Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id MAA03733 (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 12:49:50 +0100 Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745955@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: chimps at Blair Drummond Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 12:47:27 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
This is indeed very interesting.
I don't recall any men getting covered in mud, but one teenage girl did. I
was there on the 18th July (last wednesday) if that's any help.
I think the possibility of this being a persistent behaviour is highly
likely. For a start there are only four chimps on what is, in fact, a very
small island. The boat trip takes about five minutes to get there and
barely a couple of minutes to circle the island. The boat trips are more or
less continuous, and the apes are thrown food on the trips out (although I
guess not every trip). It could quite easily become a routine way of
alleviating boredom, or frustration (assuming chimps have such feelings,
which in those circumstances wouldn't surprise me).
I suppose a problem might exist in terms of calling it a cultural practice
if it is the same chimp every time that throws the mud.
Vincent
> ----------
> From: Derek Gatherer
> Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2000 9:02 am
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: chimps at Blair Drummond
>
> 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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