Chimp Found Plotting Against Zoo Guests 435
rjshirts writes "In further proof that Planet of the Apes is coming to pass, researchers in Stockholm, Sweden have proof that primates can plan ahead.
From the article:
'Santino the chimpanzee's anti-social behavior stunned both visitors and keepers at the Furuvik Zoo but fascinated researchers because it was so carefully prepared.
According to a report in the journal Current Biology, the 31-year-old alpha male started building his weapons cache in the morning before the zoo opened, collecting rocks and knocking out disks from concrete boulders inside his enclosure. He waited until around midday before he unleashed a "hailstorm" of rocks against visitors, the study said.'"
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In this case, the chimp remembered that people were outside of his cage on other days, and realized that that would probably be true again. He prepared for that prediction. Animals just don't tend to plan ahead, and it's exciting that this one did.
Chimps are mean little effers (Score:5, Informative)
A good friend who past away a few years ago introduced me to some long time friends of his who own many chimps. One thing I was told flat out was, don't get near the cages. They are very good at trying to tempt people closer and never for any good. They will fondle themselves in front of you, throw stuff at you, and even be very violent should it be their wish. The problem is they are very very good at hiding the signs when it serves them. All of their chimps had their incisors (fang teeth) removed. For while they are very cute when young they would shame any unruly teenager when they are of age.
While I got a handshake and even a hug from one of the better behaved I was told that in no uncertain terms he was putting on a show to please them. Alone it would be a whole different story.
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Intelligent? Maybe. Good aim? Definitely not. He didn't even seriously injure anyone. This is news why?
The morning radio show mentioned this today. Said he broke a couple arms, gave a few concussions and one guy is still "knocked out"...
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In the fox case, for instance, the fox might be thinking ahead, and storing food for the future, or foxes might have a "when not hungry, bury available food" instinct. This doesn't mean that the fox isn't planning ahead; but you can't tell one way or the other.
Thus, researchers are always on the lookout for situations that can distinguish between the two. Novel situations where instincts wouldn't be expected to apply, pathological situations where instincts would fail if applied, etc.
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Re:Translation:Cycles. (Score:4, Informative)
This post is funny while your is a troll. You're probably wondering why, so I thought I'd explain.
You see, the article was about the foresight and planning of a chimp. Therefore, when flyingsquid made reference to foresight and planning in his post and related these traits to Wall Street bankers, it was amusing.
Had he simply said, "Better qualified than a Wall Street banker", then appended a long diatribe explaining why he's not a racist, it would not have been funny.
As you may have already inferred (but probably haven't) the humor comes from creating relationships in the reader's mind between a chimp and a banker, first by stating several qualities displayed by the chimp, then by relating that to bankers.
If you had said instead, "Arguably, he demonstrated more foresight and planning than the primate who wrote the Federal budget," that may have been read as racist, and you may have still been flamed, but at least you would have displayed some humor (as well as an ability to connect both the president, a chimp, and the recent dust-up over that cartoon). We might then have appreciated your post as more than, well, you simply being a douche.
I hope this helps make your future contributions to slashdot more productive and enjoyable.
Re:Translation:Cycles. (Score:2, Informative)
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That wasn't his point. His point was that one could call Bush a monkey without reprisal but one could not call Obama a monkey without being called a racist.
That is a double standard.
Re:Translation:Cycles. (Score:3, Informative)
Pretty exciting stuff indeed.
Maybe if it had been a bear. Monkeys in general show very strong signs of human-level intelligence. They're pretty much on par with our children.
For those of you reading this who are interested in watching a short video showing just how smart monkeys are, check out this TED piece on Bonobos. [ted.com]
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Maybe he hasn't "evolved" to the stage where he believes he needs to kill his problems yet. Give him some time :P
You've got a lot to learn. Killing your problems is only a human condition if you're a foolish liberal. Chimps are intensly territorial [nytimes.com], and there have even been documented incidents of chimp communities going to war with one another, to the extent that the larger group will hunt down and kill every member of the smaller group. The behavior isn't confined to chimps. Some species of ants actually enslave others [ncsu.edu].
The queen of an established slavemaking colony will produce new queens who leave the colony to develop their own colony. The young slavemaking queen will wait outside of the colony she is leaving and follow a group of raiding slave makers into her new colony. As the worker slavemakers raid this colony for eggs, the queen takes advantage of the battle by using it to sneak into the colony. Once it finds the queen, it kills her and takes her place. The new queen mimics the old queen by consuming pheromones from her body and releasing them to the attending ants. This new queen having mated with a slavemaking male earlier begins to produce new slave makers. Other variations on these hostile takeovers include one South American species whose workers secrete a chemical on a host colony that causes the ants of the host colony to evacuate the nest. In their haste to leave, pupae will be left behind. These developing ants are then taken back to the slave maker nest. Another variation is in a European species that attacks ants that are significantly larger in size. The queen invades a nest by clinging on the rightful queen and slowly chokes her to death.
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you don't say "orangs", as it offends some of the more hard-core keepers
That is really funny because "orang" is a Malay (and Indonesian) word for "person."
"Orang utan" literally means "forest person" (the languages put the adjective after the noun).
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Previous examples from - baboons (Score:4, Informative)
This is not news. Baboons do this too.
From: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=482576 [google.com]
The Austin Chronicle
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2001-07-27/cols_smartypants.html [austinchronicle.com]
"Stone-throwing baboons in Saudi Arabia waited three days on the side
of a mountain road to take revenge on a driver who had killed one of
their group.
Al-Riyadh reported on Saturday that the primates laid in wait and
ambushed the driver on the same mountain road in southwest Saudi
Arabia from Mecca to Taif where the baboon had been run down earlier
in the week.
After spotting the car responsible for the death, one of the apes
screamed out a signal to the rest to attack, provoking the frenzied
stone throwing. Although the driver was able to escape, the apes broke
out the windshield of his car.
At least 350,000 baboons live in the Gulf state."
LUSENET: STONE-THROWING BABOONS TAKE REVENGE ON DRIVER
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=004CxB [greenspun.com]
"In Saudi Arabia, a man learned a lesson in baboon gang warfare.
Apparently, earlier in the week the man was driving through a
mountainous road where he ran over a baboon. Thinking nothing of it,
the driver got back in his car and resumed his life... Finally, the
grieving baboons implemented their revenge. They lay hiding on the
side of the exact mountainous road where their beloved pal had been
killed and waited for the driver. When the car was spotted, one of the
baboons screamed out a signal and the others began to bombard the car
with rocks and stones. The driver escaped, sporting newly soiled
underwear and a broken windshield."
Tablet Newspaper: Monkey Love
http://www.tabletnewspaper.com/vol2iss_21/features/monkeylove.htm [tabletnewspaper.com]
"Stone-throwing baboons waited three days for revenge on the side of a
mountain road in Saudi Arabia to take revenge on a motorist who had
killed one of their group. After finally spotting the car responsible
for the death, one of the apes screamed out a signal for the rest to
attack, provoking a frenzied bout of stone throwing. The baboons then
ripped out the windscreen of the car. The driver managed to escape the
attack, which took place on the same stretch of road, between Mecca
and Taif, where the baboon had been run down."
Ananova: Revenge attack by stone-throwing baboons
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/academic/class/16741-s05/www/baboons09122000.pdf [cmu.edu]
"Stone-throwing baboons in Saudi Arabia waited three days on the side
of a mountain road to take revenge on a driver who had killed one of
their group. Al-Riyadh reported on Saturday that the primates laid in
wait and ambushed the driver on the same mountain road in southwest
Saudi Arabia from Mecca to Taif where the baboon had been run down
earlier in the week. After spotting the car responsible for the death,
one of the apes screamed out a signal to the rest to attack, provoking
the frenzied stone throwing. Although the driver was able to escape,
the apes broke out the windshield of his car. At least 350,000 baboons
live in the Gulf state. Who says animals have no emotions? If you can
plot revenge, you must be able to feel anger."
The Jekyl Archives
http://www.jekyl.com/jekyl/arc_2000.htm [jekyl.com]
"Saudi Arabia is particularly baboon prone these days, with tales of
baboons raiding farms, houses, and even schools. But probably the
strangest report was where a troop deliberately wait in ambush.
According to newspaper accounts,