This is another post from my trip to the Serengeti in September. The abundance of prey and predators is a perfect environment for Spotted Hyaenas, which are also known as ‘laughing hyaenas’. The hideous ‘laugh’ is really a signal of submission. Hyaena can also be spelt hyena, but I prefer the former because these are […]
Tag: Chimpanzee
30 years of protecting the mysterious Okapi
The discovery of the elusive okapi, once believed to be a mythical unicorn, was one of the most exciting taxonomic findings of the twentieth century. This mysterious mammal lives deep inside the tropical forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and has been known to the western world only since early 1900s. Some […]
Congo Miners Poach At-Risk Animals Because They Have Nothing Else to Eat
A new study finds that small-scale mineral mining in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a critical factor in illegal poaching of great apes and other wildlife. It’s happening for the saddest, most basic of reasons, too: Those miners are hungry. In fact, the miners have no other source of meat/protein. Sure, […]
Huge Success! New York Blood Center Donates $6 Million to Abandoned Chimps
Two years ago, when Care2 member Donny Moss heard that 66 chimps had been abandoned with no food or water on islands off the coast of Liberia, he was horrified. The New York Blood Center (NYBC) had been doing experiments testing a Hepatitis B vaccine on chimpanzees for over 30 years, but after the research […]
POLL: Should the keeping of dangerous wild animals as pets be banned?
In a victory for wildlife, South Carolina has officially passed a law that bans keeping dangerous wild animals as pets. The new law, which was just signed by Governor Henry McMaster, will now ban the private possession of big cats, non-native bears and great apes. “We applaud the provisions of this bill that prohibit the […]
Mouse Kabobs’ and Saliva: Why Animals Give Strange Gifts
During this festive season, Weird Animal Question of the Week couldn’t help wondering: Are there any other animals that give gifts? And are their gifts any good? Great Things in Small Packages Dead bugs and body parts may not seem appealing to us, but they’re exactly what many animals want any time of year. Several […]
Chimpanzees Deemed Endangered by U.S. – What’s It Mean?
All chimpanzees are now listed as endangered by the United States, a ruling meant to better protect those apes in captivity, the government announced Friday. The decision, which goes into effect September 14, follows a 2013 proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to toss out the legal distinction between wild and captive chimpanzees. […]
Video: Camera traps capture rare footage of wild bonobos
Bonobos, our ape cousins, love peace. Unlike chimpanzees, also our close relatives, bonobos are known to resolve conflict through sex instead of aggression. They kiss, they caress, and females display genito-genital rubbing (also called G-G rubbing) to communicate, bond, and reconcile. But capturing these elusive and endangered apes on camera is not easy. In the […]