Happy Furball Friday, Missians!
I hope all of you had a fantabulous Fourth of July! Since we're still in celebratory mode from the holiday, and the weekend is now upon us, I figured why not have a light-hearted, comical post this time. Since American Zoo Day was July 1st, let's end this week by discussing a particular animal we might commonly find in a zoo--the chimp; and more importantly than the animal itself, we're going to discuss a particular behavior of this animal--poop flinging.
Today's article addressing this question comes to us from The Jane Goodall Institute of Canada:
https://janegoodall.ca/our-stories/why-chimpanzees-throw-poop-at-us/
Just like humans, chimpanzees use many methods of communication within their group. They are capable of expressing a wide-range of emotions using postures, gestures, and facial expressions. But if you’ve ever seen chimps at the zoo, you’ve probably seen them do something that humans most definitely do not do, which is to throw their poop – sometimes right at Grandma. The video of a chimp hitting an unsuspecting visitor to the zoo with its poop – bullseye! – probably made you laugh. But did it also make you wonder why chimps throw their feces in the first place?
In their natural habitat, when chimpanzees become angry, they often stand up, wave their arms, and throw branches or rocks – anything nearby that they can get their hands on. When chimps are removed from the wild and kept in captivity, they experience stress and agitation, which can cause them to react in the same way – by throwing things. Captive chimpanzees are deprived of the diverse objects they would find in nature, and the most readily available projectile is feces. Since they also tend to get a pretty strong reaction from people when they do throw it, their behaviour is reinforced and likely to be repeated, which explains the abundance of YouTube videos on this subject.
I hope all of you had a fantabulous Fourth of July! Since we're still in celebratory mode from the holiday, and the weekend is now upon us, I figured why not have a light-hearted, comical post this time. Since American Zoo Day was July 1st, let's end this week by discussing a particular animal we might commonly find in a zoo--the chimp; and more importantly than the animal itself, we're going to discuss a particular behavior of this animal--poop flinging.
Today's article addressing this question comes to us from The Jane Goodall Institute of Canada:
https://janegoodall.ca/our-stories/why-chimpanzees-throw-poop-at-us/
This is Why Chimpanzees Throw Their Poop at Us
Written By: Florence McCambridge, JGI Canada Volunteer
Just like humans, chimpanzees use many methods of communication within their group. They are capable of expressing a wide-range of emotions using postures, gestures, and facial expressions. But if you’ve ever seen chimps at the zoo, you’ve probably seen them do something that humans most definitely do not do, which is to throw their poop – sometimes right at Grandma. The video of a chimp hitting an unsuspecting visitor to the zoo with its poop – bullseye! – probably made you laugh. But did it also make you wonder why chimps throw their feces in the first place?
In their natural habitat, when chimpanzees become angry, they often stand up, wave their arms, and throw branches or rocks – anything nearby that they can get their hands on. When chimps are removed from the wild and kept in captivity, they experience stress and agitation, which can cause them to react in the same way – by throwing things. Captive chimpanzees are deprived of the diverse objects they would find in nature, and the most readily available projectile is feces. Since they also tend to get a pretty strong reaction from people when they do throw it, their behaviour is reinforced and likely to be repeated, which explains the abundance of YouTube videos on this subject.
But if you’ve seen the dramatic escape scene in the movie, War for the Planet of the Apes, you might be wondering if there is more to this poop-throwing thing than simply anger and agitation. As it turns out, throwing can be seen as a form of communication among chimpanzees. The better they are at throwing and hitting their targets, the better they are at communicating with the others in their group. That’s because the chimps that are more likely to hit their targets showed heightened development in the motor cortex and left-brain hemispheres, the same side of the brain where communication processing occurs.
Basically, a well-coordinated chimp is a smart chimp.
Interesting...
Definitely glad I've never had that happen to me. I've only been to a zoo once in my whole life, and it was so hot that day, none of the animals seemed too eager to come out for us to have a look at them; but if they had, I think I was already smart enough to know not to be too friendly with any of the animals in the ape family, because of their notorious reputation for hurling crap (literally).
Sidebar: Since I've been doing The Missy Show, I don't think I'd particularly want to go to a zoo again, anyway.
So, have any of you guys had experience with projectile poop while visiting a zoo? Luckily for me, I can say I've only seen it on TV--and I want to keep it that way! LOL
That's it for now, guys. I'll see you back here on Monday, July 8th, for our next Christmas in July post.
Until then,
This is your host J,
signing off...
Sidebar: Since I've been doing The Missy Show, I don't think I'd particularly want to go to a zoo again, anyway.
So, have any of you guys had experience with projectile poop while visiting a zoo? Luckily for me, I can say I've only seen it on TV--and I want to keep it that way! LOL
That's it for now, guys. I'll see you back here on Monday, July 8th, for our next Christmas in July post.
Until then,
This is your host J,
signing off...
 |
| I'd never throw poop at you. You do trust me, don't you? |
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