adolescentprimatologist:

zookeeperproblems:

starfoozle:

My FAVORITE THING is researchers who wholeheartedly embrace the Ms. Frizzle aesthetic and wear their field of study on their literal sleeve. Everyone in the invasive crayfish consortium has tiny lobster-print shorts or socks. All the middle-aged dad scientists here at the lab have shirts with fish and/or fishing tackle patterns on them. My moss specimen and ammonite earrings keep getting noticed by women who are wearing silver fishbone-shaped or native plant-themed earrings themselves. Every single person on the outreach team has at least one shirt with an anchor pattern on it from Old Navy, and almost all the younger researchers have tattoos featuring their research interests – one fisheries biologist has a half-sleeve of native species she literally uses as an outreach tool. We are self-aware and having a blast with it, honestly.

THIS. Zookeepers have tattoos, decals, shirts, stickers… we even get excited when we see animal-themed merchandise in big box stores.

It’s terribly difficult to find good primate themed gear out there… but I rock representatives from a variety of vertebrates to show my personal Ethology Pride.

shamelesslymkp:

heytrophy:

maverick-ornithography:

cannedtins:

maverick-ornithography:

baaulp:

despazito:

I just remembered that apes smile when hostile. This isn’t a happy scene. This monkey has full meter and a full screen projectile in it’s move list. This is an invitation to death.

Humans have this distress response too! If you watch the smaller of their young you will spot the occasional baring of teeth in upsetting situations. You can see this with adult humans as well, but it’s harder to catch because they have a fairly deep somatic vocabulary assigned to smiles; it is probably easiest to recognise after minor injury like stubbing a toe or receiving an injection.

It’s a lot of fun comparing how related species have related behaviours, and also neat to contrast how they have specialised them!

this is interesting but 

If you watch the smaller of their young

why did you word it like that

Thanks for the question! My area of expertise is more generally avian than it is  mammalian (or primate), so I don’t really know the technical nomenclature for the specific stage of human offspring development I mean to communicate. 

With the vocabulary I have the closest I can get semantically is ‘mid-nestling to fledgling fresh-fallen from the nest’ but the concepts don’t quite map to how human offspring develop. Another way to phrase it is able to move around under their own power but still heavily dependent on parental intervention for survival.

Hope this helps clear things up! Have a nice day :)

You studied birds so long you forgot that the word toddler exists and I think that’s just delightful.

@thejunglenook

So funny thing with primates (especially apes) is that they “smile” in a number of ways. And it’s way more nuanced than you think. (This is what happens when an intelligent social species relies heavily on non-vocal social cues).

1.The play face smile. Here we see the relaxed open mouth with a droopy lower lip exposing the bottom teeth. Often accompanied by low guttural chimp laughter. This face is both an invitation to play and a way for individuals to check in and make sure everyone is still having a good time while playing. You younger siblings out there know how “playing” with your elder brother/sister is all well and good until “it’s Not Funny Anymore Cause That Really Hurt, Twin!!!” (No? Just me? Damn.)

2.Silent bared teeth display which can be an appeasement gesture / sign of submission as they try to avoid possible conflict. Tense mouth and at least partially exposed upper & lower teeth. This is kinda on a spectrum and go from something little like “hey that termite mound snack looks good, can I get in on that too?” all the way up to…

3.The Fear Grimace. It is what is sounds like. “I am afraid and I don’t want to fight. I’m submitting. Please don’t hurt me.” Mouth may be somewhat open, lips are tense and retracted, and teeth very visible (possibly with some partial gum exposure). See the female below on the right who is fear grimacing at her screaming friend.

4.The scream. “I’m upset and I DO NOT LIKE THIS!!!!” Fight or flight is going down and screaming animal is in the thick of it. Lips are completely retracted, full teeth & gum exposure, and mouth is open in a loud scream vocalization. See the female on the Left in the above photo as she screams at something (/someone) off camera.

5.Neutral face. Talk about going from the highest high to the lowest low. This is a chill happy primate at a low arousal state. Casual relaxed face and eyes. Not challenging anyone, but not seeking out a particular grooming/play buddy either. Just watching the world go by for a bit.

This is just a general example of the gorgeously nuanced field of facial communication in primates. If I had to pick (without audio / video / context clues) I would say the bonobo in the OP is doing a silent bared teeth display begging for something towards shore (thus the extended hand) possibly edging more towards a fear grimace. They aren’t exhibiting any overt aggression, but that by no means makes them safe to be around.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Love,

Your friendly neighborhood Ethologist / Primatologist

Sources:

Marina Davila-Ross, Goncalo Jesus, Jade Osborne, Kim A. Bard. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Produce the Same Types of ‘Laugh Faces’ when They Emit Laughter and when They Are Silent. PLOS ONE, 2015; 10 (6): e0127337 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0127337.

Parr LA, Waller BM. Understanding chimpanzee facial expression: insights into the evolution of communication. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2006;1(3):221-228. doi:10.1093/scan/nsl031.

Facial expression categorization by chimpanzees using standardized stimuli. https://europepmc.org/article/pmc/pmc2826112

Parr LA, Waller BM, Vick SJ, Bard KA. Classifying chimpanzee facial expressions using muscle action. Emotion. 2007;7(1):172-181. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.7.1.172

(Pardon the awkward formatting. Doing this on mobile and it’s driving me up the wall. I’ll fix later)

(Photo credit: Karen Huntt / Corbis, TIME.com “Babies Vs. Chimps…”)

Environment, not evolution, might underlie some human-ape differences (ScienceDaily, 15 July 2019)

Apes’ abilities have been unfairly measured, throwing into doubt the assumed belief that human infants are superior to adult chimpanzees, according to a new study (published in Animal Cognition) by leaders in the field of ape cognition.

[Researchers] say it should come as no surprise that apes raised in institutions would not perform well compared with humans raised in western families, especially when tested with western cultural practices, for example, gestures such as pointing…

“Most studies, comparing apes with human children, for instance, have been poorly designed, with different relevant experiences given to each species, testing them at different ages in many cases, and then claiming to have found a difference in social cognition between humans and apes, but the species haven’t been treated similarly before or during the tests.

"These studies suffer from the same type of prejudice that once existed in studies of human intelligence, which started from a biased position of assuming northern Europeans were innately more intelligent than southern Europeans. We argue the same type of bias is apparent in cross-species studies…”

The researchers say it’s vital scientists realise that environmental experiences vary among humans (both between children and adults, and between people with different cultural experiences) and among apes (also from young to old, and between apes with different experiences). 

 "…To truly understand the abilities of each species, research needs to examine specific individual learning histories within specific ecological circumstances for both humans and for apes.

“We urge researchers to stop using fallacious research designs and reasoning in studies of comparative cognition.” (full article)

Story Article:

University of Portsmouth. “Environment, not evolution, might underlie some human-ape differences.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 July 2019. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190715094847.htm>. 

Journal Reference:

David A. Leavens, Kim A. Bard, William D. Hopkins. The mismeasure of ape social cognition. Animal Cognition, 2017; 22 (4): 487 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-017-1119-1