#eastern-gorilla-gorilla-beringei — Public Fediverse posts
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Apes Enjoy Joking and Teasing Each Other
New research finds that it’s not only human babies who love to playfully tease each other. Researchers reasoned that since language is not required for this behaviour, similar kinds of playful teasing might be present in non-human animals such as chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans. Now cognitive biologists and primatologists have documented playful teasing in four species of great apes. Like joking behaviour in humans, ape teasing is provocative, persistent, and includes elements of surprise and play. Because all four great ape species used playful teasing, it is likely that the prerequisites for humour evolved in the human lineage at least 13 million years ago.
#News: Great #apes tease and prank each other 🤡😛🦍🦧🐵🐒 just as humans do. Including body-slamming, hair-pulling and waving objects in front of each other’s faces – new #research study finds #sentience #primatology #primates #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7gR
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterMedia release from Science Alert, February 13, 2024. Research: Laumer I.B., Winkler S, Rossano F, Cartmill EA. Spontaneous playful teasing in four great ape species. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2024 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2345
Joking is an important part of human interaction that draws on social intelligence, an ability to anticipate future actions, and an ability to recognize and appreciate the violation of others’ expectations. Teasing has much in common with joking, and playful teasing may be seen as a cognitive precursor to joking. The first forms of playful teasing in humans emerge even before babies say their first words, as early as eight months of age. The earliest forms of teasing are repetitive provocations often involving surprise. Infants tease their parents by playfully offering and withdrawing objects, violating social rules (so-called provocative non-compliance), and disrupting others’ activities.
In a study, scientists from the University of California Los Angeles, the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Indiana University, and the University of California San Diego (Isabelle Laumer, Sasha Winkler, Federico Rossano, and Erica Cartmill, respectively) report evidence of playful teasing in the four great ape species: orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas. “Great apes are excellent candidates for playful teasing, as they are closely related to us, engage in social play, show laughter and display relatively sophisticated understandings of others’ expectations,” says Isabelle Laumer, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of California Los Angeles and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior.
The team analyzed spontaneous social interactions that appeared to be playful, mildly harassing, or provocative. During these interactions, the researchers observed the teaser’s actions, bodily movements, facial expressions, and how the targets of the teasing responded in turn. They also assessed the teaser’s intentionality by looking for evidence that the behavior was directed at a specific target, that it persisted or intensified, and that teasers waited for a response from the target.
Teasing to provoke a response
The researchers found that orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas all engaged in intentionally provocative behavior, frequently accompanied by characteristics of play. They identified 18 distinct teasing behaviors. Many of these behaviors appeared to be used to provoke a response, or at least to attract the target’s attention. “It was common for teasers to repeatedly wave or swing a body part or object in the middle of the target’s field of vision, hit or poke them, stare closely at their face, disrupt their movements, pull on their hair or perform other behaviors that were extremely difficult for the target to ignore,” explains UCLA and IU professor Erica Cartmill, senior author of the study.
https://youtu.be/7NyiBuEfdGI?si=PBS_Fy4CEVOW3lzI
Although playful teasing took many forms, the authors note that it differed from play in several ways. “Playful teasing in great apes is one-sided, very much coming from the teaser often throughout the entire interaction and rarely reciprocated,” explains Cartmill. “The animals also rarely use play signals like the primate ‘playface’, which is similar to what we would call a smile, or ‘hold’ gestures that signal their intent to play.”
Similarity with human behaviour
Playful teasing mainly occurred when apes were relaxed, and shared similarities with behaviours in humans. “Similar to teasing in children, ape playful teasing involves one-sided provocation, response waiting in which the teaser looks towards the target’s face directly after a teasing action, repetition, and elements of surprise,” Laumer explains.
The researchers noted that Jane Goodall and other field primatologists had mentioned similar behaviours happening in chimpanzees many years ago, but this new study was the first to systematically study playful teasing. “From an evolutionary perspective, the presence of playful teasing in all four great apes and its similarities to playful teasing and joking in human infants suggests that playful teasing and its cognitive prerequisites may have been present in our last common ancestor, at least 13 million years ago,” explains Laumer. “We hope that our study will inspire other researchers to study playful teasing in more species in order to better understand the evolution of this multi-faceted behaviour. We also hope that this study raises awareness of the similarities we share with our closest relatives and the importance of protecting these endangered animals.”
Media release from Science Alert, February 13, 2024. Research: Laumer I.B., Winkler S, Rossano F, Cartmill EA. Spontaneous playful teasing in four great ape species. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2024 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2345
ENDS
Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture
Global South America S.E. Asia India Africa West Papua & PNGTanimbar Eclectus Parrot Eclectus riedeli
Malayan Flying Fox Pteropus vampyrus
Mountain Cuscus Phalanger carmelitae
Brazilian three-banded armadillo Tolypeutes tricinctus
Sumatran Tiger Panthera tigris sondaica
Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing
Read more about RSPO greenwashing
Lying Fake labels Indigenous Land-grabbing Human rights abuses Deforestation Human health hazardsA 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
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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
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https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20
https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20
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Primates are facing an impending extinction crisis – but we know very little about what will actually protect them
From lemurs to orangutans, tarsiers to gorillas, primates are captivating and sometimes unnervingly similar to us. So it’s not surprising that this group of more than 500 species receives a great deal of research and conservation attention.
60% of primates 🦍🦧🐒🐵 are threatened by #extinction 🙊🙈😿 Without direct action, the number of endangered #primates will grow and more species will disappear forever. #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife and be #vegan! @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/06/05/primates-are-facing-an-impending-extinction-crisis-but-we-know-very-little-about-what-will-actually-protect-them/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterBut despite this effort, more than 60% of primate species are threatened with extinction mainly due to human activities, such as palm oil habitat loss, hunting, illegal trade, climate change and disease.
This extinction crisis makes effective conservation actions vital. There are many different possible conservation actions for primates, like anti-poaching patrols, relocating animals, publicising conservation issues and reintroducing primates into their habitats. But our new study shows that very little is known about what actually works to protect primates.
I’m part of a team of expert primatologists and conservationists from 21 countries who examined the evidence for 162 primate conservation actions to see if they actually work. We found there wasn’t any research published testing the effectiveness of more than half of the actions. This lack of evidence means it’s impossible to know whether these actions work or not.
Peruvian Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey Lagothrix flavicaudaEven when studies on the effectiveness of a conservation action have been published, we found it was still difficult to draw valid conclusions about whether the action worked, due to problems with the design of the studies. This was even true for some actions that have been studied 20 to 30 times.
These huge gaps in knowledge are worrying, because without adequate information, researchers can’t learn from experience and can’t prioritise efforts and funding to best protect our primate relatives. Indeed, without access to evidence, conservationists might apply actions that are ineffective or even damaging to the animals they seek to protect.
Missing species
Crested Capuchin Sapajus robustusThe studies we reviewed only cover about 14% of the more than 500 primate species and just 12% of threatened primate species. And they mainly focus on the great apes and some of the larger monkey species.
Worryingly, some whole families are completely left out of the studies we reviewed. There are, for example, no studies of the tarsiers of south-east Asia in our database, or of the night monkeys of Central and South America. This is a problem, because we can’t assume that an action that works for one primate species will work for another species, due to each species’ unique behaviour and ecology.
We also found that South America and Asia are underrepresented in current conservation research on primates. This is particularly worrying because both are home to a high number of threatened primate species.
Why is this happening?
Faced with limited budgets and time, competing priorities and the urgency of many conservation scenarios, it’s easy to understand why conservationists might not focus on evaluating their actions.
The question, “Does this conservation action improve the long-term future of a population?” may seem simple, but it’s particularly difficult to answer for many primates. This is because many primate species live in dense tropical forest, with poor visibility and difficult access, making it extremely tough to count them. If researchers can’t get a good idea of how many primates there are, they can’t find out if the numbers are decreasing, stable, or increasing. And without seeing the animals themselves, we can’t assess their wellbeing.
Without action, the number of endangered primates will grow and more species will disappear forever. Pexels/Nitin SharmaConservationists also need to monitor primates for a long time to measure the effect of any action taken, because they live a long time and reproduce very slowly. In a short study, for example, it might be easy to confuse the long life of the last few individuals with a persistent population. It’s also important to be confident that any effects seen are related to the specific conservation action taken, rather than coincidence.
Beyond these challenges, publishing a study is difficult. Worse, the pressure to publish in prestigious journals favours publication of success stories, rather than actions that didn’t work, meaning that published studies may give a biased picture of the real situation.
Improving the evidence
Now that the scale of the problem is known, the gaps need to be identified to ensure research focuses on threatened species and understudied regions, and that actions with insufficient evidence are evaluated.
Funding organisations should dedicate resources to evaluating conservation actions. Meanwhile, experts like the Primate Specialist Group can contribute by developing guidelines on how to test actions rigorously.
Academic scientists can also collaborate with conservationists to design appropriate studies. Evidence databases like the one we assessed provide easily-understood summaries of actions and their effectiveness, as well as a place to report findings – and partially address the problem of publication.
Conservationists also need to be cautious as it’s clear that in many instances it’s not yet known if an action is effective or not. This is important because primates and their habitats face ominous threats and urgent effective conservation measures are needed to protect them. But by adopting an evidence-based approach to the conservation of primates, we can ensure they continue to enchant us in the future.
Jo Setchell, Professor of Anthropology, Durham University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
#AnimalBiodiversityNews #animalExtinction #animals #Ape #apes #BonoboPanPaniscus #BorneanOrangutanPongoPygmaeus #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #ChimpanzeePanTroglodytes #deforestation #EasternGorillaGorillaBeringei #ecology #extinction #ForgottenAnimals #monkey #Primate #primates #Primatologist #primatology #SumatranOrangutanPongoAbelii #TapanuliOrangutanPongoTapanuliensis #vegan #WesternGorillaGorillaGorilla
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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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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
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Research: Small room for compromise between oil palm cultivation and primate conservation in Africa
Research by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission found that although oil palm cultivation represents an important source of income for many tropical countries, its future expansion is a primary threat to tropical forests and biodiversity.
#Research: Along with the dramatic effects of #palmoil cultivation on #biodiversity in #Asia, reconciling a large-scale #oilpalm growth in #Africa with #primate #conservation will be a great challenge #Boycottpalmoil 🌴⛔️#Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/02/03/research-small-room-for-compromise-between-oil-palm-cultivation-and-primate-conservation-in-africa/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterIn this context, and especially in regions where industrial palm oil production is still emerging, identifying “areas of compromise,” that is, areas with high productivity and low biodiversity importance, could be a unique opportunity to reconcile conservation and economic growth. The team applied this approach to Africa, by combining data on oil palm suitability with primate distribution, diversity, and vulnerability.
“We found that such areas of compromise are very rare throughout the continent (0.13 Mha), and that large-scale expansion of oil palm cultivation in Africa will have unavoidable, negative effects on primates.”
Small room for compromise between oil palm cultivation and primate conservation in Africa (2018) Giovanni Strona, Simon D. Stringer, Ghislain Vieilledent, et. al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2018, 115 (35) 8811-8816; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1804775115
https://twitter.com/Cleve_Hicks/status/1484118025125175296?s=20
“Despite growing awareness about its detrimental effects on tropical biodiversity, land conversion to palm oil continues to increase rapidly as a consequence of global demand, profitability, and the income opportunity it offers to producing countries.”
Small room for compromise between oil palm cultivation and primate conservation in Africa (2018) Giovanni Strona, Simon D. Stringer, Ghislain Vieilledent, et. al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2018, 115 (35) 8811-8816; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1804775115
Although most industrial oil palm plantations are located in Southeast Asia, it is argued that much of their future expansion will occur in Africa. The team assessed how this could affect the continent’s primates by combining information on oil palm suitability and current land use with primate distribution, diversity, and vulnerability.
They also quantified the potential impact of large-scale oil palm cultivation on primates in terms of range loss under different expansion scenarios taking into account future demand, oil palm suitability, human accessibility, carbon stock, and primate vulnerability.
Mountain Gorilla mum and babyThey found a high overlap between areas of high oil palm suitability and areas of high conservation priority for primates. Overall, we found only a few small areas where oil palm could be cultivated in Africa with a low impact on primates (3.3 Mha, including all areas suitable for oil palm).
“These results warn that, consistent with the dramatic effects of palm oil cultivation on biodiversity in Southeast Asia, reconciling a large-scale development of oil palm in Africa with primate conservation will be a great challenge.”
Small room for compromise between oil palm cultivation and primate conservation in Africa (2018) Giovanni Strona, Simon D. Stringer, Ghislain Vieilledent, et. al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2018, 115 (35) 8811-8816; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1804775115
Small room for compromise between oil palm cultivation and primate conservation in Africa (2018) Giovanni Strona, Simon D. Stringer, Ghislain Vieilledent, et. al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2018, 115 (35) 8811-8816; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1804775115
Primatologist Dr Cleve Hicks warns about how palm oil is poised destroy primate populations in Africa and why he believes the #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife is the answer
Dr Cleve Hicks – Primatologist on palm oil and chimpanzee culturesPrimatologist Cleve Hicks on Chimpanzee cultures, Palm Oil deforestation
Dr Hicks speaks with Palm Oil Detectives about his chimpanzee research, veganism, deforestation, palm oil and what consumers can do to help the endangered animals of Africa.
Boycott the brands causing deforestation for palm oil, soy and meat by joining the #Boycott4Wildlife
Join the #Boycott4Wildlife#Africa #Asia #biodiversity #bonobo #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #BoycottpalmoilTweet #ChimpanzeePanTroglodytes #conservation #deforestation #EasternGorillaGorillaBeringei #humanWildlifeConflict #Mammal #monkey #MountainGorilla #oilpalm #PalmOil #palmOilDeforestation #palmoil #Primate #primates #research #WesternGorillaGorillaGorilla