For our special Christmas day post, we found a rather lovely fact about Japanese Macaque monkeys….
Young Macaques have been seen to make and throw snowballs, just like people do! Scientists could find no reason why they would do this, other than simply because it is fun!
Not only that, but back in the 1960s, these Japanese Macaques saw their human counterparts bathing in hot springs, and must have decided that this was a great idea. In the freezing temperatures they endure, a hot tub seems to be a relaxing and enjoyable social occasion.
Just another little similarity between different species – it seems many like to have fun, whether we have fur, feathers or plain old human clothes…
Wishing you a Compassionate Christmas!
Sources:
Uhlenbrook, C. (2008) Animal life the definitive visual guide to animals and their behaviour, Dorling Kindersley, London. Primate Info Net (2009) [accessed 24 December 09)
BBC Worldwide, Monkeys Relaxing
Horses have played a huge part in our lives for hundreds of years. Yet how much do we actually know about them?
Animal welfare consultant Heather Pickett has written a special article for our animal sentience pages. It’s a fascinating read about horses’ behaviour, cognitive abilities (such as ‘thinking’) and welfare needs. Horses have remarkably complex social lives; with membership of a herd being of ultimate importance to them and sometimes roaming for up to 80km in one day. They are great diplomats, able to resolve many conflicts in order to keep the herd together.
Self reflection. Copyright Compassion/ Ed Posposil
Mares often form lifetime relationships, spending most of their time together. Their foals often become good friends too as a result. They have remarkable memory skills and have even been shown to understand that a 3-D image can be shown in a photograph. For example, horses had been trained to have a ‘favourite’ object (for example a soft toy or a frisbee), using treats as positive reinforcement. Then they were shown photos of a range of things, including their ‘favoured toy’, and more often than not they would choose the photo of that toy. In a similar experiment (Stone 2009), horses were found to be able to tell the difference between photos of people, even identical twins!
Domesticated horses are often kept stabled alone and fed on concentrated food that is eaten quickly, rather than grazing the whole day as they would do in more natural conditions. These factors sometimes lead to destructive behaviours such as weaving, biting the stable doors and pacing. The occurrence of these unnatural behaviours illustrates that horses, just like many other animals, need an environment that more closely fits their needs and fully takes into account their sentience and intelligence.
Fishcount.org.uk is an engaging new website created to increase awareness of the plight of fish caught for food, and to promote workable solutions for the future.
It is estimated that approximately 1-3 trillion fish are caught every year. The methods used in most fishing ventures have the potential to cause profound distress to fish and therefore more humane alternatives are proposed.
Fish farming is on the increase. Given that conditions for farmed fish too often cause suffering, it is essential that such systems are designed to pay full regard to the welfare of fish.
The evidence for fish sentience draws on wide and varied sources, from scientific studies to a really interesting film of Comet the goldfish (see clip below) who has learned to perform tricks. He can play football, fetch hoops just like a dog, swim through a tunnel or a slalom…the list goes on!
We are given a deep insight into the experience of caught fish and shown the welfare shortfalls in modern fishing techniques. These include rapid and damaging decompression when pulled in trawl nets from deep in the sea, which often results in the rupture of internal organs; being left to suffocate on ice until they die; and in the case of long line fishing they sometimes hang for days before they are ‘landed’, condemning them to a slow death and vulnerable to attack by predators. We can see how much distress these experiences could cause to a sentient being.
Some people have traditionally thought that fish do not suffer pain and distress in that the same way as land-based animals and humans. But increasingly, science now suggests that this is not the case, and that fish and indeed other underwater creatures such as crabs have the potential for pain and emotional experiences, just as we do. This clearly has enormous implications for the treatment of the fish that are caught for our tables. Fishing techniques to date have only focused on speed and quantity of catching , and have not considered the suffering of those creatures who are caught.
Fish farming is on the increase. Given that conditions for farmed fish too often cause suffering, it is essential that such systems are designed to pay full regard to the welfare of fish. Fish are amazing animals with intrinsic value, and with our increasing understanding of their sentience, change is urgently needed.
Karta, a 27-year old orang-utan, escaped from her zoo enclosure by twisting the wires in the electric fence with a stick, making them short-circuit.
According to Sky News, clever Karta then “piled up debris to help her climb over a concrete and glass wall.”
Karta took herself back to the enclosure after an hour. The zoo curator says that Karta is ”ingenious”, and that she watches the day to day activities of zoo staff with interest – probably to see what she can learn!
Many animals, including great apes, pigs and elephants, have developed intelligence to obtain a living from their complex environments. Orang-utans in nature live in the Indonesian rainforest, one of the most biodiverse environments in the world.
Lives of Animals.org has some concerns with the comment in this clip that Karta’s enclosure will be “pruned.” While increased security may be wanted, restricting Karta’s environment is unlikely to be the best outcome for her. While the zoo has clearly attempted to provide an interesting enclosure for Karta, perhaps her escape attempt tells us that all is not well with her world. We have to ask to what extent is it possible to provide for the needs of complex, wide-ranging animals in captivity?
Never underestimate an orang-utan There’s a anecdote often told about great apes and if you know its origins, please let us know.
Don't underestimate us
If you give a screwdriver to a gorilla, he will look at it briefly and then discard it.
If you give the screwdriver to a chimp, he’ll think of a hundred uses for it.
If you give the screwdriver to an orang-utan, he’ll pretend to ignore it until you’ve gone, when he will let himself of the cage with it…
More information
You can read more about amazing orang-utans here.
Floss was separated from her calf and sold at a market, but it seems she had other plans. She escaped from the new farm, eventually fetching up 60 miles away. Cows form a strong bond with their calves and she may have taken off to look for her calf.
Floss then spent the next nine months fending for herself. She hid during the day and looked for food at night, searching rubbish dumps and finding occasional hay supplies.
It is reported that she did not have an easy time as joyriders and others tried to run her down and shot at her.
Two local women began to help Floss. She was taken food and they raised £500 GBP to buy her from the farmer and took her to Hillside, an animal sanctuary.
One of her rescuers said: “Floss trotted off the back of the trailer and it was the most wonderful thing. She really deserves it. For an animal to look after herself all that time she deserves this life.”
Cows and their calves form strong family bonds. Image: Compassion/Martin Usborne
There is a fascinating film about captive rats who were released to a semi-wild habitat. The rats were descended from generations of rats who had all been born in a laboratory. They were released into a ‘farmyard’ setting to see how they reacted to this more natural environment and whether they knew what to do in order to survive. As the commentator says, “It is the first time they have seen the sky.” This great film shows you how they got on.
The first chapter, “Release”, is linked below and visit www.ratlife.org to see the other chapters – well worth watching!
Berdoy, M. 2002. The Laboratory Rat: A Natural History. Film. 27 minutes. www.ratlife.org
