Posted on 09/14/2006 4:16:06 PM PDT by blam
How did the chimpanzee cross the road?
14 September 2006
From New Scientist Print Edition.
Cautiously, it would seem. When it comes to crossing roads, chimps seem to have formulated their own version of a highway code. What's more, the time they spend pondering a strategy before crossing depends on how dangerous the road is.
When some monkeys and baboons cross risky terrain, adult males travel at the front of the group to reduce the risk of it being attacked by predators. This had never been recorded in great apes, but now Kimberly Hockings of the University of Stirling in the UK and her team have found that chimps display a similar behaviour when crossing roads that carve through the forests in which they live and forage.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
i was gonna say on a segway , but with the recall, i'm pretty sure they're just walking.
Riding a chicken.
Why did the punk rocker cross the road?
He had a chicken stapled to his forehead.
"She has found that adult males in the group of 12 chimps she studies in Bossou, Guinea, take up the front and rear position as the group crosses roads in single file, while more vulnerable females and juveniles occupy the less exposed centre of the group. During the 28 crossings she observed, the position of the alpha and other dominant males changed depending on the perceived risks. In some cases, adult males stood guard - lollipop-lady or crossing-guard style - waiting for the group of chimps to make it across (Current Biology, vol 16, p R668)
It is clear the chimps have been socialized to accept sexual stereotypes, I'm sure we can fix that.
Never mind how. Why?
Cuz there wuz a good lookin' "lady chimp" across the road???
Better than how deer cross the road. They get to the middle stare at your car as it is coming towards them, then turn around and go back in the direction they came.
"During the 28 crossings she observed..." What was the margin of error?
The funny thing about Armadillos, aka, possum on the half shell, is that most should never be killed by cars. They are plenty small enough that a car can run right over it and not harm it. But Armadillo's jump when they get scared so they either jump into the path of the car or smash themselves against the underside of the car. Basically, they're as intelligent as your average Democrat.
Interesting that even monkees protect their innocents. Hezbollah doesn't!
But your average Democrat is never in the middle of the road. They always cross to the left, and only look one way, and are always jumping up and down. So Armadillos must be smarter than Democrats.
Excellent point!
OK...
28 crossings, 1 SPLAT...carry the 2...3.5%.
"One exception, she noted were that the Chimps associated with the Hezbollah group pushed the women and children out into the road to form a line....which the older males then run behind protecting themselve from the speeding vehicles. In 2 cases, a jeep, not being able to stop in time on the blind curve, ran into the line of female and young chimps - killing a total of 3 women and 2 baby chimps - one of the females pregnant with an unborn chimp. Interestingly, Reuters Photographers showed up almost instantaneously which caused the older, male chimps to jump up and down, pointing to the dead females and babies - and in some cases, actually placing objects and "appearing to pose" next to the dead babies, tears of rage streaming from their large, brown eyes."
Photos appearing in newspapers worldwide caused a furor at which time, the U.N. condemmed "those nasty S.U.V.'s" - and passed a resolution that all jungle driving must be done with Priuses or other "more environmentally friendly" vehicles - or better yet, "people should just stay out of the jungle completely - they don't belong there anyway".
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