Latest Nim Chimpsky Stories
Rulemaking Petition holds government accountable BOSTON, Sept. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following the National Institutes of Health's decision to retire 110 chimpanzees designated no longer available for research, co-petitioners of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Rulemaking Petition charge the decision falls short of the intent of the 2000 CHIMP Act mandating chimpanzees not needed be retired to sanctuary. NIH's decision sends only 10 chimpanzees to...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Bonobos have recently had their DNA mapped by scientists, revealing they are much closer genetically to us than previously believed. Perhaps this striking similarity these gentle beasts share with us is no more evident than when it comes to their capability to learn tasks such as learning sign language and creating tools. Researchers from the University of Haifa in Israel have found that bonobos can learn to make stone tools just...
Evolutionary perspective leads to better understanding of controversial economic theory and laws tied to it Groundbreaking new research in the field of "evolutionary analysis in law" not only provides additional evidence that chimpanzees share the controversial human psychological trait known as the endowment effect – which in humans has implications for law – but also shows the effect can be turned on or off for single objects, depending on their immediate situational usefulness....
Brett Smith for RedOrbit.com A chimpanzee at a Swedish zoo first thought to be a nuisance has now been identified as the first animal of its kind to demonstrate the higher brain function of planning for future events in an attempt to solve a problem. Santino the chimpanzee first achieved international notoriety in 2009 for his ritual of gathering stones to throw at zoo visitors. But his real claim to fame might be the study published in the May 9 edition of PLos ONE, which asserts that...
BOSTON, Feb. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Bioethics of Great Ape Well-Being: Psychiatric Injury and Duty of Care, recently published in the Animals & Society Institute's (ASI) Public Policy series, asserts that historically and to date the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and research facilities have failed in their legal duty to protect captive great apes by not preventing foreseeable trauma of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress...
Chimpanzees might be able to determine whether or not their fellow chimps need to hear a specific message, according to a new study published in the journal Current Biology. According to Guardian Science Correspondent Ian Sample, researchers from the University of St. Andrews, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and the Budongo Conservation Field Station in Uganda, observed the creatures selectively sounding a warning call, apparently based on whether or not they...
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Thursday suspended all new grants for research on chimpanzees after a panel of independent experts’ nine-month deliberation found that most medical experiments on man’s closest primate relative were unwarranted. The Institute of Medicine noted in a report on the ruling that chimpanzees remain indispensable for biomedical and behavioral research that benefits humans, but only in a small number of circumstances and likely not for long....
BOSTON, Dec. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (IOM) today released results of their nine-month long study, called for by the NIH, to investigate the current and future need for chimpanzees in research. The IOM concluded that 'most current biomedical research use of chimpanzees is not necessary.' The only exception was their "inconclusive" decision (a 5-5 split) regarding a "narrow area" of Hep C vaccine work. (Logo:...
Chimps Should Be Chimps, a free iPad book created by Lincoln Park Zoo's Project ChimpCARE, is designed for early readers aged 3 – 8 years. It offers an interactive and engaging story that aims to educate and inform kids – and their parents - about chimpanzees. The story is highlighted with bright, colorful and playful illustrations which seem to come to life with the stroke of a finger on the iPad screen. This multisensory book includes the sounds of waterfalls, music and...
Playful behavior of young chimps develops like that of children Playful behavior is widespread in mammals, and has important developmental consequences. A recent study of young chimpanzees shows that these animals play and develop much the same way as human children. The work, to be published in the Nov. 16 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE, can therefore also shed light on the role of human play behavior. The authors of the study, Elisabetta Palagi and Giada Cordoni, of the...
