Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id IAA03001 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 25 Jul 2000 08:05:15 +0100 Message-ID: <20000725070258.25247.qmail@nw174.netaddress.usa.net> Date: 25 Jul 00 08:02:58 BST From: Derek Gatherer <derek-gatherer@usa.net> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: chimps at Blair Drummond X-Mailer: USANET web-mailer (34FM1.5A.01A) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Vincent wrote:
[I went to a safari park where I got very cross at people laughing at a
small group of chimps kept on a small island (people are taken there by
boat, and the apes were thrown food which the 'apes' on the boat found very
funny), until, as the boat set off again, one of the chimps grabbed a large
chunk of mud from the edge of the island and hurled it at the boat, covering
some of the people who'd been laughing at them- serves them right I thought!]
Yesterday a colleague returned from holiday, and told me exactly the same
story. Except in his version, he was one of the people that got covered in
mud. There are 2 possibilities here:
1) the Blair Drummond chimps regularly throw mud at people.
2) this is a spontaneous behavioural event which has only occurred once.
In order to discount 2) I should say that my friend is about 5 foot 8 or 9,
stockily built, dark haired but slightly balding, rather swarthy, with a
fairly strong Dundonian accent, and he would have been accompanied by his wife
and 2 children, a girl of about 7 or 8 and a little boy under 2 years old.
If you recall these characters, Vincent, then this is probably just a one-off
event. However, if you are certain you never saw these people, then it seems
we may have a novel chimp cultural practice here. This stuff is research gold
dust. (Monkeys stoning people in Kenya was a big topic earlier this year...)
Cheers
Derek
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