Melancholy Monkey: Long-lost Cousin

Anyone who saw the story this week of the new (to science) monkey, called the "lesula" by locals in the Congo, and  Cercopithecus lomamiensis in scientific circles, had to be struck by the intense beauty of the creature. I keep thinking of these soft, brown, seemingly empathetic eyes when I'm alone. As Jonathan Jones notes in his lovely article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/13/lesula-new-monkey-familiar?intcmp=239), "A long human-looking nose completes the anthropomorphic sense that we are looking at a close relative. Monkeys are not as closely related to humans as chimpanzees or gorillas are but still, we swung together once, a long time ago." Hello, old friend. I hope we can make our relationship last, for I'd love to see you often!

Gorilla Joy

What I love about this photo -- and the ones in the rest of the slideshow that you can view here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-19281347) -- is that it needs no caption. As the head of Ape Alliance points out, we understand perfectly what is going on in the photo simply by looking at it. These brothers, Kesho and Alf, who were separated for two years, are delighted to be together again. Nuff said.

Congo Comrades

"Maybe there is hope for this world yet."  That was my thought when I saw this beautiful photo of, to quote The Guardian, "Patrick Karabaranga, a warden at the Virunga national park, and an orphaned mountain gorilla in the gorilla sanctuary in the park headquarters at Rumangabo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Virunga park is home to 210 mountain gorillas, approximately a quarter of the world's population. The four orphans that live in the sanctuary are the only mountain gorillas in the world not living in the wild. They were brought there after their parents were killed by poachers or as a result of traffickers trying to smuggle them out of the park." And with this last sentence, my cynicism about "things as they are," as William Godwin would say, settled in again.

Sliding Panda Cubs

O.k., I know it's not exactly breaking news, and maybe it's not informational at all, but I couldn't resist posting one of the most adorable videos of pandas I've ever seen. Seriously, it's like they've been to cute-school. They each have a Ph.D. in Cute Studies. How is it possible for any creature to be so amazingly charming? Or have we evolved to find them cute? Hmmmm. . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGF6bOi1NfA&feature=player_embedded

Death of a Species

ANW regrets to announce the death of Lonesome George, the last of the Pinta Island giant tortoises and a conservation icon at more than 100 years old (which, nevertheless, is only middle-age for these Methuselahs). Weighing in at about 400 kgs, George was a remaining member of a type of tortoise that helped the great Charles Darwin to develop his brilliant theory of evolution; the odd shape of the Pinta Island giant tortoise's shell suggested to Darwin that creatures evolve to adapt to their specific environments.  George would never mate with other types of tortoises, perhaps because he was depressed from being alone on his island for so many years (scientists thought his species was extinct from over-hunting until they found him in 1972). He thereby gained the handle "Lonesome George." His passing leaves us a little more lonesome and woefully aware that our irresponsible treatment of the environment can very well have a permanent deleterious effect on nature.

RIP, dear George. We are sorry you didn't leave any progeny behind you. But, then, if you did, you wouldn't be Lonesome George.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2012/jun/25/lonesome-george-giant-galapagos-tortoise-in-pictures#/?picture=392129802&index=8

Dappled Things

This post is an homage to variety in nature. The links below will lead you to amazing stories about wonderful oddities in nature, such as a spotless cheetah in Kenya, a white killer whale off the coast of Russia, and a strawberry-coloured leopard in South Africa. Together, they remind me of one of my favourite poems (under the links), by Gerard Manley Hopkins, a Jesuit from the Victorian era in England, who, like me, loved the richness and diversity of nature.  It all makes one wonder: why are humans so conservative, so intolerant of difference, when nature teaches us that dissimilarity is the name of the game -- that it is the source of health and evolution?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/04/120412-strawberry-leopard-south-africa-animals-science/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/25/spotless-cheetah-pictures-wild

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/23/rare-white-killer-whale-spotted?INTCMP=SRCH

          Pied Beauty

GLORY be to God for dappled things—     

  For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;          

    For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;

  Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;          5

    And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.      

           

All things counter, original, spare, strange;    

  Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)     

    With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;         

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:                   10

                  Praise him.

The Thinker

Never tell me they are dumb.  He certainly seems to be saying, "That's interesting! I've never thought of it that way!"  Just look at the little glint in his eye and you'll agree: he's philosophical.