Dr. Jane Goodall Hosts “Chimpanzee” Premiere at Walt Disney World
Source:
DIS Unplugged Blog
Date:
March 14, 2012
Walt Disney Studios announced the World Premiere of Disneynature’s “Chimpanzee” will be Friday, April 13th at Walt Disney World. Dr. Jane Goodall will be in attendance as well as film co-directors Alastair Fothergill (Disneynature’s “African Cats” and “Earth”) and Mark Linfield (“Earth”).
The Republic of Congo has formally expanded Nouabale-Ndoki National Park to protect an increasingly rare treasure: one of Africa's most pristine forests and a population of "naïve" chimpanzees with so little exposure to humans that the curious apes investigate the conservationists who study them rather than run away.
The debate over the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research got some international attention over the past week, with programs in the US and Canada covering the issue—and gaining rare inside access to two different chimpanzee research labs.
Check out the article as featured in NewScientist!
When Dr. Francis S. Collins, the head of the National Institutes of Health, announced Thursday that the government would halt all new grants for research on chimpanzees, it was, in one sense, a familiar Washington moment.
The Horrible Thing That Happened to Enos the Chimp When He Orbited Earth 50 Years Ago
Source:
The Atlantic
Date:
December 20, 2011
The chimps of space -- Ham, the first primate in space, and Enos, the second primate (after Yuri Gagarin) to orbit Earth -- have a special place in our memories of NASA. These animals paved the way for the United States space program by convincing biologists that animals' bodies *and* minds could function in orbit.
Study finds savanna chimps exhibit sharing behavior like humans
Source:
Iowa State University
Date:
December 15, 2011
AMES, Iowa -- Sharing food has widely been considered by scholars as a defining characteristic of human behavior. But a new study by Iowa State University anthropology professor Jill Pruetz now reports that chimpanzees from her Fongoli research site in Senegal also frequently share food and hunting tools with other chimps.
Co-authored by ISU anthropology graduate student Stacy Lindshield, their study is posted online in Primates and will be published in a future issue of the journal.
The researchers witnessed 41 cases of Fongoli chimpanzees willingly transferring either wild plant foods or hunting tools to other chimpanzees. While previous research by primatologists had documented chimps transferring meat among other non-relatives, this is the first study to document non-meat sharing behavior.
“Save the Chimps” Sanctuary Builds a Home for Traumatized Apes
Source:
Scientific American
Date:
November 8, 2011
His name is Clay. He’s a happy, creative 24-year-old male who prefers to live in solitude. Although most of the time he is peaceful, he has been known to become aggressive and violent in a manner that can terrify the people who love him.
If Clay were human, he would probably have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But Clay is a chimpanzee, a survivor of years of invasive medical experiments, and a resident of the Save the Chimps sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Fla.
The origin of particular cultural traits in human populations has long been a mystery to anthropologists. Many societies have responded the same way Tevye did, “it’s merely part of our culture, what else do you need to know?” Nevertheless, the maintenance and dissemination of cultural traits remains a fascinating topic that scientists have long struggled to understand. More recently, however, researchers have discovered that humans aren’t unique in this regard. Nonhuman primates also have culture and research into how this is transmitted between individuals has recently taken a major step forward.
We ask our supporters to please sign NAVS petition to end research on chimpanzees!
Date:
October 11, 2011
We the People allows anyone to create and sign petitions asking the Obama Administration to take action on a range of issues. If a petition gets enough support, the Obama Administration will issue an official response.
