...THE MOUNTAIN GORILLAS The mountain gorilla, a large,strong ape is the most endangered gorilla. Mountain gorillas are as shy as they are strong. Mountain gorillas are gentle and affectionate. When threatened they can be aggressive, they beat their chests and let out angry massive grunts and roars. Group leaders will charge at the threat and mothers will fight till death to protect their young. They do not hurt humans unless threatened or attacked. Gorillas are one of the most feared animals on the planet.The thick hair that keeps them warm in cold mountain temperatures. They have large jaws and teeth. They get huge muscle and hair on their head to make it even larger when they get old. Their head makes their eyes and ears look dwarfed. A fully grown male mountain gorilla weigh up to...
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...Mountain Gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) are facing a battle for survival. Even though their populations have increase from 620 animals in 1989 to around 786 today (WWF), there have been many years of unrest. Just over half of these gorillas live around the Virunga volcanoes, which connects Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Saving a Species: Gorillas on the Brink, 2007). Natalie Portman and Jack Hanna visited Virunga National Park in search of the endangered Mountain Gorilla, and to shed light on the current conservation issues facing them today. They touched on how populations are being decimated by conflict and poaching, although the efforts of several conservation organizations, such as the African Conservation...
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...a printed media based newspaper. The main issue in the article is the mining for coltan. The author’s main contentions are: the destruction of the gorilla habitat and the problems mining for coltan is creating. The tone of language the author uses is informative. The intended target audience are the mobile phone consumers, miners and phone companies. Some of the main persuasive language strategies the author uses are: Connation, Evidence, Attack, Exaggeration, Rhetorical question and Adjectives. A main contention that the author has is the destruction of the gorilla habitat. This is because coltans are found near gorilla habitats. In order for a miner to properly get the coltan out, they need to clear the land so it is easier for them to remove the coltan from the ground. The process of clearing the gorilla habitat in order for better mining involves the death of many gorillas. This is because with the gorillas having nowhere to sleep, live and eat in, they will wander around for many days in search of a suited habitat for them and for their offsprings. With their habitat remove from the face of the planet, there and their offsprings’ chance of survival goes down bit by bit everyday as they struggle to replace the habitat they were deprived from. People would become desperate in search of food that they start to hunt gorillas as a source of food. They are simply called “bush meat” by many others. The author uses Evidence as a metalanguage strategy in the article to support...
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...Extinction of Great Apes The great apes are humankind’s closest relatives. Great apes include gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and bonobos, which are also known as pygmy chimps. At the turn of the century, there were approximately one million chimpanzees in Africa. This number has declined down to 150,000. Mountain gorillas have halved in size over the last ten years, leaving only 320 to roam the trees of their homeland. Some say these great apes will face extinction within a decade. Why is this the case and should we let this happen? These apes lose areas of habitat on a daily basis. They are also constantly slaughtered for meat and body parts. These two enormous contributors of great ape depletion are just unnecessary additional threats to the existence of our relatives. We must not forget that there is also disease and environmental catastrophes that kill off these intelligent human-like primates. Humans share up to 98% of their DNA. This makes the great apes a very valuable and important subject for study. There is a lot we can learn from them. Because we are so closely related, this may also be a link to global extinction. Perhaps a more thorough evaluation of each of the factors which contribute to the depletion of the four great apes may help to understand how damaging and unnecessary this depletion has become for them, as well as for us. One of the most influential causes for the mass decline in great apes is due to habitat loss. Habitat loss includes the clearing...
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...mother chimpanzees had the ability to teach their young valuable skills such as using tools to crack open nuts. Boesche (1991) found that; “Chimpanzee mothers may influence the development of nut cracking in three ways (excluding the very widespread nut sharing): (1) stimulating; and (2) facilitating nut cracking; and (3) active teaching. Mothers can stimulate nut cracking by leaving hammers or nuts near the anvil” Humans are always teaching their children valuable skills to help in their survival, just as chimpanzee mothers did. There has also been evidence that Australopithecines evolved to make sharp stone tools for other food preparation (Benton, 2013). Another trait we share with the Great Apes is relationships between females. Mountain gorillas have been shown to show more aggression to females they associate with less in the group. Marshian and Nashida (1996) discovered that “Maternal relatives are close associates and often interact affinitively. Serious aggression between them is rare....
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...Virunga, Assignment 3 April 15th 2016 Virunga, is a documentary film that focuses on a brave team of rangers who risked their lives to protect the last mountain gorillas. In eastern Congo, The Virunga National Park is home to these gorillas. The film begins with the history of Congo. In 1885 millions of citizens where killed. A statement that stood out to me was “a black man is like an animal to me”. In 1994 the civil war broke out where the rebel group was able to profit from minerals. In 2003 a peace agreement was signed and in 2006 they had their first democratic election. In 2010, oil was discovered and by 2012 instability returned back for the Congo people. The filmed featured the rangers fighting for the Virunga National park because Soco International began exploring for oil. What is interesting about this film is that the Congo government welcomed Soco International singing chants and praises as they arrive. Other residents, also supported Soco International because they were bribed with money. On the other hand, these fellow rangers devoted their life to the national park. It was apart of their culture and who they were and what they strongly believed in. My personal favorite part of the film was the gorilla orphanage that had 4 most adorable gorillas. There names were Maisha, Kaboko, Nedsa, Khaski. Each gorilla had their unique characteristics. For example, Kaboko was described as very aggressive but had a great affection to others. Sadly, Kaboko died due to stress...
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...CONTEXT Crucial difference that distinguishes humans from animals is LAUNGUAGE. Noam Chomsky humans have a special part of the brain that allows us biologically to learn language automatically. This explains why human cultures all over the word have language and why children develop so quickly. HAYES AND HAYES work with a chimpanzee called Vicki. Aimed to teach her vocal language in 6 years Vicki learnt 4 sounds English words. MAMA PAPA CUP AND UP BRYAN vocal apparatus of a chimpanzee different from humans. Chimpanzee capable making different sounds vocalisation tends to occur situations of stress or excitement when chimpanzees are often quiet. Gardner and Gardner identified vocal language wasn’t appropriate. YERKES laboratory chimpanzees capable spontaneously developing begging and similar behaviours using there hands to manipulate but also solve problems. Using their hands particular skill that could form sign language. AIM Investigate teach chimpanzee to communicate using American sign language they used a chimpanzee because there intelligent, sociable and have strong attachments’ to humans. PROCEDURE The methodology used for G+G was a longitude case study; Washoe was an female at the age of 8-14 months. Washoes interactions were similar to a child as washoe had built a daily routine and built a relationship for those who cared for her. Washoes was taught American Sign Language. Washoe was trained by DIRECT INSITUTION, USING SIGNS, PROMPTING, IMITATION, BABBLING...
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...According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has killed about 60,000 people. In Sudan, the Janjaweed Militia have killed at least 250,000 men, women, and children. In refugee camps, the Janjaweed Militia “attack towns, villages, and refugee camps, kill the men and boys, rape the women and girls, and poison the wells. Their goal is to replace these African peoples with Arab herders.” In the Democratic Republic of Congo the dead range from three to five million. (Genocide Watch) This type of violence is occurring as I write this paper. Syria, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are all male dominated cultures. The book Demonic Males, by Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson, makes a strong case that human violence, especially in males, is biological. Wrangham and Peterson do a nice job presenting evidence of our link to the great apes. The authors also prove that apes are capable of premeditated acts of violence. Psychologists believe human behavior is 50 percent biology and 50 percent culture while traditional conception of human behavior maintains that people are good or bad, depending on familial and cultural influences. When people do bad things, it is because they came from a dysfunctional family, or they have psychological issues. When culture is responsible for violent acts, a traditional conception is that the culture has the wrong belief system. This culture’s belief system is wrong because it differs from the norm. The norm...
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...For a long time, humans have believed that they are the only unique species in the world because of their intelligence, ability to feel compassion and creations of society. However, in the world of anthropology, that belief has been continuously challenged by evidence of humanlike qualities seen in primates. There is a term called ‘anthropomorphism’ which has been used to describe the concept of projecting human abilities, characteristics or qualities to non-human entities such as inanimate objects or animals. Primates get anthropomorphized because they are so similar to humans, but this tends to frowned upon in science because primates are only recognized as animals, even though it is important because it highlights many of the things that make human beings human. Primates are animals, but their similarities towards humans cannot be denied, and many scientists, including primate behaviorist Meredith Small, discover and state that human beings and primates had shared a common ancestor and “still have much behavior in common” with them (Small M. 1992, pg. 97). In fact, a journalist named Dan Falk had written in the Crux about a few similarities chimps share with humans, saying that they are very clever creatures who are able to communicate through “vocalizations, as well as hand gestures and facial expressions” and can use “sticks and rocks as tools” (Falk, 2014). These similarities show that they do have intelligence that brings them closer to humans, as intelligence is what deemed...
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...lived between 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago. Donald Johanson and his co-workers were very happy and did not sleep that night. They had been playing the Beatle’s song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds over and over again at their camp. So I had been named Lucy and gave more insight to the evolution of humans and apes. The scientists are not really sure about what I was; human or ape. I had a low forehead, a bony ridge over the eyes, a flat nose, no chin, more humanlike teeth, pelvis and leg bones that resembled those of modern man. My body was smaller than my male friends and the relationship of sexual dimorphism and social group structure was like a modern ape. My father had a number of wives and lived in family groups. It was not like then gorillas; more sexually dimorphic than humans or chimpanzees. Scientists assume I lost of an abductable great toe and the ability to grasp with the foot and was no longer adapted to climbing. My fingers and toe bones were curved and longer than the modern human. I am classified as an ape, not a human. It is a Hominid, which is an ape closely related to human beings. My body size, brain size and skull shape is similar to a chimpanzee but I also have some human characteristics like...
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...Chimpanzees One of the the four ape species that professor Stanford discusses in his book, Planet Without Apes, is the chimpanzee. Chimpanzees can be found throughout the continent of Africa; they are primarily located in rain forests, but can also be found inside open woodlands or areas where trees and brush are present. Chimpanzees live in fission-fusion societies, which means that there community breaks apart for some part of the day, before coming back together as a single whole group for the rest of the time. In the chimpanzee community, males are known to never leave the place in which they were born and raised; while females are known to emigrate during or right after puberty. One of the biggest problems concerning chimpanzees is deforestation. Deforestation kills chimpanzees and separates many others from their communities, leading to territorial conflicts. As it is known, chimpanzees are very territorial animals who often fight against neighboring communities for territory. Deforestation tears down the communities of chimpanzees which forces them to move out and find new homes. While looking for a new place to live, chimpanzees will often times fight because there will be other chimpanzees residing in the territory which they are trying to move into. The other issue with deforestation is it leads to problems with genetic flow. Female chimpanzees are supposed to emigrate from their communities during or after they hit puberty to breed. If deforestation is killing...
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...Animal vs human language Arbitrariness Human: * There is no natural connection between a word’s form and its meaning * A written word does not look like its meaning. Animals: * Animal communicative sounds are closely correlated with their meanings. * An animal’s „vocabulary“ is finite and limited. Displacement * Humans can talk about the past, present or future. * Humans can talk about things that don’t exist or we can’t see. * Animal communication is about the here and now. * Animals can’t displace in either time or space. Productivity * Human vocabulary and sentences are infinite and open-ended: We can create new words in our Lexicon in unlimited combinations. „Colourless green ideas sleep furiously“ (Noam Chonsky). * We have a morphology and a grammar which allows us to combine new words in new structures. Cultural Transmission * We acquire our speech from the environment we are raised in, our culture, which includes our language, our accent and our expressions. A meow is a meow wherever because it is instinctual, inborn. Some birds are born with some calls and songs instinctually and some are learned. 7 week window for birds: If birds are not exposed to bird song in the first 7 weeks, they will still produce songs, but abnormal ones. Song-singing is instinctual. 7 years window for children: If a child is not exposed to language within the first 7 years, it will develop...
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...World monkeys and catarrhines incorporate Old World monkeys, gorillas, and people. All New World monkeys are arboreal and live in the woods of Central and South America, while Old World monkeys incorporate both earthly and arboreal species. New world monkeys wandered from Old World monkeys around 30 million years back. New World monkeys have numerous remarkable attributes. Their teeth are organized as two incisors, one canine, three premolars, and three molars in every quadrant of the mouth. They have wide noses with round nostrils that open outward. New World monkeys have prehensile (getting a handle on) tails and Old World monkeys don't. Old World monkeys have characteristics that vary from New World monkeys. The teeth of Old World monkeys are composed as two incisors, one canine, two premolars, and three molars in every quadrant, which is an indistinguishable game plan from human teeth. They have limit noses with their nostrils pointing descending. Old World monkeys have either long or short non-prehensile tails. Old World monkeys have trademark anatomical specializations, including calluses on their posteriors for sitting on hard, intense tree limbs or the ground for long eras. Old World monkey females experience obvious estrus, substantial swellings around the genitalia telling guys that they are ovulating. Sexual dimorphism is by all accounts more predominant in Old World monkeys, particularly in the earthbound species....
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... Have you ever seen a monkey in a zoo before that knows how to speak in sign language? Personally, I have not seen one other than me, but the difference is I don’t live in a zoo. I know how to speak using the sign language letters and can be fairly strange sometimes. Some people say they can blame it on my brain activity and others say it’s because I have the higher functioning Autism known as Asperger’s and epilepsy. Luckily for me the seizure disorder in which I tend to get grand mall seizures has been controlled through prescribed medication for one year and four months. Also, I like to say dickhead. Though it has nothing to relate to my monkey like disabilities, you are probably wondering why. The reason I love the word dickhead is because when me and my sister were little, we would always try to imagine a dick on a head and wonder if anyone had a dick on their head. If you think that’s my favorite curse word, then you are wrong because that is my favorite word. Just remember I am a monkey so it may seem strange to you. However shit is a curse word which just so happens to be my favorite curse word. Now you might ask why. The reason is because when I was a little monkey I went to a Girl Scout camp that had horses where they required you to do a chore dealing with horses in which you picked the chore as a group. Until one day where they chose the chore for us which they have never done before which was picking up horse poop. That was everyone’s worst part of the day since...
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...CHAPTER ONE 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Information The Cross River gorilla, Gorilla gorilla diehli (Matschie, 1904), a subspecies of the western gorilla, Gorilla gorilla, is found in contiguous forest patches bordering South-Southern Nigeria and South-Western Cameroon, an area recognized as a biodiversity hotspot characterized by species diversity and endemism (Edet, 2011). The subspecies is one of the most critically endangered primates of Africa (Oates et al., 2008; IUCN, 2013). The subspecies is also one of the world’s 25 most endangered primates (Mittermeier et al., 2009). As humans extend their land use, Cross River gorilla habitat is rapidly disappearing, and this may have adverse effects on number of individuals within the subspecies. The Cross River gorilla, Gorilla gorilla diehli, chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes vellorosus) and drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus), though legally protected by the Endangered Species Decree 11 of 1985, are some of the primates hunted for bushmeat and other purposes (Edet, 2011). The Major threat to the survival of the subspecies is lack of thorough conservation strategy necessary for its protection. The survival of this endangered species and ecosystems depends on long-term participation and understanding of local populations (Oates, 1999). Due to the close relationship between cultural diversity and biodiversity, traditional knowledge systems play an important role when developing species conservation and management strategies (Caldecott...
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