Letters from the Samantha

Monkeys and humans have been compared for years, we have all heard the expression “Monkey see, Monkey do”. Analyzing individual primates at the Santa Ana Zoo was quite an experience because when I use to hear monkeys I use to only picture one certain appearance and that was a brown monkey with a light brown face, and a long tail. Moneys are not just monkeys, humans aren’t just humans, and apes aren’t just apes they are all primates which is a mammal that has certain characteristics such as: flexible fingers and toes, opposable thumbs, flatter face than other mammals, have eyes that face forward and spaced close together, large and complex cerebrum, and they are also social

Primates are one of the most interesting mammals on earth, not only because of their complex social structures, but because they hold so many similar characteristics to humans. Primates are often cited as our closest living relatives and on two separate occasions I observed four separate species of primates at the San Diego Zoo that can justify their use of their physical characteristics and behaviors that may be similar as well as different to the other primates and ours.

Goodall, J. (1971). In the Shadow of Man. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. The author’s goal in writing this book is to discuss her experiences and what she had learned from studying wild Chimpanzees. Goodall wrote this book in order to convey her knowledge of a species of animal she loves very much, so that others may become educated and join her in protecting them. She dreamed of going to Africa to see them, and was offered a job by Dr. Lewis Leakey. Goodall wanted nothing more than a chance to help. Her experiences in surrounding herself with them have completely changed the way scientists conduct field research. Whether she intended to or not, the data she has collected has debunked myths and uncovered truths about chimpanzees, while bringing more light to human behavior.

Within this essay, we will study more in depth the behavioral as well as physical traits of two primates at a zoo from their interaction with their peers to their place in the group. This observation would enable us to further understand the possible existing correlation between humans and primates. First, I studied a female chimpanzee with her baby, and then, a dominant male gorilla, in San Francisco Zoo at about noon, on May 23, 2015, for an hour each. Even though they share some similarities such as having a large brain, living for a long time, and being bored in their enclosure, they are still different; when gorillas are the largest, chimpanzees are the smartest. In fact, chimps use tools to catch food, they would not be able to reach

Chimpanzees portray their emotions through a number of facial expressions and mannerisms. Just like humans, they undergo mood swings, jealous rages, and laughter. For instance, Goodall observed during her research that a male gorilla “would threaten [me] with an upward and

Stan Rice describes how these monkeys are carefree and they live their lives authentically. While the two friends are watching the monkeys they experience moments that would typically be considered private for humans. Rice writes: “And then there will be those moments we are embarrassed/and

During the 1830’s slavery was common among the people in the south. While some slaves were very loyal to their owners, others tried everything they could to escape from life under ownership. Sarah Logue writes a letter to her former slave Jarm, who had escaped over 26 years prior, in order to get him to either return back, under her control, or pay her $1000 to repay her for the inconvenience of his leaving. Throughout her letter Sarah tries to establish her credibility through a series of syntactical choice that guilt’s to obey her request.

Chapter 5 of the monkey wars book focuses on The Face of Evil. In this chapter, Blum conducts interviews from Jim Blanchard, Marion Ratterree, Peter Gerone, who are all from the Tulane Regional Primate Research Center. In addition, Blum interviews Adrian Morrison, Alex Pacheco, Chrstine Stevens, Susan Loderer, Shirley McGreal, and Roy Henrickson. All these are from different institutions (Blum, 1996).

In Turner's "Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog", when Dr. Ueno dies, Hachiko is sent to live with his relatives, but Hachiko refuses to go. A few days after being sent away, Hachiko runs back to his home. Every day, Hachiko walks to the Shibuya station and waits for his owner to come back, as he has faith that Dr. Ueno will someday return. This shows just how loyal Hachiko is and how much he loves his owner. In Jane Goodall's memoir, "My Life with the Chimpanzees", Goodall develops a bonding friendship with the first chimp who realized she wasn't an enemy to be feared, David Greybeard.

In the Life of Pi, animals have the human-like emotions. They will be mad when others do something harmful to their friends. After the ship sank, there are some animals survived on “Pi’s Ark”: a zebra, a hyena, an ape and a tiger; however, the hyena is hurting the zebra. The ape: “But with her giant arms,

The first topic addressed in this book that I will focus on is the social behavior of apes, specifically on courting rituals and mating behavior, such as the love dance performed by the “humans” in the novel. The second topic is the (in)capability of apes to produce human speech. In the novel, the apes all speak human language, but in reality, this is not a likely possibility.

Goodall was dedicated to making a difference in the life of primates, and she had always dreamt of studying the curious lives of monkeys in the vast, hopeful land of Africa. She fulfilled this journey with her extensive and deep-seated love for animals; her love invigorated her motivation to achieve. Although she was able to reach her desired goal, she had to abandon something so near and dear to her heart. By moving to Africa, she withdrew from her family in England. She had to make the unyielding decision of completing her long-lasting expedition full of studying, hard-work, and strenuous tests or giving it all up for family. Goodall couldn’t let it all be of no avail, in order to live her childhood dream, she had to give up her

Research by Yamamoto, Humle and Tanaka in 2009 concluded that chimpanzees show altruism only when prompted or pressured rather than voluntarily [5]. This particular empirical research challenges the evidence proposed by prior researchers and tests the limits of chimpanzee’s altruistic nature. Using colour-coded tokens, one of which allowed for a partner to share the reward with the test subject and one of which gave the test subject all of the reward, several chimps were tested as to their response. Results showed a tendency for the chimpanzee to take the prosocial option in situations both with and without peer pressure. Abnormally results showed that pressure or harassment from partners reduced the chimpanzee’s inclination to take the prosocial option. Although these results challenge prior research [5] they are limited as they are not conclusive and raise questions of their own to reach a complete understanding. These research results are significant in challenging an already established understanding of chimpanzee’s altruistic traits and acts as a good contrast to other references. This resource stands out as it does not make conclusive statements out of abnormal results but rather opens up a reader’s opinion and presents issues further

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Los Angeles zoo on a beautiful, sunny Thursday (October 19th). Although I arrived off schedule which left a minimal amount of time to observe primates, I managed my time well. After being told that the larger animals get put away earlier, I figured my first stop would be at an ape enclosure. The ape I chose to see that day was the gorilla. The time that I began my observation was at approximately 3:05. At that time only one ape was quite visible and he was sitting at the front making eye contact with me making it seem as if he is HABITUATED. Next, post gorilla watching, I had the chance to take a gander at the ring railed lemurs at 3:40. These prosimians all had their own personalities which interested me deeply. Lastly, and certainly not least on my journey through the LA zoo, I had the chance of looking at the mandrills which were once classified as baboons. Considering that two baby mandrills were present and only a month old, this was my favorite exhibit to see because of their high energy and randomness of actions.

For my second essay I’ll be talking about the movie that I watched Planet of the Apes. In this movie human are made as slaves and the Apes control them. For this essay I’ll be specifically talking about a Ape in the movie that stood out to me the most. Which would be “Koba”. He was an altered bonobo with enormous hatred for humans. He had years of abuse and neglect. Due to all the abuse that he had gone through from the humans, he was left with a scar over his left blind eye.