Fun Facts about Primates

[nomadthethird]

Showing one's teeth, in primates, is considered a submissive gesture.

"Monogamy" (pair bonding and sharing domestic/offspring-related duties) in primates is not to be confused with sexual fidelity, which is rare.

Primates have advanced cognitive abilities: some make tools and use them to acquire food and for social displays; some have sophisticated hunting strategies requiring cooperation, influence and rank.

Some primates engage in predation of other primates and eat them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primates

 

[doom]

We should all be proud of our simian heritage!

 

[poetix]

I gather bonobos can be disappointingly vicious; apparently getting your rocks off more or less at whim doesn't make you a peace-loving universal philosimianist after all.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I gather bonobos can be disappointingly vicious; apparently getting your rocks off more or less at whim doesn't make you a peace-loving universal philosimianist after all.

Chimps are fucking mentalists generally. Gorillas are pretty chilled, though.

 

[scottdisco]

Some primates engage in predation of other primates and eat them.

Mr Tea OTM on chimps.

i'm sure many British viewers remember the above classic slice of BBC Wildlife (narrated by John Hannah no less! though i think the coffee table d'n'b has been added by the YT user).

warning: the ending contains loud, grainy footage of the chimps closing in on their hapless prey, but there's nothing graphic. just the noises, really..

 

[Lichen]

My Baboon Terror

http://www.dissensus.com/showthread.php?t=5435

 

[zhao]

Mr Tea OTM on chimps.

i'm sure many British viewers remember the above classic slice of BBC Wildlife (narrated by John Hannah no less! though i think the coffee table d'n'b has been added by the YT user).

warning: the ending contains loud, grainy footage of the chimps closing in on their hapless prey, but there's nothing graphic. just the noises, really..

crazy vid! nice junglist soundtrack

 

[nochexxx]

Showing one's teeth, in primates, is considered a submissive gesture.

]

wow that's interesting.

isn't it the opposite for us humans? showing teeth = aggression.

perhaps it's possible we didn't just evolve from monkeys.

 

[STN]

wow that's interesting.

isn't it the opposite for us humans? showing teeth = aggression.

perhaps it's possible we didn't just evolve from monkeys.

no, we smile, thus showing submissiveness, which gets us into trouble with dogs.

 

[Mr. Tea]

It does kind of annoy me when people say "humans evolved from apes" - of course, humans and the apes that exist today evolved from some common ape-like ancestor.

But then, I am horrifically pedantic.

 

[nomadthethird]

wow that's interesting.

isn't it the opposite for us humans? showing teeth = aggression.

perhaps it's possible we didn't just evolve from monkeys.

Nope, it's submission. When we smile at people, it's to be "nice", to signal we're not a threat. When someone never smiles, a stranger, they'll seem mean or if they look creepy enough, even scary.

 

[nomadthethird]

It does kind of annoy me when people say "humans evolved from apes" - of course, humans and the apes that exist today evolved from some common ape-like ancestor.

But then, I am horrifically pedantic.

Yeah but there's a big difference.

You could also say that dinosaurs evolved from birds, but they didn't, they had common ancestors. (right?)

 

[nomadthethird]

I gather bonobos can be disappointingly vicious; apparently getting your rocks off more or less at whim doesn't make you a peace-loving universal philosimianist after all.

Chimps are fucking mentalists generally. Gorillas are pretty chilled, though.

I wonder if female humans ruled our societies, if we'd be more like bonobos in our conflict-resolution tactics.

 

[zhao]

primates exhibit a rainbow range of behavior from sadistic cruelty (add dolphins to the list), to cooperative, peaceful empathy -- and everything in between.

Nomad, you repeatedly, falsely, think and declare that i am proposing an entirely lovey dovey Eden of pre-civilized peaceful paradise.

no. i do not believe that, have never believed that, and have never said that.

all i have ever said, is that the competitive patriarchy we live in chooses to focus on one side of humanity and our primate ancesters and nature and evolution for the stories it chooses to tell, and largely omits the other sides.

and that perhaps egalitarianism and cooperative behavior played a larger role in the evolution of our species than we have been led to believe.

we all know nature shows are fiction: through framing and other devices, they paint a picture with little to do with "reality" -- for one thing, "real" nature is a lot more boring and a lot less exciting. but of course to entertain people you edit together scenes like the video above.

debatable, but many scientific sources will confirm that symbiotic relationships far out number competitive ones in nature -- but you dont see that in our media: violence sells.
and reflections of a culture itself is much easier to sell to its participants. one of the main reasons being justification for our own behavior -- "the lion eats the deer, so it is only natural for my corporation to take over this mom and pop shop".

and i will continue to challenge views formed by these fictional depictions of nature.

not going to go on more on this. but just wanted to make my position clear once and for all, so that hopefully you will stop misconstruing me as a naive idealist who believes that EVERYTHING was peace and love before human civilization.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I wonder if female humans ruled our societies, if we'd be more like bonobos in our conflict-resolution tactics.

Bonobos with nukes? No thanks!

Edit: someone needs to form a band called Bonobos With Nukes, right now.

 

[poetix]

Touch my Bomb, this is life...

 

[nomadthethird]

Too bad "Scissor Sisters" is already taken...

 

[credit crunch]

"debatable, but many scientific sources will confirm that symbiotic relationships far out number competitive ones in nature"

Must disagree. Surely parasitic life is the most common and successful, maybe not as competitive as Lion vs Deer, but definitely a one way street.

IMHO it's rather silly to consider biological systems in emotional terms and judge them as such.

 

[nomadthethird]

"debatable, but many scientific sources will confirm that symbiotic relationships far out number competitive ones in nature"

Must disagree. Surely parasitic life is the most common and successful, maybe not as competitive as Lion vs Deer, but definitely a one way street.

IMHO it's rather silly to consider biological systems in emotional terms and judge them as such.

Yes, and then you have bacteria, which outnumber just about everything else organic and are always competing with other organisms/their environs for their very existence.

 

[zhao]

IMHO it's rather silly to consider biological systems in emotional terms and judge them as such.

absolutely. and our media does it all the time, portraying nature as this mean, sinister wild where everyone creature is out for itself.

but positing that symbiotic relationships may outnumber competitive ones is not an emotional response. at least no more than positing the other way around.