Bald Uakari. The redder the face, the healthier the monkey. In their Amazonian habitat, where maleria is rampant, the red face is an indicator of disease resistance. Pale face uakari’s are more prone to maleria and get much less sex. (Photo: LA Zoo)
Emperor Tamarin. Females keep multiple male mates, which, enabled by uncertain paternity, she enlists to take care of her babies. Tamarins in general are more likely to have twins than other primates. Photo: Wade Tregaskis/flickr
New Yorkers file 311 complaints when news stories of captive spider monkey spread online.
(The link for reporting illegal animals:
portal.311.nyc.gov/sr-step/?id=... )
This day in history: June 30, 1925 from the Anderson (IN) Daily Bulletin.
This time next year will be the 100th anniversary of the Scopes trial, arguably one of the most notorious publicity stunts in US history.
In the 1800s, the guereza was hunted in its native land (Ethiopia, known as Abyssinia). But the real threat came when European designers created a vogue for monkey skin fashions. Colobus "fur" was used as decorative trim on garments, resulting in jackets with a vaguely simian silhouette. (2/5)
In 1922, Abyssinian authorities announced that the once-thriving species was threatened with extinction and imposed a limit on exports. Skins continued to be in fashion, however. In 1925, the year of the Snopes "Monkey" Trials in the US, an “evolution coat” made of monkey was all the rage.(3/5)
Decades later, a syndicated science columnist reported that locust plagues in Africa were blamed in part on the killing of guereza monkeys. (Though the claim is likely false, it is generally sound practice to blame random shit on monkey hunting.)
Escape from Monkey Island, as reported on June 1, 1990, in the Montgomery Advertiser. A human-raised (and thereafter bullied) capuchin teaches a cellmate the art of escape before succumbing to illness
From a 14th century Islamic encyclopedia entry on monkeys. Starts with endearing examples of monkey ingenuity and ends with the monkeys stoning a promiscuous female.
QUIZ TIME! Which of the following actions were taken by the criminal monkey torture network (reported last week) and which were by laboratory scientists (within the past decade)?
