Twenty metres up, the canopy looks like a highway. Different shades of green, yellow and grey leaves fuse, creating the illusion of an endless rainforest. I spent most of 2013 in the canopy of a cloudforest in Colombia, collecting insects and arachnids from inside bromeliads and mosses. I was studying how their availability influences the […]
Tag: primates
Petition: Wild Animals Are Still Suffering in Circuses and Fairs Across the United States
Imagine being ripped from your family, confined to small, dirty enclosures and transported to strange places. You are forced to perform painful and unfamiliar tasks, dances, and movements. If you resist, you are beaten, screamed at, or another horrific form of intimidation. Your captors get paid while you waste away, psychologically broken and physically brutalized. […]
10 deadliest, most ruthless, savage primates on the planet – “Their hunting expeditions involve intelligence, cooperation and utterly brutal violence.”
Super-strong simians, menacing monkeys, apes with attitude and lethal lemurs – here’s our pick of the primates that kill… Deadliest primates on the planet Mandrill This elusive inhabitant of equatorial African rainforests is the biggest of all monkeys and arguably the most beautiful. The 30kg males – three times the weight of females – […]
Surgeons Perform First-Ever Surgery for Critically-Endangered Monkey Weeks Before She Gave Birth
GNN often stays abreast of births among the Chester Zoo’s incredibly diverse residents of rare and endangered species, but few have ever been cuter or rarer than this Roloway monkey. Chester Zoo is one of only two places in the UK that Roloway monkeys can be found, a spokesman said, and the breeding population there supports the […]
Are humans the only primates that use breasts for show?
Humans are unique in developing permanent breasts that send sexual signals, says Stuart Blackman. However, there is another primate with an ostentatious chest. Ethiopian geladas have bald chest patches that are bright red. As the sole grass-eating primates, geladas spend much of their time shuffling around. Squatting hides their backsides, so there’s no point having […]
This monkey has dagger-like teeth and the bite strength of a jaguar. Combined, it’s one of the Amazon’s most powerful tools
The red-nosed cuxiu (Chiropotes albinasus) is a terrier-sized monkey whose diet is dominated by the unripe seeds of super-hard fruits. While you or I would need a hammer to access them, the cuxiu brings its own toolkit; enormous dagger-like canines, mounted on robust jaws and powered by massive jaw muscles. Combined, these give the glossy-black […]
Chimps Eating Bat Poop Might Reveal Hidden Risks for Future Pandemics
A strange new behavior among chimpanzees in Uganda is raising red flags for scientists studying how diseases spill over from wildlife to humans. According to Earth.com, researchers observed chimps and other animals in Budongo Forest repeatedly eating bat guano as a replacement for lost mineral sources. For years, chimps relied on Raphia palm trees to […]
Mountain gorillas are back from the brink. But what happens if they run out of room?
It is sunrise on mount Muhabura, an inactive volcano on the Ugandan-Rwandan border, and Dr Benard Ssebide is in a rush to find a family of mountain gorillas before the tourists arrive. A mass of ferns, vines and thistles encroaches on the path, and the guides hack through brambles with machetes. Above, the forest whistles […]