In the jungle, however, a zebra's stripes actually work as a camouflage to deter its main predators: lions and hyenas. Since the animals herd together, experts believe that the mass of stripes can confuse the predators by acting as an optical illusion that blends their figures together. Consequently, a group of 10 zebras may look like a giant striped blob that a lion wouldn't want to take on solo. For more detailed information about this natural disguise, read "How do a zebra's stripes act as camouflage?" By and large, these ungulates -- or hoofed animals -- prefer to pal around together rather than alone, migrating as far as 300 miles (482 kilometers) to graze [source: Holland].
Just like many issues with this country, the reason we can’t protect our closest ancestors is because of our former president, George W. Bush. He led us into this economic mess, and amid all of these talks of raising the debt ceiling and bringing our troops home, the Great Apes Conservation Fund’s effort got lost in the mix. What is also amazing to think about is the fact that just seven million years ago, just a fraction of this planets existence, apes, much like humans do today, ruled the planet. What was once a family composed of over forty species worldwide, only five species remain today: the gibbon, orangutan, chimpanzee, bonobo, and the gorilla. Without
The free access to weapons makes the life of the hunters easy. “In the 1970s, the global demand for ivory threatened to make the elephant extinct. Poachers, with access to automatic weapons derived from civil wars and international arms sales, were killing herds of elephants faster than ever before. From 1970 to 1985, the total elephant population of Africa decreased by half.” Also in 2002 the largest shipment of illegal ivory was seized by authorities in Singapore, it consisted of 532 elephant tusks and more than 40,000 cut pieces of ivory. Also, the demise of elephants can be attributed mostly to loss of its habitat.
I will now write about the fun facts and tell you about my observations. Chimpanzees are currently on the endangered species list, which I find very unfortunate. Populations have decreased because of foresting, hunting, commercial exportation, and collection for scientific research. Although chimpanzees are protected in 34 national parks and reserves, laws can be difficult to enforce in remote regions. Chimpanzees can be found all over Africa, from Senegal and Gambia to Uganda and Tanzania.
Human has done a lot of things to change this earth to a better place: improving technologies, a great transportation system, education system, and others. A marvelous quality of brainpower is excruciatingly needed in order to do these. Putting aside the fact that those improvements consume numerous decades, human has proven that they possessed the brainpower to change the world. Asserting that bonobos, orangutans, gorillas, and monkeys are in the same order, with a lot of similar physical structures, are they smart as well? There are some sides that say no, some say their intelligences are just totally overestimated; however, I believe that apes are smart.
In this new environment they found it more efficient to move about on two legs. It is this simple act of walking on two legs that enables us to attain new skills that will eventually change human life forever. Two million years ago existed two species of hominids, Paranthropus boisei and Homo habilis who both come from the same species but lead very different ape-man lives. The boisei have adapted so well in their environment, specializing in eating tough vegetation and the use of found objects as tools to eat termites, the first source of protein hominids ate. On the other hand, the habilis’ need for food led them to make tools used for hunting, another step towards the evolution of man.
Introduction As our closest living ancestors, bonobos (Pan Americus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have often been used as an ancestral model to study social and cultural hominoid behavior. Chimpanzees and Bonobos' DNA differs only 1% from humans yet their social behavior is very primitive and different compared to humans. Molecular studies indicate that humans, chimpanzees, and bonobos are very closely related in a lineage that split into hominid and Pan lines approximately 6-7 million years ago, possibly following a divergence from the gorilla lineage about 1– 2 million years earlier (Caccone and Powell, 1989). Chimpanzees are great apes, under the Homo lineage, that have been known for their male dominant, meat eating and generally violent culture. Meanwhile bonobos, also great apes, are on a completely different behavior spectrum, they are a female dominant, more peaceful, and heavily sexually oriented society.
Indeed, the simian star of this movie, Caesar, is alive! Caesar's movement and characterization are acted by English film actor Andy Serkis, who is popularly known for professional acting through motion capture to animate. Serkis played Gollum in the Lord of the Ring series and the huge gorilla in Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong (2005). With the
“King Leopold’s Ghost” by Adam Hochschild tells the story of King Leopold of Belgium and the terrible things he did in the Congo. Many subjects are discussed in the book. I think two important subjects that were discussed were how the new technology available at the time helped Leopold in his conquest of the Congo, and the reasons why the mass killings and atrocities that took place in Congo remain virtually unknown in Europe and the United States today. This book is also very accurate to the time period it is written about. There were many technological advancements that helped King Leopold and his troops conquer and exploit the natives in Congo.
At times, it even drives the animal to extinction. The poaching of Elephants has had a tremendous impact on Africa by the ivory trade, the population, and the conservation groups. Firstly, one of the reasons the poaching of elephant is popular is because of the demand for ivory. For example, “Elephants are poached to sell certain body parts that are valued in some countries for supposed healing powers and other special qualities” (Desanker et al.). For the majority of the African population, ivory can be money and also a possible end to poverty (Desanker et al.).