Mmmmmonkeys!

So my posts have been pretty surface-level lately. I have plenty of deep things to write about, but as for now, I'm in the biology library (just discovered it!) studying for my Animal Behavior of Primates exam on Tuesday. It goes to show how much of a nerd I am because I'm having the time of my life studying for this exam. Monkeys are so cool! Will you help me study by receiving some awesome primate facts?

Prosimians are considered to be primates but are the precursor to monkeys - their ancestor. They live nocturnally in mainland Africa (as to not compete with day dwelling monkeys and apes who are bigger than them!) but have free reign on Madagascar. Here, the aye aye (shown below) is the "black cat" - if you cross one, bad luck!

The slender loris is a slooooow moving prosimian. This is how they go undetected by prey - they move so slow that no one even knows it's there. If predator or prey catch on, it freezes and become completely immobile and silent. They even have an special network of blood vessels in their wrists and hands that prevents their limbs from falling asleep (I hate the prickleys!).

Fat-tailed dwarf lemurs hibernate for up to eight months by keeping fat in their tails.

The indri got its name because the word "indri" means "there it is" in the language of Madagascar. The first European explorers took what their native guide said when first sighting the prosimian as its name.

The Tarsier is thought to be the link between prosimians and anthropoids (the rest of the primates) because it has traits of both. They have HUGE eyeballs which are larger and weigh more than its brain. Their eyeballs have little mobility, so they turn their heads like owls to see things. They also contribute nicely to this video. Never fails for a laugh. Har har.

The Capuchin is the smartest South American monkey. Most African monkeys are considered to be more intelligent than those of South America, but the Capuchin holds its own in this arena. Because of this, it's used in many movies and is considered the "organ grinder" monkey. If you see a monkey like this in a film set in Africa, you'll now know it's misplaced!

I think the Cotton Top Tamarin looks like James Earl Jones.

Some old world monkeys (of Africa and Asia) have ischial callosities. They're basically sex skins on their butts that follow the menstrual cycle. Well that's a nice color cue for when it's mating time ... These skins also swell, which is ... unappealing.

Rafiki is a mandrill : )

Blood typing and our "Rh factor" were discovered through the rhesus macaque. "Rh" actually stands for rhesus. Research that led to the polio vaccine was also done with rhesus macaques.

The vervet is thought to be the source of HIV, or at least how it was passed on to humans. Among them is a disease called SIV [Simian (meaning monkey) Immunodeficiency Virus] that was passed from them to chimps and then to us. But the difference is, SIV isn't fatal to these monkeys, unlike our case.

Orangutan means "old man of the forest" in Malay. Thus, how they got their name.

Gorillai means "tribe of hairy women." And this is how the gorilla got its name - European explorers thought a group of gorillas was just a bunch of really hairy women. Gosh, people are smart. LoL!

Gorillas have a sagittal crest on the crown of their skull. This is the result of their crazy strong jaw muscles - the muscles push the bone up into a crest. This creates more places for the muscle to hold, so it can gain even more power.

Primates are found in South America, Africa and Madagascar, as well as Asia. But the Amazon contains more monkey diversity than Africa and Asia combined. So if these monkey facts peaked your interest, head to the Amazon and see for yourself!

The Results Are In!

I heard back from some people, and here's some more soul! Enjoy - I sure am!

Brendan James (he's amazing and gets two). Ingrid Michaelson. Angel Taylor. Leona Lewis. Maria Mena. Secondhand Serenade. William Fitzsimmons. Aaaaand one more Glen Hansard.

: )

Baby, you got soul.

I love hearing new beautiful things. The latest beauty is Fay Wolf. It's silly, really, because I heard her song, "Yours," on Grey's Anatomy. I stopped listening to the dialogue because this song is so captivating to me. I love artists with soooooul, and she's definitely got it.

Others with soul? Adele. Glen Hansard. Amos Lee. Norah Jones. Jacob & Lily. Sara Bareilles.

Overwhelmed yet? Well, I'm not! Shoot some more at me if you know of more soul-filled singers. Must. Have. More!

I'm having a really good day today.

Thank you, Indie Coffee. : )

LoLoLoL!

I love LoL cats. I really do. If you don't know what they are, you will by the end of this post. And hey, you'll probably love them as much as I do. People take pictures of cats and caption them to fit the gesture or facial expression the cats making. This makes the picture 100 times more funny. LoL cats make you LoL. Pretty simple.

The poster child for LoL cats is the "Can I has cheezburger?" cat.

Here are some of my other favorites. LoL away. : )

No matter how your day was going, isn't it so much better now?

LoLoLoLoL ...

Raw

I've been inspired to be more raw. I think when we're raw, when we're real about how we are, we realize that we can relate to people more than we thought.

My friend, Beth, just started her own blog. I know her, I would say, pretty well. She's just a really interesting person; and she's told me many of her stories. Her blog is so raw. You immediately know how interesting she is and how abnormal her life is. But you can still relate to her worries.

So ... here I go. Raw.

I've been on the verge of falling apart lately. In class. With friends. It's because I'm terrified for life. I already feel like I'm not measuring up to this crazy ambitious life that's been set before me. But the thing is, I may not be. I know that God uses ordinary people. I'm not that smart, really I'm not, but I'm convinced that I'm called. I think drive and passion can get you further than intelligence (though it is also important). And we all have to remember that God is the one who is able and He is the one who's empowered.

Everyone I talk to about my future advocates research. I'm just ... not into it. I'm a zoologist who doesn't like zoos or research. Ok? I'm looking into research opportunities for this summer and to be honest, I don't really care about the response of fat cells to this and/or that, or the invasive species of Lake Superior. But should I? Even if I can't care, should I grin and bear it for what I think will get me proper credentials? Cuz I don't know what else there is.

Who do wildlife conservation organizations hire? Researchers. Or attorneys. Baha.

I just want to be someone who cares. I don't want to go to grad school because I should. I want to go to grad school because I want to. But as of now, I have little desire to. That's the thing ...

When I walk by a lab, or a classroom full of people, I think competition. It starts to wear on you when you feel like you're competing for your dreams. Especially when it feels like you're the one who's losing. All those people in there are doing better than I am ... crap.

In bible study this week, my friend Emily said something that I needed to hear. We were talking about just being you, and how much you miss out on when you're not.

Imagine that all different kinds of animals are together. Lions, giraffes, dogs, alligators, panda bears, birds ... and a peacock. The peacock is so unique. But if the peacock sees other animals and realizes that it's not like any other creature, it may start to wish it were like the others. How tragic to have a peacock rolling around in sand in order to be more like a lion, or pulling out its long feathers to be more like other, smaller birds.

Basically, be who you are, and I'll try to be who I am, too.

Anthropomorphism. Say what?!

I am learning so much.

My classes are blowing my mind and shaking everything I thought about animals. It's crazy! One thing we're discussing is animal culture. Yeah, animal culture. I hadn't heard anything along those lines either. But if you think about it, culture can be described simply as what we learn from generations before us; behaviors, rituals, etc. that we don't inherently know, but are taught to us. I'm sure if I grew up in East Asia, I would have Chinese culture instead of American, even if I was caucasian. I would not have learned what it means to have American culture because of my different context.

Animals do the same. They pass down rituals and behaviors that are not instinct. Mothers, fathers, and other adults in a population teach their youngsters how to live. Some behaviors are innate, while others are learned.

This brings up anthropomorphism. Yup, big word. I'll explain it to the best of my ability, but bear with me. I'm just learning it myself. Anthropomorphism (this bold font is starting to make this look like a text book - so sorry!) is our tendency to think that animals are just like us, that their behaviors reflect what the same behavior would reflect if we were to perform it. Some people like to think that we know what it's like to be other animals. Have you ever guessed what's going on in your cat's mind when she does something?

I'm reading The Ape and the Sushi Master by Frans de Waal for one of my classes, and it lays out pretty well how animal culture is different from human culture, just as different cultures from across the world are different from our own. I think there are some universals between anthropological cultures - a smile, laughter, certain gestures and tone of voice. But the difference between animal and human culture is to an even higher degree.

de Waal writes,

Without experience with primates, one might think a grinning rhesus monkey must be delighted, or that a chimpanzee running toward another with loud grunts must be in an aggressive mood. But primatologists know from hours of watching that rhesus bare their teeth when intimidated and that chimpanzees often grunt when they meet and embrace. In other words, a grinning rhesus monkey signals submission, and grunting by a chimpanzee serves as a greeting. In this way the careful observer arrives at an informed anthropomorphism that is often at odds with extrapolations from human behavior (74).

I think we need a healthy balance between anthropomorphism (believing that animals express themselves the same ways we do and that any realizations about ourselves can be made about animals also) and anthropodenial (coined by de Waal to denote our belief that we have absolutely nothing in common with animals - we can't relate to them or learn anything about ourselves when studying them, and that we need to keep a safe distance in research as to not get connected to our subjects). You cannot understand culture, why a person or individual acts the way they do, innately. It takes time, careful observation, and humility that realizes not everyone is like you.

You may be concerned about my readiness to compare the apples of humans to the oranges of animals. We are simply not the same and I believe that we are God's crown of creation. These ideas will be messy as I sift through them. They probably won't be pretty and they might make you cringe. But I believe that in the mess, I'll be able to figure out for myself what I believe about our human responsibility when it comes to interacting with animals. God gave us dominion over animals - but what does that mean? Jesus certainly redefined this word for us.

Anyway, bear with me. I think animals are more important than we give them credit for. I care for them. God cares for them. And my ideas and beliefs are being oh so shaken.