Dude, weβre going to bring it back for the inaugural issue of Ape Shit!
Dude, weβre going to bring it back for the inaugural issue of Ape Shit!
A few years ago, a biopark in Japan placed an arcade claw game into the capuchins' enclosure β and the internet delivers the video!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ApG...
Imagine how much of asshole these guys were to piss of a bonobo like that www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Great piece. But if Punch were not born in a zoo, and if his natural habitat hadnβt been destroyed, please consider that his mother may not have rejected him in the first place. Maternal rejection happens far more often in primates in captivity.
Nice piece, but I would have appreciated some acknowledgement that maternal failure is very often an artifact of captivity.
Pic of page 62 of a book by Vicki Croke with highlighted text that reads: "A drill at the San Diego Zoo finds human femalesβparticularly blondsβsexually appealing, and the zoo capitalizes on this to collect semen samples." From _the Modern Ark: The Story of Zoos: Past, Present, and Future (Avon, 1997)
I have so many questions
Field researchers have remarked about this for decades but it ain't science until the fancy math says so.
Gift link.
For those who didn't unsubscribe from the NYT in anger, here is a gift link thanks to @stmdc.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/s...
I love this book too, esp. the pieces by Thelma Rowell & Alison Jolly. Early 20th c. primate researchers wrote in more accessible manner, and with anecdotes... Seems like scientists gotta be well-established before they can write like a normal human person today.
Howler monkeys, one of the loudest animals on Earth, scare off rivals with what amounts to false advertising. #primates
A newspaper article headlined "Monkey That Killed Boy Is Destroyed" along with a photo of a macaque monkey in a metal cage. https://www.newspapers.com/image/181286704/
Wondering what went wrong with this July 1975 AP story because the monkey they captured and killed is clearly not a capuchin. Wrongful conviction?
Important update.
Perhaps it's worth pointing out that AI photos of the alleged monkeys also circulated last week, showing the monkeys wearing safety gear in workshops.
Probably AI
Ai, the beloved chimp from Kyoto University who played a key role in studies of chimpsβ amazing memory skills, has died at age 49. She leaves behind her son, Ayuma, another key player in this research. japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20260111-303426/
Two macaques groom a gorgeous male langur in Papanasam R.F., Tamil Nadu, India Photo by Ambareesh Sridhar at www.pexels.com/photo/playful-macaques-in-papanasam-forest-india-34058950/
It's not uncommon for cities in India to employ langurs to scare macaques out of urban areas.
This photo by Ambareesh Sridhar shows how langurs and macaques can get along without those pesky humans intervening.
Maddie, a pigtail macaque at primaterescue.org in Kentucky, makes the best goofy faces...
β[Traders] are using loopholes of [CITES] convention to have mass exports of great apes and we see that as the new dangerβ
"Footage shows the animal smashing a bird's cage against a wall, freeing the pet..."
Push thru the janky opening (and clickbait thumbnail) and this turns out to be a super sweet documentary about the crucial work of primate sanctuaries. Hats off to Kari Bagnall from Jungle Friends in Florida: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjVu...
IKEA orca would go so viral
The deluded woman who lost one "pet" monkey after it was found lost at Ikea a decade ago, has managed to acquire two more. Why? In part because only two types of animals are banned by Ontarioβs provincial government: pit bulls and orcas. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/exotic-pets-laws-1.3790684
If you want to convince your city council that youβre a responsible animal lover, maybe donβt show up with a spider monkey entrapped in a stroller, freaking out. fox4kc.com/news/prairie-village-eyes-monkey-ban-leaving-family-stunned #primates
Roman officers in Egypt imported Indian monkeys for pets and the monkeysβ graves included βapparent status markers like iridescent shells and food delicacies, and kittens and a piglet as the monkeyβs own petsβ ππ₯Ί
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Photo of a lactating adult capuchin with surprisingly large breasts nursing an infant. Photo source: www.istockphoto.com/photo/south-american-cappuccino-monkey-in-ecuador-gm1421154482-466884906
Capuchins are unique among primates in the extent to which females will nurse each othersβ infants. Those who try to refuse an infant ("cheaters") are easily detected because infants denied access to nipples stage tantrums.
βThe Complete Capuchin, 2004 (Pic: Ecuadorplanet)