Plant Clippings

When I am collecting stories (from the press, or other media), as possible post ideas for this blog, I am usually left with some that are really just one or two sentences ...

Meripilus Giganteus

... so I have collated the plant clippings into a pot pourri post.

The Shape Of Us To Come

We are the size and shape we are ...

Can The Ascent Of Man Become The Descent Of Man?

.... because of climate change.

The Inks Running Out?

Today I wrote a shopping reminder list .....

Post It Notes - Last Ballpoint Refuge?

I used a pen and Post It note ....

The Curious Ape

Apparently we are curious because our great ape ancestors were curious creatures. Scientists at Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire set up tests ....

Clever Chimps Share Our Ancestors

.... and found that Chimpanzees enjoy trying to solve brainteasers, even when there is no obvious rewards. In other words the challenge and the satisfaction of meeting it were the reward in themselves.

Just A Few Genes

Yes, just a few genes is all that separates us from the primates ..... if any proof is needed then this story about research indicating that Chimpanzees find yawns so 'contagious' (like us, I yawned as well) that they can catch them from 'cartoons'.

Scientists from Emory University in Atlanta, US, have discovered that an animation of a yawning chimp will stimulate real chimps to yawn.

On another story, the worlds tiniest parrots (members of another animal species that shows remarkable intelligence) have been found .... the tiny birds, which are not much bigger than an adult person's thumb, are smaller than some of the insects with which it shares the forest. On average, buff-faced pygmy parrots (Micropsitta pusio) stand less than 9cm tall and weigh 11.5g (0.41oz).

As we destroy the forests, amazing wonders are discovered only to be destroyed forever, and we show no shame. The link has film of these amazing creatures.

Do The Funky Gibbon

When The Goodies had their hit The Funky Gibbon, little could they know that in fact the Gibbons have the ability to learn and use tools to create noises such as a door slamming.

Doing The Funky Gibbon

Just a few seconds before she started her great call the female gibbon retreated into her sleeping box, singing as she went. She then half shut the sliding door to the wooden box. At the climax to her call, she would then slam the sliding door shut, and after it bounced back open again, she would jump out of the box, thrashing her arms and legs in a display. "I realised what I had seen was tool use." said the scientist

Similarly at least two Orangutans have learnt to whistle in different zoos, Ujan in Germany and Bonnie in Washington, and yet more evidence of tool use from Chimps, as well as evidence of forward planning (with a painful ending!).

We aint as superior as we like to think ..... just a few percentage of genes.