Zoo chimp 'planned' stone attacks

A male chimpanzee in a Swedish zoo planned hundreds of stone-throwing attacks on zoo visitors, according to researchers.

Keepers at Furuvik Zoo found that the chimp collected and stored stones that he would later use as missiles.

Further, the chimp learned to recognise how and when parts of his concrete enclosure could be pulled apart to fashion further projectiles.

The findings are reported in the journal Current Biology.

There has been scant evidence in previous research that animals can plan for future events.

Crucial to the current study is the fact that Santino, a chimpanzee at the zoo in the city north of Stockholm, collected the stones in a calm state, prior to the zoo opening in the morning.

The launching of the stones occurred hours later - during dominance displays to zoo visitors - with Santino in an "agitated" state.

This suggests that Santino was anticipating a future mental state - an ability that has been difficult to definitively prove in animals, according to Mathias Osvath, a cognitive scientist from Lund University in Sweden and author of the new research.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7928996.stm

We really owe it to the chimps for showing us that human "superiority" is only a matter of degree rather than the possession of unique god-given gifts.

They hang out in bands, fight wars, plan their outbursts, and treat each other horribly, just like Republicans. Both of them deserve a seat at the table--the folding card table in the kitchen.

well, as animals.

We are creatures who inhabit a spirit world... creatures who can project their very thoughts through time and space by manipulating light and enslaving electricity can hardly be called animals. An animal cannot inhabit both the cataclysmic pressures of the very depths of the oceans and the absolute vacuum of outer space. We can. You can climb into a submarine take a 3 hour journey to the bottom of the ocean and then blast off into space for a dinner in a space station. This might cost quite a bit of money but it is absolutely doable. The dog would drown, the fish would suffocate and the bird would freeze to death. Animals are slaves to this paltry little rock called Earth. They, unlike us, are marooned on this shit heap. Humans, if they could ever pull their collected heads out of their asses, could rape Mars of all her natural resources and build a giant planet-eating corporate Juggernaut that devoured whole solar systems. All we need is a bit of motivation and whatever we imagine, we can do. Face it, animals are impotent shmucks.

I always wondered about what separates us from the other animals... what makes us greater. Our bodies are most certainly animal bodies... like apes and dogs... but unlike apes and dogs and even some humans... we can come here... to this place right here... this garden is a place animals can never find. Like on the moon, they cannot exist here... only Man can walk here. In here is where we can harness the power of creation and summon the demons of utter destruction. Spiders spin iron webs that are shattered by rain drops and yet from this place we can summon buildings that only an ocean of time can devour. Lions could multiply across the whole earth and never devour it... from the plans and schemes devised right in here, look at what we have done to this little rock in only a few thousand years.

Animals are deaf, dumb and blind. We have ears to hear, a mouth with which to speak and eyes to see... if you don't believe me... ask my dear friend Helen Keller. Her animal body died some time ago but don't worry, she can still tell you herself in the writings she left behind and the legacy she has left in her wake.

Animals... animals? No, we are not animals... I don't quite understand what we really are, some weird symbiotic parasite, I figure, but I can promise you, we are not animals.

I can promise you that the Sun isn't hot.

I can promise you that gravity doesn't draw mass together.

I can promise you that we don't really breathe air in order to get oxygen.

I can promise you that the earth isn't really spherical.

I can promise you that water doesn't really expand when it freezes.

I can promise you that you brain is really part of your digestive system.

I can ... well, you get the picture.

I can promise any fucking bullshit that I want. But I'd be wrong.

We most goddamned definitely ARE animals.

According to our current understanding of the communication of animals, they are incapable of relaying information ethereally. They are purely sensory creatures, incapable of communication beyond their sensory range. They are limited to sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste where we are not. In fact, we even have the ability to communicate very complex ideas and information to people even through the shroud of death, a feat which no other "animal" has been able to replicate. While we do share certain basic classifications with animals, it can hardly be reasonably argued that Man is an animal. I also want to add that though we may share visceral commonalities, once we consider all other intellectual and spiritual dimensions we begin to see the need for a separate classification.

What I meant to say was:

Skeptics like myself are rarely converted to the outlook you've outlined above (in which there are 'spiritual dimensions' etc) and people who are into that sort of thing rarely have their minds changed by people like me.

So, coming from those two incompatible points of view, any conversation that we might have about this subject isn't really worth having.

That's how I should have said it.

Sorry.

"But I dare ANYONE to say that General Robert E. Lee is descended from an ape!"
--Gen George Pickett, "Gettysburg" the movie

:rofl:

Seriously, did they teach science in your school?

And what is THIS?

In fact, we even have the ability to communicate very complex ideas and information to people even through the shroud of death, a feat which no other "animal" has been able to replicate.

:rofl:

Even through the shroud of death, eh?

:rofl:

Dude, pass the bong...

Also, every sociologist will tell you how our animal origin is so much an evidence. Also, a lot of human, ex: Amazon, never will come to DU or the Moon. The fact is also that some animal can communicate, not just feel message. For what I see, the quantitative distance between human and animal is really little, but the variety of human experience show that little qualitative difference can cause real huge potential.

We are animals. Lots of animals have "abilites" and "traits" that are unique to them, whether it is a spider that can create thread stronger than steel or whales that can dive deep under the water.

Your statement is a fantasy, and a humanocentric bit of nonsense.

Looking around at our current set of human predicaments, maybe we should put that word in quotes for all of our "plans" too. We oughta be giving Santino extra credit for keeping his plans manageable.

Mice and men, motherfuckers. Mice and men.

You know it. Just like Tom and Jerry... Motherfucking Tom and Motherfucking Jerry... just like that!!! And who was that little mouse bastard in the diaper? Oh and that fucking bad ass dog that would always bust Tom on the ass with a fucking 2 by 4... a motherfucking 2 by 4...

Smack... Dab... Doodle... La... Crambo!!!!!
Straight up.

But people have been making up "Lassie" stories for decades.

If this is true, then it shouldn't be hard to get video of the entire planning process.

bomb all the Zoo Chimps. And they are an another one in Texas.

There is a gorilla environment there that consists of a series of steps upwards, with each step perhaps 8 to 12 feet tall. It is there so the gorillas can climb.

On the top most ledge there was a silver back, the largest male of the group. He was sitting with his back to the wall of the ledge. As he sat, a juvenile gorilla began bothering him. Running up, twirling straw he held in his hands, then poking the silver back repeatedly. Eventually the silver back responded by taking a step forward and hitting the youth. The youth would then run around the habitat crying out, then come back to bother the silver back again. The silver back would then take another step forward and give a crack to the insolent youth.

This went on for maybe ten minutes, until the silver back was in the center of the ledge. The youth then began to attack from the side. Eventually he had the silver back turned around completely, with his back to the drop off. At that point the youth made an "I'm sorry" face and came up to give the silver back a hug and kiss. He then stood back and pushed against the silver back's chest, launching him off of the ledge to land on his head 12 feet below...

The little fellow planned the attack with great care. He lured the much bigger fellow out, turned him around, tricked the big guy to could get close enough to push him over the ledge. It took quite a while and it took planning and guile.

I believe the only thing that separates them from us is a language. Once language comes they will learn the rest eventually.

Scuba

Not sure if I am being facile or serious here. It certainly makes sense.

If chimps started talking, we'd enslave them in a heartbeat.

Nowadays, we'd simply apply a little Bushiganda and Plausible Deniability to pretend we were actually helping them and uplifting them by having them cleaning our toilets, rather than running wild in a filthy jungle.

:rofl:

Oh wait a minute, that was George W Bush, a Human, not a chimp. Wouldn't want to insult the chimps now, would we?

http://www.bushorchimp.com/

Scuba :bounce: