something pretty close to it," said Tim White of the University of California Berkeley, who helped lead the research team.

They described the partial skeleton of a female representative of Ardipithecus ramidus. The hominid species lived 4.4 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia.

The 1.2m tall creature is a million years older than "Lucy" - the skeleton of another species called Australopithecus afarensis that is one of the best-known pre-humans.

Tags: humans, didn't, evolve, from, chimps

UC Berkeley scientists unveil skeleton that shares chimp, human features

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:39:31 GMT

clipped by: Lexica
clipper's remarks: More:

she is not "the missing link," a transitional creature between today's chimps and humans. This concept has been abandoned: We did not evolve from living champs or apes, but shared a common ancestor.

Nor is she this long-sought "last common ancestor." That's because she's too young; chimps and humans are thought to have diverged between 5 million and 10 million years ago. Then we went our separate ways, each taking different evolutionary trajectories.

But she's important because she is the closest we have come to this unfound "last common ancestor." She belonged to a new type of early hominid that was neither chimpanzee nor fully human.

Clip Source: www.insidebayarea.com

A research team led by Bay Area scientists has unveiled the oldest-known member of the human family tree: a 4.4 million-year-old female skeleton named "Ardi," who shares both chimp and modern human features.

Believed to be capable of both climbing and walking, "Ardi" reveals the early evolutionary steps that our ancestors took after we diverged from our common ancestor with chimpanzees.

"It's not a chimp. It's not a human. It shows us what we used to be," said paleoanthropologist Tim White of the University of California-Berkeley, co-director of the research group that discovered and analyzed the fossils, described in a special issue of the Oct. 2 journal Science. "It bridges a gap."

With both chimp-like and human features, "Ardi" lived in two worlds — upright but also in trees.

For instance, she was adept at efficiently climbing — but could also walk on two feet, like humans.

She is thought to have been more omnivorous than chimpanzees, eating nuts, insects and small mammals in the woods.

Tags: science, history, archaeology, evolution

Why Women have Sex

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:18:07 GMT

clipped by: Tri-City Psychology

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

According to a new book, there are 237 reasons why women have sex. And most of them have little to do with romance or pleasure

Do you want to know why women have sex with men with tiny little feet? I am stroking a book called Why Women Have Sex. It is by Cindy Meston, a clinical psychologist, and David Buss, an evolutionary psychologist. It is a very thick, bulging book. I've never really wondered Why Women Have Sex. But after years of not asking the question, the answer is splayed before me.

Meston and Buss have interviewed 1,006 women from all over the world about their sexual motivation, and in doing so they have identified 237 different reasons why women have sex. Not 235. Not 236. But 237. And what are they? From the reams of confessions, it emerges that women have sex for physical, emotional and material reasons; to boost their self-esteem, to keep their lovers, or because they are raped or coerced. Love? That's just a song. We are among the bad apes now.

Tags: sexual motivation

why are we the naked ape?

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 10:03:31 GMT

clipped by: doodleicious
clipper's remarks: did we come from the sea........go to TED talks 2009 to hear a speaker named Morgan speak on the subject of evolution and hairlessness too

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Why are we the naked ape?

RIGHT from the start of modern evolutionary science, why humans are hairless has been controversial. "No one supposes," wrote Charles Darwin in The Descent of Man, "that the nakedness of the skin is any direct advantage to man: his body, therefore, cannot have been divested of hair through natural selection."

Homo sapiens is the only primate to have lost its body hair (Image: Laurent Gillieron / EPA / Corbis)" />

If not natural selection, then what? Despite his book's title, Darwin had little to say about human origins. He intimated that his strongest supporter, Thomas Huxley, had already dealt extensively with that question, and contented himself with a couple of pages about how we came to differ from our nearest relatives, the African apes. He concluded that the loss of body hair was due to sexual selection: that men (or more specifically, he implies, women) became hairless to attract a mate.

Tags: evolution

Study proves dolphins share human’s ability to reflect

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:31:15 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.examiner.com

J. David Smith, Ph.D., a comparative psychologist at the University at Buffalo who has conducted extensive studies in animal cognition, says there is growing evidence that animals share functional parallels with human conscious metacognition -- that is, they may share human's ability to reflect upon, monitor or regulate their states of mind.

"Comparative psychologists have studied the question of whether or not non-human animals have knowledge of their own cognitive states by testing a dolphin, pigeons, rats, monkeys and apes using perception, memory and food-concealment paradigms...The field offers growing evidence that some animals have functional parallels to humans' consciousness and to humans' cognitive self-awareness," he says. Among these species are dolphins and macaque monkeys (an Old World monkey species).

Is the Internet melting our brains?

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:39:36 GMT

clipped by: RayWatkins
clipper's remarks: No! The author of "A Better Pencil" explains why such hysterical hand-wringing is as old as communication itself

By Vincent Rossmeier

Clip Source: www.salon.com

Sept. 19, 2009 | By now the arguments are familiar: Facebook is ruining our social relationships; Google is making us dumber; texting is destroying the English language as we know it. We're facing a crisis, one that could very well corrode the way humans have communicated since we first evolved from apes. What we need, so say these proud Luddites, is to turn our backs on technology and embrace not the keyboard, but the pencil.

Is the Internet melting our brains?

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:58:59 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: I start with Plato's critique of writing where he says that if we depend on writing, we will lose the ability to remember things. Our memory will become weak. And he also criticizes writing because the written text is not interactive in the way spoken communication is. He also says that written words are essentially shadows of the things they represent. They're not the thing itself. Of course we remember all this because Plato wrote it down -- the ultimate irony.

We hear a thousand objections of this sort throughout history: Thoreau objecting to the telegraph, because even though it speeds things up, people won't have anything to say to one another. Then we have Samuel Morse, who invents the telegraph, objecting to the telephone because nothing important is ever going to be done over the telephone because there's no way to preserve or record a phone conversation.

Clip Source: www.salon.com

Such sentiments, in the opinion of Dennis Baron, are nostalgic, uninformed hogwash. A professor of English and linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Baron seeks to provide the historical context that is often missing from debates about the way technology is transforming our lives in his new book, "A Better Pencil." His thesis is clear: Every communication advancement throughout human history, from the pencil to the typewriter to writing itself, has been met with fear, skepticism and a longing for the medium that's been displaced.

Tags: communication media