Whiff of 'Love Hormone' Helps Monkeys Show a Little Kindness

ScienceDaily (Jan. 5, 2012) — Oxytocin, the "love hormone" that builds mother-baby bonds and may help us feel more connected toward one another, can also make surly monkeys treat each other a little more kindly.


Administering the hormone nasally through a kid-sized nebulizer, like a gas mask, a Duke University research team has shown that it can make rhesus macaques pay more attention to each other and make choices that give another monkey a squirt of fruit juice, even when they don't get one themselves.

Two macaques were seated next to each other and trained to select symbols from a screen that represented giving a rewarding squirt of juice to one's self, giving juice to the neighbor, or not handing out any juice at all. In repeated trials, they were faced with a choice between just two of these options at a time: reward to self vs. no reward; reward to self vs. reward to other; and reward to other vs. no reward.

"The inhaled oxytocin enhanced 'prosocial' choices by the monkeys, perhaps by making them pay more attention to the other individual," said neuroscientist Michael Platt, who headed the study and is director of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences. "If that's true, it's really cool, because it suggests that oxytocin breaks down normal social barriers."

Continued: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120105145835.htm

Monkeys Are Rewriting Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is often regarded as the world's pre-eminent writer, but so what? Most of his complete works are so elementary, they could be written by monkeys. Don't think so? Just ask Jesse Anderson.

Anderson, a software developer in Nevada, is up to some serious monkey business. He recently developed a computer program that simulated a few million virtual monkeys randomly bashing away on virtual typewriters. Their assignment? Randomly re-create the complete works of William Shakespeare.

Read on...

Monkeys Also Reason Through Analogy

ScienceDaily (Sep. 23, 2011) — Recognizing relations between relations is what analogy is all about. What lies behind this ability? Is it uniquely human? A study carried out by Joël Fagot of the Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive (CNRS/Université de Provence) and Roger Thompson of the Franklin & Marshall College (United States) has shown that monkeys are capable of making analogies.

Their results are just published in the journal Psychological Science.

A cat takes care of a kitten and a bird feeds fledglings: although the context is different, these two situations are similar and we can conclude that both cases involve a mother and its offspring. For a long time researchers believed that this type of analogical reasoning was impossible without language and that it was restricted to humans or, at best, great apes that had been taught a language. However, two scientists, Joël Fagot of the Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive (CNRS/Université de Provence) and Roger Thompson of the Franklin & Marshall College in the United States, have demonstrated that monkeys are capable of making analogies without language.

The two researchers carried out their experiment on 29 baboons (Papio papio) of variable ages, which could freely perform the proposed exercise (this represents a large number of animals for this type of experiment). First of all, the baboons were shown two geometric shapes on a touch screen, for example two squares. After they touched one of these shapes, two other pairs of shapes appeared on the screen, such as: a triangle and a star for the first pair and two identical ovals for the second pair. To successfully complete the exercise and be rewarded, the animal had to touch the pair representing the same relation (of identity or difference) as the initial pair (here, the two ovals).

In other words, the baboon had to detect relations between relations, which is the definition of analogy. After an intensive learning period covering several thousand tests, 6 baboons correctly performed the task, thus demonstrating an ability to resolve analogy problems. Furthermore, the researchers suspended the task for nearly one year before proposing it again to the baboons. The animals re-learnt the task much faster than during the initial training, which shows that they remembered the situation.

This work therefore proves that language is not necessary to analogy. But how can animals use this skill? This adaptive ability, especially useful to the monkey, could in particular serve in the transfer of knowledge from one field to another.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110923102213.htm

Stimulus money spent on monkeys?

IMMOKALEE, Fla. - Stimulus money being spent on monkeys?

A Fox 4 investigation has one lawmaker taking action after we discovered the government is using more than a half-million dollars in stimulus money - money meant for saving and creating jobs - to buy monkeys for flu vaccine experiments.

"What makes this recovery plan so important is not just that it will create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years," said Pres. Barack Obama, on Feb 17, 2009, after signing the $787 billion Recovery and Reinvestment Act, known as the stimulus, into law.

"It's that we're putting Americans to work, doing the work America needs done," the president said.

But two years later, people like David Ligthner aren't seeing any signs of that big stimulus.

"We're struggling," said Lightner, the owner of Jack Queen Construction. "There's no help out there for us."

Jack Queen Construction is one of Immokalee's oldest construction companies. But since the Recovery Act passed, they have had to lay off 40 people.

"Have you received any help from the government?," asked Fox 4 reporter Matt Grant.

"Nothing," said Lightner. "They have not helped me in one way, shape or form...they're giving money to everybody except the people that need it."

So who is getting that money?

Our search for that answer takes us down a dirt road seemingly into the middle of nowhere. Rolling past the Hendry County Prison, we are looking for a company called Primate Products, which was awarded nearly $538,000 of your money.

The company imports animals from all over the world for scientific testing.

They have become a frequent target of animal activists who point to leaked photos showing mutilated monkeys in what appears to be a surgical setting.

"We've got rampant unemployment," said Don Anthony, with the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, an activist group. "And they're putting this money to such bad use."

Lat fall, the federal government used $537,560 in stimulus money to buy 108 monkeys from Primate Products.

The monkeys will be used for flu virus experiments, which federal health officials say can save human lives.

"I think people are going to be disgusted when they find out their hard earned tax money is not going where it was supposed to go," said Don Anthony, "to help unemployed Americans."

The stimulus had three main goals: to create or save jobs, to spur economic growth and to be transparent.

So did this money create any jobs?

The president of Primate Products, Don Bradford, declined our request for an on-camera interview. But in a series of e-mails, says there are no "stipulations" the money be "directly spent on wages."

According to Recovery.gov, the government's own stimulus tracking Web site, it shows Primate Products didn't create a single job with the money here in Florida.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAD), which bought the monkeys, calls this "important research" and says "investing in public health" has "created tens of thousands of jobs nationwide."

But when pressed about the number of jobs actually created as a result of the Primate Products purchase, be it research or otherwise, a spokesperson told us: "This particular contract is not associated with job creation."

"I think it's great that you're doing the story and that you've uncovered this," said southwest Florida Rep. Connie Mack.

Our findings shocked Mack, who conducted his own investigation and discovered Primate Products actually received $1.3 million.

So what's wrong with the government doing animal experiments if it could save so many lives?

"Again this came out of the stimulus, package. We were told the stimulus package was going to create jobs, " said Mack who talked to us via satellite from Washington. "This is what people are so frustrated about - that the government is spending money on things that the people don't need, don't want and don't deserve."

Dave Lightner believes southwest Floridans like him deserve better.

Talking to us in his now empty construction yard, Lightner still wears his American flag hat with pride.Even as he watches his American dream, and any hope of a stimulus life raft, slip away.

"And you need this money?," asked Grant.

"Oh man, geez tell me about it," said Lightner. "I could put six, seven people to work Monday morning."

Mack says the government shouldn't be monkeying around with the money.

In a letter sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius calling for a "thorough review" of the Primate Products contracts along with a "detailed report" as to how this money fits in with the goals of the stimulus.

"Aside from reporting their awards to the Recovery.gov website," Mack wrote, "we have yet to find evidence that these four contracts accomplish any of these goals."

Read about the Primate Product contracts: http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/TextViewProjSummary.aspx?data=recipientAwardsList&State=FL&AwardType=CGL&RecipName=Primate%20Products

MATT GRANT, REPORTER
mgrant@fox4now.com

http://www.fox4now.com/news/toprotator/126293983.html

Monkeys have invaded a leading Indian hospital

Monkeys have invaded a leading Indian hospital after working out how to use its automatic doors.Staff at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) told The Times of India that the rhesus macaque monkeys have been sneaking into wards and recovery rooms, having learned that the hospital's new automatic doors operate using motion sensors.

Read on...

Japanese 'doll' is actually monkey waitress wearing creepy human mask

YouTube footage of what looks like a doll but is actually a waitress monkey in a human mask has been summed up as 'so wonderfully creepy' by one of thousands of open-mouthed internet users to view it recently.

Although the footage has been on the video-sharing hub for nearly a year, it's attracted a fresh slew of criticism, wonder and general air of 'WTF?' from internet users.

'I will be having nightmares about this thing chasing me tonight,' comments one viewer, while another muses: 'Why does this video make me think of [musician type known for creepily distorting his face in videos] Aphex Twin?'

'Jigsaw has a sister?' quips a fellow YouTube user, invoking the nightmare-inducing puppet thing from the Saw horror films.

'Just wait until someone gets drunk and starts hitting on the "waitress",' is the comment from another tickled viewer, evidently able to distance him- or herself from the cruelty prompting many other observations along the lines of: 'This is sad.'

In the clip, the clothed creature - named Fukuchan - is seen scuttling around its place of employment, waiting tables and/or providing entertainment for punters.

Towards the end of the video, our simian hero removes its mask and, in what we've chosen to interpret as an act of defiance against its human oppressors, lifts what looks like a sponge on a sink and chucks it on the floor, very much like Andy from Little Britain might.

You go, little exploited monkey dude

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/854918-japanese-doll-is-actually-monkey-waitress-wearing-creepy-human-mask#ixzz1RtntTgvq







Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/854918-japanese-doll-is-actually-monkey-waitress-wearing-creepy-human-mask#ixzz1Rtnq4Qkm





Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/854918-japanese-doll-is-actually-monkey-waitress-wearing-creepy-human-mask#ixzz1Rtnmkr8w



Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/854918-japanese-doll-is-actually-monkey-waitress-wearing-creepy-human-mask#ixzz1Rtnj38Pc




Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/854918-japanese-doll-is-actually-monkey-waitress-wearing-creepy-human-mask#ixzz1RtnbjjeN

Township mob burns 'talking' monkey as witch

Children traumatised as animal welfare group blames 'dreadful superstition' fuelled by ignorance

David Smith in Johannesburg
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 31 May 2011 14.07 BST

A monkey was pelted with stones, shot at and burned to death in a South African township because residents believed it was linked to witchcraft, an animal welfare agency has said.

A mob chanted "Kill that witch!" as the vervet monkey was put in a bucket, doused with petrol and set on fire, according to witnesses. Children who witnessed the killing last week were said to be traumatised.

One resident, Tebogo Moswetsi, admitted he had captured the monkey as it sought refuge up a tree in Kagiso, west of Johannesburg.

"I was curious to see this monkey that people claimed could talk, and when I saw a group of people chasing after it, I joined them," he told South Africa's Star newspaper. "When it went up the tree, I climbed after it and brought it down because I was curious as I found it unbelievable that a monkey could talk.

"I feel guilty. I shouldn't have taken it down from that tree. I dropped it down after someone poured petrol on it. I had no choice."

Moswetsi added: "Someone struck a match. [The monkey] got out of the bucket and dropped down dead. They continued throwing stones at it."

Cora Bailey, manager of Community Led Animal Welfare (Claw) in South Africa, was alerted by a local resident and arrived at a scene of "sheer criminality".

She said: "We just got there too late. What was incredibly sad is that there were so many little children in the crowd – some of them very traumatised.

"There were youngsters literally laughing in my face. But there were older people who were devastated by it. Everyone was saying sorry. While I was talking, the monkey was burning behind me."

Bailey said there is a "dreadful superstition" about monkeys and witchcraft in some communities, fuelled by ignorance that the animals can become separated from their troops or displaced from their natural habitats.

"We deal with this kind of situation on a very regular basis. We usually manage to do crowd control so the monkey doesn't come to any harm."

Bailey said she was horrified by racist comments that have appeared online in reaction to the incident. "Every time this happens, it's people in the community who call us. Cruelty to animals is not a racial thing. I've worked in townships for 20 years and there are good and bad people in all communities."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/31/mob-burns-monkey-as-witch

PETA Calls for Gov't Investigation Into Apparently Illegal Monkey Import Permit

Group Joins Sen. Melinda Romero Donnelly in an Outcry Against Permit Granted to Bioculture Puerto Rico, Inc. 

For Immediate Release:May 31, 2011
Contact:Robbyn Brooks 202-483-7382

San Juan, Puerto Rico — Today, PETA fired off an urgent letter to the Puerto Rico Department of Justice calling for a full investigation into an apparently illegal monkey import and export permit granted by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (DRNA) to Bioculture Puerto Rico, Inc.—even though it would be illegal for Bioculture to operate in the city where the company is being built. PETA's complaint follows a similar request from Sen. Melinda Romero Donnelly, who states that the DRNA has no legal authority to grant Bioculture a permit to import animals and that the agency has ignored Bioculture's blatant and repeated violations of laws and regulations.

"The DRNA's full embrace of Bioculture is as troubling as it is meaningless," says PETA's Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "No permit could allow Bioculture to follow through with its plans—to tear monkeys away from their homes in the wild, breed them, and sell their babies for use in experiments—because all these shameful acts are illegal in Guayama."

Bioculture hopes to capture more than 4,000 monkeys from Mauritius, confine them to cages at the company's planned Guayama facility, and sell their offspring to U.S. and foreign laboratories for use in painful and deadly experiments. But last year, the Guayama government unanimously adopted municipal ordinances No. 9 and 11, Series 2010–2011, which explicitly ban the import, export, breeding, and use of monkeys in experiments within its territorial boundaries.

In addition, in November 2009, the Puerto Rico Senate Environmental Committee found that Bioculture's facility was improperly built on land that was not zoned for the business's purposes. PETA's challenge of the permit stopped construction. In March 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined Bioculture thousands of dollars for violating the federal Clean Water Act. In October 2010, the Puerto Rico Senate approved R.S. 1514 to "[e]xpress the most forceful objection" to Bioculture's plans and to request that the U.S. government deny "any and all permit request by Bioculture Mauritius … with the purpose of importing Macaca fascicularis into Puerto Rico."

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

Why are chimps hunting red colubus monkeys to death?

Alasdair Wilkins — Time is running out for the red colubus monkey, which lives in Uganda's Kibale National Park. Chimpanzees appear to be huntings these poor guys to death. It's the first time that one primate species has overhunted another, without humans being involved.

According to census data collected between 1975 and 2007, the Ugandan red colubus monkey has seen an 89% population drop, and the hunting habits of common chimpanzees are almost entirely to blame. Disease and competition with similar monkey species have also been cited as factors, but the researchers say these still just pale in significance when compared to the effects of chimp hunting.

Indeed, these chimps seem to be actively trying to wipe out their primate brethren. The chimps generally target younger monkeys that haven't yet reached reproductive age, which means there are far fewer red colubus monkeys around who can help bring the population back. Chimpanzees have been doing very well during all this, as their population has increased by 53% over the same time period that the monkeys have nearly disappeared.

It's a good reminder that overhunting is not a strictly human practice, although we tend to be particularly adept at wiping out other species through excessive hunting. The researchers aren't sure what is driving the chimps to kill so many colubus monkeys - it's possible that other food sources decreased or that environmental shifts could have made increased hunting the most effective option.

There is a bit of good news, though - the chimpanzees seem to have seriously cut back on their hunting in recent years, which might mean the red colubus monkeys can survive after all. This means that fewer adult chimps are passing on their hunting skills to their young, which is creating generations of poor hunters, which can only help the colubus monkeys. No one is quite sure why the chimps changed their hunting patterns, but I'd like to think this is our first evidence of chimp conservationism.

American Journal of Primatology via Scientific American. Image via.

http://io9.com/monkeynews/

Rare lion tamarin monkey born at Durrell

Francisco is now almost two months old

18 May 2011
By Matt Walker
Editor, BBC Nature online

One of the world's most endangered primates has been born at the headquarters of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.

The male baby black lion tamarin monkey is the first born outside of Brazil for eight years.

The species of monkey is critically endangered in the wild, with fewer than 1,000 black lion tamarins remaining.

Named Francisco, the baby's arrival will help efforts to reintroduce the species to its native habitat.

Black lion tamarins (Leontopithecus chrysopygus) are small agile monkeys, which have silky long black hair and a mane around their heads.

Adults are 25-33cm long with a slightly longer tail, and weigh 550-700g.

The species only survives in 11 localities in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

This rarity led the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, an internal charity based in Jersey that works to save species from extinction, to begin a captive breeding programme of the species.

Francisco was born on 22 March this year by Caesarean section. Durrell delayed announcing his birth until keepers were confident he had made it past his potentially risky early few weeks of life.

"This birth is great news; monitoring and successfully delivering the baby has been a very tricky event to manage," says Mark Brayshaw, head of Durrell's animal collection.

He is the first healthy baby born to his mother, named Roxanne, who has previously lost two babies and suffered several miscarriages.

Due to her previous problems the Durrell staff decided to monitor her four-and-a-half month pregnancy and deliver the baby by Caesarean at the appropriate time.

"Predicting when the infant would be sufficiently developed yet intervening prior to natural parturition has been key and has involved dedicated input from the mammal team with lots of early mornings and late nights to monitor progress."

According to Durrell staff, so far both mother and baby are doing well.

The infant is being hand-reared and syringe-fed every two hours throughout the day and night and over the next few weeks they will slowly teach him to lap milk from a dish. When he is able to do this successfully he will be returned to his family.

"The importance of this is that it is the first live birth of a black lion tamarin in captivity outside of Brazil for eight years and thus incredibly important to the European Endangered Species Programme," added Mr Brayshaw.

"There is still a very long way to go to ensure that the captive population's viability is assured but this is most definitely a step in the right direction."

There are currently nine critically endangered black lion tamarins, including the new baby, at Durrell's headquarters in Jersey.

In 1999 the Durrell team returned a group of black lion tamarins to Brazil for reintroduction to the wild.

See video at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/13424246
(Submitted by Dawn Holloway)

Beware of thieving monkeys

The Times of Malta
Monday, April 11, 2011, by Liam Creedon, PA

A troupe of pilfering primates are being taught to turn their backs on the fashion world after embarking on a crime wave.

London Zoo’s gang of Bolivian squirrel monkeys have taken a shine to the sunglasses worn by visitors in the recent warm weather.

Pinching with impunity, the quick-fingered monkeys have developed a habit of whipping sunglasses off the heads of startled visitors.

The shameless simians have now built up an impressive stash of designer shades including Ray-Bans and aviator sunglasses.

As a result, their keepers have had to dream up a course of corrective behaviour to stem the animals criminal tendencies.

Staff have coated a selection of sunglasses with a bitter tasting apple substance.

It is hoped the monkeys will find the taste so unpleasant that their stealing habits will come to an abrupt end.

Zoological Society of London keeper Kate Sanders said it was the youngest monkeys that posed the biggest problem.

She said: “The little one are very inquisitive, they are attracted to the shiny lenses on the sunglasses.

“Once they get hold of a pair they all race round the enclosure chasing the monkey with the glasses. They’ve grabbed around seven pairs so far.

“Hopefully this treatment with the bitter apple will work, we are planning to repeat it until they associate sunglasses with something that is unpleasant.”

This is not the troupe’s first brush with criminality, four years ago keepers also had to put the monkeys on a short mobile phone training programme – to discourage them from stealing phones.

Bolivian squirrel monkeys live in the rainforest and eat insects, fruit and seeds. ZSL London Zoo, along with other zoos in England, is involved in breeding programmes aimed at increasing numbers of the species.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110411/world-news/beware-of-thieving-monkeys.359334

Iran launches first capsule for living creature into orbit

17.03.2011 15:09

The Iranian Aerospace Organization launched into orbit its first capsule with a living being on March 15, the IRNA reported.

The capsule, which is located on board the Kavoshgar-4 rocket, was designed to carry a monkey. For the pilot trip, a wax figure was placed into the capsule instead of an animal.

The launch will test the capsule's components.

The capsule took an aerial photograph of the Earth at an altitude of 120 kilometers from its surface. Technical failures were not reported.

Iran successfully launched the Kaveshgyar-1 missile on Feb. 4, 2008, which was used to collect data and place the first national satellite into orbit. Tehran launched the Kavoshgar-2 rocket with scientific equipment in November 2008. The rocket took the atmospheric pressure and measured the wind speed at different altitudes.

In February 2010, Iran successfully test-fired the Kavoshgar-3 rocket, which carried one rodent, two turtles, and several worms into space and returned them to Earth alive.

Iran's first astronaut will fly into space in 2017, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said earlier.

http://en.trend.az/regions/iran/1847092.html

Aging Rates, Gender Gap in Mortality Similar Across All Primates

ScienceDaily (Mar. 10, 2011) — Humans aren't the only ones who grow old gracefully, says a new study of primate aging patterns.

For a long time it was thought that humans, with our relatively long life spans and access to modern medicine, aged more slowly than other animals. Early comparisons with rats, mice, and other short-lived creatures confirmed the hunch. But now, the first-ever multi-species comparison of human aging patterns with those in chimps, gorillas, and other primates suggests the pace of human aging may not be so unique after all.
The findings appear in the March 11 issue of Science.

You don't need to read obituaries or sell life insurance to know that death and disease become more common as we transition from middle age to old age. But scientists studying creatures from mice to fruit flies long assumed the aging clock ticked more slowly for humans.

We had good reason to think human aging was unique, said co-author Anne Bronikowski, an associate professor at Iowa State University. For one, humans live longer than many animals. There are some exceptions -- parrots, seabirds, clams and tortoises can all outlive us -- but humans stand out as the longest-lived primates.

"Humans live for many more years past our reproductive prime," Bronikowski said. "If we were like other mammals, we would start dying fairly rapidly after we reach mid-life. But we don't," she said.

"There's been this argument in the scientific literature for a long time that human aging was unique, but we didn't have data on aging in wild primates besides chimps until recently," said co-author Susan Alberts, associate director at the NSF-funded National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, N.C., and a biologist at Duke University.

The researchers combined data from long-term studies of seven species of wild primates: capuchin monkeys from Costa Rica, muriqui monkeys from Brazil, baboons and blue monkeys from Kenya, chimpanzees from Tanzania, gorillas from Rwanda, and sifaka lemurs from Madagascar.

The team focused not on the inevitable decline in health or fertility that come with advancing age, but rather on the risk of dying. When they compared human aging rates -- measured as the rate at which mortality risk increases with age -- to similar data for nearly 3,000 individual monkeys, apes and lemurs, the human data fell neatly within the primate continuum.

"Human patterns are not strikingly different, even though wild primates experience sources of mortality from which humans may be protected," the authors wrote in a letter to Science.

The results also confirm a pattern observed in humans and elsewhere in the animal kingdom: as males age, they die sooner than their female counterparts. In primates, the mortality gap between males and females is narrowest for the species with the least amount of male-male aggression -- a monkey called the muriqui -- the researchers report.

"Muriquis are the only species in our sample in which males do not compete overtly with one another for access to mates," said co-author Karen Strier, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin who has studied muriquis since 1982. The results suggest the reason why males of other species die faster than females may be the stress and strain of competition, the authors said.

Do the findings have any practical implications for humans? Modern medicine is helping humans live longer than ever before, the researchers note.

"Yet we still don't know what governs maximum life span," Alberts said. "Some human studies suggest we might be able to live a lot longer than we do now. Looking to other primates to understand where we are and aren't flexible in our aging will help answer that question."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110310141427.htm

PETA honors Guayama mayor for saving monkeys

Bioculture can’t take primates away from home now

March 1, 2011
by Peggy Ann Bliss

When Glorimari Jaime Rodríguez, mayor of Guayama, approved two historic ordinances prohibiting the exportation, breeding and use of monkeys for experiments in her city she put an effective end to the plans of Bioculture Puerto Rico, Inc., to capture more than 4,000 monkeys from the island of Mauritius, confine them cruelly in cages, force them to reproduce in Guayama and sell their progeny to foreign laboratoris to use in painful and lethal experiments. For this effort Mayor Jaime will be honored with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Compassion Award.

"Mayor Jaime knows that Bioculture's plans would have been disastrous for her community and for the animals," said Kathy Guillermo, vice president of PETA's lab research division.

"Thanks to her, there apparently will be no legal road for Bioculture to take the monkeys away from their home in the jungle, raise them in Guayama and sell their offspring to laboratories for cruel experiments."

In addition to the Guayama legislation, last year the Puerto Rico Senate approved a resolution sponsored by Sen. Melinda Romero Donnelly,urging government agencies of the United States to "deny [to Bioculture] any request for a license to import monkeys to Puerto Rico."

The island legislature had simultaneously submitted bills to make it impossible for any other municipality to open its doors to doing business with Bioculture. However, the question could be moot if their importation could be blocked completely.

Animal advocates had complained that in Mauritius, babies were forcefully taken from their mothers before the natural weaning process, causing extreme anxiety and stress. They also point out that while the tests on the animals are not always painful or fatal, monkeys are social animals who cannot survive caging for years. It was also noted that when the testing is completed, the animals usually have nowhere to go and must be euthanized. For more information or to see the prize awarded to Guayama's mayor, visit the Web at PETA.org or the PETA blog.

http://www.prdailysun.com/news/PETA-honors-Guayama-mayor-for-saving-monkeys

More problems at Primate Products

Check out the link (below).... I think all parties have a lot to answer for and why would CDC send monkeys to a place that isn't responsible enough to care for them and then gives them to yet another place that obviously didn't know how to care for them and according to the report, didn't give them any guidance either.

Why would they send a second group after knowing the first group was in a crisis situation?

Obviously no one bother to check to see if either facility was qualified.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Attempt-to-save-101-lab-monkeys-get-botched-at-least-21-die-112112904.html





__._,_.___

More problems at Primate Products

Check out the link (below).... I think all parties have a lot to answer for and why would CDC send monkeys to a place that isn't responsible enough to care for them and then gives them to yet another place that obviously didn't know how to care for them and according to the report, didn't give them any guidance either.

Why would they send a second group after knowing the first group was in a crisis situation?

Obviously no one bother to check to see if either facility was qualified.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Attempt-to-save-101-lab-monkeys-get-botched-at-least-21-die-112112904.html





__._,_.___

Monkeys appointed station masters

Two baby monkeys have been appointed station masters of a Japanese railway station.


Nehime and Rakan have started "working" at Hojomachi Station in Hyogo prefecture in a bid to attract more visitors to the line.

The monkeys, aged seven months and three months, were dressed in blue uniforms made from traditional local fabrics complete with mini hats.

The pair were formally appointed station masters and "special city residents" by the local mayor and now go on duty at the station located on the Hojo-cho line.

The monkeys belong to a local resident who proposed the unusual arrangement in order to help revive the fortunes of the financially troubled railway line, according to the Mainichi newspaper.

It is not the first time in Japan that animals have found themselves at the helm of a railway station: Tama, the tortoiseshell cat, is famous in Japan as a longstanding station master of Kishi station in Wakayama prefecture.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Monkeys_appointed_station_masters

Monkeys appointed station masters

Two baby monkeys have been appointed station masters of a Japanese railway station.


Nehime and Rakan have started "working" at Hojomachi Station in Hyogo prefecture in a bid to attract more visitors to the line.

The monkeys, aged seven months and three months, were dressed in blue uniforms made from traditional local fabrics complete with mini hats.

The pair were formally appointed station masters and "special city residents" by the local mayor and now go on duty at the station located on the Hojo-cho line.

The monkeys belong to a local resident who proposed the unusual arrangement in order to help revive the fortunes of the financially troubled railway line, according to the Mainichi newspaper.

It is not the first time in Japan that animals have found themselves at the helm of a railway station: Tama, the tortoiseshell cat, is famous in Japan as a longstanding station master of Kishi station in Wakayama prefecture.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Monkeys_appointed_station_masters

Study: Monkeys Show Self-Awareness

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9/29/10

EDITOR'S NOTE: An image and video are available at
http://www.news.wisc.edu/newsphotos/macaque-mirror.html

EDITOR'S NOTE: The study, with several videos of the monkeys, appears in today's PLoS One at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012865

FOR FIRST TIME, MONKEYS RECOGNIZE THEMSELVES IN THE MIRROR, INDICATING SELF-AWARENESS

MADISON - Typically, monkeys don't know what to make of a mirror. They may ignore it or interpret their reflection as another, invading monkey, but they don't recognize the reflection as their own image. Chimpanzees and people pass this "mark" test - they obviously recognize their own reflection and make funny faces, look at a temporary mark that the scientists have placed on their face or wonder how they got so old and grey.

For 40 years, scientists have concluded from this type of behavior that a few species are self-aware - they recognize the boundaries between themselves and the physical world.

Because chimps, our closest relatives, pass the test, while almost all other primate species fail it, scientists began to discuss a "cognitive divide" between the highest primates and the rest.

But a study published today (Sept. 29) by Luis Populin, a professor of anatomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shows that under specific conditions, a rhesus macaque monkey that normally would fail the mark test can still recognize itself in the mirror and perform actions that scientists would expect from animals that are self-aware.

The finding casts doubt on both the relevance of the mark test and on the existence of a definitive cognitive divide between higher and lower primates.

Populin, who studies the neural basis of perception and behavior, had placed head implants on two rhesus macaque monkeys, while preparing to study attention deficit disorder. Then Abigail Rajala, an experienced animal technician who is in the university's Neuroscience Training Program, mentioned that one of the monkeys could recognize himself in a small mirror. "I told her the scientific literature says they can't do this," says Populin, "so we decided to do a simple study."

Much to his delight, it turned out that the graduate student was right.

In the standard mark test, a harmless mark is put on the animal's face, where it can only be seen in a mirror. If the animal stares at the mirror and touches the mark, it is said to be self-aware: It knows that the mirror shows its own reflection, not that of another animal. (Animals that lack self-awareness may, for example, search for the "invading" animal behind the mirror.)

Rhesus macaques, a mainstay of medical and psychological research, have long failed the mark test.

But in Populin's lab, the monkeys that got the implants were clearly looking in the mirror while examining and grooming their foreheads, near the implant. Tellingly, they were also examining areas on their body, particularly the genitals, that they had never seen before. In some cases, the monkeys even turned themselves upside down during these examinations. In other cases, they grasped and adjusted the mirror to get a better view of themselves.

When the researchers covered the mirror glass with black plastic, these behaviors disappeared, and the monkeys ignored what had been a subject of fascination.

Furthermore, although a macaque will often interpret its reflection as representing an intruding monkey and adopt either an aggressive or submissive response, the implanted monkeys showed dramatically fewer of those "social" behaviors compared to the behaviors, such as exploring hidden body parts, that indicate self-awareness, Populin says.

"This report makes a unique contribution to our views about primate self-awareness because the 'mirror test' has been the traditional gold standard for determining if a person and/or animal met a criterion for having a sense of self," says Christopher Coe, a primatologist and professor of psychology at UW-Madison. "If a young child, brain-damaged adult or animal was able to recognize and appreciate that the image in the reflection was really them, then it was interpreted as proof of being aware."

Thus, Coe says, "If we follow that logic through with the belief that mirror recognition is proof of a sense of self, then we need to extend that attribute at least to rhesus monkeys."

Scientists who have used the mark test to explore self-awareness have found the quality in one species of bird, in one individual elephant, and in dolphins and orangutans. And so instead of asking how self-awareness evolved only among primates, they face the larger question of how it evolved multiple times in distantly related species.

The study may refine how the mark test is used, Populin says. "We clearly have data showing that these animals recognize themselves in the mirror, but fail the mark test."

The mounting data on self-awareness has undermined the concept of a cognitive divide in the primate lineage, Populin says. "There is another idea in primatology, and Charles Snowdon of UW-Madison has contributed to this, that instead of a divide, self-awareness has evolved along a continuum, so we will find it in different forms in different locations on the tree of evolution. I think the mark test may not be sensitive enough to detect self-awareness in the lower species; they may have it, but in a different form, and it may show up in different situations, using different tests."

(Source not given)

Study: Monkeys Show Self-Awareness

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9/29/10

EDITOR'S NOTE: An image and video are available at
http://www.news.wisc.edu/newsphotos/macaque-mirror.html

EDITOR'S NOTE: The study, with several videos of the monkeys, appears in today's PLoS One at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012865

FOR FIRST TIME, MONKEYS RECOGNIZE THEMSELVES IN THE MIRROR, INDICATING SELF-AWARENESS

MADISON - Typically, monkeys don't know what to make of a mirror. They may ignore it or interpret their reflection as another, invading monkey, but they don't recognize the reflection as their own image. Chimpanzees and people pass this "mark" test - they obviously recognize their own reflection and make funny faces, look at a temporary mark that the scientists have placed on their face or wonder how they got so old and grey.

For 40 years, scientists have concluded from this type of behavior that a few species are self-aware - they recognize the boundaries between themselves and the physical world.

Because chimps, our closest relatives, pass the test, while almost all other primate species fail it, scientists began to discuss a "cognitive divide" between the highest primates and the rest.

But a study published today (Sept. 29) by Luis Populin, a professor of anatomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shows that under specific conditions, a rhesus macaque monkey that normally would fail the mark test can still recognize itself in the mirror and perform actions that scientists would expect from animals that are self-aware.

The finding casts doubt on both the relevance of the mark test and on the existence of a definitive cognitive divide between higher and lower primates.

Populin, who studies the neural basis of perception and behavior, had placed head implants on two rhesus macaque monkeys, while preparing to study attention deficit disorder. Then Abigail Rajala, an experienced animal technician who is in the university's Neuroscience Training Program, mentioned that one of the monkeys could recognize himself in a small mirror. "I told her the scientific literature says they can't do this," says Populin, "so we decided to do a simple study."

Much to his delight, it turned out that the graduate student was right.

In the standard mark test, a harmless mark is put on the animal's face, where it can only be seen in a mirror. If the animal stares at the mirror and touches the mark, it is said to be self-aware: It knows that the mirror shows its own reflection, not that of another animal. (Animals that lack self-awareness may, for example, search for the "invading" animal behind the mirror.)

Rhesus macaques, a mainstay of medical and psychological research, have long failed the mark test.

But in Populin's lab, the monkeys that got the implants were clearly looking in the mirror while examining and grooming their foreheads, near the implant. Tellingly, they were also examining areas on their body, particularly the genitals, that they had never seen before. In some cases, the monkeys even turned themselves upside down during these examinations. In other cases, they grasped and adjusted the mirror to get a better view of themselves.

When the researchers covered the mirror glass with black plastic, these behaviors disappeared, and the monkeys ignored what had been a subject of fascination.

Furthermore, although a macaque will often interpret its reflection as representing an intruding monkey and adopt either an aggressive or submissive response, the implanted monkeys showed dramatically fewer of those "social" behaviors compared to the behaviors, such as exploring hidden body parts, that indicate self-awareness, Populin says.

"This report makes a unique contribution to our views about primate self-awareness because the 'mirror test' has been the traditional gold standard for determining if a person and/or animal met a criterion for having a sense of self," says Christopher Coe, a primatologist and professor of psychology at UW-Madison. "If a young child, brain-damaged adult or animal was able to recognize and appreciate that the image in the reflection was really them, then it was interpreted as proof of being aware."

Thus, Coe says, "If we follow that logic through with the belief that mirror recognition is proof of a sense of self, then we need to extend that attribute at least to rhesus monkeys."

Scientists who have used the mark test to explore self-awareness have found the quality in one species of bird, in one individual elephant, and in dolphins and orangutans. And so instead of asking how self-awareness evolved only among primates, they face the larger question of how it evolved multiple times in distantly related species.

The study may refine how the mark test is used, Populin says. "We clearly have data showing that these animals recognize themselves in the mirror, but fail the mark test."

The mounting data on self-awareness has undermined the concept of a cognitive divide in the primate lineage, Populin says. "There is another idea in primatology, and Charles Snowdon of UW-Madison has contributed to this, that instead of a divide, self-awareness has evolved along a continuum, so we will find it in different forms in different locations on the tree of evolution. I think the mark test may not be sensitive enough to detect self-awareness in the lower species; they may have it, but in a different form, and it may show up in different situations, using different tests."

(Source not given)