#boycott4wildlifetweet — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #boycott4wildlifetweet, aggregated by home.social.
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Do humans really need other species?
Professor of Biology Tom Langden at Clarkson University answers kid’s questions about climate change and biodiversity. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Share to BlueSky Share to Twitter Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterQuestion: Can humans live without any other species of plants or animals? – Arunima S., age 14, Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Answer: People definitely cannot survive without other species.
As an ecologist – a scientist who studies the interactions of plants, microorganisms, fungi and animals, including humans – I know there are at least three reasons we need other organisms.
Do humans need other species? Yes! millions of organisms are needed to keep ecosystems in balance and ensure everyone can survive. Most importantly, #research shows other species make us happy! #vegan for the animals #Boycott4Wildlife
1. Humans are happier around other species
Research shows that people are healthier and more content when they are around other species of plants and animals. They need to experience the sights, sounds, smells, feel and taste of other organisms for mental and physical health. This drive is called “biophilia,” meaning love of living things.
For example, seeing and hearing birds creates positive feelings. Two recent studies in Canada and Germany found that the more species of birds in a neighborhood, the happier people are. This may be due to experiencing the birds themselves, or due to a healthy environment, as indicated by the presence of birds
[Pictured] Painting of a Vogelkop Superb Bird of Paradise in Papua New Guinea by Szabolcs Kókay
In a different Canadian experiment, researchers played birdsong from hidden speakers along hiking trails. People reported that they felt more restored and were more satisfied about the hike when they heard a diversity of birds species than when they heard few or none.
Today, more than half the world’s population lives in cities instead of the countryside. So urban planners and landscape architects are exploring ways to include more green spaces and green infrastructure in cities.
Research shows that when a city has diverse wildlife, ample open green space and vegetation along streets and on buildings, people are more active, less stressed, healthier and happier. These conditions provide opportunities for people to experience and interact with other organisms, as well as benefit from the other things that plants, animals and microbes do to make the environment healthy and pleasant.
Curious by Mustafa Ozturk on Getty Imageswoman on a wildlife viewing trek by Blue Orange Studios on Getty ImagesMagnificent Bird of Paradise by Getty Images videoScientists now know that it takes thousands of species to support human life. Yet we are only just beginning to understand the important roles different species play in ecosystems, including urban ones. We still need to learn much more about why and how other species are necessary for human survival. And if people are to successfully travel for long periods in space or establish space colonies, we will have to understand what species we need to take along with us to survive and prosper.
2. Humans need other species to produce food
First, without other species people would have nothing to eat.
Humans and all organisms require food for energy and the materials to build their bodies and reproduce. Only some microorganisms and plants have a way to use energy from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to make the basic molecules that provide that food. This process is called photosynthesis.
Without these organisms, humans wouldn’t have food to eat. Almost everything we eat is either a plant or other photosynthetic organism.
Algae salad by Lunamarina for Getty ImagesChemists have discovered ways to use various sources of energy to make molecules that could be used for food. Molecules produced this way are called “synthetic.” However, these processes are so difficult and expensive that it is currently impossible to feed people with these synthetic foods.
Production of synthetic food using genetically modified bacteria or cultured cell lines is growing in importance. In the future, the human diet may become a little less dependent on consuming plants and animals. Still, living organisms will remain a core component of these foods.
Adopting vegan diet ensures that wild animals have the best chance for survival. It also means you are not contributing to an unbearably cruel global industry.It takes countless different organisms – big, small and microscopic – to create healthy soil and breathable air. To break down and recycle waste. To purify water and prevent erosion. To break down toxic chemicals into harmless forms, and convert other chemicals into sources of nourishment that other organisms need to grow and thrive.
And many of our food plants – over 1,200 species – depend on pollinators to produce the fruit or seed that humans and other animals eat. Pollination, the process that allows plants to reproduce, happens when animals carry pollen from one plant to another. Bees are the main pollinators, but many other insects, birds, bats and other animals also transport pollen between plants.
Birds and other animals fertilize plants by transporting pollen between them – enabling them to produce fruits and seeds that humans eat. krisanapong detraphiphat/Moment via Getty ImagesAnimals of all sizes, from tiny ants to enormous elephants, also move seeds, spreading plants that make for healthy and productive ecosystems. Diverse species, from tiny microbes to huge vultures and sharks, break down dead organisms into chemicals that can be used to grow more food.
The number of species that contribute to creating each bite of the average meal is mind-boggling.
3. Human bodies need other species to stay healthy
Many functions of the human body itself rely on a complex and highly diverse ecosystem of microbial species that live on the skin and in the respiratory, digestive and reproductive systems. These bacteria, fungi and other microbes are called a “microbiome.”
Each person has a unique personal microbiome to protect against infection, digest and extract nutrients in food and synthesize vitamins.
For example, the gut microbiome is important for breaking down food into usable energy and nutrients, and converting other indigestible or toxic substances into forms that can be excreted.
This microbiome changes over people’s lifetimes based on what they eat, what’s around them, where they live and how healthy they are. In fact, human bodies are made up of more bacterial cells than human cells.
Diet and drugs strongly affect the 300 to 500 bacteria species that are the core of a healthy gut ecosystem.
The microbiome also plays an important role in preventing infection. Many diseases are associated with microbial communities that are dominated by just a few species. Some physicians transplant poop from healthy to ill people to establish a healthy community of microbes and hopefully cure the disease.
Help wild animals by adopting a vegan diet and being a part of the #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Here are some other ways you can help by using your wallet as a weapon and joining the #Boycott4Wildlife
Why join the #Boycott4Wildlife?
Greenwashing Tactic #4: Fake Labels
The Counterpunch: Consumer Solutions To Fight Extinction
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Palm Oil Detectives is 100% self-funded
Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.
Say thanks on Ko-FiDid you enjoy visiting this website?
Palm Oil Detectives is 100% self-funded
Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.
Say thanks on Ko-Fi#animalBehaviour #AnimalBiodiversityNews #animalIntelligence #animalRights #animals #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #conservation #plantBasedDiet #psychology #ReasonsToBeHopeful #research #vegan #veganism
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Buffy-tufted-ear Marmoset Callithrix aurita
Buffy-tufted-ear Marmoset Callithrix aurita
Endangered
Extant (resident)
Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Minas Gerais)
These enchanting and charismatic tiny monkeys have a distinct “gothic” appearance. They live deep in the forests of a tiny area of Brazil. Buffy-tufted-ear Marmosets are also known as buffy tufted-ear mamosets or the white-eared marmosets. They are New World monkeys living in a geographically isolated region in the Atlantic coast that has been decimated for palm oil, soy and cattle ranching agriculture and mining. Help them every time you shop and be #vegan, #Boycottpalmoil and #Boycott4Wildlife!
Striking “gothic” looking monkeys, Buffy-tufted-ear Marmosets are #endangered in #Brazil having lost 93% of their rainforest to #palmoil #soy and #cattle. Help them by going #vegan #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Share to BlueSky Share to Twitter Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterJust 7% of the Buffy-tufted-ear Marmosets’ home remains in #Brazil they are on the edge of #extinction from #palmoil #soy #meat #deforestation. Fight for them each time you shop and be #vegan #Boycottpalmoil and #Boycott4Wildlife
The widespread destruction of forests within this marmoset’s range, especially along the valley of the Rio Paraiba and in the lowland forests are a major threat to the Buffy-tufted-ear Marmoset.
They may remain in some areas of the lowland forest of Rio de Janeiro (Mambucaba, Angra dos Reis), but is considered extinct in lowland forests of São Paulo State (Brandão and Develey 1998).
Appearance & Behaviour
The Buffy-tufted-ear Marmoset slightly resemble Common marmosets although they have shorter ear tufts than other marmosets and have a vivid and striking skull-like colouration on their faces, along with a brown crown and grey-black fur across their bodies. On average they weigh only 300 grams.
They have short snouts and flat noses with intense yellow eyes and a downturned mouth suggesting an attitude of eternal dissatisfaction.
‘The Battle to Save the Buffy Tufted Marmoset of Brazil’ Earth.org
“They generally live in small social groups numbering between 2-8 individuals and consist of a dominant breeding pair. Their juvenile offspring typically will remain in the family group until adulthood to assist their parents with the care of newborn infants.” ~ Earth.org.
They are arboreal and live almost all of their lives in the tree canopies – making them particularly vulnerable to deforestation for palm oil, soy, cattle ranching and mining in Brazil.
Threats
Their traditional home the (once vast) Atlantic rainforest is now mostly destroyed with only 7% remaining standing in Brazil – what remains is severely fragmented. Other than deforestation for palm oil, soy and cattle ranching, they face a panoply of other threats including:
- Yellow fever
- Forest fires, floods and other climate change related extreme weather
- Poaching for food
- Collection for the pet trade
- Forest fragments cut by roads pose a threat for collision with cars
- Pollution run-off from agriculture
- Hybridisation and interbreeding with other marmoset species.
Habitat
They are endemic to the states of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro of southeastern Brazil, within their montane rainforests of the inland plateau, at chilly dry-season altitudes of up to 1,300 metres. Buffy-tufted-ear marmoset populations inhabit these montane forests, with a few outlying populations in the foothills or lowland coastal forests.
Diet
They mostly feed on insects and occasionally flowering plants like fungi, cacti, soursops and legumes and invertebrates. If food is scarce they have been known to opportunistically hunt for small reptiles, amphibians, and small birds which they catch with their long claws before dispatching with a swift bite to the head.
As the forest disappears their food resources are stretched and they face competition from other species for food sources.
Mating and breeding
Buffy-tufted-ear Marmosets are greatly understudied and under-observed. Therefore little is known about their mating and reproduction. Their gestation period lasts around 170 days and there are typically fraternal offspring.
Buffy-tufted-ear marmosets have no formal protections in place and they need your help.
If you wish to raise your voice for Buffy-tufted-ear marmosets join the #Boycott4Wildlife.
You can support this beautiful animal
Mountain Marmosets Conservation Programme
There are no known formal conservation activities in place for this animal. Make sure that you #Boycottpalmoil and #Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket and raise awareness of the plight of beautiful animals in order to support their survival! Find out more here
Further Information
de Melo, F.R., Port-Carvalho, M., Pereira, D.G., Ruiz-Miranda, C.R., Ferraz, D.S., Bicca-Marques, J.C., Jerusalinsky, L., Oliveira, L.C., Valença-Montenegro, M.M., Valle, R.R., da Cunha, R.G.T. & Mittermeier, R.A. 2021. Callithrix aurita (amended version of 2020 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T3570A191700629. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T3570A191700629.en. Accessed on 12 September 2022.
Buffy Tufted Marmoset on Wikipedia.
Buffy Tufted Marmosets on Animalia.bio
How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
Enter your email address
Sign Up
Join 1,391 other subscribers2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings
Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao
Health Physician Dr Evan Allen
The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert
How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20
https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here
Pledge your support#animals #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #Brazil #BuffyTuftedEarMarmosetCallithrixAurita #cattle #deforestation #endangered #EndangeredSpecies #extinction #ForgottenAnimals #hunting #Mammal #meat #monkey #PalmOil #palmOilDeforestation #palmoil #poaching #Primate #primates #SouthAmericaSpeciesEndangeredByPalmOilDeforestation #soy #vegan
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Buffy-tufted-ear Marmoset Callithrix aurita
Buffy-tufted-ear Marmoset Callithrix aurita
Endangered
Extant (resident)
Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Minas Gerais)
These enchanting and charismatic tiny monkeys have a distinct “gothic” appearance. They live deep in the forests of a tiny area of Brazil. Buffy-tufted-ear Marmosets are also known as buffy tufted-ear mamosets or the white-eared marmosets. They are New World monkeys living in a geographically isolated region in the Atlantic coast that has been decimated for palm oil, soy and cattle ranching agriculture and mining. Help them every time you shop and be #vegan, #Boycottpalmoil and #Boycott4Wildlife!
Striking “gothic” looking monkeys, Buffy-tufted-ear Marmosets are #endangered in #Brazil having lost 93% of their rainforest to #palmoil #soy and #cattle. Help them by going #vegan #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Share to BlueSky Share to Twitter Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterJust 7% of the Buffy-tufted-ear Marmosets’ home remains in #Brazil they are on the edge of #extinction from #palmoil #soy #meat #deforestation. Fight for them each time you shop and be #vegan #Boycottpalmoil and #Boycott4Wildlife
The widespread destruction of forests within this marmoset’s range, especially along the valley of the Rio Paraiba and in the lowland forests are a major threat to the Buffy-tufted-ear Marmoset.
They may remain in some areas of the lowland forest of Rio de Janeiro (Mambucaba, Angra dos Reis), but is considered extinct in lowland forests of São Paulo State (Brandão and Develey 1998).
Appearance & Behaviour
The Buffy-tufted-ear Marmoset slightly resemble Common marmosets although they have shorter ear tufts than other marmosets and have a vivid and striking skull-like colouration on their faces, along with a brown crown and grey-black fur across their bodies. On average they weigh only 300 grams.
They have short snouts and flat noses with intense yellow eyes and a downturned mouth suggesting an attitude of eternal dissatisfaction.
‘The Battle to Save the Buffy Tufted Marmoset of Brazil’ Earth.org
“They generally live in small social groups numbering between 2-8 individuals and consist of a dominant breeding pair. Their juvenile offspring typically will remain in the family group until adulthood to assist their parents with the care of newborn infants.” ~ Earth.org.
They are arboreal and live almost all of their lives in the tree canopies – making them particularly vulnerable to deforestation for palm oil, soy, cattle ranching and mining in Brazil.
Threats
Their traditional home the (once vast) Atlantic rainforest is now mostly destroyed with only 7% remaining standing in Brazil – what remains is severely fragmented. Other than deforestation for palm oil, soy and cattle ranching, they face a panoply of other threats including:
- Yellow fever
- Forest fires, floods and other climate change related extreme weather
- Poaching for food
- Collection for the pet trade
- Forest fragments cut by roads pose a threat for collision with cars
- Pollution run-off from agriculture
- Hybridisation and interbreeding with other marmoset species.
Habitat
They are endemic to the states of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro of southeastern Brazil, within their montane rainforests of the inland plateau, at chilly dry-season altitudes of up to 1,300 metres. Buffy-tufted-ear marmoset populations inhabit these montane forests, with a few outlying populations in the foothills or lowland coastal forests.
Diet
They mostly feed on insects and occasionally flowering plants like fungi, cacti, soursops and legumes and invertebrates. If food is scarce they have been known to opportunistically hunt for small reptiles, amphibians, and small birds which they catch with their long claws before dispatching with a swift bite to the head.
As the forest disappears their food resources are stretched and they face competition from other species for food sources.
Mating and breeding
Buffy-tufted-ear Marmosets are greatly understudied and under-observed. Therefore little is known about their mating and reproduction. Their gestation period lasts around 170 days and there are typically fraternal offspring.
Buffy-tufted-ear marmosets have no formal protections in place and they need your help.
If you wish to raise your voice for Buffy-tufted-ear marmosets join the #Boycott4Wildlife.
You can support this beautiful animal
Mountain Marmosets Conservation Programme
There are no known formal conservation activities in place for this animal. Make sure that you #Boycottpalmoil and #Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket and raise awareness of the plight of beautiful animals in order to support their survival! Find out more here
Further Information
de Melo, F.R., Port-Carvalho, M., Pereira, D.G., Ruiz-Miranda, C.R., Ferraz, D.S., Bicca-Marques, J.C., Jerusalinsky, L., Oliveira, L.C., Valença-Montenegro, M.M., Valle, R.R., da Cunha, R.G.T. & Mittermeier, R.A. 2021. Callithrix aurita (amended version of 2020 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T3570A191700629. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T3570A191700629.en. Accessed on 12 September 2022.
Buffy Tufted Marmoset on Wikipedia.
Buffy Tufted Marmosets on Animalia.bio
How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
Enter your email address
Sign Up
Join 1,391 other subscribers2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings
Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao
Health Physician Dr Evan Allen
The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert
How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20
https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here
Pledge your support#animals #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #Brazil #BuffyTuftedEarMarmosetCallithrixAurita #cattle #deforestation #endangered #EndangeredSpecies #extinction #ForgottenAnimals #hunting #Mammal #meat #monkey #PalmOil #palmOilDeforestation #palmoil #poaching #Primate #primates #SouthAmericaSpeciesEndangeredByPalmOilDeforestation #soy #vegan
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Chimpanzees once helped African rainforests recover from a major collapse
Most people probably think that the rainforest of central and west Africa, the second largest in the world, has been around for millions of years. However recent research suggests that it is mostly just 2,000 or so years old. The forest reached roughly its modern state following five centuries of regeneration after it was massively fragmented when the dry season suddenly became longer some 2,500 years ago. Help #chimpanzees to survive and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop
Interesting fact: Seed dispersers like #chimpanzees in the #Congo kicked off rainforest growth only 2000 years ago 🦍🙉🩷 Now they face #extinction from #mining WE SAY NO to #mining in #DRC! #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/07/03/chimpanzees-once-helped-african-rainforests-recover-from-a-major-collapse/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterWeird fact: DRC #Congo #rainforests are not ancient. Just 2000 years ago #chimpanzees and other seed dispersers led to rainforest growth. Now – we MUST protect them from #mining and #palmoil! #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🩸🔥💀❌ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/07/03/chimpanzees-once-helped-african-rainforests-recover-from-a-major-collapse/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterThis process was not linked to humans. The forest recovery was instead made possible by seed dispersers including chimpanzees, which helped spread the slower-growing rainforest tree species. However, dispersers such as chimpanzees are now threatened by deforestation and hunting, often for bushmeat. When combined with climate change, the resilience of the rainforests seems less guaranteed for the future.
I began thinking about natural processes in African forests back in 1993, when I was with my wife-to-be trying to follow wild chimpanzees next to Jane Goodall’s famous group at Gombe, in Tanzania. We were inspired by one of the directors of research at Gombe, Anthony Collins, who suggested that the chimpanzees might be influencing the composition of the forest for their own nutritional needs, by what fruits they pooed out and where. A kind of “proto gardening”.
And then unexpectedly I had to leave the chimpanzees after I succeeded in getting a small grant to study past vegetation change using fossilised pollen, but in the Andes.
A few years later, I found myself giving lectures at Cambridge on human impacts over the past 10,000 years, and suddenly “returning” not only to the tropical rainforests of Africa, but their history. At the time, scientists thought humans were largely responsible for the collapse of the forests from 3,000 years ago.
The first few scientific papers I read used the abundance of pollen from the oil palm tree, preserved in the dated layers of lake muds, as an indicator of human activity. The oil palm is the same species often planted on a massive industrial scale in the tropics today, and since it’s always been an important source of nutrition for people in the region, scientists had assumed it indicated the presence of humans.
Shortly after, I began working in a pollen laboratory in Montpellier in southern France which had a long-term focus on African forest history. There, my simplified view of fossilised oil palm pollen equalling the presence of humans was totally overturned.
Rainforest history records were being amassed that indicated the near-decimation of rainforests some 2,500 years ago in the Congo Basin and across a huge expanse stretching from modern-day Senegal to Rwanda. As there was only very limited archaeological evidence of thinly dispersed human populations, humans could not have been responsible for the almost synchronous destruction on such a huge scale.
Africa hosts the world’s second largest rainforest
Tropical rainforests (dark green) still cover much of central and west Africa. Vzb83 / wiki, CC BY-SASo what did cause these rainforests to collapse? It turns out the answer was not humans, but climate change.
In a paper recently published in the journal Global Planetary Change, my colleagues Pierre Giresse, Jean Maley and I use the many vegetation records available across central and west Africa to show that approximately 2,500 years ago, the length of the dry season increased. Rainforests became highly fragmented, and savanna vegetation – grasses, scattered shrubs and trees – moved in.
In the centuries that followed, the forests regenerated spontaneously, including with species such as the oil palm. The oil palm demands a lot of light and so thrives in open areas or in the gaps created in forests when the canopy opens up rather than in the dense centre. Thus it often acts as a “pioneer species” allowing the forest to regrow.
But the oil palm’s large seeds are too heavy to be blown in the wind. They therefore need to be dispersed in the poo of animals such as chimpanzees which are able to swallow the large seeds and for whom the bright orange flesh can be an important part of the diet. And this is how chimps and other seed-dispersers played a crucial role in regenerating Africa’s rainforests.
Oil palm fruit swallowed and deposited in faeces by chimpanzee at Gombe National Park. D Mwacha A Collins / Jane Goodall Institute, Author providedSeed dispersers under threat
When we began this research, we could not see how relevant it would become during the current pandemic. Now climate change, deforestation and hunting are all heavily impacting those same forests. The bushmeat market is contributing to removing keystone species such as chimpanzees. Without animals to move seeds around – especially the largest and heaviest seeds – the natural composition and regeneration of forests is threatened.
At the turn of the 20th century there were around 1 million chimpanzees, but today only an estimated 172,000-300,000 remain in the wild. Chimps and other seed-dispersing species provide a valuable service and must be better protected in order to protect the forests themselves, and prevent further unforeseen impacts.
Cusano, an alpha male in Gombe, Tanzania, was among those who died in the 1996 respiratory outbreak. Alex Chepstow-Lusty, Author providedFor example, the transmission of diseases to humans has also been linked to the bushmeat trade. And transmission is not necessarily one way. In June 1996, three years after my wife and I left the chimps at Mitumba in Gombe National Park, possibly up to half the group died within a few days of a respiratory disease outbreak that was likely transmitted to them by humans.
Perhaps there is a lot more resilience in these tropical forest ecosystems than we can predict. But without chimpanzees and other animals as dispersers, the emptier forests that may eventually grow back would be a sad replacement. Maybe we need to consider the true value of chimp poo, and those that produce it.
Alex Chepstow-Lusty, Associate Researcher, Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group, University of Cambridge
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Boycott the brands causing deforestation for palm oil, soy and meat by joining the #Boycott4Wildlife
Join the #Boycott4Wildlife#Africa #AfricanNews #amazingAnimals #animalExtinction #Ape #apes #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #ChimpanzeePanTroglodytes #Chimpanzees #Congo #CriticallyEndangeredSpecies #DRC #extinction #intelligence #Mammal #mining #Notomining #palmoil #Primate #primates #primatology #rainforests #SeedDispersers
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Chimpanzees once helped African rainforests recover from a major collapse
Most people probably think that the rainforest of central and west Africa, the second largest in the world, has been around for millions of years. However recent research suggests that it is mostly just 2,000 or so years old. The forest reached roughly its modern state following five centuries of regeneration after it was massively fragmented when the dry season suddenly became longer some 2,500 years ago. Help #chimpanzees to survive and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop
Interesting fact: Seed dispersers like #chimpanzees in the #Congo kicked off rainforest growth only 2000 years ago 🦍🙉🩷 Now they face #extinction from #mining WE SAY NO to #mining in #DRC! #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/07/03/chimpanzees-once-helped-african-rainforests-recover-from-a-major-collapse/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterWeird fact: DRC #Congo #rainforests are not ancient. Just 2000 years ago #chimpanzees and other seed dispersers led to rainforest growth. Now – we MUST protect them from #mining and #palmoil! #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🩸🔥💀❌ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/07/03/chimpanzees-once-helped-african-rainforests-recover-from-a-major-collapse/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterThis process was not linked to humans. The forest recovery was instead made possible by seed dispersers including chimpanzees, which helped spread the slower-growing rainforest tree species. However, dispersers such as chimpanzees are now threatened by deforestation and hunting, often for bushmeat. When combined with climate change, the resilience of the rainforests seems less guaranteed for the future.
I began thinking about natural processes in African forests back in 1993, when I was with my wife-to-be trying to follow wild chimpanzees next to Jane Goodall’s famous group at Gombe, in Tanzania. We were inspired by one of the directors of research at Gombe, Anthony Collins, who suggested that the chimpanzees might be influencing the composition of the forest for their own nutritional needs, by what fruits they pooed out and where. A kind of “proto gardening”.
And then unexpectedly I had to leave the chimpanzees after I succeeded in getting a small grant to study past vegetation change using fossilised pollen, but in the Andes.
A few years later, I found myself giving lectures at Cambridge on human impacts over the past 10,000 years, and suddenly “returning” not only to the tropical rainforests of Africa, but their history. At the time, scientists thought humans were largely responsible for the collapse of the forests from 3,000 years ago.
The first few scientific papers I read used the abundance of pollen from the oil palm tree, preserved in the dated layers of lake muds, as an indicator of human activity. The oil palm is the same species often planted on a massive industrial scale in the tropics today, and since it’s always been an important source of nutrition for people in the region, scientists had assumed it indicated the presence of humans.
Shortly after, I began working in a pollen laboratory in Montpellier in southern France which had a long-term focus on African forest history. There, my simplified view of fossilised oil palm pollen equalling the presence of humans was totally overturned.
Rainforest history records were being amassed that indicated the near-decimation of rainforests some 2,500 years ago in the Congo Basin and across a huge expanse stretching from modern-day Senegal to Rwanda. As there was only very limited archaeological evidence of thinly dispersed human populations, humans could not have been responsible for the almost synchronous destruction on such a huge scale.
Africa hosts the world’s second largest rainforest
Tropical rainforests (dark green) still cover much of central and west Africa. Vzb83 / wiki, CC BY-SASo what did cause these rainforests to collapse? It turns out the answer was not humans, but climate change.
In a paper recently published in the journal Global Planetary Change, my colleagues Pierre Giresse, Jean Maley and I use the many vegetation records available across central and west Africa to show that approximately 2,500 years ago, the length of the dry season increased. Rainforests became highly fragmented, and savanna vegetation – grasses, scattered shrubs and trees – moved in.
In the centuries that followed, the forests regenerated spontaneously, including with species such as the oil palm. The oil palm demands a lot of light and so thrives in open areas or in the gaps created in forests when the canopy opens up rather than in the dense centre. Thus it often acts as a “pioneer species” allowing the forest to regrow.
But the oil palm’s large seeds are too heavy to be blown in the wind. They therefore need to be dispersed in the poo of animals such as chimpanzees which are able to swallow the large seeds and for whom the bright orange flesh can be an important part of the diet. And this is how chimps and other seed-dispersers played a crucial role in regenerating Africa’s rainforests.
Oil palm fruit swallowed and deposited in faeces by chimpanzee at Gombe National Park. D Mwacha A Collins / Jane Goodall Institute, Author providedSeed dispersers under threat
When we began this research, we could not see how relevant it would become during the current pandemic. Now climate change, deforestation and hunting are all heavily impacting those same forests. The bushmeat market is contributing to removing keystone species such as chimpanzees. Without animals to move seeds around – especially the largest and heaviest seeds – the natural composition and regeneration of forests is threatened.
At the turn of the 20th century there were around 1 million chimpanzees, but today only an estimated 172,000-300,000 remain in the wild. Chimps and other seed-dispersing species provide a valuable service and must be better protected in order to protect the forests themselves, and prevent further unforeseen impacts.
Cusano, an alpha male in Gombe, Tanzania, was among those who died in the 1996 respiratory outbreak. Alex Chepstow-Lusty, Author providedFor example, the transmission of diseases to humans has also been linked to the bushmeat trade. And transmission is not necessarily one way. In June 1996, three years after my wife and I left the chimps at Mitumba in Gombe National Park, possibly up to half the group died within a few days of a respiratory disease outbreak that was likely transmitted to them by humans.
Perhaps there is a lot more resilience in these tropical forest ecosystems than we can predict. But without chimpanzees and other animals as dispersers, the emptier forests that may eventually grow back would be a sad replacement. Maybe we need to consider the true value of chimp poo, and those that produce it.
Alex Chepstow-Lusty, Associate Researcher, Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group, University of Cambridge
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Boycott the brands causing deforestation for palm oil, soy and meat by joining the #Boycott4Wildlife
Join the #Boycott4Wildlife#Africa #AfricanNews #amazingAnimals #animalExtinction #Ape #apes #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #ChimpanzeePanTroglodytes #Chimpanzees #Congo #CriticallyEndangeredSpecies #DRC #extinction #intelligence #Mammal #mining #Notomining #palmoil #Primate #primates #primatology #rainforests #SeedDispersers
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Chimpanzees once helped African rainforests recover from a major collapse
Most people probably think that the rainforest of central and west Africa, the second largest in the world, has been around for millions of years. However recent research suggests that it is mostly just 2,000 or so years old. The forest reached roughly its modern state following five centuries of regeneration after it was massively fragmented when the dry season suddenly became longer some 2,500 years ago. Help #chimpanzees to survive and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop
Interesting fact: Seed dispersers like #chimpanzees in the #Congo kicked off rainforest growth only 2000 years ago 🦍🙉🩷 Now they face #extinction from #mining WE SAY NO to #mining in #DRC! #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/07/03/chimpanzees-once-helped-african-rainforests-recover-from-a-major-collapse/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterWeird fact: DRC #Congo #rainforests are not ancient. Just 2000 years ago #chimpanzees and other seed dispersers led to rainforest growth. Now – we MUST protect them from #mining and #palmoil! #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🩸🔥💀❌ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/07/03/chimpanzees-once-helped-african-rainforests-recover-from-a-major-collapse/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterThis process was not linked to humans. The forest recovery was instead made possible by seed dispersers including chimpanzees, which helped spread the slower-growing rainforest tree species. However, dispersers such as chimpanzees are now threatened by deforestation and hunting, often for bushmeat. When combined with climate change, the resilience of the rainforests seems less guaranteed for the future.
I began thinking about natural processes in African forests back in 1993, when I was with my wife-to-be trying to follow wild chimpanzees next to Jane Goodall’s famous group at Gombe, in Tanzania. We were inspired by one of the directors of research at Gombe, Anthony Collins, who suggested that the chimpanzees might be influencing the composition of the forest for their own nutritional needs, by what fruits they pooed out and where. A kind of “proto gardening”.
And then unexpectedly I had to leave the chimpanzees after I succeeded in getting a small grant to study past vegetation change using fossilised pollen, but in the Andes.
A few years later, I found myself giving lectures at Cambridge on human impacts over the past 10,000 years, and suddenly “returning” not only to the tropical rainforests of Africa, but their history. At the time, scientists thought humans were largely responsible for the collapse of the forests from 3,000 years ago.
The first few scientific papers I read used the abundance of pollen from the oil palm tree, preserved in the dated layers of lake muds, as an indicator of human activity. The oil palm is the same species often planted on a massive industrial scale in the tropics today, and since it’s always been an important source of nutrition for people in the region, scientists had assumed it indicated the presence of humans.
Shortly after, I began working in a pollen laboratory in Montpellier in southern France which had a long-term focus on African forest history. There, my simplified view of fossilised oil palm pollen equalling the presence of humans was totally overturned.
Rainforest history records were being amassed that indicated the near-decimation of rainforests some 2,500 years ago in the Congo Basin and across a huge expanse stretching from modern-day Senegal to Rwanda. As there was only very limited archaeological evidence of thinly dispersed human populations, humans could not have been responsible for the almost synchronous destruction on such a huge scale.
Africa hosts the world’s second largest rainforest
Tropical rainforests (dark green) still cover much of central and west Africa. Vzb83 / wiki, CC BY-SASo what did cause these rainforests to collapse? It turns out the answer was not humans, but climate change.
In a paper recently published in the journal Global Planetary Change, my colleagues Pierre Giresse, Jean Maley and I use the many vegetation records available across central and west Africa to show that approximately 2,500 years ago, the length of the dry season increased. Rainforests became highly fragmented, and savanna vegetation – grasses, scattered shrubs and trees – moved in.
In the centuries that followed, the forests regenerated spontaneously, including with species such as the oil palm. The oil palm demands a lot of light and so thrives in open areas or in the gaps created in forests when the canopy opens up rather than in the dense centre. Thus it often acts as a “pioneer species” allowing the forest to regrow.
But the oil palm’s large seeds are too heavy to be blown in the wind. They therefore need to be dispersed in the poo of animals such as chimpanzees which are able to swallow the large seeds and for whom the bright orange flesh can be an important part of the diet. And this is how chimps and other seed-dispersers played a crucial role in regenerating Africa’s rainforests.
Oil palm fruit swallowed and deposited in faeces by chimpanzee at Gombe National Park. D Mwacha A Collins / Jane Goodall Institute, Author providedSeed dispersers under threat
When we began this research, we could not see how relevant it would become during the current pandemic. Now climate change, deforestation and hunting are all heavily impacting those same forests. The bushmeat market is contributing to removing keystone species such as chimpanzees. Without animals to move seeds around – especially the largest and heaviest seeds – the natural composition and regeneration of forests is threatened.
At the turn of the 20th century there were around 1 million chimpanzees, but today only an estimated 172,000-300,000 remain in the wild. Chimps and other seed-dispersing species provide a valuable service and must be better protected in order to protect the forests themselves, and prevent further unforeseen impacts.
Cusano, an alpha male in Gombe, Tanzania, was among those who died in the 1996 respiratory outbreak. Alex Chepstow-Lusty, Author providedFor example, the transmission of diseases to humans has also been linked to the bushmeat trade. And transmission is not necessarily one way. In June 1996, three years after my wife and I left the chimps at Mitumba in Gombe National Park, possibly up to half the group died within a few days of a respiratory disease outbreak that was likely transmitted to them by humans.
Perhaps there is a lot more resilience in these tropical forest ecosystems than we can predict. But without chimpanzees and other animals as dispersers, the emptier forests that may eventually grow back would be a sad replacement. Maybe we need to consider the true value of chimp poo, and those that produce it.
Alex Chepstow-Lusty, Associate Researcher, Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group, University of Cambridge
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Boycott the brands causing deforestation for palm oil, soy and meat by joining the #Boycott4Wildlife
Join the #Boycott4Wildlife#Africa #AfricanNews #amazingAnimals #animalExtinction #Ape #apes #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #ChimpanzeePanTroglodytes #Chimpanzees #Congo #CriticallyEndangeredSpecies #DRC #extinction #intelligence #Mammal #mining #Notomining #palmoil #Primate #primates #primatology #rainforests #SeedDispersers
-
Chimpanzees once helped African rainforests recover from a major collapse
Most people probably think that the rainforest of central and west Africa, the second largest in the world, has been around for millions of years. However recent research suggests that it is mostly just 2,000 or so years old. The forest reached roughly its modern state following five centuries of regeneration after it was massively fragmented when the dry season suddenly became longer some 2,500 years ago. Help #chimpanzees to survive and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop
Interesting fact: Seed dispersers like #chimpanzees in the #Congo kicked off rainforest growth only 2000 years ago 🦍🙉🩷 Now they face #extinction from #mining WE SAY NO to #mining in #DRC! #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/07/03/chimpanzees-once-helped-african-rainforests-recover-from-a-major-collapse/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterWeird fact: DRC #Congo #rainforests are not ancient. Just 2000 years ago #chimpanzees and other seed dispersers led to rainforest growth. Now – we MUST protect them from #mining and #palmoil! #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🩸🔥💀❌ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/07/03/chimpanzees-once-helped-african-rainforests-recover-from-a-major-collapse/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterThis process was not linked to humans. The forest recovery was instead made possible by seed dispersers including chimpanzees, which helped spread the slower-growing rainforest tree species. However, dispersers such as chimpanzees are now threatened by deforestation and hunting, often for bushmeat. When combined with climate change, the resilience of the rainforests seems less guaranteed for the future.
I began thinking about natural processes in African forests back in 1993, when I was with my wife-to-be trying to follow wild chimpanzees next to Jane Goodall’s famous group at Gombe, in Tanzania. We were inspired by one of the directors of research at Gombe, Anthony Collins, who suggested that the chimpanzees might be influencing the composition of the forest for their own nutritional needs, by what fruits they pooed out and where. A kind of “proto gardening”.
And then unexpectedly I had to leave the chimpanzees after I succeeded in getting a small grant to study past vegetation change using fossilised pollen, but in the Andes.
A few years later, I found myself giving lectures at Cambridge on human impacts over the past 10,000 years, and suddenly “returning” not only to the tropical rainforests of Africa, but their history. At the time, scientists thought humans were largely responsible for the collapse of the forests from 3,000 years ago.
The first few scientific papers I read used the abundance of pollen from the oil palm tree, preserved in the dated layers of lake muds, as an indicator of human activity. The oil palm is the same species often planted on a massive industrial scale in the tropics today, and since it’s always been an important source of nutrition for people in the region, scientists had assumed it indicated the presence of humans.
Shortly after, I began working in a pollen laboratory in Montpellier in southern France which had a long-term focus on African forest history. There, my simplified view of fossilised oil palm pollen equalling the presence of humans was totally overturned.
Rainforest history records were being amassed that indicated the near-decimation of rainforests some 2,500 years ago in the Congo Basin and across a huge expanse stretching from modern-day Senegal to Rwanda. As there was only very limited archaeological evidence of thinly dispersed human populations, humans could not have been responsible for the almost synchronous destruction on such a huge scale.
Africa hosts the world’s second largest rainforest
Tropical rainforests (dark green) still cover much of central and west Africa. Vzb83 / wiki, CC BY-SASo what did cause these rainforests to collapse? It turns out the answer was not humans, but climate change.
In a paper recently published in the journal Global Planetary Change, my colleagues Pierre Giresse, Jean Maley and I use the many vegetation records available across central and west Africa to show that approximately 2,500 years ago, the length of the dry season increased. Rainforests became highly fragmented, and savanna vegetation – grasses, scattered shrubs and trees – moved in.
In the centuries that followed, the forests regenerated spontaneously, including with species such as the oil palm. The oil palm demands a lot of light and so thrives in open areas or in the gaps created in forests when the canopy opens up rather than in the dense centre. Thus it often acts as a “pioneer species” allowing the forest to regrow.
But the oil palm’s large seeds are too heavy to be blown in the wind. They therefore need to be dispersed in the poo of animals such as chimpanzees which are able to swallow the large seeds and for whom the bright orange flesh can be an important part of the diet. And this is how chimps and other seed-dispersers played a crucial role in regenerating Africa’s rainforests.
Oil palm fruit swallowed and deposited in faeces by chimpanzee at Gombe National Park. D Mwacha A Collins / Jane Goodall Institute, Author providedSeed dispersers under threat
When we began this research, we could not see how relevant it would become during the current pandemic. Now climate change, deforestation and hunting are all heavily impacting those same forests. The bushmeat market is contributing to removing keystone species such as chimpanzees. Without animals to move seeds around – especially the largest and heaviest seeds – the natural composition and regeneration of forests is threatened.
At the turn of the 20th century there were around 1 million chimpanzees, but today only an estimated 172,000-300,000 remain in the wild. Chimps and other seed-dispersing species provide a valuable service and must be better protected in order to protect the forests themselves, and prevent further unforeseen impacts.
Cusano, an alpha male in Gombe, Tanzania, was among those who died in the 1996 respiratory outbreak. Alex Chepstow-Lusty, Author providedFor example, the transmission of diseases to humans has also been linked to the bushmeat trade. And transmission is not necessarily one way. In June 1996, three years after my wife and I left the chimps at Mitumba in Gombe National Park, possibly up to half the group died within a few days of a respiratory disease outbreak that was likely transmitted to them by humans.
Perhaps there is a lot more resilience in these tropical forest ecosystems than we can predict. But without chimpanzees and other animals as dispersers, the emptier forests that may eventually grow back would be a sad replacement. Maybe we need to consider the true value of chimp poo, and those that produce it.
Alex Chepstow-Lusty, Associate Researcher, Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group, University of Cambridge
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Boycott the brands causing deforestation for palm oil, soy and meat by joining the #Boycott4Wildlife
Join the #Boycott4Wildlife#Africa #AfricanNews #amazingAnimals #animalExtinction #Ape #apes #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #ChimpanzeePanTroglodytes #Chimpanzees #Congo #CriticallyEndangeredSpecies #DRC #extinction #intelligence #Mammal #mining #Notomining #palmoil #Primate #primates #primatology #rainforests #SeedDispersers
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Do chimpanzees and orangutans really have midlife crises?
Many people know that chimpanzees and orangutans have personalities, feel emotions and are “almost human”. However a recent paper has found that great apes also have a mid-life slump or a “midlife crisis”. Great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans) are just as socially, politically and cognitively complex as we are. Our “hairy” great ape relatives are like us in every respect. Help them to survive when you shop and be #Vegan #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
#Chimpanzees 🦍 #orangutans 🦧 and other #GreatApes have strong personalities and astonishingly may have midlife crises! Yet another reason to protect these wonderful beings. #Primatology #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔🤢☠️🔥🧐🚫 #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/03/13/do-chimpanzees-and-orangutans-really-have-midlife-crises/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterGreat apes feel and demonstrate fear, affection, laughter and compassion. They are also capable of gang-like killing and “warfare” between neighbouring communities, rape, “battering” females, infanticide and cannibalism.
Genome sequence projects have established the close genetic relationship between “naked” and “hairy” great apes. Cognitive studies show that chimpanzees are capable of deception and have the ability to remember past events and imagine or plan for future events (mental time travel).
But popular culture suggests that there is at least one developmental or lifestyle phenomenon unique to humans; namely, the “midlife crisis”.
What is a midlife crisis?
In affluent societies, there is a popular belief that as soon as men reach their mid-forties, they suddenly take up high-risk activities or buy a showy red sports car or powerful motorbike.
This time of apparent stress, confusion, dissatisfaction with life and display of “crazy” behaviour is popularly known as the “midlife crisis”.
By middle age, wild apes are often exhausted or maimed (or dead)In reality, around the world, irrespective of culture or wealth, both men and women seem to experience a midlife “slump” in happiness or well-being. This may be reflected in poor mental or physical health.
Typically, studies of this phenomenon are conducted by economists or psychologists, but the approaches they take and questions they address may be different. Economic research may compare happiness of younger, middle aged and older adults, who fall into similar socio-economic categories (such as income, marital status, health). This provides a “snapshot” in time. Their findings tend to support the existence of a “U-curve” when age is plotted against happiness, with younger and older people feeling more positive or happy.
Psychologists, on the other hand, prefer longitudinal studies of people over their lifetime to look for changes in “subjective wellbeing”.
How do you measure an ape’s happiness?
Measuring happiness or wellbeing is typically done by asking participants to fill out a questionnaire or self-report inventory, which rates their feelings or experiences.
Over the last two decades, researchers have been adapting the human questionnaires and rating scales for use with our closest “hairy” relatives: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans. They want to see whether personality and subjective wellbeing can be reliably measured in other species.
Not surprisingly, “hairy” apes also show individual differences in personality and subjective wellbeing or happiness. These can be reliably measured if a person who has known the “hairy” ape for a long time (generally more than two years) and very well (say, if they’re a zoo keeper or caregiver) rates the individual.
Why are we surprised that our ape relatives have midlife “issues”?
To ensure coverage in the popular press, good science communicators pick catchy titles. These authors did exactly this by including the words “midlife crisis”, “great apes” and “human well-being”. However, “midlife crisis” is an emotive phrase that may not accurately reflect the findings.
The research team included renowned psychologists/primatologists/geneticists and an economist. Following the data analysis used by economists for this type of research, the “U-curve” with its slump in well-being was evident for the 500+ chimpanzees and orangutans included in the analysis. The “hairy” apes were all housed in captive institutions (zoos, research centres and a sanctuary) in Japan, the United States, Canada, Singapore and Australia. The chimpanzees and orangutans ranged in age from less than 1 year old to 56 years old.
Humans tend to show a slump in well-being at about 45-50 years of age. For chimpanzees it was at 27-28 years of age and for orangutans about 35 years of age. Since this slump exists in chimpanzees and orangutans and isn’t unique to humans, the authors suggest evolutionary or biological explanations must be considered. The slump does not appear to be due to socio-economic or lifestyle factors.
Sadly, the authors missed the opportunity to mention that chimpanzees and orangutans are endangered in the wild and may not reach middle age, yet alone old age. In captivity, they may indeed live beyond the age of 50 with veterinarians and caregivers to attend to their needs and no threats from their only predators – humans.
A moment of thought (Gorilla mother and daughter) by Dalida InnesHowever, these findings suggest that zoos and other captive institutions must be proactive in seeking ways to improve welfare for great apes showing a slump in well-being. They need to be vigilant as individuals approach their 30s. These practical welfare implications were also not mentioned by the authors.
In the wild, by middle age many chimpanzees and orangutans have witnessed the destruction of their forests and death of family members to poachers for food or illegal animal trade. Every day is a struggle for survival, and by middle age wild great apes may be physically exhausted or maimed. They do not have the benefit of relaxing and reflecting on their happiness. They certainly do not have the option of buying a sports car or seeking their lost youth.
Carla Litchfield, Lecturer, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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-
Do chimpanzees and orangutans really have midlife crises?
Many people know that chimpanzees and orangutans have personalities, feel emotions and are “almost human”. However a recent paper has found that great apes also have a mid-life slump or a “midlife crisis”. Great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans) are just as socially, politically and cognitively complex as we are. Our “hairy” great ape relatives are like us in every respect. Help them to survive when you shop and be #Vegan #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
#Chimpanzees 🦍 #orangutans 🦧 and other #GreatApes have strong personalities and astonishingly may have midlife crises! Yet another reason to protect these wonderful beings. #Primatology #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔🤢☠️🔥🧐🚫 #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/03/13/do-chimpanzees-and-orangutans-really-have-midlife-crises/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterGreat apes feel and demonstrate fear, affection, laughter and compassion. They are also capable of gang-like killing and “warfare” between neighbouring communities, rape, “battering” females, infanticide and cannibalism.
Genome sequence projects have established the close genetic relationship between “naked” and “hairy” great apes. Cognitive studies show that chimpanzees are capable of deception and have the ability to remember past events and imagine or plan for future events (mental time travel).
But popular culture suggests that there is at least one developmental or lifestyle phenomenon unique to humans; namely, the “midlife crisis”.
What is a midlife crisis?
In affluent societies, there is a popular belief that as soon as men reach their mid-forties, they suddenly take up high-risk activities or buy a showy red sports car or powerful motorbike.
This time of apparent stress, confusion, dissatisfaction with life and display of “crazy” behaviour is popularly known as the “midlife crisis”.
By middle age, wild apes are often exhausted or maimed (or dead)In reality, around the world, irrespective of culture or wealth, both men and women seem to experience a midlife “slump” in happiness or well-being. This may be reflected in poor mental or physical health.
Typically, studies of this phenomenon are conducted by economists or psychologists, but the approaches they take and questions they address may be different. Economic research may compare happiness of younger, middle aged and older adults, who fall into similar socio-economic categories (such as income, marital status, health). This provides a “snapshot” in time. Their findings tend to support the existence of a “U-curve” when age is plotted against happiness, with younger and older people feeling more positive or happy.
Psychologists, on the other hand, prefer longitudinal studies of people over their lifetime to look for changes in “subjective wellbeing”.
How do you measure an ape’s happiness?
Measuring happiness or wellbeing is typically done by asking participants to fill out a questionnaire or self-report inventory, which rates their feelings or experiences.
Over the last two decades, researchers have been adapting the human questionnaires and rating scales for use with our closest “hairy” relatives: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans. They want to see whether personality and subjective wellbeing can be reliably measured in other species.
Not surprisingly, “hairy” apes also show individual differences in personality and subjective wellbeing or happiness. These can be reliably measured if a person who has known the “hairy” ape for a long time (generally more than two years) and very well (say, if they’re a zoo keeper or caregiver) rates the individual.
Why are we surprised that our ape relatives have midlife “issues”?
To ensure coverage in the popular press, good science communicators pick catchy titles. These authors did exactly this by including the words “midlife crisis”, “great apes” and “human well-being”. However, “midlife crisis” is an emotive phrase that may not accurately reflect the findings.
The research team included renowned psychologists/primatologists/geneticists and an economist. Following the data analysis used by economists for this type of research, the “U-curve” with its slump in well-being was evident for the 500+ chimpanzees and orangutans included in the analysis. The “hairy” apes were all housed in captive institutions (zoos, research centres and a sanctuary) in Japan, the United States, Canada, Singapore and Australia. The chimpanzees and orangutans ranged in age from less than 1 year old to 56 years old.
Humans tend to show a slump in well-being at about 45-50 years of age. For chimpanzees it was at 27-28 years of age and for orangutans about 35 years of age. Since this slump exists in chimpanzees and orangutans and isn’t unique to humans, the authors suggest evolutionary or biological explanations must be considered. The slump does not appear to be due to socio-economic or lifestyle factors.
Sadly, the authors missed the opportunity to mention that chimpanzees and orangutans are endangered in the wild and may not reach middle age, yet alone old age. In captivity, they may indeed live beyond the age of 50 with veterinarians and caregivers to attend to their needs and no threats from their only predators – humans.
A moment of thought (Gorilla mother and daughter) by Dalida InnesHowever, these findings suggest that zoos and other captive institutions must be proactive in seeking ways to improve welfare for great apes showing a slump in well-being. They need to be vigilant as individuals approach their 30s. These practical welfare implications were also not mentioned by the authors.
In the wild, by middle age many chimpanzees and orangutans have witnessed the destruction of their forests and death of family members to poachers for food or illegal animal trade. Every day is a struggle for survival, and by middle age wild great apes may be physically exhausted or maimed. They do not have the benefit of relaxing and reflecting on their happiness. They certainly do not have the option of buying a sports car or seeking their lost youth.
Carla Litchfield, Lecturer, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
Enter your email address
Sign Up
Join 1,395 other subscribers2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings
Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao
Health Physician Dr Evan Allen
The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert
How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20
https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here
Pledge your support#animalBehaviour #animalCommunication #animalIntelligence #animalRights #Ape #apes #bonobo #Bonobos #BorneanOrangutanPongoPygmaeus #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #ChimpanzeePanTroglodytes #Chimpanzees #conservation #EasternGorillaGorillaBeringei #gorilla #Gorillas #greatApes #GreatApes #MountainGorilla #orangutan #orangutans #Primate #primates #primatology #psychology #research #SumatranOrangutanPongoAbelii #TapanuliOrangutanPongoTapanuliensis #vegan #WesternGorillaGorillaGorilla
-
Do chimpanzees and orangutans really have midlife crises?
Many people know that chimpanzees and orangutans have personalities, feel emotions and are “almost human”. However a recent paper has found that great apes also have a mid-life slump or a “midlife crisis”. Great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans) are just as socially, politically and cognitively complex as we are. Our “hairy” great ape relatives are like us in every respect. Help them to survive when you shop and be #Vegan #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
#Chimpanzees 🦍 #orangutans 🦧 and other #GreatApes have strong personalities and astonishingly may have midlife crises! Yet another reason to protect these wonderful beings. #Primatology #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔🤢☠️🔥🧐🚫 #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/03/13/do-chimpanzees-and-orangutans-really-have-midlife-crises/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterGreat apes feel and demonstrate fear, affection, laughter and compassion. They are also capable of gang-like killing and “warfare” between neighbouring communities, rape, “battering” females, infanticide and cannibalism.
Genome sequence projects have established the close genetic relationship between “naked” and “hairy” great apes. Cognitive studies show that chimpanzees are capable of deception and have the ability to remember past events and imagine or plan for future events (mental time travel).
But popular culture suggests that there is at least one developmental or lifestyle phenomenon unique to humans; namely, the “midlife crisis”.
What is a midlife crisis?
In affluent societies, there is a popular belief that as soon as men reach their mid-forties, they suddenly take up high-risk activities or buy a showy red sports car or powerful motorbike.
This time of apparent stress, confusion, dissatisfaction with life and display of “crazy” behaviour is popularly known as the “midlife crisis”.
By middle age, wild apes are often exhausted or maimed (or dead)In reality, around the world, irrespective of culture or wealth, both men and women seem to experience a midlife “slump” in happiness or well-being. This may be reflected in poor mental or physical health.
Typically, studies of this phenomenon are conducted by economists or psychologists, but the approaches they take and questions they address may be different. Economic research may compare happiness of younger, middle aged and older adults, who fall into similar socio-economic categories (such as income, marital status, health). This provides a “snapshot” in time. Their findings tend to support the existence of a “U-curve” when age is plotted against happiness, with younger and older people feeling more positive or happy.
Psychologists, on the other hand, prefer longitudinal studies of people over their lifetime to look for changes in “subjective wellbeing”.
How do you measure an ape’s happiness?
Measuring happiness or wellbeing is typically done by asking participants to fill out a questionnaire or self-report inventory, which rates their feelings or experiences.
Over the last two decades, researchers have been adapting the human questionnaires and rating scales for use with our closest “hairy” relatives: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans. They want to see whether personality and subjective wellbeing can be reliably measured in other species.
Not surprisingly, “hairy” apes also show individual differences in personality and subjective wellbeing or happiness. These can be reliably measured if a person who has known the “hairy” ape for a long time (generally more than two years) and very well (say, if they’re a zoo keeper or caregiver) rates the individual.
Why are we surprised that our ape relatives have midlife “issues”?
To ensure coverage in the popular press, good science communicators pick catchy titles. These authors did exactly this by including the words “midlife crisis”, “great apes” and “human well-being”. However, “midlife crisis” is an emotive phrase that may not accurately reflect the findings.
The research team included renowned psychologists/primatologists/geneticists and an economist. Following the data analysis used by economists for this type of research, the “U-curve” with its slump in well-being was evident for the 500+ chimpanzees and orangutans included in the analysis. The “hairy” apes were all housed in captive institutions (zoos, research centres and a sanctuary) in Japan, the United States, Canada, Singapore and Australia. The chimpanzees and orangutans ranged in age from less than 1 year old to 56 years old.
Humans tend to show a slump in well-being at about 45-50 years of age. For chimpanzees it was at 27-28 years of age and for orangutans about 35 years of age. Since this slump exists in chimpanzees and orangutans and isn’t unique to humans, the authors suggest evolutionary or biological explanations must be considered. The slump does not appear to be due to socio-economic or lifestyle factors.
Sadly, the authors missed the opportunity to mention that chimpanzees and orangutans are endangered in the wild and may not reach middle age, yet alone old age. In captivity, they may indeed live beyond the age of 50 with veterinarians and caregivers to attend to their needs and no threats from their only predators – humans.
A moment of thought (Gorilla mother and daughter) by Dalida InnesHowever, these findings suggest that zoos and other captive institutions must be proactive in seeking ways to improve welfare for great apes showing a slump in well-being. They need to be vigilant as individuals approach their 30s. These practical welfare implications were also not mentioned by the authors.
In the wild, by middle age many chimpanzees and orangutans have witnessed the destruction of their forests and death of family members to poachers for food or illegal animal trade. Every day is a struggle for survival, and by middle age wild great apes may be physically exhausted or maimed. They do not have the benefit of relaxing and reflecting on their happiness. They certainly do not have the option of buying a sports car or seeking their lost youth.
Carla Litchfield, Lecturer, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
Enter your email address
Sign Up
Join 1,395 other subscribers2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings
Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao
Health Physician Dr Evan Allen
The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert
How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20
https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here
Pledge your support#animalBehaviour #animalCommunication #animalIntelligence #animalRights #Ape #apes #bonobo #Bonobos #BorneanOrangutanPongoPygmaeus #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #ChimpanzeePanTroglodytes #Chimpanzees #conservation #EasternGorillaGorillaBeringei #gorilla #Gorillas #greatApes #GreatApes #MountainGorilla #orangutan #orangutans #Primate #primates #primatology #psychology #research #SumatranOrangutanPongoAbelii #TapanuliOrangutanPongoTapanuliensis #vegan #WesternGorillaGorillaGorilla
-
Do chimpanzees and orangutans really have midlife crises?
Many people know that chimpanzees and orangutans have personalities, feel emotions and are “almost human”. However a recent paper has found that great apes also have a mid-life slump or a “midlife crisis”. Great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans) are just as socially, politically and cognitively complex as we are. Our “hairy” great ape relatives are like us in every respect. Help them to survive when you shop and be #Vegan #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
#Chimpanzees 🦍 #orangutans 🦧 and other #GreatApes have strong personalities and astonishingly may have midlife crises! Yet another reason to protect these wonderful beings. #Primatology #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔🤢☠️🔥🧐🚫 #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/03/13/do-chimpanzees-and-orangutans-really-have-midlife-crises/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterGreat apes feel and demonstrate fear, affection, laughter and compassion. They are also capable of gang-like killing and “warfare” between neighbouring communities, rape, “battering” females, infanticide and cannibalism.
Genome sequence projects have established the close genetic relationship between “naked” and “hairy” great apes. Cognitive studies show that chimpanzees are capable of deception and have the ability to remember past events and imagine or plan for future events (mental time travel).
But popular culture suggests that there is at least one developmental or lifestyle phenomenon unique to humans; namely, the “midlife crisis”.
What is a midlife crisis?
In affluent societies, there is a popular belief that as soon as men reach their mid-forties, they suddenly take up high-risk activities or buy a showy red sports car or powerful motorbike.
This time of apparent stress, confusion, dissatisfaction with life and display of “crazy” behaviour is popularly known as the “midlife crisis”.
By middle age, wild apes are often exhausted or maimed (or dead)In reality, around the world, irrespective of culture or wealth, both men and women seem to experience a midlife “slump” in happiness or well-being. This may be reflected in poor mental or physical health.
Typically, studies of this phenomenon are conducted by economists or psychologists, but the approaches they take and questions they address may be different. Economic research may compare happiness of younger, middle aged and older adults, who fall into similar socio-economic categories (such as income, marital status, health). This provides a “snapshot” in time. Their findings tend to support the existence of a “U-curve” when age is plotted against happiness, with younger and older people feeling more positive or happy.
Psychologists, on the other hand, prefer longitudinal studies of people over their lifetime to look for changes in “subjective wellbeing”.
How do you measure an ape’s happiness?
Measuring happiness or wellbeing is typically done by asking participants to fill out a questionnaire or self-report inventory, which rates their feelings or experiences.
Over the last two decades, researchers have been adapting the human questionnaires and rating scales for use with our closest “hairy” relatives: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans. They want to see whether personality and subjective wellbeing can be reliably measured in other species.
Not surprisingly, “hairy” apes also show individual differences in personality and subjective wellbeing or happiness. These can be reliably measured if a person who has known the “hairy” ape for a long time (generally more than two years) and very well (say, if they’re a zoo keeper or caregiver) rates the individual.
Why are we surprised that our ape relatives have midlife “issues”?
To ensure coverage in the popular press, good science communicators pick catchy titles. These authors did exactly this by including the words “midlife crisis”, “great apes” and “human well-being”. However, “midlife crisis” is an emotive phrase that may not accurately reflect the findings.
The research team included renowned psychologists/primatologists/geneticists and an economist. Following the data analysis used by economists for this type of research, the “U-curve” with its slump in well-being was evident for the 500+ chimpanzees and orangutans included in the analysis. The “hairy” apes were all housed in captive institutions (zoos, research centres and a sanctuary) in Japan, the United States, Canada, Singapore and Australia. The chimpanzees and orangutans ranged in age from less than 1 year old to 56 years old.
Humans tend to show a slump in well-being at about 45-50 years of age. For chimpanzees it was at 27-28 years of age and for orangutans about 35 years of age. Since this slump exists in chimpanzees and orangutans and isn’t unique to humans, the authors suggest evolutionary or biological explanations must be considered. The slump does not appear to be due to socio-economic or lifestyle factors.
Sadly, the authors missed the opportunity to mention that chimpanzees and orangutans are endangered in the wild and may not reach middle age, yet alone old age. In captivity, they may indeed live beyond the age of 50 with veterinarians and caregivers to attend to their needs and no threats from their only predators – humans.
A moment of thought (Gorilla mother and daughter) by Dalida InnesHowever, these findings suggest that zoos and other captive institutions must be proactive in seeking ways to improve welfare for great apes showing a slump in well-being. They need to be vigilant as individuals approach their 30s. These practical welfare implications were also not mentioned by the authors.
In the wild, by middle age many chimpanzees and orangutans have witnessed the destruction of their forests and death of family members to poachers for food or illegal animal trade. Every day is a struggle for survival, and by middle age wild great apes may be physically exhausted or maimed. They do not have the benefit of relaxing and reflecting on their happiness. They certainly do not have the option of buying a sports car or seeking their lost youth.
Carla Litchfield, Lecturer, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
Enter your email address
Sign Up
Join 1,395 other subscribers2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings
Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao
Health Physician Dr Evan Allen
The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert
How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20
https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here
Pledge your support#animalBehaviour #animalCommunication #animalIntelligence #animalRights #Ape #apes #bonobo #Bonobos #BorneanOrangutanPongoPygmaeus #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #ChimpanzeePanTroglodytes #Chimpanzees #conservation #EasternGorillaGorillaBeringei #gorilla #Gorillas #greatApes #GreatApes #MountainGorilla #orangutan #orangutans #Primate #primates #primatology #psychology #research #SumatranOrangutanPongoAbelii #TapanuliOrangutanPongoTapanuliensis #vegan #WesternGorillaGorillaGorilla
-
Do chimpanzees and orangutans really have midlife crises?
Many people know that chimpanzees and orangutans have personalities, feel emotions and are “almost human”. However a recent paper has found that great apes also have a mid-life slump or a “midlife crisis”. Great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans) are just as socially, politically and cognitively complex as we are. Our “hairy” great ape relatives are like us in every respect. Help them to survive when you shop and be #Vegan #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
#Chimpanzees 🦍 #orangutans 🦧 and other #GreatApes have strong personalities and astonishingly may have midlife crises! Yet another reason to protect these wonderful beings. #Primatology #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔🤢☠️🔥🧐🚫 #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/03/13/do-chimpanzees-and-orangutans-really-have-midlife-crises/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterGreat apes feel and demonstrate fear, affection, laughter and compassion. They are also capable of gang-like killing and “warfare” between neighbouring communities, rape, “battering” females, infanticide and cannibalism.
Genome sequence projects have established the close genetic relationship between “naked” and “hairy” great apes. Cognitive studies show that chimpanzees are capable of deception and have the ability to remember past events and imagine or plan for future events (mental time travel).
But popular culture suggests that there is at least one developmental or lifestyle phenomenon unique to humans; namely, the “midlife crisis”.
What is a midlife crisis?
In affluent societies, there is a popular belief that as soon as men reach their mid-forties, they suddenly take up high-risk activities or buy a showy red sports car or powerful motorbike.
This time of apparent stress, confusion, dissatisfaction with life and display of “crazy” behaviour is popularly known as the “midlife crisis”.
By middle age, wild apes are often exhausted or maimed (or dead)In reality, around the world, irrespective of culture or wealth, both men and women seem to experience a midlife “slump” in happiness or well-being. This may be reflected in poor mental or physical health.
Typically, studies of this phenomenon are conducted by economists or psychologists, but the approaches they take and questions they address may be different. Economic research may compare happiness of younger, middle aged and older adults, who fall into similar socio-economic categories (such as income, marital status, health). This provides a “snapshot” in time. Their findings tend to support the existence of a “U-curve” when age is plotted against happiness, with younger and older people feeling more positive or happy.
Psychologists, on the other hand, prefer longitudinal studies of people over their lifetime to look for changes in “subjective wellbeing”.
How do you measure an ape’s happiness?
Measuring happiness or wellbeing is typically done by asking participants to fill out a questionnaire or self-report inventory, which rates their feelings or experiences.
Over the last two decades, researchers have been adapting the human questionnaires and rating scales for use with our closest “hairy” relatives: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans. They want to see whether personality and subjective wellbeing can be reliably measured in other species.
Not surprisingly, “hairy” apes also show individual differences in personality and subjective wellbeing or happiness. These can be reliably measured if a person who has known the “hairy” ape for a long time (generally more than two years) and very well (say, if they’re a zoo keeper or caregiver) rates the individual.
Why are we surprised that our ape relatives have midlife “issues”?
To ensure coverage in the popular press, good science communicators pick catchy titles. These authors did exactly this by including the words “midlife crisis”, “great apes” and “human well-being”. However, “midlife crisis” is an emotive phrase that may not accurately reflect the findings.
The research team included renowned psychologists/primatologists/geneticists and an economist. Following the data analysis used by economists for this type of research, the “U-curve” with its slump in well-being was evident for the 500+ chimpanzees and orangutans included in the analysis. The “hairy” apes were all housed in captive institutions (zoos, research centres and a sanctuary) in Japan, the United States, Canada, Singapore and Australia. The chimpanzees and orangutans ranged in age from less than 1 year old to 56 years old.
Humans tend to show a slump in well-being at about 45-50 years of age. For chimpanzees it was at 27-28 years of age and for orangutans about 35 years of age. Since this slump exists in chimpanzees and orangutans and isn’t unique to humans, the authors suggest evolutionary or biological explanations must be considered. The slump does not appear to be due to socio-economic or lifestyle factors.
Sadly, the authors missed the opportunity to mention that chimpanzees and orangutans are endangered in the wild and may not reach middle age, yet alone old age. In captivity, they may indeed live beyond the age of 50 with veterinarians and caregivers to attend to their needs and no threats from their only predators – humans.
A moment of thought (Gorilla mother and daughter) by Dalida InnesHowever, these findings suggest that zoos and other captive institutions must be proactive in seeking ways to improve welfare for great apes showing a slump in well-being. They need to be vigilant as individuals approach their 30s. These practical welfare implications were also not mentioned by the authors.
In the wild, by middle age many chimpanzees and orangutans have witnessed the destruction of their forests and death of family members to poachers for food or illegal animal trade. Every day is a struggle for survival, and by middle age wild great apes may be physically exhausted or maimed. They do not have the benefit of relaxing and reflecting on their happiness. They certainly do not have the option of buying a sports car or seeking their lost youth.
Carla Litchfield, Lecturer, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
Enter your email address
Sign Up
Join 1,395 other subscribers2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings
Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao
Health Physician Dr Evan Allen
The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert
How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20
https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here
Pledge your support#animalBehaviour #animalCommunication #animalIntelligence #animalRights #Ape #apes #bonobo #Bonobos #BorneanOrangutanPongoPygmaeus #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #ChimpanzeePanTroglodytes #Chimpanzees #conservation #EasternGorillaGorillaBeringei #gorilla #Gorillas #greatApes #GreatApes #MountainGorilla #orangutan #orangutans #Primate #primates #primatology #psychology #research #SumatranOrangutanPongoAbelii #TapanuliOrangutanPongoTapanuliensis #vegan #WesternGorillaGorillaGorilla
-
Deforestation Raises Temperatures Up To 4.5℃
Forests directly cool the planet, like natural evaporative air conditioners. So what happens when you cut them down? In tropical countries such as #Indonesia, #Brazil and the #Congo, rapid #deforestation may have accounted for up to 75% of the observed surface #climatechange and warming between 1950 and 2010. Our new research took a closer look at this phenomenon.
Forests cool the planet 🆒🌳🍃 like natural #aircon. What happens when you cut them down? #Deforestation heats local areas as much as 4.5℃. Keep #forests intact for people and rare animals. #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/03/06/deforestation-can-raise-local-temperatures-by-up-to-4-5%e2%84%83-and-heat-untouched-areas-6km-away/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterUsing satellite data over Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, we found deforestation can heat a local area by as much as 4.5℃, and can even raise temperatures in undisturbed forests up to 6km away.
More than 40% of the world’s population live in the tropics and, under climate change, rising heat and humidity could push them into lethal conditions. Keeping forests intact is vital to protect those who live in and around them as the planet warms.
Deforestation hot spots
Deforestation in Borneo, ShutterstockAt the recent climate change summit in Glasgow, world leaders representing 85% of Earth’s remaining forests committed to ending, and reversing, deforestation by 2030.
This is a crucial measure in our fight to stop the planet warming beyond the internationally agreed limit of 1.5℃, because forests store vast amounts of carbon. Deforestation releases this carbon – approximately 5.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year – back into the atmosphere. This accounts for nearly 10% of the global emissions from 2009-2016.
Deforestation is particularly prevalent in Southeast Asia. We calculate that between 2000 and 2019, Indonesia lost 17% of its forested area (26.8 million hectares of land), and Malaysia 28% of its forest cover (8.12 million hectares). Others in the region, such as Papua New Guinea, are considered “deforestation hot spots”, as they’re at high risk of losing their forest cover in the coming decade.
Forests in this region are cut down for a variety of reasons, including for expanding palm oil and timber plantations, logging, mining and small-scale farms. And these new types of land uses produce different spatial patterns of forest loss, which we can see and measure using satellites.
What we found
We already know forests cool the climate directly, and losing forest causes local temperatures to rise. But we wanted to learn whether the different patterns of forest loss influenced how much temperatures increased by, and how far warming spread from the deforested site into neighbouring, unchanged areas.
To find out, we used satellite images that measure the temperature of the land surface. As the illustration below shows, we measured this by averaging forest loss in rings of different widths and radius, and looking at the average temperature change of the forest inside the ring.
How forest clearing near an unchanged area causes temperatures to rise.For example, if you consider a circle of forest that’s 4km wide, and there’s a completely deforested, 2km-wide ring around it, the inner circle would warm on average by 1.2℃.
The closer the forest loss, the higher the warming. If the ring was 1-2km away, the circle would warm by 3.1℃, while at 4-6km away, it’s 0.75℃.
These might not sound like big increases in temperature, but global studies show for each 1℃ increase in temperature, yields of major crops would decline by around 3-7%. Retaining forest within 1km of agricultural land in Southeast Asia could therefore avoid crop losses of 10-20%.
These estimates are conservative, because we only measured the effect of forest loss on average yearly temperatures. But another important factor is that higher average temperatures usually create higher temperature extremes, like those during heatwaves. And those really high temperatures in heatwaves are what put people and crops at most risk.
Of course, forests aren’t normally cut down in rings. This analysis was designed to exclude other causes of temperature change, putting the effect of non-local forest loss in focus.
Why is this happening?
Forests cool the land because trees draw water from the soil to their leaves, where it then evaporates. The energy needed to evaporate the water comes from sunshine and heat in the air, the same reason you feel colder when you get out of a pool with water on your skin.
A single tree in a tropical forest can cause local surface cooling equivalent to 70 kilowatt hours for every 100 litres of water used from the soil — as much cooling as two household air conditioners.
Forests are particularly good at cooling the land because their canopies have large surface area, which can evaporate a lot of water. When forests in tropical regions are cut down, this evaporative cooling stops, and the land surface warms up.
A logging road in East Kalimantan, Bornea: logged forest on the left, virgin/primary forest on the right. Aidenvironment, 2005/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SAThis is not news to the people of Borneo. In 2018, researchers surveyed people in 477 villages, and found they’re well aware nearby forest loss has caused them to live with hotter temperatures. When asked why forests were important to their health and the health of their families, the ability for trees to regulate temperature was the most frequent response.
A climate change double whammy
In many parts of the world, including the tropics and Australia, expanding farmland is a major reason for cutting down forest. But given hotter temperatures also reduce the productivity of farms, conserving forests might prove a better strategy for food security and for the livelihoods of farmers.
If forests must be removed, there may be ways to avoid the worst possible temperature increases. For example, we found that keeping at least 10% of forest cover helped reduce the associated warming by an average of 0.2℃.
Similarly, temperatures did not increase as much when the area of forest loss was smaller. This means if deforestation occurs in smaller, discontinuous blocks rather than uniformly, then the temperature impacts will be less severe.
To help share these findings, we’ve built a web mapping tool that lets users explore the effects of different patterns and areas of forest loss on local temperatures in maritime South East Asia. It helps show why protecting forests in the tropics offers a climate change double whammy – lowering carbon dioxide emissions and local temperatures together.
Sally Thompson, Associate professor, The University of Western Australia; Débora Corrêa, Research fellow, The University of Western Australia; John Duncan, Research fellow, The University of Western Australia, and Octavia Crompton, Postdoctoral researcher, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Deforestation Raises Temperatures Up To 4.5℃
Forests directly cool the planet, like natural evaporative air conditioners. So what happens when you cut them down? In tropical countries such as #Indonesia, #Brazil and the #Congo, rapid #deforestation may have accounted for up to 75% of the observed surface #climatechange and warming between 1950 and 2010. Our new research took a closer look at this phenomenon.
Forests cool the planet 🆒🌳🍃 like natural #aircon. What happens when you cut them down? #Deforestation heats local areas as much as 4.5℃. Keep #forests intact for people and rare animals. #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/03/06/deforestation-can-raise-local-temperatures-by-up-to-4-5%e2%84%83-and-heat-untouched-areas-6km-away/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterUsing satellite data over Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, we found deforestation can heat a local area by as much as 4.5℃, and can even raise temperatures in undisturbed forests up to 6km away.
More than 40% of the world’s population live in the tropics and, under climate change, rising heat and humidity could push them into lethal conditions. Keeping forests intact is vital to protect those who live in and around them as the planet warms.
Deforestation hot spots
Deforestation in Borneo, ShutterstockAt the recent climate change summit in Glasgow, world leaders representing 85% of Earth’s remaining forests committed to ending, and reversing, deforestation by 2030.
This is a crucial measure in our fight to stop the planet warming beyond the internationally agreed limit of 1.5℃, because forests store vast amounts of carbon. Deforestation releases this carbon – approximately 5.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year – back into the atmosphere. This accounts for nearly 10% of the global emissions from 2009-2016.
Deforestation is particularly prevalent in Southeast Asia. We calculate that between 2000 and 2019, Indonesia lost 17% of its forested area (26.8 million hectares of land), and Malaysia 28% of its forest cover (8.12 million hectares). Others in the region, such as Papua New Guinea, are considered “deforestation hot spots”, as they’re at high risk of losing their forest cover in the coming decade.
Forests in this region are cut down for a variety of reasons, including for expanding palm oil and timber plantations, logging, mining and small-scale farms. And these new types of land uses produce different spatial patterns of forest loss, which we can see and measure using satellites.
What we found
We already know forests cool the climate directly, and losing forest causes local temperatures to rise. But we wanted to learn whether the different patterns of forest loss influenced how much temperatures increased by, and how far warming spread from the deforested site into neighbouring, unchanged areas.
To find out, we used satellite images that measure the temperature of the land surface. As the illustration below shows, we measured this by averaging forest loss in rings of different widths and radius, and looking at the average temperature change of the forest inside the ring.
How forest clearing near an unchanged area causes temperatures to rise.For example, if you consider a circle of forest that’s 4km wide, and there’s a completely deforested, 2km-wide ring around it, the inner circle would warm on average by 1.2℃.
The closer the forest loss, the higher the warming. If the ring was 1-2km away, the circle would warm by 3.1℃, while at 4-6km away, it’s 0.75℃.
These might not sound like big increases in temperature, but global studies show for each 1℃ increase in temperature, yields of major crops would decline by around 3-7%. Retaining forest within 1km of agricultural land in Southeast Asia could therefore avoid crop losses of 10-20%.
These estimates are conservative, because we only measured the effect of forest loss on average yearly temperatures. But another important factor is that higher average temperatures usually create higher temperature extremes, like those during heatwaves. And those really high temperatures in heatwaves are what put people and crops at most risk.
Of course, forests aren’t normally cut down in rings. This analysis was designed to exclude other causes of temperature change, putting the effect of non-local forest loss in focus.
Why is this happening?
Forests cool the land because trees draw water from the soil to their leaves, where it then evaporates. The energy needed to evaporate the water comes from sunshine and heat in the air, the same reason you feel colder when you get out of a pool with water on your skin.
A single tree in a tropical forest can cause local surface cooling equivalent to 70 kilowatt hours for every 100 litres of water used from the soil — as much cooling as two household air conditioners.
Forests are particularly good at cooling the land because their canopies have large surface area, which can evaporate a lot of water. When forests in tropical regions are cut down, this evaporative cooling stops, and the land surface warms up.
A logging road in East Kalimantan, Bornea: logged forest on the left, virgin/primary forest on the right. Aidenvironment, 2005/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SAThis is not news to the people of Borneo. In 2018, researchers surveyed people in 477 villages, and found they’re well aware nearby forest loss has caused them to live with hotter temperatures. When asked why forests were important to their health and the health of their families, the ability for trees to regulate temperature was the most frequent response.
A climate change double whammy
In many parts of the world, including the tropics and Australia, expanding farmland is a major reason for cutting down forest. But given hotter temperatures also reduce the productivity of farms, conserving forests might prove a better strategy for food security and for the livelihoods of farmers.
If forests must be removed, there may be ways to avoid the worst possible temperature increases. For example, we found that keeping at least 10% of forest cover helped reduce the associated warming by an average of 0.2℃.
Similarly, temperatures did not increase as much when the area of forest loss was smaller. This means if deforestation occurs in smaller, discontinuous blocks rather than uniformly, then the temperature impacts will be less severe.
To help share these findings, we’ve built a web mapping tool that lets users explore the effects of different patterns and areas of forest loss on local temperatures in maritime South East Asia. It helps show why protecting forests in the tropics offers a climate change double whammy – lowering carbon dioxide emissions and local temperatures together.
Sally Thompson, Associate professor, The University of Western Australia; Débora Corrêa, Research fellow, The University of Western Australia; John Duncan, Research fellow, The University of Western Australia, and Octavia Crompton, Postdoctoral researcher, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Boycott the brands causing deforestation for palm oil, soy and meat by joining the #Boycott4Wildlife
Join the #Boycott4Wildlife#aircon #AmazonRainforest #animalExtinction #animals #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #Brazil #Climate #climateChange #climatechange #Congo #deforestation #forests #Indonesia #News #palmOilDeforestation #rainforest #rainforestConservation #tropicalRainforest
-
Deforestation Raises Temperatures Up To 4.5℃
Forests directly cool the planet, like natural evaporative air conditioners. So what happens when you cut them down? In tropical countries such as #Indonesia, #Brazil and the #Congo, rapid #deforestation may have accounted for up to 75% of the observed surface #climatechange and warming between 1950 and 2010. Our new research took a closer look at this phenomenon.
Forests cool the planet 🆒🌳🍃 like natural #aircon. What happens when you cut them down? #Deforestation heats local areas as much as 4.5℃. Keep #forests intact for people and rare animals. #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/03/06/deforestation-can-raise-local-temperatures-by-up-to-4-5%e2%84%83-and-heat-untouched-areas-6km-away/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterUsing satellite data over Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, we found deforestation can heat a local area by as much as 4.5℃, and can even raise temperatures in undisturbed forests up to 6km away.
More than 40% of the world’s population live in the tropics and, under climate change, rising heat and humidity could push them into lethal conditions. Keeping forests intact is vital to protect those who live in and around them as the planet warms.
Deforestation hot spots
Deforestation in Borneo, ShutterstockAt the recent climate change summit in Glasgow, world leaders representing 85% of Earth’s remaining forests committed to ending, and reversing, deforestation by 2030.
This is a crucial measure in our fight to stop the planet warming beyond the internationally agreed limit of 1.5℃, because forests store vast amounts of carbon. Deforestation releases this carbon – approximately 5.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year – back into the atmosphere. This accounts for nearly 10% of the global emissions from 2009-2016.
Deforestation is particularly prevalent in Southeast Asia. We calculate that between 2000 and 2019, Indonesia lost 17% of its forested area (26.8 million hectares of land), and Malaysia 28% of its forest cover (8.12 million hectares). Others in the region, such as Papua New Guinea, are considered “deforestation hot spots”, as they’re at high risk of losing their forest cover in the coming decade.
Forests in this region are cut down for a variety of reasons, including for expanding palm oil and timber plantations, logging, mining and small-scale farms. And these new types of land uses produce different spatial patterns of forest loss, which we can see and measure using satellites.
What we found
We already know forests cool the climate directly, and losing forest causes local temperatures to rise. But we wanted to learn whether the different patterns of forest loss influenced how much temperatures increased by, and how far warming spread from the deforested site into neighbouring, unchanged areas.
To find out, we used satellite images that measure the temperature of the land surface. As the illustration below shows, we measured this by averaging forest loss in rings of different widths and radius, and looking at the average temperature change of the forest inside the ring.
How forest clearing near an unchanged area causes temperatures to rise.For example, if you consider a circle of forest that’s 4km wide, and there’s a completely deforested, 2km-wide ring around it, the inner circle would warm on average by 1.2℃.
The closer the forest loss, the higher the warming. If the ring was 1-2km away, the circle would warm by 3.1℃, while at 4-6km away, it’s 0.75℃.
These might not sound like big increases in temperature, but global studies show for each 1℃ increase in temperature, yields of major crops would decline by around 3-7%. Retaining forest within 1km of agricultural land in Southeast Asia could therefore avoid crop losses of 10-20%.
These estimates are conservative, because we only measured the effect of forest loss on average yearly temperatures. But another important factor is that higher average temperatures usually create higher temperature extremes, like those during heatwaves. And those really high temperatures in heatwaves are what put people and crops at most risk.
Of course, forests aren’t normally cut down in rings. This analysis was designed to exclude other causes of temperature change, putting the effect of non-local forest loss in focus.
Why is this happening?
Forests cool the land because trees draw water from the soil to their leaves, where it then evaporates. The energy needed to evaporate the water comes from sunshine and heat in the air, the same reason you feel colder when you get out of a pool with water on your skin.
A single tree in a tropical forest can cause local surface cooling equivalent to 70 kilowatt hours for every 100 litres of water used from the soil — as much cooling as two household air conditioners.
Forests are particularly good at cooling the land because their canopies have large surface area, which can evaporate a lot of water. When forests in tropical regions are cut down, this evaporative cooling stops, and the land surface warms up.
A logging road in East Kalimantan, Bornea: logged forest on the left, virgin/primary forest on the right. Aidenvironment, 2005/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SAThis is not news to the people of Borneo. In 2018, researchers surveyed people in 477 villages, and found they’re well aware nearby forest loss has caused them to live with hotter temperatures. When asked why forests were important to their health and the health of their families, the ability for trees to regulate temperature was the most frequent response.
A climate change double whammy
In many parts of the world, including the tropics and Australia, expanding farmland is a major reason for cutting down forest. But given hotter temperatures also reduce the productivity of farms, conserving forests might prove a better strategy for food security and for the livelihoods of farmers.
If forests must be removed, there may be ways to avoid the worst possible temperature increases. For example, we found that keeping at least 10% of forest cover helped reduce the associated warming by an average of 0.2℃.
Similarly, temperatures did not increase as much when the area of forest loss was smaller. This means if deforestation occurs in smaller, discontinuous blocks rather than uniformly, then the temperature impacts will be less severe.
To help share these findings, we’ve built a web mapping tool that lets users explore the effects of different patterns and areas of forest loss on local temperatures in maritime South East Asia. It helps show why protecting forests in the tropics offers a climate change double whammy – lowering carbon dioxide emissions and local temperatures together.
Sally Thompson, Associate professor, The University of Western Australia; Débora Corrêa, Research fellow, The University of Western Australia; John Duncan, Research fellow, The University of Western Australia, and Octavia Crompton, Postdoctoral researcher, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Boycott the brands causing deforestation for palm oil, soy and meat by joining the #Boycott4Wildlife
Join the #Boycott4Wildlife#aircon #AmazonRainforest #animalExtinction #animals #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #Brazil #Climate #climateChange #climatechange #Congo #deforestation #forests #Indonesia #News #palmOilDeforestation #rainforest #rainforestConservation #tropicalRainforest
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Humans and Bonobos Share Contagious Yawn Behaviour
Most of us have experienced the overwhelming urge to yawn in response to another person yawning – but we’re not the only species to do this. Research published in PeerJ shows that bonobos – our closest evolutionary cousins – also experience “yawn contagion”. Similarly to how yawning occurs in human beings, the effects of yawn contagion in bonobos is influenced by the quality of relationships shared between individuals.
The tendency for humans to mirror the behaviours and emotions of another – sometimes referred to as “emotional contagion” – is also thought to reflect our heightened capacity for empathy. Help all non-human primates to survive extinction and be #Vegan #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife.
Humans mirror behaviour of others e.g. with yawning 🥱 💤 This is ’emotional contagion’ and #Bonobos and other #primates do this too. We’re closer than we think! We must protect our cousins #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🩸💀❌ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/01/30/contagious-yawns-show-social-ties-in-humans-and-bonobos/
Share to BlueSky Share to Twitter Contagious yawns show social ties in humans and bonobos Image: PxFuelThis research challenges the view that emotional contagion is more pronounced in humans than in other species. It suggests that variation in empathy between humans and bonobos is influenced by the quality of relationships shared by individuals – but experts warn we must be careful to avoid anthropomorphising.
In the first cross-species study of its kind, Elisabetta Palagi, Ivan Norscia and Elisa Demuru from the Natural History Museum at the University of Pisa used levels of “yawn contagion” as a tool for measuring differences in empathy between humans and bonobos over a five-year period.
The ability of an individual to perceive and feel others’ emotions is hard to quantify, which has made measuring empathy in an objective way difficult.
“Empathy is extremely difficult to study,” said Dr Palagi. “The only possibility was to explore the most basal layer of empathy – emotional contagion – and ‘yawn contagion’ is a good candidate to measure emotional contagion.”
Yawn contagion doesn’t only occur in humans. Kevin Jaacko/Flickr, CC BY-NCIn humans and bonobos, the researchers compared levels of “yawn contagion” in weakly-bonded individuals with those occurring in strongly-bonded individuals, revealing important similarities and differences between the two species.
The strength of emotional bonding between individuals was found to be important in stimulating an empathic response only in close friends or kin, with strongly-bonded humans exhibiting a greater level of emotional contagion than strongly-bonded bonobos. A similar level of “yawn contagion” occurred between humans and bonobos in weakly-bonded subjects, reflecting shared empathic foundations between the two species.
Bonobo mother and baby“We found that the two species differed in the level and latency of yawn response only when the subjects involved were good friends,” said Dr Palagi. “When the two subjects did not share a particular bonding the two species showed a strong similarity in the frequency of yawn contagion, thus suggesting that both species react in a very similar way to emotional contagion solicitation.”
According to Dr Palagi, monitoring bonobos was a lot easier than monitoring human subjects, as the “yawn contagion” effect is easily disturbed in humans if subjects are conscious of it. Because of this, all people involved in the study were unaware of being observed.
“We calculated how many times each perceived a yawn spontaneously emitted by a another individual and counted how many times he or she responded to that yawn,” she said.
A window into our social past
A yawning Pygmy Marmoset
Pygmy Marmoset Cebuella niveiventris and Cebuella pygmaeaMark Elgar, professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Melbourne, said the cross-species approach of the study produced some interesting results.
But he said we should exercise caution in attributing “yawn contagion” to empathic behaviour, since the evolutionary function of yawning behaviour itself remains a mystery.
“My nagging concern is that we don’t really understand why yawn contagion exists, especially since it can be triggered by at least two ‘emotive’ states – boredom and embarrassment – and one physiological state – tiredness,” Professor Elgar said. “What is the evolutionary significance of yawning?”
Darren Curnoe, associate professor in human evolution from the University of New South Wales, said the research helps us to better understand the “gap” between humans and other species – what it is that makes us unique.
Contagious yawns show social ties in humans and bonobos Image: PxFuel“This fascinating research demonstrates at once how similar, and yet, how different we are to our chimpanzee and bonobo cousins,” he said.
He said the study also sheds light on the origin of human social behaviour.
“The desire to yawn, when we see it in others, is a reflection of our emotional connection to them and our brain sharing what they do,” he said. “It’s a result of our strong empathy with people whom we share strong bonds, we can’t help but imitate them. It has a very deep evolutionary origin back to our ape ancestors from millions of years ago.
“What’s unique though about our human form of emotional empathy is its intensity – we show a deeper form of empathy and bonding than chimpanzees or bonobos do. This is something that changed during our evolution and must reflect a difference in the way our ancestors behaved and organised themselves socially compared to chimps and bonobos.”
Penny Orbell, Editor, The Conversation
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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What Is a ‘Mass Extinction’ and Are We in One?
Frédérik Saltré, Flinders University and Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Flinders University
For more than 3.5 billion years, living organisms have thrived, multiplied and diversified to occupy every ecosystem on Earth. The flip side to this explosion of new species is that species extinctions have also always been part of the evolutionary life cycle.
What is a ‘mass extinction’ and are we in one now? Help the #rainforests and #endangered #species – Join the #Boycott4Wildlife
But these two processes are not always in step. When the loss of species rapidly outpaces the formation of new species, this balance can be tipped enough to elicit what are known as “mass extinction” events.
Read more: Climate change is killing off Earth’s little creatures
Share to BlueSky Share to Twitter Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterA mass extinction is usually defined as a loss of about three quarters of all species in existence across the entire Earth over a “short” geological period of time. Given the vast amount of time since life first evolved on the planet, “short” is defined as anything less than 2.8 million years.
Since at least the Cambrian period that began around 540 million years ago when the diversity of life first exploded into a vast array of forms, only five extinction events have definitively met these mass-extinction criteria.
These so-called “Big Five” have become part of the scientific benchmark to determine whether human beings have today created the conditions for a sixth mass extinction.
Humans are probably causing what ice ages and asteroids caused before them. Keith Roper/Flickr, CC BY-SAAn ammonite fossil found on the Jurassic Coast in Devon. The fossil record can help us estimate prehistoric extinction rates. Corey Bradshaw, Author providedThe Big Five
These five mass extinctions have happened on average every 100 million years or so since the Cambrian, although there is no detectable pattern in their particular timing. Each event itself lasted between 50 thousand and 2.76 million years. The first mass extinction happened at the end of the Ordovician period about 443 million years ago and wiped out over 85% of all species.
The Ordovician event seems to have been the result of two climate phenomena. First, a planetary-scale period of glaciation (a global-scale “ice age”), then a rapid warming period.
The second mass extinction occurred during the Late Devonian period around 374 million years ago. This affected around 75% of all species, most of which were bottom-dwelling invertebrates in tropical seas at that time.
This period in Earth’s past was characterised by high variation in sea levels, and rapidly alternating conditions of global cooling and warming. It was also the time when plants were starting to take over dry land, and there was a drop in global CO2 concentration; all this was accompanied by soil transformation and periods of low oxygen.
To establish a ‘mass extinction’, we first need to know what a normal rate of species loss is. from http://www.shutterstock.comThe third and most devastating of the Big Five occurred at the end of the Permian period around 250 million years ago. This wiped out more than 95% of all species in existence at the time.
Animal extinction visualSome of the suggested causes include an asteroid impact that filled the air with pulverised particle, creating unfavourable climate conditions for many species. These could have blocked the sun and generated intense acid rains. Some other possible causes are still debated, such as massive volcanic activity in what is today Siberia, increasing ocean toxicity caused by an increase in atmospheric CO₂, or the spread of oxygen-poor water in the deep ocean.
Fifty million years after the great Permian extinction, about 80% of the world’s species again went extinct during the Triassic event. This was possibly caused by some colossal geological activity in what is today the Atlantic Ocean that would have elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, increased global temperatures, and acidified oceans.
The last and probably most well-known of the mass-extinction events happened during the Cretaceous period, when an estimated 76% of all species went extinct, including the non-avian dinosaurs. The demise of the dinosaur super predators gave mammals a new opportunity to diversify and occupy new habitats, from which human beings eventually evolved.
The most likely cause of the Cretaceous mass extinction was an extraterrestrial impact in the Yucatán of modern-day Mexico, a massive volcanic eruption in the Deccan Province of modern-day west-central India, or both in combination.
The Conversation, CC BY-NDIs today’s biodiversity crisis a sixth mass extinction?
The Earth is currently experiencing an extinction crisis largely due to the exploitation of the planet by people. But whether this constitutes a sixth mass extinction depends on whether today’s extinction rate is greater than the “normal” or “background” rate that occurs between mass extinctions.
This background rate indicates how fast species would be expected to disappear in absence of human endeavour, and it’s mostly measured using the fossil record to count how many species died out between mass extinction events.
The Christmas Island Pipistrelle was announced to be extinct in 2009, years after conservationists raised concerns about its future. Lindy LumsdenThe most accepted background rate estimated from the fossil record gives an average lifespan of about one million years for a species, or one species extinction per million species-years. But this estimated rate is highly uncertain, ranging between 0.1 and 2.0 extinctions per million species-years. Whether we are now indeed in a sixth mass extinction depends to some extent on the true value of this rate. Otherwise, it’s difficult to compare Earth’s situation today with the past.
In contrast to the the Big Five, today’s species losses are driven by a mix of direct and indirect human activities, such as the destruction and fragmentation of habitats, direct exploitation like fishing and hunting, chemical pollution, invasive species, and human-caused global warming.
If we use the same approach to estimate today’s extinctions per million species-years, we come up with a rate that is between ten and 10,000 times higher than the background rate.
Even considering a conservative background rate of two extinctions per million species-years, the number of species that have gone extinct in the last century would have otherwise taken between 800 and 10,000 years to disappear if they were merely succumbing to the expected extinctions that happen at random. This alone supports the notion that the Earth is at least experiencing many more extinctions than expected from the background rate.
An endangered Indian wild dog, or Dhole. Before extinction comes a period of dwindling numbers and spread. from http://www.shutterstock.comIt would likely take several millions of years of normal evolutionary diversification to “restore” the Earth’s species to what they were prior to human beings rapidly changing the planet. Among land vertebrates (species with an internal skeleton), 322 species have been recorded going extinct since the year 1500, or about 1.2 species going extinction every two years.
If this doesn’t sound like much, it’s important to remember extinction is always preceded by a loss in population abundance and shrinking distributions. Based on the number of decreasing vertebrate species listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, 32% of all known species across all ecosystems and groups are decreasing in abundance and range. In fact, the Earth has lost about 60% of all vertebrate individuals since 1970.
Australia has one of the worst recent extinction records of any continent, with more than 100 species of vertebrates going extinct since the first people arrived over 50 thousand years ago. And more than 300 animal and 1,000 plant species are now considered threatened with imminent extinction.
Read more: An end to endings: how to stop more Australian species going extinct
Although biologists are still debating how much the current extinction rate exceeds the background rate, even the most conservative estimates reveal an exceptionally rapid loss of biodiversity typical of a mass extinction event.
In fact, some studies show that the interacting conditions experienced today, such as accelerated climate change, changing atmospheric composition caused by human industry, and abnormal ecological stresses arising from human consumption of resources, define a perfect storm for extinctions. All these conditions together indicate that a sixth mass extinction is already well under way.
Read more: Mass extinctions and climate change: why the speed of rising greenhouse gases matters
Frédérik Saltré, Research Fellow in Ecology & Associate Investigator for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University and Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Fellow in Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
#AnimalBiodiversityNews #animalExtinction #animals #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #deforestation #endangered #rainforests #species
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Borneo’s bearded pig, gardener of forests and protector of their inhabitants
Edmond Dounias, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)
Borneo – fourth-largest island in the world, home to more than 20 million people – has always aroused the fascination of explorers. The island is dense with forests, waterways and soaring mountains, and its indigenous population have a deep relationship with the forest.
Borneo’s bearded pigs are gardeners of forests and protectors of their inhabitants. They are threatened by #palmoil #deforestation. Help them each time you shop #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
A fragile landscape
The 743,330km2 island is home to the largest area of forest in Asia. But Borneo is one of the world’s most intensively deforested regions. At the beginning of the 1970s, its forest area was around 56 million hectares. In 45 years 20 million of that has been cut down. Intensive logging, open-pit mining, rapid expansion of agro-industrial plantations – oil palms in particular – and hazardous peatland development all endanger Borneo’s forests.
The migration of the rural poor from the overpopulated islands of Madura, Java and Bali is constitute another threat over the forest. Used to a land-intensive style of farming, they clear the forest to grow crops. At times they come into conflict with the native populations, which can turn violent.
Large wildfires, sparked by droughts caused by the El Niño phenomenon, further destroy the forest.
The bearded boar, one of the most emblematic animals of the Malay archipelago. Rufus46/Wikipedia, CC BYForest clear-cutting prior to the creation of a palm-oil plantation. Borneo (Indonesia), 2009. Rainforest Action Network/Flickr, CC BY-NCOrangutan, clouded leopard and … the bearded pig
Borneo is rich in its biodiversity and home to many unique species. Its unique plants include carnivorous nepenthes as well as Rafflesia arnoldii, which produces the largest flower in the world with the smell of rotting flesh. Animals such as the orangutan, Borneo pygmy elephant, clouded leopard, long-nosed monkey and tufted ground squirrel call it home.
One species that is rarely mentioned is the bearded pig, Sus barbatus, despite it being the most emblematic animal of the island. This wild boar owes its name to an abundant tuft of upward- and forward-pointing bristles covering its cheeks and lower jaw. There are two subspecies: S. barbatus oi, present only in Sumatra, and S. barbatus barbatus, present on the Malay Peninsula and Borneo.
The bearded pig is a tireless migrator, either alone or in large herds. It often travels hundreds of kilometres to obtain its preferred foods. In doing so, it plays a crucial role as the gardener of the forests of Borneo.
Tireless gardener of Dipterocarpaceae
To understand this function of the wild boar, it is necessary to evoke the singular feature of Borneo’s forest: the predominance of a family of trees, the Dipterocarpaceae. These tall evergreens, mainly located in low-altitude forests, are easily recognisable by their “crown shyness” – the crowns of mature trees do not touch each other.
Most of the wood species exploited by the forest industry come from this family alone, thus increasing the sensitivity of the Borneo forest to unsustainable logging.
At irregular intervals of 2-15 years, a unique phenomenon occurs: all the Dipterocarpaceae species – as well as several species of Fagaceae associated with them and which produce lipid-rich acorns – dispense their fruits all at once within a short period, which does not exceed a few weeks.
Sometimes up to 90% of similar trees in one portion of the forest will bear fruit at the same time. From an evolutionary biology point of view, such mast fruiting, concentrated in space and time, aims to overwhelm potential predators, a strategy renown as “predator satiation”.
Because the phenomenon occurs in a staggered manner within the forest mosaic, animals that seek these nutritious fruits – first and foremost the bearded pig – must migrate from one fruiting zone to the next. In so doing, they perform an essential function for the dipterocarp trees, dispersing their seeds over vast distances.
A tireless forager, the bearded pig also reshapes the soil surface and accelerates the decomposition of organic matter. It browses and cleans the undergrowth, improving the access of tree roots to soil nutrients.
Dipterocarpaceae forest. Edmond Dounias/IRD, CC BYA mediator with the spirit world
As it evolved, the bearded pig has adapted to the unpredictable pattern of dipterocarp mast fruiting.
It is omnivorous and can live off alternative food sources when dipterocarp trees aren’t producing fruit, periods that can last several years.
When abundant food is available, the boar’s efficient metabolism allows it to stock fat that will help it survive during the lean times.
Its physical attributes also reinforce its ability to survive: it’s highly fertile, reproduces early and can live in either small or large groups. Its long legs are adapted to extensive migrations through dense forests, and it’s an adept swimmer, too. All the better to maximise access to coveted resources.
The bearded pig is also the favourite game of the peoples of Borneo: it represents 97% of the bushmeat volume consumed by the Punan hunter-gatherers.
Bearded boar hunting, a millennial practice in Borneo. Charles Hose, Author providedThe hunting of wild boar, a practice attested to go back more than 35,000 years, justifies the prominent position of this animal in the culture of Borneo dwellers. They attribute to it a symbolic role as mediator between men and the spirits that regulate access to forest resources.
The rarefaction of the wild boar or the discovery of dead individuals in the forest are thus all bad omens. The Punan interpret these as expressions of the wrath of supernatural forces against them, signalling a need to restore harmony through frugal behaviour and the intervention of a shaman.
Through its interactions with other forest wildlife – birds, monkeys, barking deer – the bearded boar reveals the relationship that the peoples of Borneo have with their forests, their concern for a sane cohabitation with all the living creatures of the forest and a reasonable use of its resources. For the inhabitants of Borneo, this mammal is much more than just game. https://www.youtube.com/embed/XCktNumO8kY?wmode=transparent&start=0 Wild boar hunting by the Punan (2000).
Ecological and cultural keystone
Although its omnivorous diet and adaptability allow it to survive in even the most degraded environments and keep it away from the verge of extinction, the bearded pig is nevertheless classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. This is an undeniable indicator of the severe degradation of the forests of Borneo.
More efficiently than the most eminent ecologists, wild-boar hunters are in the front line of detecting the slightest behavioural change in their most charismatic resource. Sentinels of their environment, they can be incomparable partners for the international scientific community in monitoring and understanding the various drivers of change, including climate change, that affect their forests.
An ecological and cultural keystone species, the bearded pig is a strange mammal that nonetheless bears witness to the fact that no sustainable preservation of forests is conceivable without the decisive contribution of indigenous knowledge, and without recognition of the indigenous peoples’ specific vision of the world.
Edmond Dounias, Directeur de recherche, interactions bioculturelles, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
#amazingAnimals #AnimalBiodiversityNews #BorneanBeardedPigSusBarbatus #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #deforestation #editorial #News #palmoil #pig #Pigs #ReasonsToBeHopeful #ungulate #ungulates #wildPig
-
Borneo’s bearded pig, gardener of forests and protector of their inhabitants
Edmond Dounias, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)
Borneo – fourth-largest island in the world, home to more than 20 million people – has always aroused the fascination of explorers. The island is dense with forests, waterways and soaring mountains, and its indigenous population have a deep relationship with the forest.
Borneo’s bearded pigs are gardeners of forests and protectors of their inhabitants. They are threatened by #palmoil #deforestation. Help them each time you shop #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
A fragile landscape
The 743,330km2 island is home to the largest area of forest in Asia. But Borneo is one of the world’s most intensively deforested regions. At the beginning of the 1970s, its forest area was around 56 million hectares. In 45 years 20 million of that has been cut down. Intensive logging, open-pit mining, rapid expansion of agro-industrial plantations – oil palms in particular – and hazardous peatland development all endanger Borneo’s forests.
The migration of the rural poor from the overpopulated islands of Madura, Java and Bali is constitute another threat over the forest. Used to a land-intensive style of farming, they clear the forest to grow crops. At times they come into conflict with the native populations, which can turn violent.
Large wildfires, sparked by droughts caused by the El Niño phenomenon, further destroy the forest.
The bearded boar, one of the most emblematic animals of the Malay archipelago. Rufus46/Wikipedia, CC BYForest clear-cutting prior to the creation of a palm-oil plantation. Borneo (Indonesia), 2009. Rainforest Action Network/Flickr, CC BY-NCOrangutan, clouded leopard and … the bearded pig
Borneo is rich in its biodiversity and home to many unique species. Its unique plants include carnivorous nepenthes as well as Rafflesia arnoldii, which produces the largest flower in the world with the smell of rotting flesh. Animals such as the orangutan, Borneo pygmy elephant, clouded leopard, long-nosed monkey and tufted ground squirrel call it home.
One species that is rarely mentioned is the bearded pig, Sus barbatus, despite it being the most emblematic animal of the island. This wild boar owes its name to an abundant tuft of upward- and forward-pointing bristles covering its cheeks and lower jaw. There are two subspecies: S. barbatus oi, present only in Sumatra, and S. barbatus barbatus, present on the Malay Peninsula and Borneo.
The bearded pig is a tireless migrator, either alone or in large herds. It often travels hundreds of kilometres to obtain its preferred foods. In doing so, it plays a crucial role as the gardener of the forests of Borneo.
Tireless gardener of Dipterocarpaceae
To understand this function of the wild boar, it is necessary to evoke the singular feature of Borneo’s forest: the predominance of a family of trees, the Dipterocarpaceae. These tall evergreens, mainly located in low-altitude forests, are easily recognisable by their “crown shyness” – the crowns of mature trees do not touch each other.
Most of the wood species exploited by the forest industry come from this family alone, thus increasing the sensitivity of the Borneo forest to unsustainable logging.
At irregular intervals of 2-15 years, a unique phenomenon occurs: all the Dipterocarpaceae species – as well as several species of Fagaceae associated with them and which produce lipid-rich acorns – dispense their fruits all at once within a short period, which does not exceed a few weeks.
Sometimes up to 90% of similar trees in one portion of the forest will bear fruit at the same time. From an evolutionary biology point of view, such mast fruiting, concentrated in space and time, aims to overwhelm potential predators, a strategy renown as “predator satiation”.
Because the phenomenon occurs in a staggered manner within the forest mosaic, animals that seek these nutritious fruits – first and foremost the bearded pig – must migrate from one fruiting zone to the next. In so doing, they perform an essential function for the dipterocarp trees, dispersing their seeds over vast distances.
A tireless forager, the bearded pig also reshapes the soil surface and accelerates the decomposition of organic matter. It browses and cleans the undergrowth, improving the access of tree roots to soil nutrients.
Dipterocarpaceae forest. Edmond Dounias/IRD, CC BYA mediator with the spirit world
As it evolved, the bearded pig has adapted to the unpredictable pattern of dipterocarp mast fruiting.
It is omnivorous and can live off alternative food sources when dipterocarp trees aren’t producing fruit, periods that can last several years.
When abundant food is available, the boar’s efficient metabolism allows it to stock fat that will help it survive during the lean times.
Its physical attributes also reinforce its ability to survive: it’s highly fertile, reproduces early and can live in either small or large groups. Its long legs are adapted to extensive migrations through dense forests, and it’s an adept swimmer, too. All the better to maximise access to coveted resources.
The bearded pig is also the favourite game of the peoples of Borneo: it represents 97% of the bushmeat volume consumed by the Punan hunter-gatherers.
Bearded boar hunting, a millennial practice in Borneo. Charles Hose, Author providedThe hunting of wild boar, a practice attested to go back more than 35,000 years, justifies the prominent position of this animal in the culture of Borneo dwellers. They attribute to it a symbolic role as mediator between men and the spirits that regulate access to forest resources.
The rarefaction of the wild boar or the discovery of dead individuals in the forest are thus all bad omens. The Punan interpret these as expressions of the wrath of supernatural forces against them, signalling a need to restore harmony through frugal behaviour and the intervention of a shaman.
Through its interactions with other forest wildlife – birds, monkeys, barking deer – the bearded boar reveals the relationship that the peoples of Borneo have with their forests, their concern for a sane cohabitation with all the living creatures of the forest and a reasonable use of its resources. For the inhabitants of Borneo, this mammal is much more than just game. https://www.youtube.com/embed/XCktNumO8kY?wmode=transparent&start=0 Wild boar hunting by the Punan (2000).
Ecological and cultural keystone
Although its omnivorous diet and adaptability allow it to survive in even the most degraded environments and keep it away from the verge of extinction, the bearded pig is nevertheless classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. This is an undeniable indicator of the severe degradation of the forests of Borneo.
More efficiently than the most eminent ecologists, wild-boar hunters are in the front line of detecting the slightest behavioural change in their most charismatic resource. Sentinels of their environment, they can be incomparable partners for the international scientific community in monitoring and understanding the various drivers of change, including climate change, that affect their forests.
An ecological and cultural keystone species, the bearded pig is a strange mammal that nonetheless bears witness to the fact that no sustainable preservation of forests is conceivable without the decisive contribution of indigenous knowledge, and without recognition of the indigenous peoples’ specific vision of the world.
Edmond Dounias, Directeur de recherche, interactions bioculturelles, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
#amazingAnimals #AnimalBiodiversityNews #BorneanBeardedPigSusBarbatus #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #deforestation #editorial #News #palmoil #pig #Pigs #ReasonsToBeHopeful #ungulate #ungulates #wildPig
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Silvery Gibbon Hylobates moloch
Silvery Gibbon Hylobates moloch
Endangered
Java, Indonesia
Share to BlueSky Share to Twitter Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterThe Silvery Gibbon is of genus ‘Hylobates’ which means ‘Forest Walker’ in Greek. They sing to each other in ‘local’ accents have thrilling acrobatic skills. Endangered on @IUCNRedList by deforestation incl. #palmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
The Silvery Gibbon belongs to the genus Hylobates. The word Hylobates means ‘Forest Walker’ in Greek. The gibbons in this genus are known for the white circle of fur around their faces. They are known to communicate in species-specific song when defining territory or attracting mates. They sing in regional accents to each other, have long swinging arms, inquisitive natures and superior acrobatic skills, they spend most of their lives high up in the tree-tops.
Confined to the western part of the island of Java, Indonesia, in the provinces of Banten, West and Central Java. Lowland and lower montane rainforest up to 2,400 m asl but usually below 1,600 m asl (Asquith 1995, Farida and Haran 2000, Iskandar 2007, Kim et al. 2010, Supriatna and Ario 2015). They can tolerate disturbed habitat, but are known to prefer floristically-rich patches of forest. The extirpation of at least seven former sub-populations has been documented (Asquith et al. 1995) and recent studies of three of the four largest remaining populations (Ujung Kulon NP, Haliman-Salak NP and the Dieng Mountains) suggest high probabilities of extinction within a 100-year period if current conditions do not change, or if they worsen (Smith et al. 2018).
The Silvery Gibbon is considered Endangered based on a suspected population reduction of 50% or more over the course of three generations (2001-2015, 2016-2030, 2031-2045). This ongoing decline is due to the combined threats of forest habitat loss and hunting for subsistence purposes, in addition to supplying the pet trade.
IUCN Red List
Further Information
Nijman, V. 2020. Hylobates moloch. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T10550A17966495. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T10550A17966495.en. Downloaded on 06 February 2021.
Silvery Gibbon Hylobates moloch
How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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Join 1,391 other subscribers2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings
Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao
Health Physician Dr Evan Allen
The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert
How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20
https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here
Pledge your support#Boycott4WildlifeTweet #EndangeredSpecies #Indonesia #Java #Mammal #palmoil #Primate #SilveryGibbonHylobatesMoloch
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Blue-eyed Spotted Cuscus Spilocuscus wilsoni
Blue-eyed Spotted Cuscus Spilocuscus wilsoni
IUCN Red List Status: Critically Endangered
Location: Indonesia – Biak Island, Supiori Island, Numfor Island (Cenderawasih Bay, Indonesian-occupied West Papua)
The blue-eyed spotted #cuscus Spilocuscus wilsoni, also known as the Biak spotted cuscus lives in the lowland tropical rainforests on remote and rugged islands in Cenderawasih Bay: Biak Island, Supiori Island, Numfor Island (Cenderawasih Bay, Indonesian-occupied #WestPapua). These sweet-natured icy-blue eyed #marsupials are Critically Endangered due to a range of threats. They face ongoing population collapse, driven by #palmoil and #timber #deforestation, #hunting, and capture for the illegal exotic #pettrade. Most sightings today are of captive individuals, with wild populations potentially already extirpated from much of their historic range. Time is rapidly running out to save these the last remaining Spilocuscus wilsoni individuals. Use your wallet as a weapon in the supermarket and always choose products that are 100% #palmoilfree.#BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife and adopt a #Vegan lifestyle.
With icy-blue eyes, fluffy fur and gentle demeanour, Blue-eyed Spotted #Cuscus are treasures of #WestPapua now critically #endangered due to #palmoil #deforestation and rampant hunting. Help them survive when you #BoycottPalmOil 🌴🩸❌#Boycott4Wildlife https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/01/26/blue-eyed-spotted-cuscus-spilocuscus-wilsoni/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterLiving on Biak and Supiori islands #WestPapua, Blue-Eyed Spotted #cuscus are critically endangered😿 The islands are being destroyed for #palmoil and other #agriculture. Take action for #marsupials when you shop #BoycottPalmOil 🌴🚜💀🔥⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/01/26/blue-eyed-spotted-cuscus-spilocuscus-wilsoni/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterAppearance and Behaviour
The blue-eyed spotted cuscus is a mesmerising animal, distinguished by its striking pale blue eyes—an extremely rare trait among marsupials. They have a marbled coat patterned in shades of brown, grey, white, and cream, which varies by age and sex. Males typically exhibit more prominent blotches and spots, while juvenile females may appear spotless and pale yellow or creamy. This species lives high in the rainforest canopy, moving slowly and cautiously among the branches. As a member of the genus Spilocuscus, they are shy, solitary, and largely nocturnal, relying on camouflage and stillness to evade predators.
Diet
Like other spotted cuscus species, the blue-eyed spotted cuscus feeds on a variety of plant matter. Their diet includes leaves, fruits, flowers, and possibly bark. Foraging mostly takes place at night, using their strong limbs and prehensile tail to navigate the treetops in search of food.
Reproduction and Mating
Little is known about the breeding behaviour of the blue-eyed spotted cuscus due to their rarity in the wild. As marsupials, females likely give birth to underdeveloped young that complete their development in a pouch. It is presumed that, like related species, they raise one to two offspring at a time, and may breed seasonally depending on food availability.
Geographic Range
This cuscus species is endemic to the islands of Biak and Supiori in Cenderawasih Bay, with a few individuals reported from Numfor Island, where they may have been introduced as pets. Once more widespread, they are now rarely encountered outside of captivity. The rugged terrain of Supiori has helped protect some of their habitat, but populations on Biak have been decimated by deforestation and human encroachment.
Threats
The Blue-eyed Spotted Cuscus is listed as Critically Endangered because of a continuing drastic population decline, inferred to be more than 80% from the rate and extent of habitat loss in the last 10 years due to massive deforestation on Biak-Supiori and from levels of exploitation. This species is threatened by rapid, ongoing deforestation of suitable habitat, and by hunting for food and collection as a pets by local people.
- Deforestation: Rapid loss of lowland tropical rainforest on Biak and Supiori for palm oil agriculture and development
- Palm oil expansion: Destruction of forest for palm oil plantations threatens remaining habitat
- Hunting: Locals hunt cuscuses for meat
- Illegal pet trade: Capturing and selling them as exotic pets is a major threat
- Lack of enforcement: No targeted conservation programs exist for this species
Take Action!
The blue-eyed spotted cuscus could vanish forever without intervention. Support indigenous-led conservation in West Papua and pressure companies and governments to stop fuelling habitat destruction. Always choose palm oil-free products, and never support the exotic pet trade. Speak up, share their story, and push for their protection. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife #Vegan #BoycottMeat
FAQs
How many blue-eyed spotted cuscuses are left?
There are no exact population estimates, but the IUCN (2021) infers a population decline of over 80% in the last decade, with wild individuals now rarely seen. Most sightings are of pets or museum specimens, and recent field surveys have failed to find any wild individuals on Biak (IUCN, 2021).
How long do blue-eyed spotted cuscuses live?
Lifespan data for this species is lacking. However, similar species of cuscus in captivity can live 10–15 years, though wild lifespans are likely shorter due to threats from hunting and habitat loss.
Are blue-eyed spotted cuscuses endangered because of palm oil?
Yes. Palm oil deforestation is a major driver of habitat loss in their range. The rapid clearing of lowland rainforest on Biak and Supiori has destroyed much of their habitat. This, combined with hunting and the pet trade, has pushed them to the brink (IUCN, 2021).
Do blue-eyed spotted cuscuses make good pets?
No. Keeping blue-eyed spotted cuscuses as pets is cruel and contributes directly to their extinction. These gentle, tree-dwelling marsupials belong in the rainforest. Many animals in the pet trade are stolen from the wild, causing immense suffering and breaking apart family groups. If you truly care about them, never support the exotic pet trade and advocate against it.
What are the conservation challenges for this species?
The blue-eyed spotted cuscus suffers from neglect in conservation priorities. There are no species-specific conservation efforts, and only a small portion of its range is protected. Further studies into their distribution and natural history are urgently needed to inform protection strategies (Yohanita et al., 2023).
Further Information
Aplin, K. & Helgen, K. 2016. Spilocuscus wilsoni. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T136443A21950078. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T136443A21950078.en. Downloaded on 26 January 2021.
Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Blue-eyed spotted cuscus. Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 April 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-eyed_spotted_cuscus
Yohanita, A. M., Widayati, K. A., Atmowidi, T., Imai, H., & Suryobroto, B. (2023). New localities and sexual dichromatism in Blue-green eyed Spotted Cuscus Spilocuscus wilsoni from Biak Island, Indonesia. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 15(9), 23836–23842. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8179.15.9.23836-23842
Blue-eyed Spotted Cuscus Spilocuscus wilsoni
How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
Enter your email address
Sign Up
Join 1,391 other subscribers2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings
Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao
Health Physician Dr Evan Allen
The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert
How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20
https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here
Pledge your support#Agriculture #BlueEyedSpottedCuscusSpilocuscusWilsoni #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottMeat #BoycottPalmOil #CriticallyEndangeredSpecies #cuscus #cuscuses #deforestation #endangered #ForgottenAnimals #hunting #Indonesia #Mammal #Marsupial #marsupials #palmoil #palmoilfree #PapuaNewGuineaSpeciesEndangeredByPalmOilDeforestation #pettrade #possum #possums #timber #vegan #WestPapua
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Blue-eyed Spotted Cuscus Spilocuscus wilsoni
Blue-eyed Spotted Cuscus Spilocuscus wilsoni
IUCN Red List Status: Critically Endangered
Location: Indonesia – Biak Island, Supiori Island, Numfor Island (Cenderawasih Bay, Indonesian-occupied West Papua)
The blue-eyed spotted #cuscus Spilocuscus wilsoni, also known as the Biak spotted cuscus lives in the lowland tropical rainforests on remote and rugged islands in Cenderawasih Bay: Biak Island, Supiori Island, Numfor Island (Cenderawasih Bay, Indonesian-occupied #WestPapua). These sweet-natured icy-blue eyed #marsupials are Critically Endangered due to a range of threats. They face ongoing population collapse, driven by #palmoil and #timber #deforestation, #hunting, and capture for the illegal exotic #pettrade. Most sightings today are of captive individuals, with wild populations potentially already extirpated from much of their historic range. Time is rapidly running out to save these the last remaining Spilocuscus wilsoni individuals. Use your wallet as a weapon in the supermarket and always choose products that are 100% #palmoilfree.#BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife and adopt a #Vegan lifestyle.
With icy-blue eyes, fluffy fur and gentle demeanour, Blue-eyed Spotted #Cuscus are treasures of #WestPapua now critically #endangered due to #palmoil #deforestation and rampant hunting. Help them survive when you #BoycottPalmOil 🌴🩸❌#Boycott4Wildlife https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/01/26/blue-eyed-spotted-cuscus-spilocuscus-wilsoni/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterLiving on Biak and Supiori islands #WestPapua, Blue-Eyed Spotted #cuscus are critically endangered😿 The islands are being destroyed for #palmoil and other #agriculture. Take action for #marsupials when you shop #BoycottPalmOil 🌴🚜💀🔥⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/01/26/blue-eyed-spotted-cuscus-spilocuscus-wilsoni/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterAppearance and Behaviour
The blue-eyed spotted cuscus is a mesmerising animal, distinguished by its striking pale blue eyes—an extremely rare trait among marsupials. They have a marbled coat patterned in shades of brown, grey, white, and cream, which varies by age and sex. Males typically exhibit more prominent blotches and spots, while juvenile females may appear spotless and pale yellow or creamy. This species lives high in the rainforest canopy, moving slowly and cautiously among the branches. As a member of the genus Spilocuscus, they are shy, solitary, and largely nocturnal, relying on camouflage and stillness to evade predators.
Diet
Like other spotted cuscus species, the blue-eyed spotted cuscus feeds on a variety of plant matter. Their diet includes leaves, fruits, flowers, and possibly bark. Foraging mostly takes place at night, using their strong limbs and prehensile tail to navigate the treetops in search of food.
Reproduction and Mating
Little is known about the breeding behaviour of the blue-eyed spotted cuscus due to their rarity in the wild. As marsupials, females likely give birth to underdeveloped young that complete their development in a pouch. It is presumed that, like related species, they raise one to two offspring at a time, and may breed seasonally depending on food availability.
Geographic Range
This cuscus species is endemic to the islands of Biak and Supiori in Cenderawasih Bay, with a few individuals reported from Numfor Island, where they may have been introduced as pets. Once more widespread, they are now rarely encountered outside of captivity. The rugged terrain of Supiori has helped protect some of their habitat, but populations on Biak have been decimated by deforestation and human encroachment.
Threats
The Blue-eyed Spotted Cuscus is listed as Critically Endangered because of a continuing drastic population decline, inferred to be more than 80% from the rate and extent of habitat loss in the last 10 years due to massive deforestation on Biak-Supiori and from levels of exploitation. This species is threatened by rapid, ongoing deforestation of suitable habitat, and by hunting for food and collection as a pets by local people.
- Deforestation: Rapid loss of lowland tropical rainforest on Biak and Supiori for palm oil agriculture and development
- Palm oil expansion: Destruction of forest for palm oil plantations threatens remaining habitat
- Hunting: Locals hunt cuscuses for meat
- Illegal pet trade: Capturing and selling them as exotic pets is a major threat
- Lack of enforcement: No targeted conservation programs exist for this species
Take Action!
The blue-eyed spotted cuscus could vanish forever without intervention. Support indigenous-led conservation in West Papua and pressure companies and governments to stop fuelling habitat destruction. Always choose palm oil-free products, and never support the exotic pet trade. Speak up, share their story, and push for their protection. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife #Vegan #BoycottMeat
FAQs
How many blue-eyed spotted cuscuses are left?
There are no exact population estimates, but the IUCN (2021) infers a population decline of over 80% in the last decade, with wild individuals now rarely seen. Most sightings are of pets or museum specimens, and recent field surveys have failed to find any wild individuals on Biak (IUCN, 2021).
How long do blue-eyed spotted cuscuses live?
Lifespan data for this species is lacking. However, similar species of cuscus in captivity can live 10–15 years, though wild lifespans are likely shorter due to threats from hunting and habitat loss.
Are blue-eyed spotted cuscuses endangered because of palm oil?
Yes. Palm oil deforestation is a major driver of habitat loss in their range. The rapid clearing of lowland rainforest on Biak and Supiori has destroyed much of their habitat. This, combined with hunting and the pet trade, has pushed them to the brink (IUCN, 2021).
Do blue-eyed spotted cuscuses make good pets?
No. Keeping blue-eyed spotted cuscuses as pets is cruel and contributes directly to their extinction. These gentle, tree-dwelling marsupials belong in the rainforest. Many animals in the pet trade are stolen from the wild, causing immense suffering and breaking apart family groups. If you truly care about them, never support the exotic pet trade and advocate against it.
What are the conservation challenges for this species?
The blue-eyed spotted cuscus suffers from neglect in conservation priorities. There are no species-specific conservation efforts, and only a small portion of its range is protected. Further studies into their distribution and natural history are urgently needed to inform protection strategies (Yohanita et al., 2023).
Further Information
Aplin, K. & Helgen, K. 2016. Spilocuscus wilsoni. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T136443A21950078. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T136443A21950078.en. Downloaded on 26 January 2021.
Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Blue-eyed spotted cuscus. Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 April 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-eyed_spotted_cuscus
Yohanita, A. M., Widayati, K. A., Atmowidi, T., Imai, H., & Suryobroto, B. (2023). New localities and sexual dichromatism in Blue-green eyed Spotted Cuscus Spilocuscus wilsoni from Biak Island, Indonesia. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 15(9), 23836–23842. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8179.15.9.23836-23842
Blue-eyed Spotted Cuscus Spilocuscus wilsoni
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